The Kadin - Bertrice Small [163]
“She?” And then he knew. “Khurrem? My kadin has done this?”
“Yes, Suleiman. Khurrem. Do not blame her. In her eyes I am a threat She is as ambitious as I once was. She does it for you both. You are far too attached to me. You divide your love among your kadin, your ikbals, and your mother. I somehow think it is unhealthy for a man of your years.”
“Paradise lies at a mother’s feet” he quoted.
“Do not preach the holy Koran to me! It was I who taught it to you! If I retire to a nearby palace, I shall still be an influence in your life. There are those who will say that Khurrem has driven me from you as she did Gulbehar. Someday Khurrem might be valideh. She is not very popular now as it is, and an unpopular valideh may mean an unpopular sultan.
“If you are to be free without complications, I must appear to have died. Only then can I spend my old age in peace. I have already spoken to my brother, and he wants me to return to Scotland with him. Did you know that he came to Constantinople in hopes of tracing me?”
“You spoke with Lord Leslie? How?”
“Let the arrangements of our meeting remain a secret, my son.”
“No wonder he looked at me so strangely today,” mused Suleiman. “I thought it was simple curiosity at meeting the fabled Grand Turk. Allah! My own uncle!” He looked at his mother. “I cannot let you go. I cannot!”
“You would prefer that Khurrem murder me?”
“I shall punish her.”
“She will, nevertheless, try again—and what is worse, Khurrem never forgives an insult Your action will only make her redouble her efforts.”
“Then I shall send her away.”
“My son, my son! You have not understood a word I have said It is either Khurrem’s life or mine. You must make the choice, and you cannot I have made it for you. Would you deny your four children their mother? Have you no feelings? Is this how I have raised you?”
“You plead for leniency for Khurrem, saying I must not separate my children from their mother; yet you, my own mother, would go from me.”
“Suleiman!” Her voice had taken on an unaccustomed sharpness. “You are no longer a child You are a man and sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Your eldest son is almost fifteen. He will soon take maidens of his own and make you a grandfather. Do you not think it is time you rid yourself of the influence of women? Mustafa is more independent than you. This should not be!”
“I am not influenced by women, mother!”
“My son, the fact that you can neither see nor feel the hands that have led you is proof enough of your need to be rid of me. From the moment you were born, I have guided your destiny. Others have helped me. Without Firousi, Zuleika, and Sarina, would your childhood have been safe? They, too, bore your father sons. Hammed was barely four months younger than you. Yet always our efforts were for you, and you alone. When our father officially became sultan, it was I who saw that Gulbehar became yours rather than his. When the Persian campaign was won, I was responsible for seeing that you were sent to Magnesia to learn how to govern. Who warned you not to follow your father into Syria and Egypt? I did! When my beloved Selim died who held Constantinople in check until you had safely arrived? I did! Without my help you would have faltered a thousand times. Who brought you Khurrem? It was I who trained her to catch your eye. When the feud between Gulbehar and Khurrem reached epic proportions, to whom did you turn for help? To me! I solved your problem. Your father’s last words to me were, ‘Guide Suleiman as only you know how.’ I have done it, but you are now a man and I am tired. I would like to live out my days in peace!”
For several minutes, neither of them spoke. Suleiman was wise enough to realize that his mother had worked herself into a frenzy. He had never seen her this way, and he was a little frightened. Her beautiful hair had become unbound as she spoke, loosened by her passion. It had never grayed, but rather had lightened with her advancing age until it was now a soft, pale-peach color. As she paced back and forth, it swung, catching the light
Suddenly Cyra