LUCREZIA BORGIA + GIULIA FARNESE (requested by @sacredkafka) "You will learn, my dear, as women, we control so little of our destiny. Men do. The outcome is, we hate each other. But we should not."

Yandere the borgias family with innocent reader

Yandere Borgia family and innocent reader.

The reader's financial situation and status do not matter to the Borgia family. It doesn't matter how you met them. What matters is that you are now a part of their family. So there is no way back now.

》 Protective/ possessive/ jealous/ manipulative/ violent/ 《

◇Pope Alexander vi /Rodrigo Borgia.

Head of the Borgia family. He is ruthless, ambitious and extremely devoted to his family. Bringing power, influence and wealth to the Borgia family are the most important principles for Rodrigo. Shortly after meeting you, Rodrigo sees you as his second daughter. So now for Rodrigo you are his sweet and innocent Princess. Rodrigo has a say in all decisions about your life. He wants the best for you. He is protective of you because of your innocent nature. He believes that an innocent like you cannot survive in such a world. Rodrigo will ensure that you live a life worthy of a Princess.

◇Vanozza dei Catannei.

For Vanozza, you are now her child and second daughter. She is very determined to be your confidant and advisor. She tries to help you in everything. She is protective and possessive about your innocence. She will not allow anyone to defile you. It will allow you to have the most expensive jewelry and dresses. Mother and daughter moments with you are very precious to Vanozza.

◇Cesare Borgia.

To Cesare, you are his innocent little sister. There is no limit to the abominations and cruelties he will do to you. It is very severe against the smallest mistakes made against you. Cesare will do anything for his family. So there is nothing that you cannot do. Even if he is a brash and arrogant man, this changes when he is with you. He maintains his image as the perfect man and the great older brother when he is with you.

◇ Lucrezia Borgia.

Lucrezia has always dreamed of having a sister. You are now her little sister. She is possessive and protective of your innocent nature. To Lucrezia, you are pure sunshine. Chatting with you, trying on new dresses and jewelry, and walking around together are her favorite activities. Lucrezia supports you in everything. She shares all her secrets and fears with you.

◇Juan Borgia.

Juan is not exactly close with his other siblings. But the only exception is you. Juan is improving his skills in combat so he can protect you better. He rarely visits taverns and brothels anymore. He doesn't want to spoil his image and innocence in your eyes. He fights a lot about you, especially with his brother. There will be a great rivalry between him and his brother.

◇ Giulia Farnese.

Giulia sees you as the daughter she never had. She's always fighting with Vanozza to mother you. In Giulia's eyes, you are an innocent girl. That's why the instinct to protect you is so strong. She never gets tired of buying you lots of gifts. The competitive battle with Vanozza never ends. However, both of them do not hesitate to work together for your good.

tag games!!

this took me forever and a day and I am SO sorry about it but ily all who tagged me and I appreciate you thinking of me 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

under the cut!

no. 1

tagged by the lovelies @ezrabridgerr 🩷 @kimdokjas 🩷 @mx-sinisters 🩷

✧ 8 shows to get to know me ✧

I'll split this between anime and liveaction!! also, I'm not putting my all time favourites ever, I'm putting the all time favourites that have my dominant favourite genre "vibe", since they're the "get to know me" sort of shows

anime

death note

steins;gate

psycho pass

kakegurui

fma:b

code geass

fate series

free!

(honourable mention to chainsaw man, jjba and hunter x hunter)

liveaction

the borgias **

you

the expanse

alice in borderland

altered carbon

lost in space

true detective (especially s1)

love o2o

(honourable mention to 3% and mandatory sex and the city mention)

**(this is a different genre from the others and I'll say why! Lucrezia Borgia and Giulia Farnese are important feminist historical figures to me since I first learned about them as a young girl in history, and I absolutely loved how the show portrayed them)

additional honourable mentions to the movies alien and scream. if you haven't, please watch them. fun facts, alien has the first ever heroine on the big screen in history and scream is the best analysis of slashers and has the best plot twists. iconic movies!

no. 2

tagged by the cool @mx-sinisters 🩷

post your lock screen, last photo you took, and last song

no. 3

tagged by the sweet @kimdokjas 🩷

picrew (this was very fun, and yes I do have long mermaid hair I've worked so hard for!! *tears of joy*)

tagging!! @hayakaws 🩷 @okkottsus 🩷 @mx-sinisters 🩷 @reinerist 🩷 @ezrabridgerr 🩷 @kimdokjas 🩷 @misakarose 🩷 @gojosattoru 🩷 @apparently-artless 🩷 @silversoulsociety 🩷 @tatakaeeren 🩷 @inahochi 🩷 @sasukechiha 🩷 @braunreiner 🩷 @tanchirou 🩷 @nicholasdwolf 🩷 @ohreigen 🩷 @senjutobiirama 🩷 @upperranktwo 🩷

Ariete - Mare Di Guai from Enea Colombi on Vimeo.

In an emptied world two girls are oppositely trapped in a relationship breakdown.

Director : Enea Colombi DOP: Alessandro Ubaldi Executive Producer: Matteo Stefani Line Producer/1st AD: Matilde Composta Line Producer/Production Manager: Lorenzo Bramati Production Coordinators: Cecilia Terenzoni, Simone Mambella Production Assistants: Ludovico Fontanesi, Matteo Pani, Alice Peroni, Gabriel Lufrano 1st AC: Giuseppe Torsello 2nd AC: Francesco Eccli Operatore Ronin: Federico Vio Operatore Steadicam: Jeffrey Alex Attoh Gaffer: Jacopo Pozzi Capo macchinista: Samy Besana Camera Assistant: Davide Fantuzzi Stunt Coordinator: Simone Belli Stunt: Lucrezia Mariutto Stunt Performer: Salvatore Bulferi Stunt Camera Quad Operator: Cristian Toscano Eyes: Giulia Belloni Make-up SFX: Giulia Falcone Stylist Ariete: Lorenzo Posocco Ass Stylist: Davide Spinella Stylist stunt: Aurora Zaltieri Ass Stylist: Sofia Piazza, Sofia Bertozzi Make Up Artist: Emanuela Caricato Scenografo: Giacomo Broggini Location Manager: Andrea Vetralla Location Scout: EREMO Color grading: Daniel Pallucca VFX: Stefano Disgrazia

Runners: Chiara Rossano, Jimmi Rodolfi Glass technicians: Felice Aliberti, Gioacchino Figuccia, Diego Mauthe Degerfeld x VetroCar Service: Videodesign

Il Capo della Polizia Lamberto Giannini ha incontrato i medagliati delle Fiamme Oro 2022

Il Capo della Polizia Lamberto Giannini ha incontrato i medagliati delle Fiamme Oro 2022. Il Capo della Polizia - Direttore Generale della Pubblica Sicurezza Prefetto Lamberto Giannini, ha incontrato ieri pomeriggio presso la sede dell’Ufficio Relazioni Esterne, Cerimoniale e Studi Storici della Segreteria del Dipartimento della P. S., gli atleti delle Fiamme Oro medagliati ai mondiali di nuoto di Budapest  2022. All’evento hanno partecipato il Presidente della Federazione Italiana Nuoto On.le Paolo Barelli, il Prefetto Giuseppe Scandone, Direttore Centrale per gli affari generali e le politiche del personale, il Presidente del Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Oro Francesco Montini.   I campioni  Tra gli 11 campioni presenti che con le loro imprese sportive hanno inorgoglito l’Italia, Gregorio Paltrinieri campione del mondo nei 1500 mt stile libero, con record europeo ed italiano, medaglia d’oro nella 10 km in acque libere, medaglia d'argento nei 5 km e infine medaglia di bronzo nella staffetta 4 x 1500 mt in acque libere; titoli che gli hanno consentito di entrare di diritto nella storia del nuoto italiano come l’atleta che ha vinto più medaglie mondiali. Tra gli ori mondiali presente la nuova coppia del nuoto sincronizzato Lucrezia Ruggiero e Giorgio Minisini, che hanno vinto i due titoli mondiali nel misto tecnico e nel misto libero. Hanno preso parte all’evento anche gli atleti  Acerenza Domenico, Gabbrielleschi Giulia, Taddeucci Ginevra, Cavanna Domiziana, Zunino Francesca, Piccoli Enrica e Sportelli Isotta.   L'intervento del Prefetto Lamberto Giannini Nel suo intervento il Prefetto Lamberto Giannini, dopo essersi complimentato per i risultati eccezionali conseguiti nel mondiale di Budapest dalle Fiamme Oro, ha sottolineato la scelta strategica della Polizia di Stato di investire sui giovani seguendoli nella loro crescita sportiva e supportandoli nel loro percorso da professionisti ed ha rimarcato l’importanza delle sezioni giovanili sportive “Quando apriamo le nostre sezioni  nelle città italiane, noto l’apprezzamento dei cittadini delle famiglie e dei tanti ragazzi ai quali siamo sempre più vicini per trasmettere i valori della sicurezza della legalità”.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCQxBNT1MLI Read the full article

Perfection

Flowers symbolize beauty, innocence and hope

— 𝓰𝓲𝓾𝓵𝓲𝓪 𝓯𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓮 𝓲𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓼

I wanted to do a sweet Ces/Crezia hugging-meme because I felt like it but then I noticed Rodrigo standing in the corner like

"These ladies have a very nice friendship in the series and the way that they bond is beautiful. I think there’s a lot of humor and they’re pretty smart." — Lotte Verbeek ♡

Borgia Family Appreciation Week

Day 3 ~ Favourite relationship: → Rodrigo & Giulia // Cesare & Alessandro

Thoughts on these Borgia-related women? Vannozza de Cattanei, Adrianna de Mila, Caterina Sforza, Lucrezia Borgia, the unfortunate Pantasilea, Charlotte d'Albret, Sancha d'Aragona, Isabella d'Este and Giulia Farnese

I have some thoughts, yes lol. Vannozza dei Cattanei: Well, she's an inspiration to us all ok. What a woman. She managed to catch eye of Rodrigo, which you know easy enough, but then also keep a hold over his affection towards her for decades, which proved more difficult, in a way no other woman ever did in his life, to the point she apparently could, and did, actually used the family name and coat of arms of the Borgia family in her private life, and there are some documents from 1514 which she signs as Vannozza Borgia or Vanotia Borgia de Cathaneis. I might be a little bit biased here 👀 but she also put beautiful, amazing children into this world., she clearly had a mind for commerce, for business and she eventually became quite the businesswoman, with her vineyards and many proprieties. She never made a scene, that we know of, over Giulia Farnese, in my view precisely because she knew the position she occupied in Rodrigo's life, and she had a good life. She was a smart, pragmatic woman, and often the personalities, the qualities of the Borgia children, esp. Lucrezia and Cesare are more linked to their father, Rodrigo, and it's true they inherited a lot from him, but I also see they inherited much from their mother, the genes between these two was evidently pretty awesome so it's no wonder they produced such beautiful, amazing children, sorry not sorry. And then, at the end of her life, Vannozza was of course an incredibly wealthy woman, she survived the election and papacy of Della Rovere and his relentless persecution against any Borgia, or anyone associated with the Borgias and/or just Spaniards in general. She went from mistress (more like wife heh) of a Cardinal and Pope to this universally respectable woman, patron of the arts and generous donor to pious commuities, and when she died in 1518, she was buried with solemnity in the Church of Sta. Maria del Popolo, and Pope Leo X ordered that she be given the honors normally only reserved for cardinals, her funeral was more of a big deal than the many cardinals and other ecclesiastics that came to pass. Again, what a woman, what a inspiration, what a role model. That's how you do it. Adriana de Milà: It’s difficult to have a clear image of her and how she was like. I tend to reject the idea of her being this cold, harsh, bitter woman, or like the wicked step-mother given the Borgia children, with the exception of Gioffre who was too young, were removed from Vannozza's house and put into Adriana's care, I don't why she is presented like that sometimes, in history and in fiction, when there is no evidence suggesting that at all. She might have been a good mother figure for them, Lucrezia seemed attached to her, more so than with her own mother, and I'm not sure about the boys: Cesare and Juan, we know Cesare was and remained close to his mother, but that doesn't necessarily mean there was no bond between him and Adriana, in any case, to me she comes across as a pragmatic, prudent woman, who seemed to have always been more devoted to the Borgia side of her family, through the bloodline of de Milà, than to the Orsini side by her marriage with Ludovico Orsini. She is recorded as being very close to Rodrigo, indeed some say she was his closest confidant, but like I said before, I highly disagree with the idea she was like his doormat and his "creature" and she had no mind of her own, clearly that was not the case, otherwise she wouldn't have helped Giulia in Pesaro and other occasions, too. I posted this dispatch by Lorenzo Pucci a while back which I think it's interesting and it highlights the good relationship Giulia and Adriana had, and their complicity with each other. I think Adriana was moved by her loyalty and her close bonds with people she loved, yes, but I think she was also moved by what was more advantegeous for her and for the family. She’s an intriguing woman and I wish  we need more about her personal relationships with the Borgia family. Caterina Sforza: hmm, I tend to separate Caterina the historical figure, which it’s quite a mess from Caterina the person according to the historical records, and talking about the person: She had interesting moments during the papacy of Sixtus, her dislike of Riario makes me laugh every time and she clearly was brave, to a fault, I believe. I’m fascinated by her recipes about beauty care, medicines, alchemy and other things, however, I can’t say I vibe with her, for lack of a better word. Her style of doing things, esp. politically speaking, are not my style. She was too rash, too hot-tempered, too needlessly violent for my taste. Like every time she was hurt or angry, she would just go full on rage mode targeting anyone in her way, (including women and children), which does not help to cultivate a good popular opinion about you as a ruler, which she didn’t seem to care much about (big mistake, as we later saw). Her political actions to me come across as having been mostly guided by how she felt, and that’s just not something I can understand, it’s not even about judging, about sides, I’m sure she did what she thought was the right thing for herself and her family’s power, I just fail to see the intelligence in them, like how did she thought acting the way she did would help her in holding on to power? it only did the opposite. It wasn’t clever, and it was the main reason why she fell from power.  Machiavelli’s assessment of her as a ruler, and as to why she lost Imola and Forlì so fast are correct, it was the same for the other lords of the Romagna, with the exception of Manfredi of Faenza and Montefeltro of Urbino (although the loyalty and affection Guidobaldo enjoyed from the people of Urbino came mostly because of the good memory the people had of his family, of his father, than anything about him in particular. He wasn’t a bad ruler per se, but he was a weak one). I think in the end, what it comes down to with Caterina for me, it’s that I can’t relate to her personality, and I don’t agree with her politics. And then as a bonus her historical literature, unfortunately, is polluted with types of scholars and methodologies I tend to avoid because I really don’t have the patience for it anymore, if I ever did dsjdsjds. Pantasilea: I don’t have thoughts about her tbh, because there’s very little info about her in history. We don’t even know if the female body found at the Tiber was really her, all we have are rumours, which are far from reliable, just as the ones attached to Pedro Calderon aka Perotto’s death, which I discuss more here, below keeping reading. Sancia d’Aragona: I’m fond of Sancia, I like how she loved to enjoy life, her sexual agency is interesting to take note, she was very proud and spoiled as young noblewomen tended to be, but she was also particuarly bold and openly confrontational about things which she disagreed on. She could be very troublesome sometimes, with or without good reasons. She lacked diplomacy and calm, and it naturally got her trouble on occasion. If she had been a man, I believe she would have been killed young, because many young noblemen who behave in the way she did ended up being murdered by their enemies, but she was beautiful and charming and she had her protectors, she might not have been so politically savvy as Lucrezia, Giulia or Isabella, but she knew how court intrigues worked (she was from Naples and in the court of Naples, if you didn’t know how intrigues worked, you died lol, it was that simple), so she played it well, and good for her, you know. One thing I often wonder about her and the end of her life is: how did she felt about the fact she apparently couldn’t bare children? with the fact she couldn’t be a mother? was it something she was okay with, even happy? or was it something that made her sad? I’d love to know that and more about the her last years, which there isn’t much available info, that I’ve found, sadly. Giulia Farnese: There's little about Giulia, but enough to make me like her. Everything I've read about her makes me imagine her as a beautiful, lovely, lively, smart young woman. I can see why Rodrigo was so crazy about her, hell, all of the men who came into her presence fell in love immediately dsjdsjdsj, and she was very aware of that and used it to her and her family's advantage, that much it's clear to me. She was no meek, feeble-minded girl as some authors characterize her as. The sibling relationship between her and Alessandro is also very cute, it seems he was protective of her. And ooh, what endears her to me even more is her capricious, bold attitude at times, like can you imagine young Giulia, in her what? 17-year-old-self openly changelling the Pope's orders? at least twice that we know of, even though she knew full well the risk it brought to her and her family? That's just....not even grown, harsh men dared to that and if they did, they were screwed, but Giulia was like whatever I’m doing what I want! djsdjsdj, and to me that highly implies she knew where she stood with Rodrigo. It’s so powerful and awesome really, I can’t say that I agree with the notion she was a victim of Rodrigo, or as the prefered narrative often goes from women of the past, a victim and pawn of her family ZzzZZzz. Giulia was harcore, and I think she was as interested in the advancement her family as they were, given the more high status your family had, the more opportunities you had, the more wealth and therefore power and safety, she knew how to play the game and she was successful at it, I mean she managed to make her brother a Cardinal and later he became pope, anddd she also managed to make a great alliance for her daughter, with no other than the Della Rovere’s family, that takes some serious political maneuvers and charm and patience, which it seems she had it in spare. She also had many lovers it seems, and she eventually married a Baron, and became governor of Carbognano, and the records state she was a good, wise administrator, "who governed in a firm but energic manner" (god, this reminds me of Cesare djsdjjs), so yeah, Giulia was a pretty cool lady. Isabella d'Este: I find her more interesting than Sforza mentioned above, and I vibe more with her and her way of doing politics, for sure, she was a savy political player and keen diplomat. I'm fond of her relationship with her brother, Giulio d'Este, it's very cute, and I find it unfair when some scholars characterize her as a shrew of a wife to Gonzaga (hi, Bellonci! hahaha). I don't think it was quite like that, she certainly helped him a lot during the moments of crisis, but she had to make some hard decisions, and she did what she thought was best for her family's power and her State, it's not so simple. So yeah, she’s ok, I just don't find her interesting as a historical figure I suppose, nor her family. I don't really find the d'Este interesting tbh, there are some interesting moments perhaps during the 1400s, with Ercole d'Este's father: Niccolò III d'Este, but overall it's like mehh. They had such a haughty attitude about themselves and their lineage, which unlike the Malatesta, it's not fun, it's just annoying, and their hypocrisy was out of control, and I can't stand that lol.  Lucrezia Borgia and Charlotte d’Albret: I’m putting them together and for last here because I think they suffer much from the same kind of faults in their historical literature: The passionate, overly sensitive approach by their biographers. They are put on a pedestal, where only their piety and kindness are acknowledged, and/or the victim status is applied to them, regardless of the lack of evidence. And from then on all sorts of empty assumptions and claims, personal projections are made about them, in a rather condescending, clairvoyant way, and of course of their relationship and bond with Cesare. They are always seen as women first and human beings second (no matter the author's school of thought nor his/her intentions), so their minds, their complexity, their political intelligence has to be severely diminished in order for some narratives to work, which it’s a big disservice to them, in the end. Their sincere love and cloneness with Cesare always have to be justified, from the natural love of a sister to a silly’s girl first love etc, it’s terrible, and it fails to pay attention to the historical material, same for the “competition” which happens often among some scholars in order to establish which woman had a more important position in Cesare’s life. I think it’s so silly, so limiting to give promience to one or the other. Lucrezia was his sister, his blood, and as such of course she occupied an important position in his life, yes, but there is no need to exaggerate things and turn their normal sibling bond into this epic romance where Lucrezia is the only and most important woman in his life, (which it’s far from being supported by the known facts available about the Borgia family) and then as a result, completely ignore or dismiss Charlotte and her own important position his life and the sincere affection he had for her, and vice-versa, there’s no need to call Lucrezia a non-entity and disregard her importance in her brother’s life. Like, a more balanced, fact-based view is possible where we can say both women held important positions in Cesare’s life, and it seems he had strong emotional bonds with both of them. They can co-exist, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Overall I think there’s just this constant infantilization with them that I find quite insulting, and there's also this modernization, if that makes sense, of their lives? maybe as a way to make them more relatable to modern readers idk, so sometimes I read works where it looks like Lucrezia or Charlotte are teenage girls living in the 50s or in today's time, and they are not. There are worlds apart between Lucrezia in her 14-years-old, for example, and a teenage girl today. It's not the same at all and it shouldn't be presented so imo. Thoughts on...ask meme

tag drop !

I hate you so much. As per our conversation, you absolute heathen: Borgias Star Wars AU Cesare as Leia Lucrezia as Luke Micheletto as Han Fucking go. I hate you so much.

This is the first of two Star Wars AUs, this one is mostly because I profoundly wanted an AU where Cesare was literally a prince of an entire planet and also I wanted Lucrezia to have a lightsaber.  I am currently working on another one for @wildehacked in which everyone is in the much more obvious position of being Sith.

Cesare doesn’t expect a rescue, as he sits inhis cell, back to the wall and one leg stretched out in front of him with theother bent close to his body.  Theceremonial robes of Alderaan are heavy, uncomfortable at the best of times andthese…these are not the best of times. Deep red cloth rubs against his skin, raw and tender from a few roundswith a torture droid, and he ignores it. He told them nothing—he has no profound alliance to the Rebellion, butthe image of the great and terrible Darth Sixtus wading through the endlessdunes of Dantooine had amused him, and after their young general turned theirweapon on Alderaan…

Well. Cesare is (was) hardly beloved of his people, raised by the stern andaustere Viceroy of Alderaan, della Rovere, but that was his planet, and afterit was gone, he denied the Empire information out of sheer spite.  It had been worth it, to see the toweringdark figure of Sixtus storm out of the room in a rage.

Still, though.  His planet is gone, and they didn’t lovetheir distant prince, and the Rebellion trusts him only on the weight of hisadopted guardian, who was well known in the right circles for his totallyruthless devotion to the cause.  Cesaresent away the information he had been told to care for with the droid, a PA-L0unit more willful than was good for it. It might make it to the Sforza woman della Rovere had intended it for,or it might not—either way, it is out of his hands.  The Rebellion won’t expend the manpower tosend a rescue mission, and the Empire has a new planet-killer to play with.  He’s confident he won’t live long enough tofind out whether PA-L0 made it or not.

It’s something of a surprise, then, whenalarms go off and his cell door opens to admit the shortest Stormtrooper he’sever seen.  

Cesare silently arches an eyebrow.  Princes grow up in the public eye, especiallyon bustling Core worlds like Alderaan, and Cesare prides himself on the abilityto show no response to any disaster. He’d had to cultivate it, after the second time he was caught withsomeone who, perhaps, should have been off-limits.

“Are you lost?” he asks dryly, and theStormtrooper reaches up to wrestle off their helmet, and Cesare’s mouth snapsshut in surprise.

It’s not the hard-faced man he expected.  Instead it’s a woman, a girl, really, with ayouthful face and hair like sunlight pinned up in a knot, and she smiles athim, perfect tiny teeth a string of matched pearls behind her pink lips.  She looks about his own age, maybeyounger.  There’s a sharp tug, like acord anchored somewhere in Cesare’s spine is pulling him toward her, and he hasthe sudden inexplicable urge to brush her hair back, the wayward coils of spungold escaping around her face.

“I’m Lucrezia Borgia,” she says, dimpling athim, and he tries to assemble words to reply. “I found your Paolo unit.  I’mhere to rescue you.”

Cesare has made worse snap decisions in hislife than take a rescue wearing the face of an angel, he concludes in under asecond.  They run.

They find another false Stormtrooper, andthis one is far more like what Cesare expected, a man with eyes like stone anda dispassionate expression under the smudged blood on his cheek.  Lucrezia calls him Micheletto, and Cesaresnatches a blaster off a dead Stormtrooper to toss at him.

“My lord,” Micheletto says with a slightincline of his head.

“This is Cesare della Rovere,” Lucrezia says,as if Micheletto doesn’t know who he is. “He gives your orders now.  Takeus back to the Condottiere, and we’llfind Caterina on the way.”

They do find Caterina.  Just in time to watch Sixtus cut herdown.  

“I knew her brother,” Lucrezia says coolly asthey crowd into the cockpit of Micheletto’s ship, the Condottiere.  It’s a bit of awreck, but he pilots it like a master, as skillfully as he had cut down anyStormtrooper in their path.  “He was anunpleasant man, to say the least.”  Shefingers the silver hilt at her hip—a lightsaber, she tells Cesare quietly, apparentlyonce the possession of her father.  “You’llforgive me if I don’t shed any tears over her corpse.”

“Of course,” Cesare says, and she smiles athim, and he takes it like a blaster bolt to the heart.

Some other highlights…

Lucrezia brings down the Death Star, her eyesclosed and her X-Wing guided by something at the center of her chest, somethingcold and bright as a Tatooine moon.  Whenshe lands, laughing and giddy with triumph, Cesare snatches her up around thewaist and spins her around, and he smiles at her, and she thinks idly aboutkissing it off his lips.  Michelettosmiles his faint smile and kisses her cheek like she’s a lady of status.  Lucrezia gets an award.  Micheletto, a killer and a criminal and abloody hand for hire, insists that he should not, and Cesare does not arguewith him.

Cesare finds the leader of the Rebellion, anex-Senator named Machiavelli, very much to his liking.  It is common knowledge that Machiavelli hassomething of an affection for the ex-Prince of Alderaan (it’s something Cesareasks himself often—is he still a prince at all, if he has no planet?), andCesare is not above leveraging this to his purposes.

Lucrezia kisses Cesare on Hoth, after shealmost dies in the cold, her skin still flushed from the incredibly hot showershe just took, and he clutches her to him like she’s as ethereal assunlight.  Her golden hair hangs aroundthem like a curtain, in her quarters, and the red lines her nails trace over hisshoulders and chest sting bright and clean, and Cesare thinks that he has neverloved someone like he loves this woman.

Cesare kisses Micheletto in an asteroidfield, during an argument, and again on Cloud City, where an old acquaintanceturns them over to Sixtus, and it’s harsh and bloodied and hungry.  They fuck in dark corners, still half-dressedand breathless, and Micheletto swears allegiance like he’s praying to a god,like Cesare is a force of nature, like Cesare is the Force.  Cesare leaves bruises shaped likefinger-lengths and the curve of his lips, and they’re still there whenMicheletto is frozen in carbonite by Darth Sixtus.

Lucrezia spends all of thirty secondstraining with a withered old Jedi named Orsini before she rushes away again,not even pausing at his warnings as she takes flight for Cloud City.  When she arrives, there are terriblerevelations about her family—Darth Sixtus, once Rodrigo Borgia, a power-hungrygeneral from the Clone Wars.  On the Condottiere, she cries into Cesare’sshoulder, her severed hand aching, and he kisses her tears away, her sunlight curls spilling over themboth.

Cesare saves Micheletto.  He does not care to be asked why he takessuch a risk for a man he professes to be a simple instrument.

Lucrezia, with a new silver hand like a piece of art, discovers that there is anotherBorgia—there was a third, an elder brother gone missing as a small child,before the Death Star was destroyed, but the young general died with his weaponand now there is only one.  Her twinbrother, Cesare Borgia, Prince of ex-Alderaan.

Cesare does not care.