by Cate Rowan
Maybe at last she was too exhausted to worry.
Late that night, Varene slept in Kuramos’s arms under a heaven arrayed with stars.
He’d made love to her there, on a soft pallet in his garden amidst the jasmine and orange blossoms, so that when she was long gone from Kad, he would remember her face in the pale moonlight as they’d said goodbye with their bodies and souls.
He couldn’t blame her for wanting to be a man’s only wife, though it rent his heart that they hadn’t met until it was far too late. He couldn’t dishonor the six women who’d become his family.
As he drifted into sleep he curled around Varene, drinking in her scent and praying to the gods she would find happiness, even though it would be far from him, in a land not his own.
Neither of them heard the soft scrape of parchment under the door to his chamber. The edge of the scroll slipped beneath held the wax seals of each of his six wives—and the fate of them all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The following morning, Varene sat on a crimson cushion in the splendor of the throne room, staring down at the parchment clutched in her fingers.
Kuramos paced the center aisle. “You’ve no idea what this is about?”
“None, unfortunately.” She silently re-read the message.
Great Sultan of Kad, your Sovereign Wives hereby summon you and the Royal Healer of Teganne to attend Us in the Throne Room at two hours past sunrise.
She and Kuramos had woken with the sun’s first rays and departed the garden hand-in-hand when he spotted the scroll. He’d frowned at the long row of waxen seals, then scowled at the contents of the message. “Summon me?” he’d grumbled, muttering something about impudence.
At first she’d chuckled at his reaction, but found herself growing more uneasy as the appointed time drew near. What could his wives want—all six of them in solidarity?
The wording they had used was formal, even demanding. She couldn’t help but think of it as foreboding, and that the meeting was about her being with Kuramos.
She tried to be logical. Zahlia and Taleen, at least, had told her they approved, and the relationship couldn’t have been a secret to the others, in any case. Besides, they all knew she was soon returning to Teganne. She wanted to believe that the subpoena had little to do with her—but if so, why had she been commanded to be present?
The sultan, too, seemed ill at ease. As the minutes wore on, his pacing began to wear a hole through her brain.
At last the guards outside swung the doors open and the patter of many sandals echoed in the hallway. She and Kuramos glanced at each other before swiveling toward the sound.
Varene tucked her feet protectively beneath her as the wives entered and arrayed themselves in a semicircle, Sulya at the center. The diminutive Sixth Wife stared at her husband, and then at Varene. Despite having the lowest rank among the royal spouses, Sulya’s blazing eyes marked her as the ringleader of this meeting.
Kuramos assumed his warrior stance, feet balanced and head tall. “What is this about, my wives?”
Sulya took a slow, deliberate step forward. “O Lord, Great Sultan of Kad, We request You be seated upon the Leonine Throne when You hear Our words.”
His eyes narrowed and swept the line of women before him, then he stepped to his dais and settled on the massive chair. His expression shifted into the imperial, forbidding one that Varene had only seen on him when he was seated in state.
Discomfited, Varene stirred on her cushion. Sulya eyed her. “Royal Healer, We request you stand before the sultan’s dais.”
After a moment Varene rose, but the woman’s face was as unreadable as an exquisite mask, as were those of the other wives. Varene reached the dais and pivoted toward the semicircle, suddenly unsure what to do with her hands. She clasped them behind her back.
The six wives, united in purpose, were a harsh reminder of Varene’s awkward position. Of never quite belonging here.
“First,” Sulya began, with a grave tilt of her head, “it must be said we thank you both for all you have done for us. Royal Healer, twice you have saved lives—including the lives of our children, a debt no thanks can ever repay.”
“Your gratitude is appreciated,” Varene replied stiffly. She glanced across the row of women, some of whom had been her patients, and all of whom she’d wished had become her friends, and her voice softened. “I’m so glad I was able to help.”
Sulya lifted her chin and gazed for long seconds at the sultan, then dropped to her knees on the thick carpet. The five other wives followed suit as she spoke her next words. “Great Sultan, my lord husband, each of us thanks the heavens for the protection You have given. You are the most exemplary of husbands.”
He nodded. “As You are my esteemed wives, for which I also give thanks to the heavens.”
“As I have said here,” Sulya continued, “nothing could repay the debt we owe to You and the Royal Healer. To the woman who has captured Your heart.” The look she sent Varene punctured like a blade, but was soon muffled by lowered lids. Sulya stopped for a moment, as if recomposing her thoughts.
Zahlia touched her back, gently, and Sulya gave a minute nod. “You’ve asked her to marry You and share her life with Yours. She has refused, because to her, marriage should be a monogamous union, each person cleaving only to the other. And You are already married to the six of us. Is this correct, O Lord and Royal Healer?”
Varene and Kuramos glanced at each other, then concurred.
Sulya held still as if girding herself, then planted her palms on her thighs and straightened her spine. “Then there is only one way to repay our debts to you both. We are here this morning to divorce You.”
Varene’s pulse stuttered.
Kuramos took several breaths blank-faced, then arched a brow, eyeing his Sixth Wife. “You wish to divorce me?”
“Yes.” Sulya gazed back unblinkingly.
“All of you do?”
They each nodded their assent.
A pause hung over the room, and Kuramos leaned forward in disbelief. “You wish to divorce the sultan of Kad?”
Sulya ignored him and turned to Varene. “My son is my greatest accomplishment. And my whole heart. My life would be meaningless without him—yet you saved him from death twice over, risking your own life to do so.”
She took a deep breath and seemed about to add more, when Taleen spoke in a thin, determined voice. “I feel the same about Burhan. And you healed me, as well.”
“Me also, and my daughter,” Maitri said. “Mishka loves you, Varene. You’ve become…a mentor to her.” Her quiet words brought back memories of Mishka in the Infirmary observing how to use magic.
Zahlia’s voice rang out. “I would not be alive today without you.”
“Nor I,” said Rajvi, spreading her palms.
“And,” Nireh said, “while I had neither the bird illness, nor children for you to heal, your actions allowed my husband to kill the spy who’d helped Intisar murder my son and daughter long ago.”
Nireh’s hazel eyes glittered. When Kuramos had taken her aside in the hammam and told her of Chaaya’s loyalties and Intisar’s guilt, Nireh had stormed across the room, shouting, “You disgusting bitch—take this message to your vile mistress!” and punted Chaaya’s headless body into the water.
Now a numb shock was tumbling through Varene’s limbs as she gawked at Kuramos’s wives. “You would give him up?” she whispered. “So I could marry him?”
“I believe we’ve already answered that,” Zahlia said with an amused smile.
Varene covered her mouth, felt hot tears crowding her eyes. “I’m amazed. I can’t believe…” Her gaze paused on Sulya. “Your generosity overwhelms me. But I don’t deserve it. And I could not take your husband from you.” She swallowed, remembering Kuramos’s words: You would have them forfeit their places in the palace, have them flung back to their family’s homes and lands with nothing, my children at their heels? “I’m the one who cannot share. I will not make any of
you bleed for it.”
Sulya looked belligerent. “We owe you life debts. Honor demands a repayment.”
“You owe nothing.” Varene shook her head, adamant. “And in any case, I cannot accept.”
“Nor can I,” said Kuramos, booming into the silence. All eyes turned to him.
“O Lord?” Sulya inquired softly.
“As much as I’ve come to love Varene, how could I allow you six to be cast out and disowned? Even if the situation were understood and accepted amongst us all, outside these walls it would not be. I will not permit you, who have graced me and the royal house with marriage and family, to suffer from others’ misunderstandings and ill will. Do you think I have so little respect for you?” He slammed his fist on the golden arm of the throne. “And you know as well as I that by law and custom, divorce would make our children illegitimate and ineligible to rule.”
As his gaze caught Sulya’s, his expression softened. “For you to even consider it is a great sacrifice. And generously done. I am…humbled.” His fingers curled tightly around the arms of his throne. “But the forfeit is too great.”
“It doesn’t need to be.” Sulya’s gaze lowered. “As you know, I…used Dabir’s library to research laws from the foundations of our realm.”
Varene teeth clicked shut as she recalled Sulya using that research to try to drag Kuramos into bed.
The Sixth Wife continued. “There is a law that speaks to this. Children of the Blood legally fostered by a Sha’Lai are still eligible to inherit, even if their mothers are no longer married to the sultan.”
Varene’s breath hitched in her throat. A wild hope flared through her body, but just as quickly crumpled. No! Even if that law held, she refused to be the cause of a mass divorce and the public dismissal of six royal wives. These women had shared their lives with Kuramos and given him unending loyalty, friendship and support for decades. They didn’t deserve such humiliation. No matter how strong they were, the rumors would be vicious. Subverted and deposed by a Teg sorceress…
The sultan’s brow furrowed. “There are crucial alliances between the royal line and each of your families. Pacts of support, ties averting rebellion. These ties are the reason sultans marry. If I divorced all of you and made another the Sha’Lai, a woman who’s not even Kaddite…” He reached for Varene’s hand, green eyes filled with regret. “It would invite anarchy. Even revolt. No, this is madness.”
Rajvi rose to her feet, and the others followed. “On the contrary, O Lord, I believe it could be remarkably successful. Which is why We have a few…demands, of course.”
Kuramos leaned back and looked aslant at his Sha’Lai. “First there was a summons, now demands.” Mouth in a wry twist, he glanced down at the throne beneath him. “I am the one sitting here, aren’t I?”
Rajvi smiled. “With Varene’s healing of the royal family and of a number of the city’s residents—and the subsequent gabbing of cured patients within and without the palace—opinions of her have shifted. Her reputation in the city has been…quite enhanced, and she’s being praised by many with gratitude. This will not yet, of course,” she raised a palm, “reflect the mood of the entire realm…but over time I believe it could, with judicious planning. A mission I’d be happy to lead.” She shifted her gaze to Varene and her smile widened. “Your service does you credit, Lady Healer.”
“It’s been my pleasure, but—”
“Your pleasure and your public salvation.” The Sha’Lai’s eyes twinkled.
Kuramos shot a proud glance at Varene. “Hamar informed me of the shift in attitude. But that doesn’t solve—”
“Ah,” Rajvi said, bowing, “but this, O Lord, is where our demands come in. Naturally, if We give up our marriages and positions, there should be some…recompense, yes?”
He eyed her and steepled his hands. “Such as…?”
“We understand the political ramifications cause you concern. Each of Us can return to our families and assure them the alliances are still firm. To make that clear, You could make us officials of Your court—with titles and positions conveying the great esteem in which you hold Us, and establishing Our proximity to the Royal Ear. Perhaps something like—”
Zahlia crossed her arms and sent the sultan an obstinate look. “Their Highnesses, the Princess Ambassadors.”
The other wives laughed in delighted approval.
Kuramos’s lips curved up, then smoothed into neutrality. “There is still the issue of the royal children. They must remain here in the palace for safety, for tutoring. Would you live elsewhere? I cannot rip their mothers from them—”
No, we can’t do this at all. Varene stepped toward the women, clearing her throat. “Great Sultan of Kad, Royal Wives,” she said, bowing in the Kaddite manner, “might I please speak with the sultan in private?”
Silence blanketed the air as the wives glanced at each other. Then, with the sultan’s consent, they bowed and began to back down the long room.
Crazy thoughts and emotions shrieked through Varene’s mind. She had never considered what the wives were offering—and how could she? The choices before them loomed too glittering and ominous. Far too risky for everyone. She couldn’t do this, and she’d have to make him understand it.
But as she waited for the room to empty, her gaze darted from wife to wife. Zahlia had made it clear she enjoyed the sultan’s bed…and Rajvi’s too, and several of the other wives, because to her, bedding someone was about fun. Sex, rather than love.
As for Sulya…oh, Sulya. She’d touched Kuramos’s body long after he and Varene had been falling for each other. Varene couldn’t share Kuramos’s body with Sulya or any other woman. That was why she’d been determined to go home to Teganne. Regardless of the attitude of Kaddite society, him making love with another woman would shred her heart. But asking Kuramos to toss away his wives to marry her was no option, either.
Still…might Varene be able to share him in other ways—if she were the only one to enjoy Kuramos’s bed and body? Couldn’t she at least consider it for them, for Kuramos? For his children? For herself?
Oddly, Findar sprang to her mind. She had waited years for him to see her as more than a friend—waited because that was safe. She’d been too scared to venture her heart again. But what had being afraid gotten her, save a cold bed and a lonely heart? And wouldn’t that be precisely what she’d get again if she returned to Teganne and her former life? She battled death for her patients—maybe Kuramos was right. Was it time for her to take a different kind of risk?
Here in this palace was a man who loved her. His world was different than hers, true. But maybe their lives didn’t have to be ripped apart because of it.
Here also were his wives, women she’d come to appreciate and admire. What would it be like to be part of their family? To be here to watch Burhan and Mishka and Tahir grow into adulthood…and perhaps someday, even give them half-brothers and sisters.
A long-buried wish fluttered anew in her womb.
And then the doors swung closed, leaving her alone with the Sultan of Kad. She whirled around to face the man she loved.
So much had happened since the day his guards had threatened her with their spears and dragged her before him. So much had now passed between them—growing understanding, shared peril, and most wondrous of all, love. Such a gift from Mother Fate that they each loved someone so patently wrong for them, and yet, in spite of it all, so very right.
Kuramos rose from his throne and stood tall on the dais, much the way he had when they’d first seen each other. This time, his hand wasn’t on his sword hilt. It was reaching out for her.
She stepped forward and slid her palm against his. “Are you remembering the first time we met, too?”
“Every moment of it.” His teeth gleamed and he tugged her up onto the dais. “Much has been offered to you, Varene.” He brushed his fingers through her loose hair. “Will you take it?” Hope filled his eyes.
“My love…” She bit her lip. “I cannot accept their t
erms.”
He turned his face aside and his arm fell away.
“But maybe,” she said, recapturing his hand, “there are better terms to be found, for all of us.”
Kuramos’s green gaze shot back to hers.
“Sultan of Kad, when I marry, I will make love with only one man, my husband. I wanted my husband to have just one wife, just me, to be with. To love and comfort, to be pleasured by and to pleasure.” She touched his cheek. “You have six wives already, and I saw no way to reconcile this. I am still prepared to leave Kad. But… Could you swear that if I wed you, you will only share your body and your bed with me, and not the other women you already call wife?”
He went still. “You would have them be wives in name only?”
“If they agreed. Some are already the mothers of your children. You’ve given them that and I cannot change it, nor would I. Tahir, Mishka, and Burhan are wonderful. They deserve to grow up here in the palace with you and their mothers. They are family.” She caressed his jaw, slid her fingers down to his muscled chest, reveling in the searing chemistry of their touch. His scent enticed her, made her wish to sink her teeth into him as they tangled, to feel his skin gliding against hers until the end of their days. “But that’s why I must ask you, and why you must be certain: Can you swear to be faithful only to me?”
A tremble came over her as she waited for his answer.
He lifted her hand and softly kissed her palm. “You’re the woman who holds my heart. I dream only of you in my bed, and loving you is like nothing I’ve ever felt. No one else could ever give me what you do, in bed or out of it. I would gladly swear as you ask, were I the only one affected by such an oath. But…”
He shook his head. “Though this would bring joy to the two of us, it would be a harsh fate for my other wives—to be married and thus forbidden to other men, yet to never feel a man’s touch again. Not that Zahlia,” he continued drolly, “has not proven herself capable of alleviating certain needs.”
