Roxelana & Suleyman

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

It was the twelfth day of Ramadan. Khadija and Haseki luxuriated in the heat of the hamam.

“My stomach growls from hunger.” Khadija rubbed her belly.

Haseki caressed of her own growing abdomen. “It will soon be dusk, my darling, and I shall personally fill your mouth with the sweet tasting morsels you desire.”

Khadija’s laugh echoed against the walls and multi-domed ceiling of the hamam. Overhead a lantern sparked with colored glass and precious stone—swinging on its chain in the swirling heat. She slid across the marble slab to sit beside Haseki, and ran her hand over the taut flesh covering Suleyman’s next child, allowing her fingers to linger near the captivation of all men’s l**t. She leaned in and kissed Haseki upon the cheek.

“You once asked me if I were lonely.” Her words resonated against the sculpted-marble fountainhead, and across the alabaster skin of the Favorite beside her.

Haseki pondered her friendship and love for Khadija. She was in many ways the feminine embodiment of her brother—dark and brooding eyes that grew intense during intimacy; lips, luscious and full, that kissed with a subtlety not solely of a man’s domain; and a gentle touch that moved naturally into the province of masculine domination with a sensitivity that those inches of male flesh could never achieve.

“I know that you are not.”

Their afternoon drifted through the shimmering heat of the hamam. The jeweled lantern dazzled in the haze, illuminating the shadows with a light that reflected even the smallest of diamonds and rubies surrounding them. When the late afternoon sun pierced the perforated cupulas, the hamam took on a brilliance that would have eclipsed even the Shadow of God on Earth had he been cloistered within its realm.

Haseki lay within Khadija’s arms, relishing their friendship. “What did Suleyman mean last night when he talked about the love of real men for each other?”

“My darling, just as I love you, Suleyman has always loved Ibrahim.”

Haseki was not shocked, but arched her eyebrows for Khadija to say more.

“There is no doubt that Suleyman loves you with all his heart. But in the way that only a man could know, he also loves Ibrahim. They have shared almost the entirety of their lives together. Have you never wondered why Ibrahim enjoys a suite beside that of our lord?”

Haseki had indeed thought nothing of it. She shook her head. “But what does a man do with a man?”

Khadija ran her finger across Haseki’s lips. “My sweet, just as a woman is familiar with what truly brings pleasure to another woman, so it is between men. There is a depth of love between those two that is built upon a respect that can never be broken. They have seen death and victory, sadness and joy, through eyes that we can only imagine. But in that love we should rejoice, as then and only then do we know that our men are being true to themselves and to us.”

“Our men?” Haseki probed.

Khadija blushed and Haseki knew at once that her companion loved Ibrahim.

“What does he look like?”

“Ah, Haseki, he is reminiscent of a God secreted from the highest peaks of Mount Olympus to be dropped here within our empire. He is dark of skin and eye with flesh that ripples with intense masculinity. Handsome black curls hang to below his shoulders and his face captures a beauty that could only belong to an Angel.” Khadija’s face took on a brilliance Haseki had never before seen.

The women lay in silence thinking of their love for the most powerful of men on Earth and for each other. They both turned as someone by the entrance to the hamam cleared their throat. It was Hyacinth. He walked quickly across the wet stone of the hamam and lowered his vast hulk to crouch by them on the slab of the central marble podium.

“Beautiful ones, there has been an accident on our master’s hunt.”

Both women sat upright. “Suleyman?” Haseki questioned.

“He fares well, but has suffered the tusk of a wild-boar cutting deep into his thigh.”

Haseki scrambled to her feet, paying no mind to her nudity in front of the giant.

“Wait, beautiful one. He has been tended to by the physician, and is currently under the care of the Chief of the Privy Chamber, Ibrahim Pasha.”

Haseki ran from the hamam, leaving Khadija and Hyacinth behind.

“Let her go,” Khadija whispered, placing her hand upon Hyacinth’s arm.