I'm so, so sorry for the slow update on this! It's just that I've been busy with swimming and stuff (just made a new personal record with 3,5 seconds!) so I haven't had much time. Thank you all for your continued support, I can't begin to explain how much it means to me! And yes, Jazzy, I am referring very much to you since you're still anonymous and can't PM you... :/

But it's not the guilty who will suffer now, is it? It's the innocent. It's the innocent who will suffer.
- Agatha Christie

Chapter 6
November 5th 1497

Jane's steps echoed in the narrow, empty hallway. This particular hall was usually dark in the middle of the day, but the sun was slowly sinking and managed to press its light through the slim windows. She finally reached the place where the corridor met with a much larger hallway, almost like an extremely long room with place for probably ten persons standing side by side from one side to the other.

Her gaze quickly found the only two persons standing in the hallway – she guessed that this part of the Vatican had been cleared in the reasons of recent events – Giulia and Vanozza. Giulia was, now that she was to spend her day in the Vatican, wearing an emerald green dress with block embroideries and her hair was in a thick braid circling her head, the same style as Vanozza.

"I am not too late, I take it?" Jane moved towards them, her own richly decorated red gown sliding against the marble floor.

"Just in time." Jane went to stand with Giulia and Vanozza.

"I heard she won her case," she commented, all three pairs of eyes fixed on the double doors at the end of the hall that led to the courtroom. It had been quite hard not to hear, in fact; when Giovanni had finally declared himself impotent – how the Pope had managed, she was unsure – the city had been roaring. It had to have been the entire city that had walked the streets, following the nobleman out. She smiled at the memory of the two jesters who had jumped in front of Sforzas horse right before his exit from the gated of Rome. Their words would surely follow him all the way to Gradara: 'Goodbye fair lady!'

Jane was abruptly cut out of her thoughts when the large doors opened, the Pope in his official, white clothes followed by a very grown-up Lucrezia. Her back was straight as always, her chin held high and her beautiful, blond hair was tucked neatly into a hairnet at the nape of her neck. She was wearing a black dress with long, simple sleeves and subtle patterns in the fabric. Only one thing destroyed this mourning look, and that was the beaming smile that shone not only from lips and eyes but from her very skin.

When Lucrezia's eyes found the group standing further down the hall, she came to a halt. Her voice was shocked as she whispered under her breath, "My eyes…" Then her voice returned to full strength with her smile. "Giovanna!"

And then she was running and colliding with Giovanna, her arms flaring out to embrace her old friend. "You're here, you're here, you're finally here," she whispered into Jane's ears.

"I'm here," Jane whispered back before letting go of her so that she could embrace first her mother and then Giulia. Jane looked at her with a smile that derived simply from the aura of happiness that followed Lucrezia, but then heard the faint sound of steps and turned her head towards them.

Cesare's steps were hurried and his red cardinal's cloak was flaring around him. "Lucrezia."

"Cesare!" She ran to him and when her arms locked around his neck, he wrapped his own around her waist and lifted her up into the air, shaking her from side to side. "Cesare, I am free! I am free!" She hugged him once more.

"And how you humiliated him on your way to freedom." Cesare smiled almost proudly, a smile that in that way seemed possessive - after all, how could you feel pride of an object you didn't posses?

"But that is not most important." Her hands went up to his face. "Most important is that I can now be with you and the rest of my family again. Where I belong."

"Indeed," he mumbled and Jane sensed that revenge was high on Cesare's list of important jobs. She suspected that Micheletto would soon be on his way out of Rome.

Then an extra part of the family arrived; the two younger brothers, Juan and Gioffre, came from a completely different direction, closely followed by a beautiful woman. Her dress was light in yellow colors, bringing out a naturally dark color of skin. Her eyes were large and black and her face was rounder than the two other women's, though not in a way that made her some overweight. Her black, shining hair was tucked into a braid down her back that was decorated with thin rings of gold.

Jane had never seen the woman before but she knew that Juan was unmarried and that Gioffre had married a woman much older than him. Gioffre had aged, but he was still slim and looked about fifteen, while the woman towered above him, approximately five years older.

Juan smiled when he saw his sister and his steps hurried until he was close enough to sweep her into a hug. It wasn't until Lucrezia pulled back, a strange, seemingly repulsed expression on her face that Jane looked closer at him; his eyes were glassy and his hair seemed greasy; bags were resting heavily under his eyes; and he seemed to waver a bit. "You won!" he exclaimed, his arms still loosely around her.

Jane noticed that the people surrounding her were becoming more anxious as Lucrezia spoke the words that were the epitome of what they were apparently all thinking. "Is that alcohol I smell?"

He shrugged. "A bit of wine, sis."

She shook her head. "At the day of my release, this happy day, even now must you ruin my happiness?"

"Lucrezia!" Rodrigo's voice was scolding but Jane knew that he was merely trying to keep this happy event from being completely ruined. Lucrezia stepped backwards, her gaze lowered as she whispered an apology.

Then Gioffre stepped forward, nervously. "Congratulations, Lucrezia."

A warm smile spread on her lips as she walked towards him, no longer needing to kneel to face him. "Thank you, brother."

"I brought you this." He held out a package and Lucrezia's smile grew wider as she opened it, keeping eye contact with her little brother as far as possible. Her hands soon revealed a wonderful golden locket, richly decorated of course and with a large, blue stone.

"It is absolutely wonderful! Thank you, Gioffre." Gioffre smiled proudly as he told her not to worry.

"My wife helped me pick it out," he said with a boyish pride over having a wife.

"Did she?" There was a hint of suspiciousness in Lucrezia's voice and eyes as she turned to look at the dark beauty still standing in the background, but she smiled nonetheless. The woman stepped forward.

"I thought it would bring out your eyes." She smiled as she quickly took more steps to stand beside her younger husband. "You should try it on."

"I wish I could, but I have no mirror."

The woman smiled politely. "You must, then, as soon as you find one."

"I will." Lucrezia began packing away the necklace and Cesare offered to keep it for her since she had no pockets, to which she smilingly accepted. Then, once more turned to the dark-haired woman, she said, "I believe you have never been introduced to the family's close friend and ally, Giovanna Volturi." She then led the woman towards Jane who smiled politely.

"Giovanna, may I introduce you to Sancha Borgia of Aragon, princess of Squillace, countess of Alvito and wife to Gioffre Borgia."

Both women curtseyed carefully and Jane couldn't help but compare Sancha's more carefree movements with the ones of a cat. "It is truly a pleasure to finally meet you, Giovanna. I have heard so very much about you." Sancha's voice was so carefree and her choice of words so carefree that Jane almost felt as if she was making fun of her.

"You too," Jane said politely but with no emotion. Sancha smiled slightly as if that was exactly what she expected her to say.

"Holy Father," a servant suddenly interrupted and all the many faces of the Borgia family turned towards him. "The room has been prepared for you."

The Pope nodded and gestured for the rest of the people to follow the servant who led them down the hall. While Jane walked beside Giulia, as it would be expected since they were both a bit outside of this family, the rest of the people chose fairly unexpected walking 'partners'. While Gioffre walked with his oldest brother and mother, his wife and Juan were walking alone just ahead of Rodrigo and Lucrezia, who were both smiling happily.

They arrived in a room furnished with plenty couches and warmed by a large fireplace by one of the walls just as Giulia was telling Jane in a low voice that she had already received some information from Bianca, the owner of the brothel.

"Shall I pour you some wine?" the servant asked.

"I think we'll manage, thank you," Rodrigo said, closing the door behind him as the servant bowed and left the family alone. Then the Pope turned to look at the group of people. "I would give a toast to my beautiful daughter, but seeing you don't have anything to toast in…" He gestured to the carafe of wine and the room filled with laughter.

When Jane had poured wine into her glass, she went to once more stand beside Giulia, waiting for the rest to finish in filling their glasses. Cesare and Lucrezia were the last ones by the wine table and while the rest of the family was busy with some conversation, Jane watched the siblings from a distance.

She hadn't expected anything to happen but, just as she was about to pout wine into her cup, Lucrezia suddenly spilled the wine all over the table, drenching the white cloth in the red color of the drink. Even from the distance, Jane could hear Lucrezia draw in a deep, shuddering breath in dread. Jane understood this perfectly; she had only just been released and the last thing she wanted was… this.

But luckily for her, Cesare acted quickly, taking hold of the carafe and taking it out of Lucrezia's grasp and then exclaiming, "Oh no!"

Jane almost snickered when she saw the absolutely horrid acting of his; he even winked at Lucrezia just before the rest of the people in the room turned the faces to see what had happened. The Pope was the first to realize what had happened and quickly walked over to his children.

"Did you get anything on your dress, Lucrezia?" he asked in a concerned voice - this was her day after all. Lucrezia just shook her head, a shocked expression on her face.

"I am so sorry, Holy Father, I did not mean to…" Cesare mumbled though Jane could see a mischievous glimpse in his eye.

"It has already been forgotten, my son. Today is a day of celebration." The Pope put a hand on his shoulder. "But do get a servant to clean up the mess."

Cesare hurried out of the room to fetch a servant while the Pope led Lucrezia to sit on one of the couches with him, Giulia and Vanozza. Jane followed and ended up sitting beside Sancha on one of the couches.

"Giovanna Volturi." Sancha's voice was thoughtful. "Where from exactly is your family?"

"My family has its roots in Volterra, a small town in Florence," Jane answered matter-of-factly. She sensed that, even though Sancha carelessness could be seen as a sign of stupidity and therefore weakness, there was more than met the eye with this woman. She undoubtedly had her own little tricks, or she wouldn't have made it to the Pope's court.

"I have never been to Florence."

"Perhaps you could persuade your husband into taking you," Jane suggested.

"Gioffre? Oh, but he loves the south. He would much rather visit Squillace if we were to travel." For some reason Sancha smiled at Jane.

"It is his princedom after all. But I am sure that he would be more than willing to travel there if it was the wish of his loving wife."

"You are right, I'm sure."

Then Cesare joined the two, sitting on the other side of Jane. "Did I miss something?" He took a sip of his wine.

"Nothing at all."

"Is my sister still happy?" He looked intently at Lucrezia who was looking back at him with a thankful smile on her lips.

"Very much so."

"She deserves it, does she not?" Jane looked at the young girl, locks of gold beginning to fall out of the hair net as she laughed.

"Yes, she does."

Suddenly he rose from where he was seated. "I would like to say a few words." His eyes wandered over the crowd before latching onto his sister's face. "To my dear, brave sister."

Everybody were now looking at him, a few nodding or smiling in appreciation. "I think I speak for all when I say that you are wonderful, amazing. Every day, my appreciation of you grows and it has now reached a point where I cannot and will not imagine a life without you. For a while now, you have been gone from us and those months have been filled with dread and despair, and I have no doubts that it is not a coincidence that the moment you returned, light filled our lives again. I would like to thank you, sis, not for anything you have done but for simply being." He smiled warmly at her, his eyes having never left her during his speech. "Thank you."

Then they all clapped and smiled and exchanged comments on the wonderful speech as Cesare sat down once more, but Lucrezia did this the loudest and warmest, her eyes on her brother.

Then Giulia raised her glass with a wide smile. "I would toast to that," she said and lifted her glass. "To Lucrezia."

"To Lucrezia," the guests repeated and took large swigs of their glasses in honor of the young girl.

After that the group of people began talking together in small groups and, as the afternoon went by, some left, including Vanozza, Gioffre and Sancha. By the time the sun was setting, only the three oldest siblings, their father, Jane and Giulia remained.

"You know, don't you?" Jane almost jumped in shock when Cesare suddenly appeared behind her.

Jane quickly regained her calm composure and turned her face to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I have seen that you keep an eye on me – especially when I'm close to her." He gestured towards his sister.

"I am still not sure what you're implying." Of course she was. She definitely had a feeling.

"But you have an idea, and that is why you have been paying so close attention to me." He hesitated before continuing. "I know it is not right, that it is, indeed, very wrong. And it plagues me every day. But be sure of this; I would never do anything to compromise her innocence."

Jane was a bit taken aback by this confrontation, but she also knew that it was a sign that he was telling the truth. In fact, she had no doubts that he was being as honest as possible. "I have no doubts that you would never hurt her, in one way or another."

His eyes were on her again as she rose from her seat to walk across the floor and refilling her wine. "Why is it that love can never be right?" he asked, his eyes not leaving her.

"God must have made it that way for a reason." She thought it over once more. "Perhaps to make the love stronger."

Cesare nodded. "Impossible loves," he said, "I am very much afraid they can become an addiction."