The Palazzo Medici, Florence.
***
After the death of Piero, Y/N needed two days to recover. She had lost many loved ones before, and it never got easier.
Her mourning was interrupted only when Lorenzo requested the entire household join together for a great dinner, where an important announcement was underway.
Y/N decided she wasn't going to wear a dress from the get-go. She wanted to make it clear to everyone that she wasn't behaving in her usual way just because Piero had allowed it -- this is how she would act constantly and forever. And so, she put on her finest pants, white shirt, and a gorgeously embroidered corset-vest that was a magnificent blue color. It made her feel powerful, despite everything that had happened.
Leo knocked on her door to collect her for dinner.
"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Y/N asked him, following her brother down the hallway.
"Not in the slightest," He answered, "Maybe they are marrying off Bianca. I know Lorenzo has been wanting to."
"God protect her soul," Y/N whispered as they entered the dining room, being almost the last to arrive. It seemed Giuliano wasn't yet there.
"How are you this evening?" Y/N asked Sandro as she sat down, "Any progress on your art works now that you have Simonetta Vespucci posing for you?"
"There's been magnificent progress, I should have you by my studio again soon to see for yourself."
Giuliano then entered, taking a seat. This commenced waitstaff pouring wine for the entire table, and once they were done, Y/N spoke up.
"So, Lorenzo, what news do you have for us?" She asked, taking a sip of wine and shooting a momentary glance to Bianca, assessing her reaction to the question. She had none.
Lorenzo stood up, causing everyone to look at him.
"I am announcing my marriage to the noblewoman Clarice d'Orsini."
Y/N and Leonardo both chuckled lightly, before Leo said, "No, Lorenzo -- really, what is the news?"
Lorenzo wavered a bit, and Y/N looked at him more incriminatingly.
Y/N spoke again, "You must not be telling the true news to us, Lorenzo. We know you would never marry our family's biggest military enemy -- really, what is the news?"
"I am not marrying her," Lorenzo stated, "I am married to Clarice d'Orsini. We were married by proxy two days ago."
Y/N dropped the glass out of her hand, causing a shatter of glass. No one seemed to pay mind, all much more aware of the tension growing between the two Farneses and Lorenzo.
"You have made a grave mistake, Lorenzo," Y/N spoke, standing up, "You will annul the marriage before it is consecrated. I will arrange it with Pope Sixtus and the matter will be dealt with and forgotten."
"No--" Lorenzo began.
Y/N interrupted him, "Clearly, you do not understand what is at stake, Lorenzo. Clearly, you do not understand that my father is your bank's biggest ally. Do not make us an adversary." She warned. Leo was silent in the exchange, his jaw clenching and unclenching in anger.
"I would never want to make an enemy out of my closest ally, nor do I think my loyalty to your father is challenged by my marriage."
"'Challenged'? More like desecrated!" Y/N yelled, embodying a masculine rage few knew she was capable of, "I personally know hundred of men who died at the hands of the Orsini, Lorenzo. Men who raised me. Men who loved me. Men who sacrificed their lives to save me after the Orsini kidnapped me."
"Clarice d'Orsini is a woman of God--"
"She is the daughter of the Devil!" Y/N exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table. Every glass rattled under her fist, "I was twelve when they took me, Lorenzo. They kidnapped me. They beat me. They violated me. They slaughtered my father's men and they threatened our lives! You dare insult us through this!" She was burning with fury. It was even beginning to intimidate Lorenzo, and it already managed to subdue Giuliano into silence.
"You would marry a Pazzi!" Lorenzo countered, raising his voice against her, "He is my family's adversary! Is that a threat to this alliance as well?"
"That is banking, you fool! This? This is war! If your father was alive, this never would have happened. He understood the power of the Farnese."
"Siena is barely a sixth the size of Florence!"
"Yes, but we are more than Siena now! We are the Papal Armies! We control Milan's troops! We strike deals with French mercenaries -- we have the power to take over Florence on a whim!" Y/N shouted back. Sandro thought for a moment how she really did, in that moment, seem like a much bigger man than anyone else in the room.
Lorenzo sat back down, and stared straight ahead -- effectively dismissing the conversation.
Y/N kicked her chair out of her way, causing it to crash and break against the wall.
"Leonardo and I will be out by morning. Let it be war against you, Lorenzo."
Y/N exited silently, hearing another bang before her brother left the room after her. They went into their rooms, and ordered that their things be packed.
"Where do we go? To Rome?" Lorenzo asked.
"We cannot allow the situation to go unmonitored... You will go to Rome and work with father to have the Pope align himself with us. It we can severe Lorenzo's ties with the Vatican, we can subdue him. I will purchase a home here and monitor the situation, sending reports. In a few months, I'll leave as well," She whispered to him as she put her belt and sword on.
"Where will you purchase a home?"
"There is an estate that belong to a previous Signoria member, he died without heirs. Its by the market, and well within my budget. I'll go there now and speak with the seller."
"Who is selling it?"
"The Pazzi Bank," Y/N smiled at her brother, almost devilishly so.
When she left the home and mounted her horse, it was still very light out. The sun had only just began setting, and she hoped this meant the Pazzi Bank would still be opened. To her luck, it was.
She entered brazenly in her pants and armed with sword, too tired and angry to care and she went directly into Francesco's office. He looked up to her from his desk, startled by the opening door.
"Are you alright?" He asked. He could see the look on her face, one fraught with pain and anger.
"No, I am not -- I am here to purchase Messer Menrazi's home. i understand the bank inherited it after his death." She sat down in the chair in front of him, her face and voice devoid of the flirtatious banter that had occurred between them the last time they were in this room, in these chairs.
"It is still available. Would you be willing to pay for it now?"
Y/N reached into her pocket and threw two fist-sized bags of golden coins onto his desk.
"Is everything okay? I am rather concerned," He asked in a low voice, his face softening her heart just a tad. She realized how exhausted she was, the high of the anger wearing off.
"Did you hear about Piero's death?"
"I had."
"That means Lorenzo is left in charge," Y/N spoke, "And he has desecrated our families' alliance. Leonardo and I are moving out of the Palazzo de'Medici, and Leonardo is traveling to Rome to see our father."
"I am deeply sorry, Y/N," Francesco said, reaching over to place a hand on hers, "I am always here, if you need someone to support you."
Y/N looked at him, and could feel tired tears forming in her eyes, and she began crying. She was suddenly flooded with grief over the death of Piero, over memories of the Orsini's kidnapping of her, the pain of betrayal, and the exhaustion which came from action and uncertainty. Within a moment, Francesco was hugging her, pulling her head into his chest and stroking her hair. She sobbed into his chest, holding onto him in a moment of embarrassing weakness, which somehow seemed to be okay in his arms.
When he could finally feel a slowing of her sobs, he pulled away to wipe the tears from her cheeks, and kiss her forehead.