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The Sultan's Seal: A Novel (Kamil Pasha Novels)

Page 33

by Jenny White


  I had found the second teapot when I went back to the sea hamam the following day. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, to rest my hand in her grave. There was no tea in that pot, but long, thick strands. Dried tube flowers, like the ones Violet had prepared as an infusion for Mama to breathe into her lungs to ease her cough. I hurled the pot, like a snake, into the water, but the poison had long done its work. When I confronted her, Violet admitted she had kept Mary below the water until she exhausted herself. It was to save me, Violet insisted. I have been saved from myself so thoroughly that I am left with a stranger, I replied before leading her to the pond. There our bond was forged, and now it is cut.

  Mary, though—she is not dead, but one of those princesses of my youth pinned to the sand, waiting. My words will make her live again. Her feet like fresh milk cupped by my hands.

  A fire is burning low in the grate, but the room is warm with the colors of home. My dayi has sent me carpets and books and even a samovar so that I may feel his proximity. I spend my days in study and learn to wield many kinds of words, gauging their power. The secret is in how you hold the sword, in the flick of the wrist.

  Acknowledgments

  I am deeply grateful to my agent, Al Zuckerman, and to Amy Cherry, my editor, for their faith in this book and for their expert guidance. I also wish to thank Stephen Kimmel, Edite Kroll, Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, Roger Owen, Donald Quataert, Kevin Reinhart, and Corky White for reading and commenting on the manuscript; Feride Çiçekoğlu for her gift of a pomegranate; and Carl Leiden for getting the ball rolling. Thanks to Linda Barlow, friend and mentor. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Michael Freeman, tireless editor, muse, and hand holder, who believed it would happen.

  Table of Contents

  Praise

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  Contents

  1. Dark Eyes

  2. When the Lodos Blows

  3. The Ambassador’s Daughter

  4. June 15, 1886

  5. The Sea Hamam

  6. June 18, 1886

  7. Your Rolling Pearl

  8. Rules of Engagement

  9. Memory

  10. Hill of Stars

  11. Your Brush Is the Bowstring

  12. The Old Superintendent

  13. A Perfect Fit

  14. Blood

  15. July 1, 1886

  16. The Clean Soil of Reason

  17. July 3, 1886

  18. Kismet

  19. The Crimson Thread

  20. Avi

  21. The Bedestan

  22. Crevice

  23. The Modernists

  24. The Kangal Dog

  25. Deep Sea

  26. Salt, Not Sweet

  27. The Smell of Roses

  28. July 9, 1886

  29. Visions

  30. Feet Like Milk

  31. The Girl Wife

  32. With Wine-Red Necks

  33. Elias Usta’s Workmanship

  34. The Eunuch and the Driver

  35. The Dust of Your Street

  36. Sea Glass

  37. Enduring Principles

  38. A Shared Pipe

  39. The Gate of the Spoonmakers

  40. July 17, 1886

  41. Beautiful Machinery

  42. The Eunuch

  43. The End of Dreams

  44. The Past Is the Vessel of the Future

  45. A Thin Blade

  46. A Hundred Braids

  47. Villa at Tarabya

  48. The Net

  49. The Floating Stage

  50. Barely a Sound

  51. The Ming Vase

  52. The Eye of the Pool

  53. Chaos in the Tapestry of Life

  54. Death Is Too Easy

  Acknowledgments

 

 

 


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