Roxelana & Suleyman

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

“I want your promise that your gaze will never be cast on any woman but myself; that no child shall be sired, other than by my loins.” Haseki crossed her arms. Suleyman sat in silence on the side veranda of the pavilion. The ends of his lips turned up and spread into a smile that somehow infuriated and delighted her.

“My darling, you know that my fingers and lips have not touched any woman in passion other than yourself for over three years now.”

“I want your promise.”

Suleyman studied Haseki from the mound of cushions. She knew her lips were beginning to pout and her brow starting to furrow. Her lord’s face crinkled in mirth. He ran his thumb across her forehead, but still he did not answer. Lazily, he lounged back into the divan and pondered the garden.

“We would be crossing centuries of traditional values of the House of Osman.”

Haseki rose from the divan and defiantly paced over to the balustrade. She turned and glared at Suleyman, but he reacted by bursting into laughter. Rising from his position and crossing to her, he jumped up to sit on the balustrade. He wrapped his arms around Haseki and delicately pulled her between his legs, cuddling her tight. He brushed his lips against hers.

“I will do anything for you, my Tulip—even defy tradition.” The sweetness of his words and lips caressed Haseki’s. “I do promise you. I will never touch the flesh of another woman in passion as long as you and I both live.”

Haseki smiled and pressed her mouth firmly against his. She breathed deep of his aroma and wrapped her arms tight around his waist, not wanting to let him go. As she crushed her body into his she sighed and the furrow on her brow returned.

“What is it, my darling, is that not what you wanted?”

“Yes, but... I want more.”

“What more could there be?”

Haseki placed her lips on his again, her tongue exploring the sweetness of his mouth. She slid her hand from his waist to his thigh, and moved it gently through the folds of his caftan until she gripped bare flesh. It pulsed and grew hard with life. Her life.... She pulled the sash from his waist and nudged the flaps of the caftan open, fully exposing him before her. She ran her lips down his chest, toward his groin, but Suleyman gripped her by the shoulders and pulled her face back up to his.

“What more could there be?” he repeated softly.

Haseki stood awkwardly. A myriad of thoughts washed through her mind. Her lips opened as if of their own accord. “I want you to empty the Courtyard of the Maidens and send all of the Favorites to the Old Palace. I want there to only be me within the realm of your satisfaction.”

Suleyman’s brow creased and his face flushed red. His grip on her shoulders increased and she winced in pain. “How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are to request such a blasphemy?”

Haseki pulled herself free from his grip and rubbed her shoulder. “I am the one who has borne you two strong sons. I am the one who has given you more pleasure than any before me. I am the one who will one day be Valide Sultana.”

Suleyman was incensed. “You do not have that right! Mahidavran comes before you, as she is the mother of the heir to the House of Osman—not you. Or do you intend to kill her son. My son! How dare you place your own dreams before the tradition of my family. Leave my sight at once before I have you thrown into the Bosphorus!”

Haseki glared at the Sultan, wanting to push him off the balustrade and into the foliage of the garden. Instead she turned and stormed from the pavilion.

Suleyman’s anger grew as she rushed away.

“Eunuchs!” he yelled. “Bring the wench back to me at once.”

The two black eunuchs guarding the main entrance of the pavilion stopped Haseki. Whereas she had only ever known them to be temperate and kind, they grabbed at her roughly and dragged her back onto the veranda of the pavilion. Suleyman jumped from the balustrade and strode toward her. The flaps of his caftan were still open and his nakedness accentuated the anger that tensed every muscle. He grasped Haseki by the wrist and threw her down onto the divan. The eunuchs stood in compliant silence as he ripped her vest and pants from her body.

Haseki screamed in anger, “Stay away from me, you... you bastard! You may not have what only I can give...!” Suleyman placed his hand firmly on her head and pushed her face into the cushions to muffle the profanity.

“You shall not cross or order the greatest Sultan who has ever lived, my lovely Odalisque. You are my chattel and I will do as I will with you. You would use your s****l adeptness to manipulate me! Now I give in return what you have brought upon yourself.” Suleyman threw his full weight onto her, pressing her amongst the cushions, gripping the hands that attempted to scratch. He thrust into her repeatedly, deep and angry, until with an incensed, choking shudder he pulled himself from within her to rush out of the pavilion and into the solitude of the Topkapi gardens.

Haseki curled on the divan, crying. One of the eunuchs rested a hand gently on her shuddering back, but she recoiled from the touch. “Don’t touch me, you..., you sexless beast! Leave me be!” she spat.

The eunuchs left Haseki and took up their places outside the main entrance of the pavilion. The sobbing behind the heavy door continued for many hours.