“All women are easy to live with when they are happy,” she replied.
Agata no longer brought her the strengthening drink in the mornings, and they all began to watch her carefully. Still, despite the passion shared between Amir and Azura, there was no quick sign of a child. Azura found herself disappointed, but Nadim and Agata comforted her, assuring the third wife that the conception of a child was God’s will and not man’s. It had only been a little over a month since the decision had been made.
Then late one morning Captain Mahmud and a small troop of Janissaries arrived at the Moonlight Serai. They had orders requesting that Prince Amir return to Istanbul, for his uncle, the sultan, wished to speak with him.
Azura was suspicious. “What does he want? Why could he not simply send a message to you? Why must he see you?”
Maysun and Shahdi, being better-versed in the politics of the Ottoman Empire, were even more concerned, although they kept their fears to themselves. They did not wish to distress Azura when she was attempting to breed. But what if Amir was being summoned only to be met by the sultan’s gardeners, his executioners? What if Prince Jem’s behavior had finally brought his brother’s patience to the breaking point, and his only son was to suffer the punishment of death for it?
“He is the sultan, and he has requested my presence,” Amir said. “I must go.”
“A request is written on a parchment and delivered by a single messenger. This is a demand with a troop of Janissaries sent to fetch you,” Azura replied.
“Nonetheless, I must go,” Amir said quietly, and kissing each of his wives in turn, he left them, going with Captain Mahmud and his troop of Janissary horsemen. The truth was, he had no idea why his uncle would send for him unless it had something to do with his rebellious father. To his relief he was taken to Sultan Bayezit immediately upon his arrival. Entering the august presence, he bowed low with each step he took forward.
Bayezit watched his nephew come towards him making the proper obeisance as he came. He smiled faintly to himself. Amir was a careful man, he thought. “Come, Nephew, and sit by my side so we may talk,” he invited the prince.
Amir did as he was bid, kissing his uncle’s hand respectfully, his eyes darting quickly around the room for any sign of gardeners. There were none. “Thank you, my lord,” he said. “I am happy to see you looking so well.”
“Unlike your troublesome father, Nephew, you are loyal. Because of your faithfulness I am sending you to Rhodes with the payment for your father’s keep. I want you to speak with Jem personally. Try to convince him to cease his resistance to me, and make his peace. I would happily welcome him back to govern one of my provinces, whichever one he chooses. I will give you a province and its income too if you succeed.”
“I will gladly go to Rhodes for love of you, Uncle, but I wish no part in the government, and my ships bring me enough income that I neither need nor want any government allowance. Give these honors to your sons. I am content.”
The sultan stared at his nephew, then finally said, “You are unique among the males of our line, Amir, for you are, or you seem, content simply to be.”
“I have seen what ambition does, my lord,” Amir answered his uncle. “I have my own wealth, three wives, a home I love. I want for nothing. Perhaps I am simply lazy, for being sultan is a great deal of work.”
“You have no children, then?” the sultan asked.
“None,” the prince answered. “I should have told you if I did, my lord.”
Bayezit nodded slowly. “Your fidelity is impressive, Amir ibn Jem,” his uncle told him. “My father always said that you were trustworthy. Go to Rhodes for me. I will not hold you responsible if you cannot bring your father to reason, but you must try for my sake and for my brother’s sake.”
“I will do my best for you, my lord uncle,” Amir told him. “When do you propose I leave? And I assume I will have Janissaries with me to guard the gold?”
“You will leave in a month’s time, and ride overland down to the Mediterranean coast. From there you will embark for Rhodes. The gold will await you at your destination and be loaded aboard the vessel taking you to Rhodes. Captain Mahmud will meet you first at Bursa and go with you. There is no need for a troop of his Janissaries, for they would only attract attention. I would have you be discreet, Nephew,” the sultan told Amir. “You can get yourself to Bursa?”
“I can,” Amir said. “Would you like me to use one of my own ships to transport the gold, my lord? I should gladly give you the loan of one.”
“I would! You are generous, Nephew,” the sultan said.
“Nay, my lord, I am a practical man,” Amir told him. “Load the gold in Bursa. Captain Mahmud and I will sail from there rather than riding overland. It will be safer.”
“If you think that is best, Nephew,” the sultan said to him, “then do it. I will see that the treasury sends the gold to Bursa.”
“If you have no further need for me, then, my lord, I will return home to inform my wives that you have entrusted me with a mission. They need know nothing more, but I would not have them worry,” Amir said.
His uncle nodded, and waved him away. The prince hurried from the sultan’s presence and three days later returned home to his overjoyed women, who had been genuinely frightened. They were full of questions as to why Bayezit had called upon Amir, and when they learned he was to go to Rhodes, his wives were none too pleased.
“You will be gone for several months,” Maysun complained. “If you are charged by the sultan with trying to bring your father to reason, you must remain long enough with Prince Jem so that you can be said to have tried, but not so long that suspicions are cast upon you and it is suggested that you are plotting with your father. I do not like this. I do not like it at all. Why can the sultan not be satisfied that you are not your father, or your father’s man? This task your uncle sends you to do for him appears to be a trial of sorts. You are being tested once again, although you have done nothing to warrant it.”
“And it is a fool’s errand,” Shahdi chimed in. “Your father cannot be moved, and everyone in the world knows it. Someone who has influence with the sultan is playing a wicked game. Who is your enemy, my lord? Do you even know?”
“This is a woman’s trick,” Azura said quietly, and they turned, surprised once again by her grasp of Ottoman politics. “Amir has done nothing that would, that could, that should arouse anyone’s suspicions as to his loyalty to the throne, to his uncle, the sultan. But a woman, ambitious for her son, would be distrustful of him.
“He is the Conqueror’s oldest male grandchild. His has a legitimate claim to the Ottoman throne one day. Yet he eschews politics, will not accept a position governing for the sultan, does not lend his sword to the continuing conquest of the empire. He lives quietly, amassing wealth, and without children who could be used against him. Why does he do this? What motives are behind this behavior? Does he hope one day to seize the throne when Bayezit’s three living sons are involved in a fight for it?
“A man like that is indeed to be looked upon with suspicion by certain folk. You must test him constantly. Force him to reveal his true motives,” Azura said. “And when you have done so, then you must destroy him and wipe all evidence of him from the face of the earth, and from the minds of the people. In that way you protect your own interests, and those of your son. Who among the sultan’skadinswould have that kind of influence with him, and would do such a thing?”
