CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN
On the seventh night of celebration, Suleyman and Haseki walked arm-in-arm down through the gardens of Topkapi toward the palace harbor. The Imperial Kayik rocked on the enclosed waters. All around them, hundreds of trees were filled with brightly colored lanterns, swaying in the summer breeze. The black of the night sky was pricked by stars, heightened by the intense dazzle of fireworks that shot from the parapets of the palace and from barges anchored off Seraglio Point.
Haseki held tight to Suleyman’s arm as they trod down several stone steps and continued along the meandering gravel path toward the sea wall gate. Ahead of them a young black eunuch ran yelling “Helvet! Helvet!” Behind them a score of eunuchs and Moor women carried items necessary for the
