The Medici Girl

Devotion

Contessina wrapped her cloak around her body as the chilly air seeped through. She had been standing there near the Vecchio for some time while waiting on Ezio to descend. The guards had passed by her three times since he had gone up and they seemed to not notice her, which was a good thing. She began to walk around to try and warm herself, only that did not work. The air was getting colder the longer she waited. 

Rubbing her hands together, Contessina walked away from where Ezio told her to stay without thinking. It was getting late and the Piazza was now very empty besides the city guard patrolling around keeping the peace. She did not know how long it would take for the guards to start asking questions because a woman alone at night was just begging for trouble, however her fears were interrupted by the sound of something heavy falling into a nearby cart full of hay. Contessina turned around to see what it was and saw Ezio emerge from the cart with hay sticking to him. 

"How is your father?" She asked walking up to him. 

"As well as can be expected." Ezio replied to her as she began to pick hay off of his clothes with her cold hands. "We need to get back home. Father said something about a hidden room and a letter to Uberto." He grabbed her hand as she pulled a large twig of hay from his hair. "Your hands are freezing!" He suddenly felt guilty for taking so much time, but she did come on her own volition. 

"Don't worry about me, Ezio. I will be fine. How are your brothers?" Contessina asked him with concern etched all over her pale face. 

"Petruccio is scared and cold, but he is unharmed. As for Federico, he has a busted nose." The young Auditore said feeling at a loss. "I should've come home sooner." 

"No, don't think like that. If you had, you would have been taken away as well. Your father knew what he was doing, Ezio, trust him." She put her hand on his arm in comfort. "Let's get out of here before the guards come around again." Contessina did not give him the chance to reply before she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. 

"You said that like you knew this was going to happen just like he did." Ezio resisted a little, but relented. 

"I did in a way, but right now, we need to get home." Contessina made it her mission to get Ezio to where he needed to be and at this point he was more interested in answers than doing what his father told him to do. "I promise I will tell you everything I now later, but we have to do what Giovanni said." Ezio said nothing after that and let go of her hand to walk ahead of her a little. He was going to make sure they were not seen again. 

Thankfully, the city guards seemed to be thinning out by the time the couple made it back to the Palazzo Auditore. The two of them stood at the front gate next to each other not sure what to say to one another. Contessina had grabbed Ezio's hand at some point and had not let it go since, but now the two of them needed that extra comfort. She looked at him and could see the turmoil on his face as he decided to walk into the courtyard. Whatever Giovanni had told Ezio was weighing heavily on the young man's mind. 

Ezio pulled his hand from Contessina's grip and continued towards the door that belonged to his father's office. He slowly opened the heavy cypress door that he knew so well only to see the office had been completely ransacked. Contessina was close behind Ezio when he walked in to survey the damage done. 

"Alfonso's men must have come back here to gather more evidence." She told him, but he did not answer her. Instead he moved towards the fireplace at the far end of the room and started looking for something that she had not seen before. "Ezio?" 

Contessina blinked as he continued moving around until his hand settled on one of the sconces beside the mantle of the fireplace. Pulling down on it there was a click followed by the sound of stone grinding on brick as the back of the kiln began to sink down into the floor. Contessina's eyes widened at what she saw. She did not say anything more as she watched Ezio walk right into the hidden room that belonged to Giovanni and his secrets.