“God in heaven,” whispered Janet “That accursed treasurer—and Ibrahim’s greatest rival for Suleiman’s ear!”
“Read on, madame,” begged Marian.
Janet continued.
Ibrahim was ordered to press straight on to Baghdad Instead he turned into the mountains around Lake Van near Bitlis, and resecured the frontier posts. Then he pushed his troops across the mountains towards Tabriz where Prince Tahmasp reigns.
Janet nodded approvingly. “He thinks like Selim,” she said.
However, messengers returning to the sultan said that the Ibrahim had gone mad with power, and claimed he alone won the victories which the Ottoman sultan could no longer achieve. They even showed Suleiman an order signed by Ibrahim as ‘Serasker Sultan.’ Khurrem showed it to me, and I marveled that Ibrahim should be so bold. She is quite pleased with me, and I am in her favor. It seems to be important to her that I am her friend. I think she feels that because you and I were such confidantes, I give her a measure of respectability. Cyra Hafise may be dead for over a year, but Khurrem is still afraid of her.
The signature, by the way, was an excellent forgery. I never realized how truly talented Iskander Chelebi really was. Such reports, however false, distressed the sultan, and he left Khurrem to join Ibrahim.
Baghdad is again secure, and Iskander Chelebi, having been caught skimming off monies from the army supplies fund and dealing secretly with the Persians to defeat our sultan, has been executed. Not, however, before trying to implicate Ibrahim He claims they were in the scheme together and also that Ibrahim bought assassins to kill Suleiman. Had Ibrahim and Suleiman not been practically raised together—. Nevertheless I fear for the vizier.
I have warned him through your daughter, his wife, but his ego will not allow him to take Khurrem seriously. This could be a tragic mistake in view of something I have heard.
The slavegirl who tends Khurrem’s hair is a Jewess. When I found this out, I begged Khurrem’s permission to buy the girl’s freedom She allowed it on the condition that the girl personally train another slave-girl in her technique of hairdressing. Sarai, for that is the girl’s name, is doing so. However, she is very grateful to me for obtaining her freedom and giving her a position in my house.
Recently she told me Khurrem has boasted openly that the sultan is going to marry her. I have heard nothing of this though I’ve increased my visits to the Eski Serai. It is, of course, absurd! And now, dear lady, before I close I ask you to remember me to my good friend Marian, and her daughter, Ruth. May your God keep you all safe.
I am your faithful friend.
Esther Kira.
The three women sat silently for a few minutes. Then Janet burst into a string of oaths. When she had finished she stood up, shook her skirts, and asked, “Has the messenger from the Kiras begun his return journey yet?”
“Nay,” replied a white-faced Ruth.
“He isna to leave until I have written a message which he will carry to Edinburgh for me. In fact since it is late, he is to stay the night and start out at first light This will gie me time to compose something sensible. Go and tell him, Ruth.”
“Yes, m’lady,” said Ruth supping from the room.
Janet began pacing the room, “How could a son of mine and my lord Selim’s be such a soft fool? Charles only spent six years of his life in Turkey, and yet when I told him of Khurrem’s treachery towards me, he said he would hae bowstringed her! He is more the Grand Turk than his father’s firstborn. No Ottoman since Osman has formally married a wife. He shames the memory of all the women who hae borne Ottoman heirs, including me, Firousi, Sarina and Zuleika! I will not allow it! That she dared to even hint at such a thing! God curse the day I saw her sewing in my daughter’s house and rescued her from certain obscurity!”
“There is nothing you can do, my lady. The kadin Khurrem now has the upper hand,” said Marian harshly. “You are dead in Ottoman Turkey.”
“Not while there is a breath in my body,” said Janet fiercely. “Bring me paper and ink at once! Then leave me to write my letter. No one is to come in here until I’ve finished, and I call. No one! Should my lord Hay arrive you are to tell him I see no one, even him, till this is finished. If he attempts to gain entry, call out the guard!”
“Yes, madame,” said Marian setting the writing case in her lady’s hands.
The door closed behind her, and for several minutes Janet sat quietly gazing at the paper before her. Then she picked up the sharpened quill, and began.
My dear Esther.
Your letter has distressed me greatly as you have undoubtedly judged by the speed of my reply. I am enclosing a separate message for my son, which I ask you to read before delivering.
I set you a hard task, my friend. To obtain a totally private moment with my protocol-proud son. I am sending some small gifts peculiar to our country which you may tell him come from Lord Leslie, the Scots envoy who visited him last year. I shall, when this matter is settled, write more fully about my own life. So you and my sisters do not fret, however, I tell you that I am well, in fact, thriving.
I also have happy news. Dearest Ruth was married in early January to my own captain of the guards, and is already expecting a child to be born in mid-autumn. I close now safe in the knowledge that you will not fail me.
CH, Sultan Valideh.
Janet laid her message to Esther Kira aside, and taking up a second sheet of parchment began a second letter.
My son.
Word has reached me that Khurrem boasts openly in the harem that you will marry her. Should this be true, and I cannot believe it, I tell you that I forbid it! How dare you shame the memory of Cyra Hafise?! And that of every kadin who has borne her lord a son, including poor Gulbehar, who is mother to your own heir, Mustafa. Or is he to be set aside when you do this terrible thing? No sultan since Osman has found it necessary to formalize his relationship with a woman. Perhaps you have forgotten that in my great love for you I allowed you to keep a woman who twice tried to poison me; and then I departed from your life so there might be peace in your house. I have given up everything for you. My name. My final resting place beside your father. My home, my friends, my children, my grandchildren. And my position. I expected no reward for my great sacrifice, but to be shamed in such a manner is more than I can bear. If you do this foolish thing, my death will be on your conscience.
CH, Sultan Valideh.
Reading over the letters, Janet smiled, and sealing first with her tugra the missive to Suleiman, she placed it inside the message to Esther Kira, and sealed that with the Leslie seal. Taking a third sheet of parchment, she wrote to the head of the House of Kira in Edinburgh.
This message is to go by the absolute fastest route possible. It is imperative it reach Istanbul quickly. My personal thanks to Aaron Kira for his efforts on my behalf.
Janet Leslie.
“Marian, come to me!”
The door opened
“Has the messenger been fed?”
“Aye, madame”
“His horse properly cared for?”
“Aye, madame.”
“Bring him to me.”
“At once, madame.”
A few minutes later a young boy knelt before her. His hair was black, his eyes dark and luminous.
“Your name, lad?”
“Aaron Kira, my lady.”
“Ye are Esther’s nephew? Yes! I see the family resemblance now. I dinna think ye so young. Ye hae done me a great service, laddie, and I am going to ask ye do me another. At first light ye will come and receive from me an important message packet that must go back to Edinburgh. Ye must ride like the wind, Aaron Kira, for there is no time to be lost Ye will be told the posting places ye may change horses at by my captain, Hugh More-Leslie.”
The boy looked up at her, his eyes shining. “I will reach Edinburgh before the wind my lady.”
She laughed. “How old are ye, Aaron Kira?”
“Fourteen, my lady.”
“I thou
ght so. Once I had four sons, and as I remember fourteen is a wonderfully confident age.”
“Where are your sons now?” asked the boy.
“Two are dead, and one lives here wi’ me.”
“And the fourth?”
“He is very far away, laddie.” She gently patted his head. “Off wi’ ye, boy. If you ride for the Lady of Sithean at dawn, ye must be well rested. Be sure cook feeds ye before ye go, and gies ye something for the road. Here are some coins which will buy ye whatever else ye need.”
He caught her hand, and pressing it to his forehead Eastern fashion backed from the room
“Esther would be so proud of him, wouldn’t she, Marian?”
“Aye. He’s a fine lad. Och! I’m forgetting! Lord Hay is here. I’ve put him in the small dining room wi’ some supper before him”
“Good. Go and see if he’s through. Then ye may go to bed. See that the Kira boy is fed and given food for his journey in the morning. Have Hugh tell him posting stations tonight and see Aaron is brought to me at dawn.”
“What have ye written to my lord Suleiman?”
That I forbid any formality between him and Khurrem.”
“Will he listen?”
“I pray to God he will!”
“I also. Good night, madame.”
“Good night, Marian.”
45
THE KING was coming to Sithean. He had sent word that he would return to Edinburgh from his highland progress via the Leslie lands. Anne was furious he was not staying at Glenkirk.
“Undoubtedly the countess’s reputation as a hostess has been bruited about to his majesty,” laughed Lord Hay.
“Possibly,” said Janet, “but I rather fancy our Jamie comes to see me. He made me a very flattering offer when we met at court A lusty cock is our wee king!”
“He’s also a rapacious little bastard when it comes to money,” said Colin. “His greed is unbelievable. He adds to his wealth by seizure and forfeiture of his nobles’ lands. His lust for money is like his English grandfather’s, Henry VII. He’s already ruined the earls of Bothwell, Morton, and Crawford, as well as others I could name. The Douglases have suffered worse, though they deserve it I pity our Jamie should war break out He’s made so many enemies among his own, that there would be none to fight for him.”
“Would you, my lord?”
“Only if the country were invaded. Unlike the more prominent members of my family, I hae no wish to be involved wi’ the Stewarts.”
Janet smiled. “Neither do I, toy love. I simply wish to live quietly in my own little world.”
“If that be the case, sweetheart ye hae best not let Jamie guess at yer wealth, or ye’ll be back in yer tower at Glenkirk under the vigilant eye of my lady Anne.”
“Come to bed, my lord.” She shrugged her robe off and stood facing him, her lovely breasts full and pointed in the firelight.
“Jesu, if Jamie could see what I see, my head wouldna be long on my shoulders!”
“Flatterer!” She climbed into their bed, and he joined her. “Remind me to pick a pretty bunch of extra housemaids tomorrow so his majesty may be diverted. Hae ye anything nice on yer estate?”
“My dear, I couldna tell ye. The one condition ye made to becoming my mistress was that I shouldha no other women. I value ye too highly to jeopardize our arrangement”
“Why, Colly, “I’m touched; however, I simply said I didna want ye sleeping wi’ another woman. Ye may look all ye like.”
His eyes twinkled “In that case Gilbert tells me that there are two girls, sisters I believe, who are worthy of mention. I’ll have them sent over.”
James V, king of Scotland and the Isles, arrived at Sithean on the fifteenth of November. It had been a long and warm autumn, and the trees were still full with their gold and scarlet leaves, a fitting frame for the small gray stone castle, set on its green island in the little blue loch. The lady of Sithean greeted her liege, who was accompanied only by Lord Gordon, the earl of Huntley, and half a dozen retainers. Noting Janet’s astonishment at the small size of his party, the king smiled and said “I dinna wish to impose on yer hospitality, Lady Leslie. I hae sent the better part of my people on to Huntley’s castle. Damned nuisance, anyhow!”
Janet laughed. “My lord the king is always welcome at Sithean with or without his retinue. Come in now, my lord and I shall show ye my little home.”
As they entered Janet explained that the castle was built in the shape of an H and that her son, Charles and his family lived in this, the East Wing, and she lived in the West Wing.
“I have put ye and Lord Gordon in the West Wing, sir. I thought perhaps the children in the East Wing would disturb yer majesty.”
“How many children, madame?”
“Well, there are my grandsons—Patrick, who’s almost three, and his brother, Charles, who’s a year and a half. Then there’s my nephew’s son, Wee Patrick, he’s the same age as little Charles, and his baby sister, Mary, who is but five months. And my daughter-in-law is breeding again, and my younger waiting woman’s just been churched of her first child, a lovely boy.” She paused for breath, and the king laughed.
“Faith, madame, ye present me a most domesticated picture.”
Leading him into the main anteroom in the East Wing she presented the king and Huntley to Adam, Anne, Ian, Jane, Charles, and Fiona.
“We hae,” said the earl of Glenkirk, “arranged a hunt for ye tomorrow, sire. Stag!”
The young king was pleased, and his mellow mood lasted throughout the evening. Dinner was a simple family affair; tomorrow would be time enough for the neighboring gentry to descend on Sithean. Afterwards James was escorted to his apartments, and Lord Gordon to his. Janet had warned Colin to stay away during the two nights the king was at Sithean. Janet wanted no scandal in her house when the king was there.
It was therefore with some surprise that she noted her chamber door opening to admit the king. She sprang from her bed. “My liege! Is aught amiss?”
James smiled charmingly. “My bed is cold.”
“But I assigned several pretty lasses to prepare yer majesty’s rooms,” she said severely.
“They dinna suit.” His amber eyes flicked over her scantily clad body.
“I must again remind ye, my liege, that I am old enough to be yer mother.”
“Yet ye fie wi’ Lord Hay.”
Surprised at his intelligence, she nevertheless coolly replied, “Lord Hay is my contemporary.”
“Is it the same as when ye were young?”
She swallowed hard. “Aye.” Then catching his thought, she bit back her laughter.
“Then God’s nightgown, madame! If ye lie wi’ Lord Hay, and ‘tis the same as it ever was, why will ye nae lie wi’ me?”
“Because, sir, I am no wanton. I dinna lie wi’ boys, and when I take a lover I prefer to do my own choosing.”
“I never thought ye were the wanton, my dear. Ye keep telling me ye could be my mother, yet ye are not my mother. From the moment I first saw ye at court seven months ago, I wished to sleep wi’ ye. Why do ye think I broke my journey at Sithean? Now, madame, I have had enough talk, and I am cold Get into bed!”
She dared not disobey. Blowing out the bedside candle, the king took Janet in his arms. Stripping the sheer robe off her, James fondled her ripe breasts. Murmuring happily, the king buried his face in her body. She lay quietly neither encouraging, nor discouraging him. Forcing his knee between her legs he spread them wide, and mounting the body beneath him, he thrust up her.
She tried very hard not to respond, but her body betrayed her, and she moved smoothly under him in perfect rhythm. Sighing contentedly he sought his release, and finding it, he rolled off her and immediately fell asleep. There was nothing else for her to do but fall asleep also. When she awoke the following morning, the king was gone from her bed.
That morning after a mass celebrating the feast of Saint Margaret, they hunted stag in the hills around the loch. The king behaved courteously toward
s her as he had previously. That night she gave a banquet for the neighboring families of rank. Lord Hay was among them. Afterwards there was dancing, and leading her through a figure Colin asked ‘Tonight?”
“Nay, hinny! He goes tomorrow. Tomorrow night, my love!”
And after all was quiet that night James appeared again in her rooms, took his pleasure, and slept Janet didn’t know whether to be glad or sad that she had forbade Lord Hay to visit The following morning the king took her a final time, and then departed.
As they stood in the main hall of the East Wing, James smiled and said, “Lady Leslie. Ye hae given forty years of yer life, and more, to Scotland I canna let such devotion go unrewarded. Sithean is far too lovely for a mere ‘Sir” Charles Leslie. I am therefore creating yer son earl of Sithean, and ye madame,” his eyes twinkled at her, “will be known as the dowager countess of Sithean.”
Kneeling, she kissed his hand “My lord once again ye hae rendered me speechless.”
He nodded graciously and raising her up said softly, “Were I ten years older, the master of Grayhaven would nae have a chance!” In a louder voice, “Farewell, madame! We hope to see ye at court again some day.”
After the king had left, Janet went to her own apartments and indulged herself in a long and lovely bath in her Turkish bathroom Lying on the marble bathbench, the steam hissing on the stones, she thought how fortunate it was that she was not of childbearing age. Then she thought of her warning to Lord Hay concerning other women. Suddenly the incongruity of the situation hit her, and she began to laugh.
The Kadin Page 44