Somehow she fell asleep. But she didn't sleep enough when Giacomo came to wake her up.
The sun was already high and nobody was allowed to wake up late. It was Easter Sunday.
"Lorenzo already got ready and left for the Mass with his mother" Giacomo announced.
"The Pazzi will be also there?".
"Of course. But I think they won't strike then. The problem is the lunch and the celebrations".
They had a quick breakfast, then went to check Giuliano, but the servants announced that he left for the Mass too accompanied by Francesco Pazzi and his friends.
Ginevra gasped in shock, but Giacomo grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
"We can reach them and you can persuade Giuliano to leave and meet his girl again. Maybe tell him that their child is about to be born. Something urgent. Anyway there's no need to panic".
"Let's go" she dragged him in the crowded streets of Florence, joining the procession of the Medici guards and servants.
Ginevra couldn't spot Lorenzo but she guessed he was leading the crowd.
Giacomo pulled her closer and said into her ear "They'll be safe in the cathedral. The Pazzi will be all there too. Do you understand what it means?".
She looked at him confused and then realized "That their palace is uncontrolled. Okay, let's go to the palace. We don't have much time".
The idea of being reunited to her old man made her more nervous than she already was. She noticed that Giacomo looked troubled as well and she wondered if it was because he was going to meet his twin brother on that day.
But then they realized something was wrong in the streets.
They left behind the crowds of peasants reaching the cathedral and the people they were now meeting were guards. And soldiers.
Something was wrong. Since those were not all Florentine soldiers.
"What's going on?" Ginevra exclaimed shocked.
"A revolution" he gasped "Ginevra, you should have stayed with the Medici. Let's go".
He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a shortcut to the cathedral, but in that narrow street they weren't alone.
Soldiers wearing the Pazzi coat of arms attacked them before they could understand what was happening.
They fought back although they were disadvantaged, since it was clear that those men only want to kill, not to make prisoners.
Ginevra cried for help, hoping to catch the attention of the people from the square in the end of the street.
She and Giacomo fought back to back, until two men attacked the woman and Giacomo moved aside to cover her with his body taking a mortal blow that was meant for her.
She cried louder and managed to stab someone who ran away anyway.
The attackers moved to make battle somewhere else, as fast as they came and assaulted the two friends.
Giacomo groaned and fell to the ground, his hand pressing on the abdomen that was getting bloodied.
Ginevra tried to support him and helped him stopping the bleeding, shivering at the sight of the red liquid spreading.
"You'll be fine" she said trying to be positive but she didn't fully understand what was happening "Please, be strong. I'll look for help".
"No" he hissed "You must go and save yourself. I'm not gonna make it".
"What do you mean you're not gonna make it? I'm not leaving you here" she cried hysterically.
"You must, Ginevra. Please, don't make it be wasted. This is important. Run and don't look back".
"No no no, you have to live, you have to find her!".
He forced a weak smile "I guess I'll find her in heaven or hell. Or I'll be waiting for her there. Ginevra, just live. And be safe".
His growing weakness meant only one thing.
Ginevra cried, feeling totally helpless in front of death.
***
In the meanwhile, in the cathedral the Mass turned into a bloodbath. People was screaming and running towards the doors, getting hurt into the convulsing mass of bodies.
Giuliano was the first to be assaulted and violently stabbed also when he fell to the ground, dead, his skull split into two pieces.
Lorenzo got a cut into his neck, but his instinct and the sacrifice of his loyal friends allowed him to ran away and hide into the sacristy.
Jacopo Pazzi was loudly shouting to his men to find Lorenzo and to kill him, not caring anymore of his acting.
He stopped right in front of the sacristy. Lorenzo and his few fellows feared that they were uncovered, but Pazzi just looked up around the cathedral.
Someone came to update him and insisted that Lorenzo must die.
Lorenzo was few metres from him, feeling his heartbeat so strong that could betray him.
"Where's that lovely girl?" Jacopo asked suddenly "Ginevra? I must thank her! She should be here to witness this revolution!".
Lorenzo kept holding his breath even if Pazzi's footsteps echoed far from his hiding.
The doubt was hurting him more than the wound at his neck.
He reminded when he was just a teenage boy and ran into that same sacristy holding Ginevra by hand.
Now he was a mature man, he didn't know yet what happened to his brother Giuliano, he didn't know if the people was all raised against him. Still in front of death, his only thoughts went around that woman and the doubt whether she betrayed him or not.
***
Ginevra felt her heart breaking even more when she forced herself to run and look for help.
She finally spotted some Medici guards and persuaded them to approach Giacomo, although nothing could be done for him.
The guards mentioned an attack into the cathedral and Ginevra felt dying. They didn't know anything about the destiny of the masters, so they hurried to find other guards.
"Is Lorenzo safe?" She asked as soon as she spotted someone stepping out of the cathedral.
The guard lowered his head with sorrow.
"What?" She insisted panicking.
"He's wounded but he's still alive".
"And Giuliano?".
He sighed heavily but before he could say anything, she rushed inside and saw with her own eyes the ruined corpse that few minutes earlier was the body of the handsome Giuliano de' Medici.
Ginevra broke and fell on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Lucrezia was loudly crying on the body of her lost son, begging and screaming to the shocked people around her to help her and give her son back.
But everything was already over.
The Pazzi succeeded in striking at a holy moment. And the sacrifical lamb was Giuliano. But he would never resurrect.
Ginevra's only hope was to see that Lorenzo was still alive. But he was nowhere to be seen.
***
Being surrounded by the walls of his palace made Lorenzo feel safer but he had urgent problems to deal with.
He shoved away the servant who tried to heal his neck, saying loudly "Ginevra! Where is she? Bring her to me! Now!".
The guards were bewildered and clearly had no idea about the girl's location, but they didn't dare to complain and walked away.
They found her in the cathedral, mourning between the corpses of Giuliano and Giacomo.
She didn't complain when they escorted her to the palace and reached the first floor.
Ginevra didn't know what to expect. She felt like she missed years of events, when all the tragedies happened only in few minutes.
Lorenzo was alive. He was watching gloomily from an open window.
She soon noticed a bloody bandage on his neck and she felt like someone stabbed her again. His dress was covered with blood too. She failed, she hadn't been able to protect them from the enemies. But at least Lorenzo was alive.
In all the horrors she saw in the last hour, that was like a miracle, even if Lorenzo didn't look fine.
His body was shaken by rage. When she walked in, he moved to meet her and raised menacingly a hand. But he didn't touch her.
"Get out! All of you! Now!".
The guards obeyed instantly.
She shivered. She never saw him so furious and guilt was torturing her inside.
"Tell me you have nothing to do with this" he hissed staring straight into her red eyes.
"You don't trust me anymore?".
"I want to hear it from you, I want the truth. Tell me you are not Pazzi's spy or I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands, even if I love you, I loved you for all these years. But if now I find out that you played me for all this time, this is going to destroy me".
She didn't want to believe to her ears. But she knew the Pazzi were playing some sick game. And somehow they realized she could be used as a weakness against Lorenzo.
"How can you even think that? How!" She screamed.
"Pazzi. He mentioned you".
"And you prefer believing to him than to me, sir?".
"I don't know, I don't know anything anymore" he whispered in a defeated tone.
"I'd never betray you, Lorenzo. I'd have given my life to save you and your brother".
"I want to believe that. I heard when you swore loyalty to my grandfather and I trusted you since then. But time changes people. How can I know that the Pazzi didn't buy you somehow?".
"They tried, but of course nothing could force me to betray you or your family. And Giacomo.." Her voice broke "They killed him".
"Do you know who they also killed?".
She nodded, bursting out in tears and falling to her knees, embracing herself shen she felt she was helplessly falling to pieces.
Lorenzo moved back to the window, glancing at the sky, then his attention was called by the loud crowd that was shouting in the streets and the noises of battles.
It wasn't over. The soldiers of the Pazzi didn't expect the poor people of Florence to react.
The rumours of the murder in the cathedral already spread and the people was infuriated, shouting against the Pazzi and invoking the name of the Medici.
Lorenzo was dumbfounded.
Ginevra forced herself up and cautiously walked to him, knowing he needed help.
"Sir, they're trying to take the Signoria by force" she said softly "You must take advantage of this and talk to the people. It's now or never. An army is walking into the city screaming 'people and freedom' but your allies are ready to fight for you. Tell the people the truth. In this mess they need to see you and hear from you".
He pondered her words, then agreed "Alright. But you stay right here and don't you dare walk away".
"I swear I won't".
Lorenzo inhaled grimacing for the painful neck, then walked out on the balcony.
"People of Florence!" He shouted getting the people's attention.
Ginevra heard cheers for him, then concerned murmurs when they realized he was covered with blood and wounded.
"Today we witnessed a shameful event. The Pazzi family conspired against us, against our legitimate government, against our Republic, to subdue our city to a tyranny!".
People shouted with indignation.
"But don't worry! The conspiracy has failed! Even if we had great losses. I lost my beloved brother. Giuliano has been barbarically murdered by the conspirators. As you see I'm alive and I'm ready to fight for you, my people, for our freedom! You are all safe now, I promise. So I ask you to keep calm. Justice will punish the murderers, I can promise you this".
People cheered him louder, Lorenzo just weakly raised a hand and stepped back into the palace, where he crossed Ginevra's teary eyes.
They just stayed silently in the same room, sitting far from each other, each one lost in his own thoughts and sorrow.
"I saw death's face today" Lorenzo whispered in the end "When I felt the dagger cutting my flesh I thought it was the end. I looked around, but I couldn't see you. And your face was the only thing I wanted to see before dying".
Ginevra crossed his eyes and felt her heart breaking even more. If only she walked with him in the cathedral, if only she got that dagger om her neck instead of him.
"I'm so sorry. Lorenzo, I swear I have nothing to do with it. I loved Giuliano as much as you did. And I love you too much to let your enemies harm you. Still I failed. I wanted to be helpful..".
"I heard you with my grandfather" he interrupted her coldly.
She stopped sobbing, frowning at him.
"That night when you came into my room in the middle of the night, the same night when our swordmaster was murdered, I was behind the door and I heard what you said to him" he recalled staring at her "I never forgot that. You said that you'd never betray him. Not him, not his family. You swore it. That's how you earned my full trust. You may not wanted to be loyal to me, but I knew you'd never have broken an oath to my grandfather".
Mentioning Cosimo was the last thing she needed to make that day worse.
Thinking of how Cosimo would react in front of all those crimes made her more desperate. It was better being dead than witnessing a day like that. A holy day wasted in a blasphemous bloodbath.
The Medici risked to be wiped away. If also Lorenzo had died, the Medici were totally destroyed. And now his life worthed more than anything else in Florence. The Pazzi and their allies would have tried until their last breath to end their mission.
"You need to take care of your wound" Ginevra said with her hoarse voice "If it gets infected...".
"I don't care if it gets infected" Lorenzo complained.
"If you die, Florence will die too. So will I".
He sighed with sorrow and hid his face under his hands, allowing her to clean the wound.
Seeing his blood on her fingers made her break again and he suggested her to stop replacing her in covering the wound.
"I need to see my mother" Lorenzo realized.
When they exited the room, they noticed that in the meanwhile the guards had carried the corpses into the courtyard of the palace.
Lorenzo hurried to reach his mother, who hysterically cried his name repeatedly and hugged him tightly for long minutes.
Some wealthy people came to pray in front of Giuliano, dreadfully seeing with their own eyes the violence that the murderers used on him.
But one visitor caught Ginevra's full attention.
He walked to Lorenzo looking like he didn't fully understand what happened.
The two embraced warmly.
Ginevra couldn't take her eyes off of him, but the truth was breaking her heart again. It was like Giacomo just came back missing the tragedies and decided to wear ecclesiastical clothes.
But it wasn't Giacomo. It was his twin brother Carlo.
"Who was that you wanted me to meet today?" He asked after praying next to Giuliano's body, having not noticed the other corpse in the courtyard.
"I'm really sorry" Lorenzo said frantically "We all are. He died in the attack. He was your brother. Your twin brother".
Seeing Carlo's reaction when he approached Giacomo's body was too unbearable for Ginevra.
She walked out of the palace unnoticed.
The streets were still chaotic, but it seemed that the Medici won the war.
She slowed in front of the Palace of the Signoria, noticing familiar faces on the hunged bodies from the windows.
People wanted justice at any price.
And Francesco Pazzi and bishop Salviati were the first conspirators to be publicly executed.
Pazzi. Ginevra remembered that she still had one life to save.
She ran to the Pazzi Palace, to see that the people set it on fire.
She gasped in desperation, wondering who was trapped in there. Then she realized that heroblyw hope was another mansion of the Pazzi, just out of the city. She had to reach it before the people would burn it down too.