To Seek A Love: Book 1

by Masked Man 2

"...Why, my dear husband...I am glad to think that in your eyes, I am a woman of more beauty than a goddess. But I pray tell, which goddess might you mean? Lovely Aphrodite?" Emilia flashed a coy smile into the looking glass and silently praised herself, in pleasurable guilt, for the alluring tones she had managed to achieve in her voice. "Ay, you flatter me much."

36. A Truth Self-Evident

"My...my apologies, madam," Cassio stammered, carefully pulling his hands from Emilia's tight grip. It was evident that Emilia herself believed her vehement words, but were they really true? She could well be lying, trying to protect her husband's honor...or she could have been deluded into assuming blame for the man's misdeeds. Was not that a common occurrence among the abused?

Talk you of abuse? he berated himself suddenly. My God, you thought Iago to be a good man not a minute before! Do not be so quick to change your opinion of him based on a couple of wounds!

Indeed, the damage to Iago's hands could be explained easily enough; those were the types of injuries wrought by punching walls, which Cassio knew from a childhood experience that he dared not repeat. ...Mind, that knowledge was not quite reassuring. And Emilia's face...he could not, in good conscience, let her continue to lie for the man when he knew exactly where she had gotten those marks...

"You will forgive me for making assumptions," he began, tentatively, "but I could not live with myself knowing that I had let you go without knowing what truly happened to you. Perchance, some like thing may happen again, and if I could have prevented that..." He trailed off, helpless, hoping Emilia would listen to sense. "Inexperienced as I am, lady, I am a soldier, and I know that wounds such as yours resemble those made by open hands, striking harsh blows with a backhand and forehand, on either cheek. As far as I know, you are a woman of integrity, and do not walk the streets at night, fraught with danger as they are. Therefore, I am indubitably led to believe that those bruises were gotten in your home, and the only one present to inflict them was your husband."

Sighing, Cassio took Emilia's hands once more, rubbing his thumb in gentle circles over the backs of them, as he might do to soothe a fretful child. "I do not like this office," he confessed gravely. "I would like to believe in your husband's just character as strongly as you do, but now, I am afraid that I simply cannot, not until I learn the truth of the matter, And I would be ever so grateful if you related that truth to me."