Hi everyone! This is my very first fanfic VERY loosely based on The Borgias. I took great liberties with the historical background to the point where the only things that are kept constant are just the main characters, so please just go along with it and don't take it too seriously. For example, Giovanni and Caterina's backstories are almost entirely fictional here. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 - A Grotesque Misalliance
The rays of the setting sun pierced the warm late summer air. The leaves in the garden of the Sforza castle were beginning to take on the glowing reds and yellows of the approaching harvest, though the darkness was not yet too quick to fall on the bountiful fields at the close of day, and the nights were still warm.
But Giovanni Sforza was not enjoying the beauty of the season. Sullen and glum, he trudged along the pathway that led back up to the castle. As his cousin, the formidable Caterina Sforza, leaned on his arm and explained to him, yet again, the benefits proffered by his approaching nuptials, he stared blankly ahead, occasional flickers of frustration sending ripples across his face.
"The dowry they are offering really is immense," continued Caterina. "For the union of Isabella of Andalusia, her family only gave a dowry of 80,000 ducats. Pales in comparison next to what the Pope is offering..."
Giovanni breathed a deep sigh of frustration, but held his tongue. He wanted to snap, to say that no money could redeem this embarrassment, that he would rather crawl in filth on his knees and live out his life celibate like a monk, with his honour intact, than… no. No, Caterina did not deserve his anger. Heaven knew, she loved him. As long as they knew each other, she had looked out for him. No, this was not the time.
"Their armies would certainly be enough for Ludovico to fend off the Turks, I reckon - if need be...", his cousin continued. "Not to mention how much this marriage would bolster your position!"
Giovanni rolled his eyes. "I fail to understand how marrying the bastard daughter of a lecherous, corrupt whoremaster is an improvement on my position, cousin. Even if her father did manage to lie and bribe his way onto the Throne of St Peter!"
Caterina's face fell. She stopped and turned to look at Giovanni.
"I, too, was born out of wedlock, cousin," she remarked coldly.
Giovanni froze, realising his mistake. He reached out to touch Caterina on the arm. "Caterina, my dearest, I didn't mean you. Surely you understand that there is no comparison to be drawn here. You are the daughter of one of Italy's finest noble families, and that nobility shines out in your every action." He was pleased to see his cousin's face soften at that remark. "And you know how much I cherish you and value your advice. I respect and love you more than I would my natural sister." He bent down and kissed her hand. Then his face darkened once more. "The lineage of my betrothed, on the other hand… is a different matter entirely."
He could barely believe his ears when his councillors suggested he accept the Pope's offer of his daughter's hand in marriage. He had fought for so long to be taken seriously. The legitimate children of other nobles flung insults at him. He was never invited to join his father at meals with other nobles. And still, he cherished every crumb of attention, every look and every smile, however rare, even though he knew that they would disappear completely if a legitimate brother or sister ever entered the picture. But it was not to be.
He was ten when he had his first sleepless night. Any minute now someone would crawl in through the window and kill the bastard son of Constanzo Sforza to get their hands on Pesaro and Gradara. He stayed awake and alone with the dull dark outside his window, until the dawn broke through at last to liberate him.
He sought glory on the battlefield to try and outrun his beginnings, and he had found it. The screams of dying men were pushed out of his consciousness by the first gulps of clean water in liberated cities, by the flowers from the grateful children who would live to grow old, by the knowledge that their families would remember his help and come to his aid if his lands were ever attacked.
But some shackles, it seemed, he could not throw off.
Was this all that he was worth, even after all of his efforts?
The illegitimate daughter of the most notorious family in Europe, the daughter of a courtesan and a Spanish commoner who had risen to become the most hated pope Christendom had suffered for decades, was to be his bride? A child, still playing with dolls, who was nonetheless already rumoured to engage in incestuous couplings with her own brother and father?
"I am the nephew of the Duke of Milan," he continued, kicking a couple of dry leaves with his boot. "I am a Sforza. I don't need to marry so far beneath me for the sake of money. A Borgia - is that how little I am valued, Caterina?"
"You are valued immensely, Giovanni! That is why these arrangements have all been made." countered Caterina. "Money is important. Our position, our power is important. And power cannot be static. Power must adapt to the circumstances. And the circumstances are such that, even though you are technically in line to inherit the Duchy of Milan, you are yourself illegitimate. Which means that you need to be better connected, so that your claim is stronger, so that neither France nor the Artheremès dare try to take Milan from us. You need more… prestige. And an alliance with the Pope, a marriage with his daughter, is a way to get that."
Giovanni scoffed bitterly and shook his head again. "The Pope's daughter… for shame."
The thought of implicitly condoning the power that the depraved Borgia clan commanded by marrying into it filled him with rage. No prestige could justify such an embarrassment.
"It's for the good of the family, Giovanni." Caterina squeezed his arm encouragingly. "It will all be worth it."
"That Vanozza woman must not be at the wedding," Giovanni demanded, his tone brooking no argument. "Not at the ceremony, not at the reception, not at the masque - she must not be there. In fact, now that I think about it, my wife is not to see her ever again. It's bad enough that I have to share a table with murderers and lechers, and call them family, and marry their illegitimate brood - I will not stand to be insulted any more than is completely necessary. I will not stand for it."
"Giovanni," Caterina whispered, "she is only fourteen. Can you blame her for loving her mother? With the support of her mother, she will feel less scared of you, and less homesick when she moves to Pesaro. It would make such a huge difference!"
Giovanni scowled. "It's not my job to make her less scared. It's not my job to make sure she isn't homesick. She is to be my wife, and my wife will never keep company with prostitutes, even if one of them gave birth to her. My word is final!"
The sun dipped below the horizon. A chill was setting in, and a cold wind started to howl in the branches above, ruffling the dead leaves on the ground. Caterina felt its icy grip on her bare neck and shoulders, and it seemed to her for a moment that rough and calloused hands were clenched there once again, hurting her and bruising her skin. Her stomach spasmed, she shivered hard, and the ghost fell away from her.
"Giovanni," she whispered gently, clasping his hand and turning to look him in the face. "I know you're angry, and I know you don't want this marriage. I've been through this myself, you know that. But I ask you, please, my dear cousin, be kind to young Lucrezia. Take care of her. She is not to blame for any of this, she doesn't want any of this."
He turned away from her.
"Giovanni, please," she pleaded, placing her hand on his shoulder. "My first marriage was with a much older man too. I was in the same situation as she is now. He…" She wanted to keep talking, but her throat stopped obeying her. She gulped, squeezed her eyes shut to chase away the memories, and composed herself. "Please, Giovanni. Don't take it out on her. She's just a child."
Giovanni breathed a deep sigh. How could a woman, so overtaken by her lust that she would share a bed with her father and her brother, possibly be a child? He couldn't believe that a creature so depraved, however young, could ever be innocent in any meaningful way. Perhaps she had nothing to do with the decisions of her family, but what difference could it possibly make? In his situation, surely he was allowed some sort of release.
"Giovanni, please." Caterina entreated again, as if she had heard his thoughts, "If you want, she can live with me in Forli. You don't have to see her. You don't-"
He kissed her hand, then dropped it and started his way towards the castle, submerged in his resentment and brooding.
TBC