feel it coming

He always wanted to be a soldier, even after his father made him Cardinal of Valencia when he was only seventeen years old. As we all know he resigned from that post, making him the first cardinal in the Churchs history to do so. The Borgia treat our country and the Vatican as if they were their own private fiefdom. Cesares plan now is to crush the north first, to subdue the Romagna and isolate Venice. He also intends to extirpate and destroy all of us remaining Assassins, since he knows that in the end we are the only people who can stop him. â€œAut Cesar, Aut Nihilâ€� thats his motto â€œeither youre with me or youre deadâ€�. And do you know I think the madman actually believes it. My uncle mentioned a sister, Ezio began. Machiavelli turned to him. Yes. Lucrezia. She and Cesare are how shall I say Very close. They are a very closeknit family; when they are not killing those other brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, whom they find inconvenient to them, they are coupling with each other. Maria Auditore could not suppress a cry of disgust. We must approach them with all the caution we would use to approach a nest of vipers, Machiavelli concluded. And God knows where and how soon they will next strike. He paused and drank half a glass of e. And now, Mario, I leave you. Ezio, we will meet again soon, I trust. Youre leaving this evening Time is of the essence, good Mario. I ride for Rome tonight. Farewell. The room was silent once Machiavelli had left. After a long pause, Ezio said bitterly, He blames me for not killing Rodrigo when I had the chance. He looked round at them. You all do. Any of us might have made the decision you made, said his mother. You were sure he was dying. Mario came and put an arm round his shoulders. Machiavelli knows your value; we all do. And even with the Pope out of the way, wed still have had to deal with his brood. But if I had cut off the head, could the body have survived We must deal with the situation as it is, good Ezio, not with it as it might have been. Mario clapped him on the back. And now, as we are in for a busy day tomorrow, I suggest we dine and prepare for an early night! Caterinas eyes met Ezios. Did he imagine it, or was there a flicker of lust there He shrugged inwardly. Perhaps he was just imagining it.

Ezio ate lightly just pollo ripieno with roasted vegetables and he drank his Chianti cut half and half with water. There was little conversation at dinner, and he answered his mothers string of questions politely but laconically. After all the tension that had mounted in anticipation of the meeting, and which had now melted away, he was very tired. He had barely had a chance to rest since leaving Rome, and it looked now as if it would be a long time still before he could realize his longcherished ambition of spending some time back in his old home in Florence, reading and walking in the surrounding gentle hills. As soon as he decently could, Ezio made his excuses to the company and set off for his bedroom, a large, quiet, dimly lit space on one of the upper floors, with a view across the countryside rather than the town. Once hed reached it and dismissed the servant, he let go of the steeliness that had supported him throughout the day; his body slumped, his shoulders sagged and his walk eased. His movements were slow and deliberate. He moved across the room to where the servant had already drawn him a bath. As he approached it, he tugged at his boots and took off his clothes and, once naked, he stood for a moment, his clothes bundled in his hands, before a fulllength mirror on a stand near the copper tub. He looked at his reflection with weary eyes. Where had the last four long decades gone He straightened. He was older, stronger even, certainly wiser, but he could not deny the profound fatigue he felt. Ezio threw his clothes onto the bed. Under it, in a locked elm chest, were the secret Codex weapons that Leonardo da Vinci had fashioned for him. He would check them over first thing in the morning, after the council of war hed be holding with his uncle. The original Hidden Blade never left him except when he was naked, and even then he kept it within arms reach. He wore it always; it had become part of his body. Sighing with relief, Ezio slipped into the bath. Immersed up to his neck in the hot water, breathing in the gently scented steam, he closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath of relief. Peace at last. He had better make the most of the few short hours he had of it.