by Anne Herries
from the palace kitchens died horribly last night. They say she
was beaten and then strangled; there was no attempt to hide her
body. I do not know why but this makes me afraid…for you.’
‘But why?’ Eleanor’s eyes opened wide with surprise. ‘You
do not believe it was Abu…but, yes, you do!’
Karin nodded. ‘I think it may have been anger or spite on his
Karin nodded. ‘I think it may have been anger or spite on his
part, because he was stripped of his powers to punish. I may be
wrong about this, but please be careful, Eleanor. I would not
have anything unpleasant happen to you.’
‘Yes, of course I shal take care. I thank you for your care of
me, Karin.’
‘I like you,’ the older woman replied. ‘And you are in my
charge. I would not have you disappear or die mysteriously, as
others have. Now you must go. Our master seems impatient to
see you.’
Eleanor’s heart was beating very fast as she continued on into
the grand chamber, which contained al the cabinets and scientific
instruments. Suleiman was not there and she ventured into the
next room. She saw him at once. He was standing by a trestle
and board, on which were spread several manuscripts and
seemed intent on what he was doing.
‘You sent for me, my lord?’
Suleiman swung round at her words, a flame of pure silver
shooting up in his dark eyes as he saw her. Eleanor’s heart
caught and for a moment she could not breathe. How
magnificent he was! He frightened her with his overpowering
masculinity, yet she felt drawn to him against her wil. He must
not look at her so! As if he were pleased to see her, had awaited
her coming eagerly. She could not bear it—it terrified her and
excited her too, making her feel as if she had been running very
fast.
‘You brought the journal?’ His gaze narrowed as she held it
‘You brought the journal?’ His gaze narrowed as she held it
out to him wordlessly, unable to speak. He opened the first page
and then turned to the next, his brow furrowing. ‘You have
translated into English and also given the original Latin
transcription—why?’
‘I thought it might please you,’ Eleanor replied. ‘In English the
meaning becomes clearer—the Latin script was somewhat
ambiguous. I gave it a literal interpretation…’
‘Which makes it easier to understand how a chart should be
drawn and understood…’ His mouth curved into a smile that set
her pulses pounding. ‘Very clever…and exactly what I needed.
How did you know that I wished to read my own horoscope?’
‘You had made such detailed notes,’ Eleanor replied. ‘I saw
the instruments used to take readings of the stars in your hal…a
rather fine astrolobe and others I was not sure of. And I knew
you had spoken recently with an astrologer.’
‘Indeed? I suppose Karin told you that?’
‘Yes, my lord.’
Suleiman nodded. ‘I am pleased with your hand, my lady. It
is easy for me to read. I find these difficult to decipher.’ He
waved his hand towards the scripts he had been studying. ‘It
was always my chief pleasure of an afternoon, but of late…’ He
shrugged and frowned. ‘My eyes ache from trying to make out
this lettering.’
‘It is a medical treatise,’ Eleanor said. ‘Writ in Arabic. It tels
of a bark that must be ground into a powder and mixed with
wine. If used in the treatment of a bowel disorder it is promised
most effective.’
most effective.’
‘Then it is not the remedy I seek.’ He sighed as if he were
weary after many hours of study. ‘I am looking for a treatment
for a sweling of the body.’ He squinted at the next script. ‘I am
sure it is here somewhere.’
‘Would you like me to look for you?’
‘If you wil. I am sure there is a certain powder that may save
my friend from the evil of having a lump cut out of his side by the
surgeon’s knife…’
‘I think this may be what you are seeking, my lord.’
Eleanor had seen that the text he needed was just beneath the
one he had been studying. She handed it to him and he held it out
at arm’s length, then nodded.
‘Yes, the very one. I shal copy it and give it to the physician.’
‘May I do that, my lord? Here is paper and ink. It wil take
but a moment.’
‘As you wish.’
Eleanor sat on the stool and wrote the name of the bark used
in the treatment of sweling and lumps, and the way in which it
must be used, then handed it to Suleiman. He had been staring
down at the various scripts and his difficulty was obvious.
‘Perhaps you should wear spectacles for reading, my lord?’
‘I have eyes like a hawk.’ He glared at her indignantly. ‘I can
see smal objects from a distance. My eyes are perfectly sound.’
‘But you obviously cannot see to read properly. My father’s
eyes were much the same. He thought it was because he studied
so much, but when he bought some magnifying lenses he
discovered that it was much easier for him.’
discovered that it was much easier for him.’
‘I am aware of these things…in the Arab world we have
known of their properties for a long time. In your country they
are far behind us. Besides, I do not need them. It is merely that
my eyes are tired after too much work.’
‘Yes, my lord. My father said the same until he tried them.
And in China they have used these glasses since the tenth
century. It is an old wisdom and not something you need to feel
ashamed of using to your advantage.’
Suleiman gave her a hard stare, then, seeing the gentle smile
on her mouth, he laughed. ‘You think me too vain to use such
aids? Wel, I have been told before it would help me. Kasim
advised the use of them, but I thought it a passing thing. It seems
that I may have been wrong.’
‘My father was sent his glasses by a Venetian friend, but I
dare say he would not have bought them for himself.’
‘Your father had a wise daughter.’ Suleiman nodded, his eyes
intent on her face. ‘Are you pleased with the work I have sent
you?’
‘Yes, my lord. It was my habit to study with my brother at
home.’ She sighed as she thought about Richard, as she so often
did in the privacy of her own rooms. ‘We were very close…’
She held back a sob, then lifted her head. ‘We shal not speak of
that—it was kind of you to send me the work, my lord.’
His gaze narrowed as he looked at her. Was it his eyesight or
was she even more lovely than he had thought her? ‘Karin tels
me you have begun to make friends—is that true?’
me you have begun to make friends—is that true?’
‘Yes, my lord. I have three friends in the harem. Anastasia,
Elizabetta and Rosamunde.’
‘What do you talk about with your friends? Come, sit with
me. I have ordered sherbet and sweetmeats for your pleasure.
/> Drink and eat as we talk. I would know more of how the women
spend their time.’
Eleanor looked at him in surprise. Did he realy not know or
was he merely testing her?
‘I can tel you only of those women I have begun to know,
my lord. Anastasia plays the dombra, and I thought the music
very strange for it is different from the music I play.’
‘What instruments do you play?’
‘At home I had a harp and the virginals that were my
mother’s—but Anastasia has promised to teach me to play the
dombra.’
‘And wil that please you?’
‘Oh, yes, my lord.’ Her face lit up with eagerness. ‘I could
not bear to sit in idleness as some of the women do, but I am to
learn to dance—and to sing in the manner of your own people…
a kind of chanting, I understand. And then it is pleasant to hear
about the other women’s homes and their lives before they came
here…’
‘What of your land, Eleanor? Tel me of your home—
describe it to me in detail and the countryside around it. Make
me see it through your eyes.’
‘Wilingly, my lord.’ She smiled at him. ‘My father’s house is
timber framed and the upper level protrudes out over the lower.
timber framed and the upper level protrudes out over the lower.
The wals are of a grey stone and paneled inside with English
oak, the roof deeply sloping and thatched with straw. It is not a
large house, though gracious and wel built—but to you it would
seem very smal. Your father’s palace is so huge…’
‘Too large,’ Suleiman said and frowned. ‘It is impossible to
know what goes on everywhere. But continue—tel me of the
gardens and the landscape. What do you do when you are at
home?’
Eleanor began to describe her home in detail, leaving out
nothing that she thought might interest him. She spoke of woods
and meadows and the creatures that inhabited them, of misty
mornings and the beauty of the English countryside, of the
autumn when the leaves began to change colour. She told him
also of the winter when the snows came, filing the roads and
ditches, and sometimes cutting them off for days. She described
her father’s colection of books, maps and manuscripts, and his
other treasures that they had been forced to leave behind, her
words eloquent and flowing like beautiful music.
Suleiman listened entranced, the sound of her voice holding
him spelbound, and wishing that her tale might never end, but
when she reached the part where they had been forced to flee
England, he interrupted.
‘You were unfortunate that your Queen has set her heart on
Spain—those Catholic devils are without mercy.’ Suleiman
frowned. ‘You caled me a savage—but my people are no
worse than the murderers of the Inquisition. Our justice is often
harsh, but we can also be generous. We are neither savages nor
harsh, but we can also be generous. We are neither savages nor
barbarians, even though our customs are strange to you.’
‘No, perhaps not.’ Eleanor blushed. ‘I was wrong to judge
without knowing you, my lord. I thought you the same as the
men who murdered my father and I hated you as I hate them.’
‘And now?’ His eyes seemed very bright and intent. ‘Do you
stil hate me?’
‘No…I do not hate you.’ Eleanor took a deep breath. ‘I
know that you are not like the men who raided our ship. But I
stil ask that you wil ransom me to my family.’
‘No!’ Suleiman got to his feet and reached down to pul her
up to stand before him. ‘You must learn to accept your fate,
Eleanor. You can never leave here.’
‘Then I shal hate you!’ Her temper flared suddenly. ‘Why
wil you not listen to me? Why can you not—?’
Before she could say more, Suleiman reached for her and
crushed her against him in a powerful embrace. His mouth sought
hers in a hungry, ravaging kiss that seemed almost to burn her.
For a moment she was close to surrendering to the need she
sensed in him, then she pushed against him with the flat of her
hands, turning her head to one side. For a few terrifying seconds
he held her and she sensed that he was close to losing al control,
then he released her so abruptly that she felt she would fal.
Daring to glance at him, she saw that his nostrils were flaring and
he was breathing hard as though he laboured beneath some
extreme emotion. She thought that he might be very angry—for
what else could cause him to look like that?
‘Why do you fight me?’ he demanded. ‘I have given you
what you requested. What more can I give you? Do you want
jewels? Silks…larger apartments?’
‘No! How can you think these things would buy me?’ she
asked, her eyes bright with accusation. Her body felt as if it was
on fire, and her limbs trembled with weakness. ‘I am a woman of
honour. To give myself to a man who was not my husband…’
She stopped as she saw the gleam in his eyes. ‘No! I do not ask
for marriage, only that I might be free.’
‘You ask too much!’ His anger flared out of him now. ‘I tel
you that you shal never go from here. You belong to me and I
shal never give you up.’
‘Then you wil never take me wilingly.’
‘Then I shal force you to succumb.’ His eyes darkened, and
she saw that his hands clenched at his sides as if he were
struggling to control his temper. ‘Next time I send for you, be
prepared to obey your master, Eleanor. Now go before I lose al
control and have you punished for your wilfulness.’
Eleanor gasped. His features might have been carved from
granite. How foolish she was! As they talked, she had felt that he
was inclined to be understanding of her feelings—but this was a
different man. A more primitive, savage product of his culture
and birthright—a man used to being obeyed.
‘Forgive me,’ she whispered, but he had turned back to his
manuscripts and was ignoring her. She was not even sure he had
heard her plea.
What had she done? Eleanor regretted her hasty words. They
What had she done? Eleanor regretted her hasty words. They
had seemed to be reaching a far better understanding before she
had so foolishly defied him. Why had she not spoken more softly
to this man who held the power of life and death over so many?
She was close to tears as she retraced her route towards the
harem. Suleiman had been pleased with her when she read the
ancient script for him. He had even accepted her advice about
the matter of his eyesight—but she had rejected his embrace and
now he was angry again.
When she walked into the main hal of the harem, she heard
the excited chatter and laughter going on and wondered what
had happened to cause such a stir in her absence.
‘Oh, do come and look,’ Elizabetta caled to her. ‘See what
our lord has sent us!’
‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘What has pleased you al so mu
ch?’
‘There is a parrot that talks,’ the other woman cried. ‘And a
monkey on a chain—and a cage of pretty singing birds in the
garden.’
‘Oh, let me see,’ Eleanor said, catching Elizabetta’s pleasure
in the pets they had been given. ‘Does the monkey do tricks?’
‘He is such a naughty little felow,’ Anastasia said, coming up
to them. ‘He keeps stealing things, but he is so sweet and
pretty.’
‘He seems to be causing quite a stir.’
Eleanor saw that most of the ladies were playing with the
monkey, who was clearly going to be spoiled by them. Several
monkey, who was clearly going to be spoiled by them. Several
of them were talking to the parrot—which was swearing at the
top of its voice. And in English!
‘Oh, dear,’ Eleanor said and laughed. ‘He is not a very polite
parrot, is he?’
‘What is he saying?’ Anastasia asked. ‘No one understands
him.’
‘Perhaps that is just as wel, for he is very rude. I think he
was brought up in the stables. We must teach him better
manners.’
Eleanor glanced around the room. She thought that she had
never seen the women so animated and happy. The new
additions to the harem were very welcome, it seemed—and the
thought to send them was a kind one.
It had been Suleiman’s idea, of course. He must have given
some considerable thought as to what might please and amuse
the ladies. Eleanor wanted to thank him, but she doubted she
would get much opportunity.
He had told her she must be prepared to submit to him the
next time he sent for her—but when would that be?
‘Are you pleased with your gifts?’
Karin had come up behind her. Eleanor turned to her with a
frown.
‘Surely the monkey and birds are for everyone to enjoy?’
‘I was not speaking of them. Have you not been to your own
apartments?’
‘I have but now returned from Suleiman’s hals.’
‘You have been with him al this time?’ Karin looked
‘You have been with him al this time?’ Karin looked
surprised. ‘Have you eaten?’
‘My lord provided sherbet and sweetmeats. I am not hungry,
thank you.’
‘Go and look at your gifts.’ Karin smiled at her. ‘We were
wrong to think that you had not pleased Suleiman. Such gifts as
he has sent you are usualy reserved for a favourite wife.’
