Lucrezia

[autcaesar_autnihil]

Though she'd been texting him all night and let him know at length that she was all right--ah, but was he? Poor Lucrezia, his sweet little sister, face like an angel, raised to be as paranoid and bloody-minded as the rest of the Borgia brood. He'd tried so hard to preserve what innocence a Borgia could retain, but this last thing he'd asked of her felt like raising the white flag, to Cesare. It wasn't that he thought Lucrezia couldn't do it; he knew she could, she was the most capable person he'd ever known. It was that she shouldn't have to.

And yet, she had. And Micheletto had gotten the pictures. And was now on his way to Rover with a busted face and bruises mapping out the story of their evening all over his wiry body. For his part, Cesare's hands weren't in terrible shape, just a little swelling around the knuckles of his right hand, and a small indent from a ring on the left. He knew how to be careful--even with himself, though he rarely bothered. He didn't give a toss about his hands, he just didn't want to worry Lucrezia.

He rang the bell and waited, knowing he was expected, but it was still late-ish to come calling. Hopefully, Allan was off drunk in a pub or sleeping at the office, tonight. Cesare didn't think he could handle that level of stupidity, after the strange night he'd had.

Comments

[borgiafatale]

"Then maybe you shouldn't have let father pressure me into making an advantageous marriage for his political ambitions," Lucrezia snapped, and stood.

But her face softened almost immediately, because she simply couldn't think poorly of him, more so than anyone in the world. "I'm fine, Cesare. I love him, it's fine." She even almost believed it, still.

[autcaesar_autnihil]

"You said you loved him," Cesare said quietly, the fire in his eyes quelled by obvious guilt. "I thought you deserved love, after what he put you through the first time."

But if this was love, then God save them all from it. This was a different kind of misery, this... mediocrity.

[borgiafatale]

"I did," said Lucrezia hastily. "I do."

And the truth was, she thought she had. Though she also realized that one of the things she'd loved about Allan was... he didn't try to control her. Not one bit. She just hadn't realized at the time that it may have meant he didn't care as much about her.

"You should probably go, Cesare," she said. "Why don't we have lunch tomorrow?"

[autcaesar_autnihil]

He stood in one smooth, quick motion, and leaned down to press a kiss into her forehead. "Good night, sis. Text me where you want to meet for lunch, then."

And he turned before she could get a good look at his face. Because it still wore that mixture of slow, but hot-burning anger and, the rarest of all, on him, guilt.