Free The Kadin by Bertrice Small

Bajazet’s black eunuchs. In this capacity I am a man of vast power. I have chosen to use this power to right a terrible wrong, and I will need your help to do it
    “Many years ago, my master took as his first wife, or kadin as we say, a beautiful Circassian girl called Kiusem. After a year she bore him a fine, healthy son, who was named Mustafa. However, while she carried her child, the sultan’s attention wandered, and he took a second kadin, a Syrian girl named Besma. Eighteen months after Kiusem’s son was born, Besma also gave birth to a son, Prince Ahmed.
    “Several months after the birth of her son, Besma invited the two-year-old heir, Prince Mustafa, to visit his baby brother. Although Kiusem was wary, she allowed him to go. The child returned after several hours full of happy chatter and with a fistful of sweetmeats, which he offered to his mother. She accepted one to please him. Shortly afterward, the little prince became violently ill, and the lady Kiusem, too, though less so. The physician diagnosed poison. Prince Mustafa died at dawn, but his mother recovered.
    “Tearfully, Kiusem accused Besma of the foul deed, but the sultan, who was then only Prince Bajazet refused to condemn the mother of an imperial heir. Kiusem’s heart was crushed, and try as Bajazet might he could not cheer her. She grew peaked and wan, and finally he left her in peace.
    “Now allow me to deviate from my story a moment to tell you why I am so loyal to the lady Kiusem. When I came to the harem, I was a frightened child. Kiusem, who was then but a child herself, cared for me and saw that I got the proper training so that I might advance myself. When she became the sultan’s first wife, or bas-kadin, I was made her head eunuch. When Prince Mustafa was born, the sultan honored her by giving me the post of agha kislar, replacing the old agha, who had just died.
    “I loved the lady Kiusem, not as a man, for I am not a man, but as a dear and good friend. Secretly I nursed her back to health, not only in body but in mind, too. It took many months, for her grief was great.
    “Then one day she came to me privately and asked this question: “If I bore the sultan another son, Hadji Bey, would you help me gain the throne for him?’ What makes you think the sultan will take you again to his bed?’ I countered. ‘He has made my twin sister, Refet, his new favorite,’ she replied. ‘I think he still yearns for me.’ So I agreed to help Kiusem, and when the sultan next held a reception for his women, she appeared before him for the first time in over a year.
    “She was dazzlingly beautiful that evening, and Bajazet, once again under her spell, sent for her that very night Nine months later, she bore him a second son, named Selim.” Hadji Bey paused to help himself to a sherbet Refreshing himself, he continued
    “Kiusem was clever, for during the months she carried Selim in her womb and could not go to her lord, her sister, Refet went in her place. Besma was furious, for as fascinated by Kiusem as the sultan was, he was equally fascinated by Refet In addition, Besma was very much out of favor because the sultan’s third kadin, Safiye, had given birth to a son two years after Ahmed was born, while Besma, unfortunately, had given birth to a stillborn son.
    “After Selim’s birth, great precautions were taken to protect him so he might grow to manhood Kiusem, pretending the birth of Selim so soon after the tragic death of Mustafa had addled her wits slightly, withdrew again from court life. She lived and dressed simply, as did Selim. Before all but a few trusted friends she appeared half-mad, and, because of this, the sultan out of his great love for her permitted her a great measure of freedom.
    “Now I must explain that in our country all male heirs of a sultan are taken from their mothers at age six and given their own courts. Under these conditions Kiusem could not be sure that Selim would be safe, so, using her illness as an