The Borgia Bride Quotes
"He had intentionally purchased his joy at the cost of my sorrow."
"I looked upon that gown as a prisoner beholds his chains."
"They mock us because they envy us, Jofre."
"It was clear that Cardinal Borgia shared his cousin Rodrigo’s appreciation for younger women, for he stared quite pointedly at my bosom and sighed."
"Never did my hatred for my father burn so brightly as it did at that moment; never had my humiliation been so complete."
"Despite my fury and resentment at being his pawn, I looked upon him, crowned and glorious, and was amazed by the sudden welling of loyalty and pride within me."
"I knew that this time, there would be no sexual pleasure for me."
"I will feel safer. As you have realized, you have earned quite a reputation for your bravery today."
"The notion was so ghastly that my brother and I could not bear to discuss it; and so my mother’s betrayal went unmentioned."
"I imagined men writhing beneath piles of stones."
"I saw only my father’s face. For the first time, I focused not on the viciousness there, on the mocking expression directed at me. Instead I saw the dark, haunted look in his eyes."
"It had been such an easy thing for me, to kill."
"I began to tremble, not because I had taken a man’s life, but because I had done so with ease."
"I had grown up in Naples, but had never had cause to visit the homely keep named for Virgil’s mythical egg."
"As I passed the whitewashed walls, their expanse broken by the occasional portrait of an ancestor, the place that I had always considered eternal, mighty, impregnable—the Castel Nuovo—now seemed fragile and ephemeral."
"I stared west, refusing to watch the destruction of the city behind me, and watched as the sun moved lower towards the horizon."
"As Naples receded, a glittering, angry red jewel."
"I was grateful to see land; I did not travel well by sea, and this was the longest journey I had made on a sailing ship."
"I am an evil man. Old and drunk and foolish."
"There is physical evidence of the event. I pierced him…with a stiletto. His hand is injured."
"Then if my father does not recall the event, you and I shall both agree here and now that the wound was the result of an encounter with one of the courtesans."
"You are the only woman I know of who has refused him, Madonna. That requires great courage and conviction."
"A pity, Madonna, that you met the youngest before the eldest."
"So long as my home was the Palazzo Santa Maria in Portico, I was no longer Sancha of Aragon, princess and natural daughter of the King of Naples."
"If the Pope remembered our encounter, his rage might well be fathomless."
"My worries over the Pope’s reaction were equally balanced by the memory of Cesare’s last words to me."
"The combined effect made my eyes glow greener than the jewels."
"I might well have been on my way to a ball, not Mass."
"The world’s most beautiful queen, with the world’s most exquisite eyes."
"You are Eve in the Garden—and the serpent himself confronts you."
"God mocks me, letting my witless brother win through accident, not skill!"
"Once the Papal States are firmly united... we could take the entire Romagna."
"What I want, I shall have—and neither you nor Cesare can keep it from me."
"I have never had such an incredible experience with a woman."
"You have just shown by your arrogant comments that you possess little of that intelligence yourself."
"The poor girl must be too drunk to know what she is doing."
"I am as good a friend to Lucrezia as I could be."
"The instant a sword bit into your flesh, you ran squalling like an infant."
"You engage in an affair with my brother, and you ask the cause of my anger?"
"Only a man capable of great treachery would suspect others of the same."
"You are far too beautiful to be so sad! Look at you—the loveliest woman in Rome."
"I could not fault the man. But my heart ached for Lucrezia."
"I wanted to punish him, to make him wait as I had, my hope slowly dying, then turning to pain."
"I would never become the coward my father had been."
"His wife had been ‘immodest’, he said, in rambling public letters explaining his situation."
"I am glad I called for you; you are most wise."
"You are alive because, had Alexander tried to seduce you again or harm you, Cesare would have killed him."
"And to Hell with the child. It’s already cursed."
"I thought I had underestimated Cesare. Lucrezia had said that he truly cared for me—and perhaps that was why he wished neither to coerce me, nor cause me harm."
"Cesare was just the person who, as the Pope’s son, could deliver a writ of divorce directly into Louis’ hands—for a price."
"Because of our shared love for Alfonso, Lucrezia and I became closer than ever before."
"I am sure. My breasts are so tender, I can scarcely bear for Alfonso to touch them."
"He will be so excited. And your father, too."
"The duchess has taken serious blows to the head and back. She shows no fever, no bleeding or other signs of losing the child—but it is too early to know."
"She is bleeding. We can expect the worst."
"The end of my world was coming, but not until the following year."
"Had Cesare’s claim that he wished to marry Carlotta of Aragon merely been a ruse?"
"I will not leave," I said, my voice steady, full of a strength I did not feel.
"I will have to pick out your finest diamond."
"We will meet again, and you will be by my side when your brother’s first child is born."
"I will not hear such talk. Lucrezia is my wife. And she is incapable of even the mildest cruelty."
"I will stay here with you until you tell me to go."
"Take care, or your heart will destroy all that you love."
"I could not bear to look on her face, where one could see her very heart breaking."
"The great feast was thrown in the Sala dei Santi, the Hall of the Saints; the family and many powerful cardinals and nobles were invited."
"As he lifted his goblet, his hand shook slightly. ‘To the year 1500!’ he cried, to the large assembly gathered about him at the table."
"The Christian Jubilee, was instituted two hundred years ago by Pope Boniface VIII. It is a time when all sins were forgiven."
"I knew not what the year might bring, because at that very moment, Cesare Borgia fought alongside the French in Milan."
"‘I am begging God not to bring an end to the world.’"
"‘Why would God do such a thing?’ I demanded."
"‘The fireworks continued for some time, with each fresh launch growing more ambitious than the last, and drawing even greater roars of appreciation from the crowd.’"
"‘You fool,’ Alfonso repeated, his voice growing louder with each word. ‘You thought, because I had fallen, that I did not recognize you there, on your fine white stallion with its fine silver hooves.’"
"‘What failed at lunch will succeed by supper.’"
"The glass glinted brilliant and green as an emerald; I stared at it for a moment, transfixed, overcome by the gravity of what I was about to do."
"I screamed again, and ran staggering back into the dark bedchamber; a stout figure caught me."
"'This pope is the Antichrist. Alexander always intended to let Cesare kill Alfonso; he knew it even when he came to the Hall of the Sibyls and swore otherwise.'"
"I remained in a state of perpetual twilight. During the days, followed at a courteous distance by a guard, I wandered through the labyrinthine gardens."
"'We are all Cesare’s madwomen here. I, too, am one of his prisoners.'"
"I passed both the Pope and Cesare, though neither met my challenging gaze or acknowledged my presence."
"I live numbly, without meaning, the boredom of my days broken only by my conversations with the dead and visits from my husband."
"'You would certainly need help, it is true; for if anything ever happened to His Holiness, your affairs would not last three days.'"
"I am the madwoman Sancha of Aragon,' I said."
"'I am ready,' I whispered to the strega in the darkness. 'But if I am to fulfil my destiny, you must send help. I cannot accomplish this alone.'"
"Holding the goblet, I moved behind him. 'It is done,' I whispered to Jofre. 'Without him, Cesare has no power. We can go.'"
"I stepped onto the bridge and crossed the dark river; this time I smelled only sweet brine. My heart was already in Naples, where the sun gleams off the pure blue waters of the bay."