pontificus | ( duplicity ) inbox

[It still doesn't occur to him that Cesare had manipulated his words. There had been a sort of understanding between them before. And while they didn't share similar values, they at least seemed to get along enough to enjoy a drink with each other.

He frowns, trying to think if there was anything that might have been over the line.]

He spoke of sharing. [He shook his head.] I have been shot with enough arrows by a woman to know better than to do something that might hurt her. I told him that you'd likely punish me yourself if I suggested it and that you were more stubborn than me.

[And that was never the sort of talk he engaged in, even at his most crass.]

Did he show you the notes? Is that how you heard of this?

[She stays still in her place, listening to his explanation. Though right now he does make the corners of her mouth turn upward just a bit at the mention of her being stubborn. It may be true to some extent, and he is certainly right, because she is concerned for her name.]

Notes? [Cesare has not mentioned them.] He only came in, knowing you were the one who had helped me become solid again. He said nothing of notes, but that you had talked of me. He is concerned that you would besmirch my name in this city.

[There is no concealing the surprise on his face. While they were not close, he had assumed that there was at least an understanding between them. While annoyed by this, there is something familiar in it.

If a man came to this city and bedded Sansa, spoke of her to him, he'd also be concerned about her safety and the man's character. Sisters were different than average women and he knew that. If it was Arya even...he doesn't finish that thought, the anger making him bristle.]

If you want to know what I said, you could read the notes? It wasn't anything I would be afraid to say to you. I called you beautiful, stubborn and capable of injuring me.

I told you I had two sisters?

[He never really spoke about family or past often, but this apparently needed to be said.]

My oldest, Sansa, she was forced to marry twice. Once to a dwarf, but he is a good man. His family killed our father and they wanted the power she represented. So they linked her in marriage to them, treating her like a hostage more than a woman. Tyrion was good to her, so she said. But it wasn't a marriage she wanted.

[He cleared his throat, frowning at the ground.]

Her second marriage was to the son of the man that murdered our brother. He...wasn't kind. It's not my place to talk of what happened to her, but it was the worst sort of marriage.

If she was here...I would feel the same as Cesare.

I believe you. [And she does. She doesn't need to see the notes. They are messages exchanged between two men, friends even. She would not want to intrude on that even if it seems she unintentionally has. Lucrezia shakes her head as she listens to his story.

She can relate to much of it, listening to Jon's sister's struggle. It sounds much of what she has been through.]

I would not wish this place on any, but I should like to meet your sister if I am ever given the chance. [She relaxes somewhat.]

Cesare-- is very protective of me. He was the one to wed me to my first husband. It, too, was a marriage to unite our houses, to consolidate power. My father had only just been named Pope, head of our church.

Cesare and I have always been close. [He is the one who promised to kill him if Giovanni did anything. She does not speak of it though, knowing she has the knife Cesare gave her hidden just across the hall.]

I think he does not do well with my presence here. Being a woman here, he worries.

You remind me of her. [As strange as that might sound.] She was always very proper and elegant, but she's stubborn and knows her own mind. If I don't listen to her, she tries to find a way to make me listen.

[Though they often butted heads. If she underminded him, if he ignored her. They were siblings first and foremost, raised away from each other and never close to begin with. Now she was one of the most important remaining figures in his life. The only family left to him.]

You were right when you said your brother cared for you. [And he would know better from now on to watch what he said and how he acted while they were both together.] You told me that your first marriage ended.

Did he help free you from him?

[She finally feels satisfied with the answers Jon gives and moves further into his rooms, offering a small smile when he mentions that his sister is stubborn. Lucrezia does not see herself as stubborn, but she is ambitious. She merely has learned that she needs to go about her ambitions in a different way. Ambition rules the Borgias more than perhaps any other family.

She is a little tightlipped on the story of Giovanni, simply because he is not a man that does deserve to be spoken of. And there are some secrets she would keep with her brother.]

My father annulled us when it was deemed that Giovanni Sforza was impotent. He was not. In truth he was cruel and took my innocence from me in perhaps a similar manner to your sister's second husband. [At least that is what it sounds like.]

He was no longer useful to my family, and I had already bore a son who was not his.

[He's quiet, the only acknowledgement to what Sansa suffered. She had not given him very many details, but his threats filled in the rest of his questions. He wouldn't press and wasn't certain he wanted the full answers. Ramsay's character was clear.]

That must have been an insult to his pride. [Both the child and the impotence. He didn't know the man, but he could imagine how any other nobleman might respond.] It is some form of revenge.

[He offered her a glass of wine, considering how much more he should tell her. Ramsay's death was hers alone, but the battle in general was something they both shared.]

Ramsay Bolton, my sister's second husband, he had been given our family keep because his father betrayed our brother. Sansa and I went to war with him to reclaim it and to try to save our younger brother...

[His voice trailed off.]

She's widowed now and happier.

[She takes the glass of wine, swirling it in her cup for a moment. Lucrezia savors it while he continues the story of his sister. She can relate to it, though revenge was truly in the hands of Cesare. She knows what he would do for her if she only asked him.]

I am glad to hear of her happiness. I hope it may continue for her and for you.

[She does not feel it is the same for her. Alfonso is kind and has a good heart, and she does care for him, but she feels far from happy, being forced into another situation for the sake of her family.

But here? Here is different. Taking her brother's deal of contract means she knows herself to be safe, and he would not give her to another. He would not use her for some bargaining chip. She is free to be herself here, though she barely knows what that even is.]

[As much happiness as Sansa could find. Of late, it seemed that they were arguing more and he was ruling differently than she would want. They were at least together. It was more than they had as children.]

Happiness is more than I can ask for.

[But he doesn't want to darken their time together with his brooding. He tapped the glass of his wine against hers in an attempt to divert from the subject.]

You seem to be more at ease here.

[As much as she could be.]

Have you had the chance to explore the city?

[She watched as he tipped their glasses together. Even if things have settled between them, her smile does not completely return. She does try before taking a sip of it to test it.]

I am adjusting. Given my designation, I'm not granted as many freedoms and am at the mercy of my brother. And with no sun, it has been hard to see anything.

I did see the park before we went on the boat though.

[She hasn't ventured very far.]

[He watched her carefully, concerned that her mood had been ruined for the night. He hoped to see an easiness in her again, that same warm and light that had been there while they were on the cruise.]

You're fortunate. [Even if her brother was claiming Jon was a coarse and flippant with a woman's honor.] There is no better time to explore the city while most of the people are gone. No one will try to control or limit you.

[He gives her a sly smile.]

This is a chance to do what we want.

[She offers a small smile in return, though not nearly as bright as she was, but not nearly as upset as she was when Cesare had first come to her. Lucrezia was glad it seemed to be resolved, and she was glad for it. She had not think Jon the man capable of slighting a woman's name.]

It is also hard to navigate the city, and it is not the safest even when it is. [Not that she doesn't feel safe when she's with him. After all she had gained her form back because of him.]

What if there was someone with you who knew the city a bit better and could keep you safe?

[He would leave the idea in her hands. There were things he wanted to do with Lucrezia, things he wanted to show her. It was a level of excitement he hadn't felt since Ygritte. Maybe he'd even find her a silk dress, if he could scrounge up the coin for it.]

There is also my wolf to look after you.

[The white direwolf peeked his head out from the bedroom, having smelled the stranger in the room and curious to see what was happening.]

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