“Then say nothing of your heart’s desire to either of the other wives. And take no food from their hand,” Nadim warned her. “The harem of a prince can become a house of jealousy, especially if a favored woman can give her husband what others cannot. Do you understand what it is I am saying to you?”
Azura nodded.
“It seems to be the same the world over,” Agata said in her native tongue. “In Florence poison is also a favorite weapon for women.”
“What is it that your woman says?” the eunuch asked Azura.
“That poison is a woman’s means even in our homeland. Her name is Agata, and she can speak a little of this new language, but it is difficult for her. It was not for me, although I know I will need to be corrected, and you must do it so I learn to speak properly,” Azura told him. “If you remember to talk slowly when you address Agata, she will learn eventually.”
“She already understands more than she lets on,” the eunuch said with a small smile. “It is clever of her to feign ignorance. She will hear much that way that will be of use to you, my lady Azura.”
“How can you be so certain of what you say?” Azura asked him.
“I watched her in the baths following the instructions of the attendants quite well while she stumbled over her own speech, making them laugh,” he answered. “She will have to improve her skills with our language, and I will have to learn yours. Agata and I must work together to keep you safe and happy,” Nadim told Azura.
“We will teach each other,” Agata said, surprising the eunuch, but he chuckled.
“We will do well together, you and I,” he told the servingwoman.
She nodded in agreement.
“Now come, my lady Azura, and I will bring you to the salon, where your companions now await you,” Nadim told her.
The two women followed the eunuch from Azura’s small apartment down the corridor and into the salon. The sun was already setting in the hills behind the Moonlight Serai. It dappled the dark waters of the sea before the palace. Maysun and Shahdi were seated, awaiting Azura’s arrival.
“My ladies, I present to you your prince’s new wife, the lady Azura,” Nadim said.
The younger woman bowed from the waist. “I greet you, my lady Maysun, my lady Shahdi,” she said in careful Turkish.
“Join us,” Maysun invited. The bath women were right. Azura’s skin was flawless. “We welcome you to your new home, Lady Azura.”
“Yes, welcome,” Shahdi echoed, not sounding as if she was entirely sincere.
“You have traveled a long distance to reach us. Our husband was most anxious to find and retrieve you,” Maysun said. She looked to the hovering attendants, and nodded.
Almost immediately they disappeared, then reappeared several moments later with bowls and platters that were set upon the table around which the three women were seated. There was a roasted shank of lamb carved into small slices set upon a platter, bowls of saffron rice, yogurt, bread, and a large plate of fresh fruits.
Nadim watched as Maysun and Shahdi helped themselves, noting whether they favored one side of a bowl or platter. They did not. Nonetheless he personally picked the lamb slices for Azura, which he laid upon a piece of flat bread with some yogurt. He dipped his fingers into the bowl of rice, tasted it, and nodded to her.
“Your eunuch is overcautious,” Maysun said.
“Indeed,” Shahdi snorted. “This is not Istanbul.”
Azura waved Nadim away with a little shake of her head, silently admonishing him. “He is kind, and takes his position most seriously,” she said in a soft voice. “I find I am already grateful for his gentle care of me. This world of yours is new to me. I do not mean to offend, but I suspect women’s behavior is much the same in Florence where I was born as it is here at the Moonlight Serai.” She gave them a little smile.
“We are not a large household. The crime of poisoning could hardly go unchallenged here as it might in a great harem,” Maysun said sharply. “Your eunuch is foolish to believe we would harm you. Both Shahdi and I weregivenwomen. You are achosenwoman. We have both known that eventually our husband would fall in love. I hope for all our sakes that we can get on, Azura.”
“As do I,” came the reply. “I am told you both come from cultures where a man is allowed, if he chooses, to have four wives. You certainly know that the world from which I come grants a man but one wife. Jealousy is an emotion that comes easily to women. Knowing that Amir can take favors from any of us must nonetheless be as difficult for you both as it will be for me. There was a brief time when he was mine alone,” Azura said to them candidly. “Still, I was raised in a home with several sisters. I am used to the company of women, and am generally peaceable. But understand that if I am attacked, I will retaliate in kind. It is in my nature.”
Shahdi laughed aloud. “You are very outspoken,” she noted. “I may come to like you when I know you, Azura.”How clever she is,Shahdi thought.And strong. We will have a difficult time ridding ourselves of her, should we decide to do so.
Maysun smiled. She took her position as Amir’s first wife most seriously, but she was at heart a kind woman. “Tell us how you met Amir ibn Jem,” she said.
So while they ate Azura told them a little bit of her life as Bianca Pietro d’Angelo, of her unfortunate marriage, and how she had come to meet the prince. They were fascinated by her recitation, and laughed to learn the part that the great hound, Darius, had played in bringing the two lovers together. Neither of them had ever bothered themselves with the dog. In the worlds from which they had come, dogs were not pets but used for hunting, herding, and guarding the villages. When the meal had been cleared away, they sat with small porcelain cups of mint tea exchanging histories.
Azura learned that Maysun was the younger sister of a fierce Georgian warrior who, in admiring the great Ottoman Mehmet, who became known as the Conqueror, had offered his services, along with those of the warriors who followed him, to the sultan. Mehmet had graciously accepted the Georgian warlord’s fealty, taking his sister into his own harem as a token of loyalty. That she was of little interest to the sultan did not distress her brother. She had been given and accepted as a token and pledge. Nothing more. Maysun had no illusions and understood her place in the world.
“I saw the Conqueror only once,” Maysun told her companions, “when I was presented to him. After that I was absorbed into his large harem, an unimportant girl among many such as myself. I was very fortunate to be given to Amir ibn Jem. I know I am pretty, but I am no beauty to capture a man’s heart as you are,” Maysun concluded.
