✓ | ✩ louis partridge imagines ✩

the friar's daughter ii / p.m.

many months had passed since the night you last saw piero. you soon came to discover that tommaso peruzzi was murdered that same night. there was no correlation, due to the fact that tommaso had been murdered while you were at the palazzo trying to warn piero that his father had partaken in acts of corruption. this meant that someone else had found out what you and your father knew, but they happened to be on the other side of things and worked for the medici's. however, that also meant that your efforts to warn piero were useless, and you were forced to live a life without him.

in the passing time, tension between your father and lorenzo had worsened, as your father was dedicated to leading lorenzo to his demise. he represented the people of florence and now hated everything that the medici's stood for.

on the other hand, your relationship with your father had not worsened, although there was clearly a divide between you two and you couldn't help but think that he no longer claimed you as his daughter. deep down, you knew that it was time for you to be married and he would never make an effort to speak to you again once you did.

you sat at the table, twirling your spoon around in a bowl of porridge and wondered what piero might have been doing at the moment. your father was at mass and was due to be home at any minute. you were supposed to accompany him, but you told him you weren't feeling well in order to stay home. to your surprise, the door burst open causing you to almost drop your spoon. your father entered the house with a solemn and slightly frantic look on his face.

"what is it, father?" you asked.

*

you trailed behind your father, eyes hanging low, as you joined the townspeople in the square outside the church. it seemed as if the fall of the medici name was coming, like god himself was sending tragedy after tragedy to the family. only a few months after the death of tommaso peruzzi, your father came home from his sermon bearing the news that clarice de medici had collapsed right infront of the congregation. within hours of that announcement, another announcement had been made. the woman who brought the boy you loved the most into the world, had left it. the moment you found out, you wanted more than nothing than to run to the palazzo and comfort piero. and yet, you didn't even know what he had currently looked like. until now.

you stood behind your father and peered over his shoulder at the church doors. clarice's funeral service had just concluded, and you watched as lorenzo emerged from the doors with bruno bernardi, his trusted advisor at his side. one by one, you watched as clarice's loved ones left the service. you were at ease seeing familiar faces, such as giovanni, giulio, and maddalena.

you felt tears prick your eyes and a lump form in your throat when the face you had been longing to see, finally emerged. the boy who once radiated love and light around you, now looked absolutely broken. you met his gaze for a brief moment, and he was almost unrecognizeable. his warm brown eyes that were once filled to the brim with joy and curiosity, were now empty and a cold dark shade. his hair had grown a bit longer since you last saw him, and you could tell that his face had matured a bit. it even seemed as if he had picked up a few inches in height. but one thing about him hadn't changed, and it was the effect he had on you. your breath still got caught in your throat and your knees felt the slightest bit weaker than they had moments before. you even felt the butterflies that you thought were dead, flutter to life in your stomach. you still loved him, even though you weren't supposed to.

you felt your father tense up and immediately begin to walk forward toward lorenzo, who was whispering to bruno. you knew exactly what he was about to do and you brought your gaze to the floor, slowly following him. lorenzo and piero did the same, meeting you and your father in the middle between the silent crowd and the church where their loved one lay. all of florence's eyes were now on girolamo savonarola, lorenzo de medici, and their two eldest children, and you couldn't afford to exhibit any signs that your loyalty was up in the air.