viii. dictated

[heloise]

Giulia said there are many kinds of kisses, weighed with promises or equipped to satisfy them. Any woman should know them all, she said.

I know now the kiss to promise and the one to fulfill it, like contracts and, perhaps, like marriages.

I have never kissed my husband, and I shall never. I have nothing to promise him.

[ Only she should never have said that. She holds her breath and tries to think, but what's done is done, so she shuts her journal instead. ]

Comments

Lucrezia

[assassino]

[Chuckles... even though she's closed her journal. When she opens it next, there will be a message waiting for her :)]

And what brought this on?

Ezio

[heloise]

[ She wonders if it was amusing. ]

I had to kiss a toad yesterday, as a boon.

Lucrezia

[assassino]

[He is certainly amused]

I should hope that a toad would not deserve a kiss of promise...

Ezio

[heloise]

[ Oh but he does make her laugh. ]

And who should deserve such a kiss?

Lucrezia

[assassino]

Whoever you deem worthy, piccina.

Ezio

[heloise]

[ She hums in thought. ]

Do you know them all, Ezio?

Lucrezia

[assassino]

Every time I think I know everyone on the subject, someone introduces me to something new, so I imagine I don't. That said, I have not exactly tried to name or number them all.

Ezio

[heloise]

Are there so many?

I begin to think the art of love is more difficult to master than even the art of war, though I know little of either.

Lucrezia

[assassino]

It is not true. [But wait, he's not supposed to know that. He quickly rephrases what he was about to say in his mind.]

One can become a talented lover sooner than one can become a talented warrior. It is easier to find lovers to practice with than enemies to kill, and even then, if you fail with a lover, you can try again later. If you fail at war... you die.

Ezio

[heloise]

[ She giggles at the mention of talented lovers, because practicing haha. ]

Can one not die of a broken heart?

Lucrezia

[assassino]

Would you blush if I told you one does not need to be in love to take someone to bed? You can enjoy dalliances for what they are, you know, they need not promise more.

Ezio

[heloise]

If love and marriage do not imply the other, and neither does-- the act of loving, I begin to wonder if love dwells only in verses.

Lucrezia

[assassino]

It does not. But do you know why verses about love are popular, Lucrezia? It is because the people who can afford to read and treasure those verses are the ones who cannot marry for love. They need something to dream about, when it is absent from their own lives.

Those who have nothing marry others who have nothing. When there is no dowry or status to be gained, all you can do is marry for love or convenience or comfort. They don't need verses, as love dwells in their own lives.

Ezio

[heloise]

[ His words only confirm what she has suspected from speaking to the servants of her household. And he is still a Florentine banker, a nobleman. ]

Neither you nor I can afford to marry for love then, Auditore.

Lucrezia

[assassino]

I have decided I will marry whomever I please... assuming her father will allow it. If she would have me anyway, I'd spirit her away with me.

[Pause. He's thinking of what Molotov said, and he feels bad.]

I hope someday it can be the same for you, as well.

dictated;

[ofhope]

...What an odd admission. You aren't very subtle.

dictated;

[heloise]

It is no great secret. [ But it might be. She isn't sure. ]

I kept my promise to you.

dictated;

[ofhope]

That was hardly me.

dictated

[molotov]

You have never kissed your husband? Even at the altar?

[heloise]

[ If only there are more of you in the Papal States, Ezio. She attempts a chuckle, making light of the subject. ]

Or I will find my own pleasures.

dictated;

[heloise]

Who were you yesterday then, little frog?

dictated;

[ofhope]

Someone who believed in love at first sight, apparently. [ And you were kind of a saucy bitch. In that cute fairy tale kind of way??? ]

Thinking back on it, I think it was reminiscent of a fairy tale. But the original involved more than just a kiss.

dictated

[heloise]

Would it not be improper to do so at the altar [ in St. Peter's. ]?

We did not.

[assassino]

[Grinning]

Do it, then. Take it from my courtesan friends... with their skills, they can lead men around effortlessly, and bend their wills with only the slightest suggestion. Men are weak.

dictated forever

[molotov]

Why would it be improper? Does the officiant not say that part where you are from? "You may kiss the bride"?