The Art of Power and Love ( A Medici Masters of Florence the Magnificent fanfic)

Chapter 15

"Babysitting is not for me" Giuliano had rushed out of the villa and met Ginevra at the stables "I'll have fun when the kids will be older... But now I just want to stay away from those crying bags. Where are you going?'.
"Back to Florence" she replied readying her horse "I'm sick too of this nursery".
"Then I'll come with you. I thought you women like kids. Don't lie, I saw your face when you watched the kids playing. I can read you like an open book".
She glanced at him, admiring how he was growing as a handsome young man "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you".
"Wouldn't you like to have your own kids?" He asked her openly.
Her mouth went dry. Stunning parties were made for the sons of Lorenzo, they were the most popular newborns of Florence.
Lorenzo already picked a young tutor for them, Poliziano, a boy who was close to the family so he was trustworthy.
"Wouldn't you?" Giuliano woke her from her thoughts.
"Of course I would, but not now" she admitted. Actually she never thought of making her own family. She had other priorities for her life.

They galloped to the hot city from where the masters had to run away to seek some fresh air of the countryside.
Giuliano went to meet his friends while she used the excuse of going back to the palace to assist Contessina, who was too old and tired to travel from the city to the countryside so she stayed in the palace with Lucrezia.
Ginevra walked to the familiar stables to meet her best friend.
Giacomo became an expert of all the political secrets of the city. He was able to collect any rumour from the taverns and link them to understand greater plots.
"The new pope is ambitious. Lorenzo is ambitious too. This is not going to end well" he said simply after she updated him of the latest news she collected from her master.
"Does the pope have a great influence in this city? Rumours of his expensive new crusade reached the peasants too. What can he do while Lorenzo gives regularly parties and events to make the people happy instead of wasting all that money in a war?".
"The poor are happy" he corrected her "Most of the aristocratic families are still fighting against this... revolution".
"They are just wailing since they realized it's time for the swan's song for them".
"It's more than that" he grabbedher arm lowering his voice "The Pazzi are scared of his new politics. They are powerful enough to stand against Medici, so the rebels started to support them".
She shivered at that name "Be extremely careful. You know what they did to the Medici, to Cosimo's brother".
He nodded "And they ran away with it. Just to get stronger and plot in the dark again. Lorenzo must not underestimate them".
Ginevra rolled her eyes "Lorenzo believes he can control them as his father did".
"The Pazzi believed they were keeping under Piero under control, that's why they didn't openly turned against them. Lorenzo is a wilder soul and they think he's more dangerous. And now that he has heirs, they won't be late at striking".
She frowned in discomfort at the mention of the kids "The people loves Lorenzo, the Pazzi are seen as the old grumpy order".
"The new pope supports them, I've got proofs of it. The neighbor countries together with the Pope are stronger than the Florentine people".
She couldn't complain. They planned to keep an eye better on the Pazzi activities. They knew their palace, they checked who came and left from there. When the doors opened they could see the statue of a horse in the middle of the courtyard, but they couldn't listen to the conversations.
Ginevra didn't know much about that family, that wasn't close to any of the Medici supporters, so she never saw them wandering in the Vespucci palace when she worked there. But people did gossiped about them. The leader was Jacopo Pazzi, who replaced his older brother Antonio when this one died few years later, leaving two young sons, Francesco and Guglielmo. Jacopo agreed to take care of his nephews, also as an excuse to abuse of their father's power. His father was Andrea Pazzi, the one who betrayed Albizzi to gain more power, the one who was ready to spread lies and murders in order to achieve what he wanted. And he was also the responsible of the death of Lorenzo de Medici, a crime for which he never paid the consequences.
And now his son Jacopo was just more ruthless although he tried to appear as a joust and careful man.
His family and the Medici couldn't get along, but Piero did everything to soften the tensions in the name of the greater good. Something that his son Lorenzo didn't care much to carry on.
The Medici were bankers to the Pope and Pazzi hadn't been able to change that, not yet. If the new Pope had sympathies for the Pazzi, then the Medici had good reasons to be very worried. Using the Florentine people as a shield could not be enough anymore.