The Kadin - Bertrice Small [191]
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