hungry dogs are never loyal × fp

11 : atlas

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guglielmo let out a sigh as he stared down at the book, his fingers weaved into his shaggy hair. he had been studying latin for what felt like centuries and the words on the page were all starting to look the same.

he shut the book and rubbed his tired eyes, leaning back in his chair. other papers and maps were sprawled across the desk, marked up from his examination.

francesco and salviati were out of the house all day to meet with giuliano in private, and they had left guglielmo to monitor jacopo for the day.

it was mind-numbing; jacopo had cooped himself up in his study all day having meetings with the bankers of italy. the only thing guglielmo could do was sit in a nearby room and keep himself entertained while he waited for something worthwhile to happen. other than studying maps and latin, the only interesting things were jacopo's occasional yelling and a sparrow that had made a few visits at the windowsill.

he stood and stretched his stiff muscles. he could have gone to the market, taken a bath, gone for a ride to the countryside, and taken a nap all in the time he had spent idling here waiting for jacopo to do something.

guglielmo was shelving the books he had sifted through to give himself something to do when the door to jacopo's study opened. he froze.

"-take them down completely. there is no way they will recover."

he heard jacopo's slimy voice, followed by shuffling footsteps-presumably the bankers being ushered from the study.

"i think this will work very well, signor pazzi."

those words came from an unfamiliar voice, which was followed by jacopo's voice.

"we can only hope so."

more footsteps echoed down the corridor as various goodbyes were exchanged among the men. then the footsteps were receding until it was silent. guglielmo held his breath, waiting for the dead air to come back to life.

a single pair of footsteps became audible as they moved away from the front of the house and back towards the study. it was jacopo.

the footsteps gradually grew louder in a gentle crescendo as jacopo moved down the corridor and closer to guglielmo's room. then, they stopped.

silence.

guglielmo's heart was pounding against his chest. he was starting to shake all over like he was shivering, but he wasn't cold, not even a little bit.

an agitated sigh broke the quiet.

"look what you've done. you had to go and be a brat and spoil the good mood."

guglielmo's blood ran cold in his veins. jacopo's voice made his stomach twist and his mouth run dry. he didn't dare breathe.

"i have to hand it to you, though. you managed to sit in that room for hours with nothing but yourself. how obedient of you."

jacopo's footsteps were slow and menacing as they drew even nearer to his room. guglielmo began to panic.

"i could use that kind of obedience. it's such a shame it's all going to waste."