( A new day, forcibly bright. When she enters her reception rooms, Vannozza Spina appears, for once, equipped for travel, armed with the thick gloves of the hunt and a lady's riding regalia.

She dismisses her people, her suitor of the day, even her maids, before pacing the room as if she intends to give Wrath no more than spare moments. Trinkets of her time. )

I am as you know me. ( Her smile, faint. ) My wounds and my marks are as you know them. How interminably acquainted you all are with my failings. Perhaps so familiar that you've become fond.

( But she breathes, in and then out, and steadies herself, finally seating. ) I sleep poorly. It is not... unexpected, is it? After all that's come and gone.