The Kadin - Bertrice Small [123]
“Well, my daughter,” said the agha, his voice weakened, “it is almost time for the thread of my life to be cut …” She made a small gesture of protest but he took her hand in his and patted it Cyra noted the once-slim fingers had become like a bird’s talons. “No, my daughter, do not grieve. My only regret is that I shall not live to see Suleiman sultan. This is what I must speak to you of now. There is danger ahead for him. He has too many brothers.”
“How can you say this, old friend? My beloved lord Selim once had ten sons, but Omar is dead, Kasim and Abdullah killed at Chaldiran, and now my son Murad fallen in Syria. Only six remain. Selim needs his sons.”
“But Suleiman does not” replied Hadji Bey. “My child, you, the brightest of my pupils, cannot see the truth for the secure and rosy mist before your eyes. Selim will live only a few more years. Yes! It is true, Cyra! The thing that eats at his guts will soon have gorged itself, and the sultan’s life will be snuffed out. Suleiman is heir, but once Selim is dead, this bond that has kept the kadins united all these years will dissolve. Mohammed is but four months younger than Suleiman. He is charming, gay, and popular. Do you think little Firousi would not advance her son’s cause? And the fierce Zuleika? You think her incapable of the same thing? Sarina with her one son is as capable as the other two. When Selim joins his ancestors in Paradise, all his sons but Suleiman must be there to greet him.”
“No!”
“It must be done, my daughter! This advice is my only legacy to you.”
“Have you forgotten my little Karim, Hadji Bey? Do you think I could destroy him? Do you think I would permit either Selim or Suleiman to destroy him? Never! We did not bear our children to have them murdered to insure the succession. The slaughter of brothers must be stopped!”
“You will destroy Suleiman, Cyra. As bas-kadin, you have power. As sultan valideh, you will have more power, but even that power has its limits. You will not be able to prevent malcontents from using Karim and his brothers against Suleiman—and they will! You must begin to act now!”
“I cannot, Hadji Bey! I cannot!” She began to cry softly.
The old man raised himself slowly and painfully. “I did not pick you off the auction block in Candia, protect you, train you, and raise you to such heights to have you fail me now. For all but nine years of my life the House of Osman has been my house! I saved it from Prince Ahmed and his mother. I will not let your sentimental weakness destroy it! I am not asking you to dispose of Selim’s sons personally, but they must go! If they do not, Suleiman will be forced to destroy them himself. From his birth he has been told he will be sultan, and if I know Suleiman, he will be!” With this, the agha fell back among the pillows.
Cyra held a cup of cool water to his lips. “I will do everything to protect Suleiman, Hadji Bey, but there must be something else we can do besides kill them. Let me think on it before I make a final decision.”
The old man nodded. “Now, my child, I ask two final favors of you. First, will you forgive me my harshness of today?”
“A thousand times over. In my heart I remember the man who sired me, but it is you who have been my father since my thirteenth year. How could I be angry at you for speaking the truth to me?”
Hadji Bey smiled up at her with a trace of his old self. “Daughter of my heart, you warm this old man’s bones. The second favor I ask is that you sit by me until I sleep.” She nodded. “Cyra, my daughter, be brave, be strong, and let nothing deter you from your goal Suleiman will be a great sultan, but you will be a greater valideh!” Taking her hand, he closed his dark eyes, the sound of his strained breathing the only discordant note in the room.
She sat for several hours by his side; perhaps she dozed for a few minutes. Suddenly she became aware of the deep silence around her. Taking a small mirror on a chain from about her waist, she held it to his nostrils. The face of the glass remained clear.
It was then she allowed herself