Chapter Text
"What do you mean he won't come?"
"My lady-"
She wheeled round to face him, and the steward lowered his eyes. "Does he think I intend to stab him in his sleep?"
"Lady Caterina-"
"Well yes, I do intend to stab him in his sleep, but that's not the point. It's ... indelicate. Impolite."
"Madam, he's a Borgia."
"Too true." She smiled, regaining her composure, and her steward sagged with relief before quickly standing to attention again. "Well," she continued. "We'll just have to lure him here instead, won't we?"
"Madam."
"That man of his. The one who never leaves him." She gestured vaguely around her cheekbones. "The one with the ... face. He's a local boy, is he not?"
"Yes, Madam. Micheletto Corella. He was brought up in Forli – a farmer's son."
"And does he have friends here? Family? Someone we could use to bring him here?"
"Him? Corella, you mean, or Borgia himself?"
"Either. Both. Corella first and then Borgia. Bait to catch our bait, as it were."
"His Mama still lives here, Madam. And there's someone else too. A lover. A sort of childhood sweetheart."
"Some peasant girl?"
The steward coughed delicately. "A man," he said. "Augustino ... something. A wheelwright, I believe."
Caterina snorted with laughter. "Shocking," she drawled.