“My duty is divided,” answered Desdemona. “To you I am bound for life and education, and for those I give you honor and gratitude. I am, and shall always be your daughter, but Othello is my husband, and like my mother preferred you to her own father, so I must give honor to my husband.”

I had heard nearly the same speech from my own Cordelia to her father, thus setting in motion the shifting of a half dozen kingdoms. Desdemona’s spark and passion brought a lump to my throat.

“Then it is true. You have married him?”

“Under the church and the republic, as well as in my heart.”

“It cannot be legal!” said Brabantio to the senate. “He is not Venetian, and under the law he would inherit my seat on the council. He must be Venetian born or the marriage is not legal.”

The senators looked around at one another and finally the doge spoke. “We will have to consider your suit, Brabantio. The city’s charter says nothing about a senator having to be a Venetian, only that he be elected by citizens of his district. It was you, yourself, that proposed the law that a seat could be passed down to heirs. It does not specify that a senator must be Venetian born.”

“But when the law was passed, all senators were Venetian born, so it is implied in the law. When I go to the butcher to buy a duck, must I also tell him I want a bird? We know because it is a duck, it is a bird implied.”

“He has a point,” said the senator sitting closest to the doge.

“Oh bollocks,” said I. I stumbled to the middle of the floor. “Complete bloody bollocks. If ducks are birds, then Othello is a Venetian by the same rule, because he is known as such.”

“Fortunato—” The doge stood as if he thought he might direct me from the floor.

“Just listen, Your Grace. You all know how I came to Venice. Not as the wee broken fool you see before you, but as a diplomat, an emissary from the ruler of six countries. Spokesman for an empire.”

“His queen is dead—,” said Brabantio.

“Shut the fuck up, thou glistening dog knob!” said I, perhaps more sternly than was called for. “I have the floor.”

The doge gave Brabantio a savage glare and the senator went silent.