The sultan nodded, considering that his nephew was a pragmatic and honest man. “You have done me a great service, Amir,” he said. “Now go home, Nephew. You will always have my trust.”
Amir bowed, and hurried from his uncle’s presence.
The kadin Besma had heard everything between the two men, as she had hidden herself behind a tapestry in the sultan’s privy chamber when one of her spies brought word that Amir was back. She didn’t trust Amir ibn Jem. She could not believe that he was that noble. He was the eldest of the Conqueror’s grandsons. She was sure he was but biding his time. He might be loyal to Bayezit if such a thing as true loyalty existed. But it was unlikely he would support any of Bayezit’s sons when this sultan could no longer rule. No! He would seize the throne for himself unless she could prevent it. It was her son, Ahmed, who must be the next sultan.
She had already seen Bayezit’s first son, Mustafa, removed to make way for her own boy. Of Ahmed’s two half brothers, only Selim, the younger, worried her. Korkut was too involved in his studies. He could not bring the Janissaries to heel, which a future sultan must do even as Bayezit had. But Selim was another matter, and he was extremely well guarded by his overprotective mother and aunt as well as the Agha Kislar, Hadji Bey. Still, there would be time for Selim’s demise. First she must see to the execution of Prince Amir, lest her own precious boy be threatened by this likable and capable man.
Threatening his cousin was not a priority for Amir ibn Jem. It never had been, and it never would be. He wanted to get home as quickly as he could. He and Krikor decided to ride the several days’ distance from the capital to the Moonlight Serai. They both agreed that they had had enough of ships for the interim. They had been away for seven and a half long months. Spring had reached the Black Sea. The hills were already green with new growth and dotted with early flowers.
His arrival surprised them all, for he had sent no messenger ahead. He greeted Diya al Din and Ali Farid and hurried into the harem. With cries of delight Maysun and Shahdi ran to greet him. He hugged them both, but his eyes were searching the chamber for Azura. Agata had run to fetch her mistress, who was napping. Now Azura came from her bedchamber into the dayroom.
He looked at her, shock etched upon his handsome face. “What has happened to you?” he demanded to know, hurrying to her side. Then he turned to the others. “Why did you not send to me that my beloved was ill?”
“Ill? She is not ill,” Maysun said, and all the women began to laugh. If he had ever before seen a woman heavy with her unborn child it was so long ago that the recollection had faded away from his own memory.
“If she is not ill, then why is she so swollen with evil humors?” Amir insisted upon knowing. His look was one of great concern as he wrapped his arms about Azura.
“She is swollen because she is close to having your child, my lord,” Maysun told him. “But of course you would not know what the sight of a woman with child is, for you were not raised in your grandfather’s harem. Only after your mother died were you brought to the Prince’s School to be educated. You have had no experience with a woman carrying a child, my lord. Azura will deliver her babe in just a few weeks’ time.”
“Welcome home, my dearest lord,” Azura said to him, smiling. “I hope you are pleased by what you have found.”
“A child!” His voice was both reverent and surprised.
“We have kept Azura’s condition a secret,” Maysun went on.
Amir nodded. “Yes, ’twas wise. While I yet stand in my uncle’s favor, news such as this could bring us difficulties.” Then he turned his attention to Azura. “You are well, beloved? I have no knowledge of these things.” He looked to Maysun. “Can you deliver this child, and keep Azura safe too?” he asked her.
“There is no need to worry, my lord. Women have been having babies since time began,” Maysun said, but the truth was she had never delivered a child.
“I will deliver my mistress’s child, my lord,” Agata said. “I helped my sister when my lady’s mother birthed five of her children. I know what must be done.”
“We will send for a physician from Istanbul,” the prince decided.
“No, we will not,” Azura contradicted him. “Agata knows what must be done, and so do I. No one is to know of this child’s existence until after it is born. My baby must at least have a chance at life.” Her lip trembled as she said it. Once the danger of birthing a son had not seemed so serious, but with each kick the infant in her belly gave her to remind her of its existence, she realized the peril they both faced should that child be a male. A male whose claim to the Ottoman throne was as legitimate as that of any of the claimants. She rested her dark head against his shoulder. “I am glad you are home, Amir.”
He called her to his bed that night, and marveled at the great change in the beautiful body he had loved previously. He positioned her between his legs, and let his hands roam over her large round belly. He could actually see the faint outline of his child. He put a hand over it, and it kicked out at him. Startled, he pulled his hand back, but then they both laughed. He was amazed that her beautiful round breasts were now twice their usual size, the nipples prominent and ready for suckling. And all this had happened in the time he was away. He was astounded, for to him it was a sudden change.
Maysun had explained to him how they might copulate without injuring the infant. Azura was more than eager, and wept with her delight to feel his hard length filling her once again. Gently he brought them both to perfect fulfillment twice, scolding her when she begged for more. If truth be told, he wanted more too, but he feared harming the child.
“At least you had the diversion of other women in your travels,” she complained at him when he told her enough. “I have had to spend long nights aching for you, my lord. Do not deny me, for I burn for you.”
“I have had no woman since the night I left you,” he told her.
“Not one?” She sounded very pleased.
“Not one, you greedy houri,” he swore. “If your belly were not in our way, I should take you to my couch for the next month, and never let you off your back.”
Azura sighed with contentment. “I am happy then, my lord, that you have suffered too. But carrying your child has not been easy. I shall be glad to birth it.”
“You do not say he or she,” he remarked.
“I dare not,” Azura told him. “I will not even consider a name.”
“Mehmet for a boy in honor of my grandfather,” he told her.
“Do not even think it, my lord!” she begged him. “I want this child, but I live in fear of a son and pray for a daughter.” Her eyes filled with tears. “In my own need and selfishness I have taken such a terrible chance in having this child,” she admitted.
He held her close now. “It will be all right, beloved,” he promised her, knowing even as he said the words that he could not really promise her anything at all. His only hope if this child was a male lay in his uncle’s generosity towards him. The sultan would have to be notified immediately when the birth occurred no matter the child’s gender.
The days grew warmer and longer, and then fourteen days into May Azura’s child decided it was time to be born. The waters protecting the child spilled from her, but it was not until several hours later that the pains began. They were ready in the harem with the birthing chair. Beneath it there were clean linen cloths spread. The hours moved slowly, but despite the increasing severity of the pains, the child would not come easily. Night came. Azura screamed with each new pain. Her ebony hair was lank and wet, her body covered in sweat. Finally, in the hour before midnight, the baby’s head crowned. Then its delicate shoulders came forth, and finally, pushing with a strength she didn’t think she had left, Azura birthed her child.
Crouched beneath the birthing chair, Agata caught the baby as it finally came forth. “It is a girl!” she cried. “It is a girl!”
They were the last words Azura heard, for she fainted with her final efforts. Maysun and Shahdi took t
he infant, who was squalling now, from Agata. Azura would need attending to, for she was bleeding heavily. Stopping the bleeding was paramount, and praying vocally to the Holy Mother and Santa Anna, Agata managed to stem the flow. Azura was weakened by the great loss of blood, and nothing would do but that Amir send to Istanbul for a physician. Krikor was dispatched immediately, carrying a message for the sultan as well as a request for a physician of his choosing.
Bayezit was surprised to receive his nephew’s communiqué, but equally relieved that the child born was a female. Killing an infant was not in his nature. He wisely kept the news of Amir’s daughter from his kadin Besma. He also instructed a competent physician to see that his nephew’s third wife did not give birth again. He could be generous, but he could not speak for whichever of his sons succeeded him.
They put the baby to Azura’s breast, and weak as she was, she fed her daughter, though it weakened her further. The physician demanded a wet nurse be found, but Azura insisted upon feeding her infant at least once daily so that her own milk would not dry up.
She would feed her child when she was well again, she told him. The physician smiled. He would tell the sultan of this brave young woman who was such a good mother. Indeed, the infant had three mothers, for the prince’s two other wives doted upon the baby.
“Atiya is her name,” Azura finally told Amir. “Maysun says it means ‘gift,’ and our daughter is a great gift to this house.”
Amir agreed, and then showed her the gold rattle that the sultan had sent to their daughter. “He is pleased with an Ottoman princess, and says he will choose a distinguished husband for her one day.” He looked down at his daughter as she nursed at her mother’s plump white breast. Atiya had a tuft of black hair. He touched it, smiling as it curled about his finger. “She is so delicate,” he said softly.
“She will not break,” Azura told him, smiling.
The baby was healthy, and Azura slowly over the next few months regained her strength. The baby thrived and seemed to grow more each day. The soft dark hair with which she had been born fell out, leaving her as bald as a melon for a few weeks, but then the infant’s hair grew back as thick and dark as her parents’ hair. Her blue eyes were not the aquamarine color of her mother’s but neither were they the deep blue of her father’s.
Rather Atiya had clear bright blue eyes that showed curiosity about everything.
The baby quickly came to recognize the faces of those around her, smiling winningly at Maysun and Shahdi, who constantly argued over who would carry Atiya about her world on a particular day. She cooed and Azura could have sworn that she flirted with all the men in her life. Her father. Nadim. Ali Farid and Diya al Din. She had the three eunuchs in particular wrapped about her tiny finger. She went through a period where she was demanding of her mother, but Azura quickly put an end to that, lest the child become spoiled. In personality Atiya reminded her mother of her own mother.
The baby was six months old when Amir and Diya al Din both sensed the little palace was being watched. Azura rode out with her husband. He put her off for several days until she grew suspicious and demanded to know why. He told her.
“Who would watch the Moonlight Serai?” Azura asked him. “Should we be afraid? Are we safe, my lord?”
“I do not know, but I intend seeking the answers to all your questions, beloved,” he told her. “I must be patient, however, lest I frighten our watcher off. I want answers as much as you do. I do not believe it is Tartars or other raiders. More likely someone from Istanbul reporting to the sultan’s minions.”
“But your uncle trusts you,” Azura replied.
“He does, but there are those among his people who cannot believe an Ottoman prince lives who is without ambition for the throne,” Amir answered her. “My father’s continued behavior does not help me.”
“The others do not know, do they?” she said.
“No, and you must say nothing. You know how easily Maysun and Shahdi can be made fearful.”
“Are we truly safe in your uncle’s realm?” Azura asked.
“I had thought we would be, and as long as my grandfather lived, I believe we were. The sultan’s heart is good towards me. He does not hold me responsible for my father’s misdeeds, but eventually his patience will be frayed. He has three kadins, and they are concerned with any who might threaten their own sons.”
“A kadin is the title given to the mother of the sultan’s sons. Is that correct?” Azura queried him. “Their position must give them a certain power.”
Amir nodded. “Yes, it does. Family is all-important to the Ottomans. All of their children are welcomed into this world, and cherished, but particularly sons. And when a sultan dies, his successor’s mother gains the stature of becoming Sultan Valideh. It is she who controls the harem along with the official known as the Agha Kislar,” he explained.
“How many kadins does your uncle have?” Azura asked.
“Three,” Amir told her, “and one of those three is a very dangerous woman. Her name is Besma. It is said that she engineered the death of my cousin Mustafa, who was my uncle’s eldest-born, the son of his kadin Kiusem. Nothing could be proved against Besma, however, and her son, Ahmed, my uncle’s second-born son, became the oldest. She is a very jealous woman, and too often my uncle gives in to her simply so she will cease her nagging. Fortunately his Agha Kislar, Hadji Bey, does not like kadin Besma. He favors the younger of Kiusem’s sons, Selim, and so his master’s difficult kadin is usually prevented these days from her mischief.”
“Yet she murdered a prince,” Azura noted.
“Never proved,” Amir reiterated. “When I learn who watches, we will know more,” he promised her.
But the watcher was clever. He obviously suspected he had been discovered.
Before Amir might ride out and surprise him, the watcher disappeared. Still curious, Amir considered going to Istanbul, but realized his appearance uninvited in the capital might offend his uncle. Instead he sent a message to the Agha Kislar with his own trusted Diya al Din. The head eunuch of the prince’s household had been trained with Hadji Bey.
Hadji Bey was surprised to see his old companion. It had been years since the two had met, for Diya al Din had served Prince Amir’s mother first. The prince’s eunuch waited for two days before the great Agha Kislar was able to see him, but Hadji Bey welcomed him warmly, expressing his regret that his old friend had been forced to wait.
Diya al Din waved the Agha Kislar’s concerns aside. “There is no emergency,” he said. “It was pleasant to wait, and be waited upon. I cannot recall the last time I was free of my duties as head eunuch of Prince Amir’s household.”
“Sit, sit,” the Agha invited.
Immediately slaves brought hot mint tea and small sweet pastries for the two men. For a brief time they sat together enjoying the refreshments.
“Now tell me why you have come,” Hadji Bey finally asked his guest. “You say it is no emergency, yet I suspect it may be important, else Prince Amir would not have sent you to me. How may I serve him?”
“Someone has been watching the Moonlight Serai,” Diya al Din said. “When my master sought to learn the identity of the watcher, he had fled. Do you know of this?”
“No,” the Agha Kislar said, “I do not, but kadin Besma has of late begun to lobby once again with the sultan over Prince Amir’s presence so close to Istanbul.” He clapped his hands together, and instantly a slave was by his side, leaning down to receive the Agha’s whispered instructions. The slave ran off, and Hadji Bey said, “We will shortly know if that troublesome woman is involved. I spend more of my time these days preventing her mischief than I should have to,” he grumbled. “If she is responsible for this, she has kept it secret, for I have several spies in her household and have heard nothing. Now, tell me of your prince’s child. Is it indeed a girl, or was that simply a ruse to keep the infant safe for the time being?”
“No, no!” Diya al Din exclaimed. “’Tis a little princess in truth. Th
ey have named her Atiya. She has dark hair like her parents, and fine bright blue eyes. Her mother is very beautiful, and the baby promises to be too.”
“She is doted upon?” Hadji Bey said with a smile.
Diya al Din chortled. “Oh yes!” he replied. “The prince’s first two wives are sterile, and you can imagine their delight over Princess Atiya. They have already made a true demanding little Ottoman of her. The lady Azura has scolded them about it, but then the baby will do something outrageous and they all laugh over her antics. As for my master, he is like all fathers of daughters. Besotted.”
The Agha Kislar listened, a smile upon his dark face, but he was gauging the truth of Diya al Din’s words. This eunuch was no less loyal to his own master than the Agha was to the sultan, but the more he listened, the more Hadji Bey was convinced that his guest spoke the truth. Prince Amir’s child was indeed a female. Not that he would not make absolutely certain eventually with his own spies. There would be time enough for that.
The Agha’s slave returned and murmured in his master’s ear before moving from the small comfortable chamber where the two eunuchs sat companionably.
“It is as I suspected,” Hadji Bey said, his tone edged with anger. “Kadin Besma spies upon Prince Amir’s household, though she could actually learn little if nothing from a distance. Is it possible there is a spy among your slaves? A new purchase, perhaps? Allah forgive me, but if there were a way of ridding my master of that damned woman, I would take it.”
“The household I manage is small,” Diya al Din said. “I have brought no new slaves into it for years. Still, I will investigate when I return and will report to you.”
“Then the stupid woman wastes her time,” the Agha Kislar said. “But why she would do so is of more concern to me. It will take some careful investigation on my part, and that will take time. Return to Prince Amir, and tell him what I have told you, Diya al Din. Your master has a friend in me. Should kadin Besma be plotting any mischief against him I will learn of it, and do my best to prevent it.”
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