Free The Kadin by Bertrice Small Page A

excuse, she managed to keep him with her until he was fourteen. At that time my master had become sultan, and Selim was sent to the city of Magnesia to learn the art of government Prior to that he had been educated by the finest scholars our empire had to offer.
    “Last year my lady became ill, and the physicians were forced to tell the sultan she would not recover. Before she died she gained Bajazet’s promise to return Selim from Magnesia and give him a province nearer to Constantinople to govern. She suggested he go to the Moonlight Serai, which had been a gift to her from the sultan, and that to show his love of Selim, the sultan declare this on the prince’s twenty-fifth birthday, which is in four months.
    “At that time the sultan will celebrate his son’s birthday with much pomp and ceremony. Kiusem’s dying wish was that Prince Selim be given his choice of six maidens from his father’s harem as a gift Before she died, my lady instructed me to find three special maidens with both beauty and intelligence to help him toward his goal as his father’s heir replacing Prince Ahmed.
    “I have picked you three to fill this role. Prince Selim is a gentle, handsome young man of great charm and learning. You should be very happy with him. One day he will be sultan, and the women who are his kadins, the mothers of his sons, will hold positions of great power and wealth.”
    “You take your life in your hands, do you not Hadji Bey? What if we do not wish to go along with your plans? We could betray you and gain our freedom,” said Cyra.
    “I rely on your intelligence, my dears. I do not think you will choose death over power and riches, for if you betrayed me, death would be your only freedom. If the freedom of death intrigues you, throw yourself from the ship’s rail and be done with it; but do not I beg you, interfere with my plans. Your fate, or kismet as we say, has brought you to me. How you accept your allotted portion is up to you. If you are as wise as I believe you to be, I already know your answers.”
    Again Cyra questioned him. “How can you keep us hidden from the sultan? If he should see us and favor us, we would be lost to the prince.”
    The eunuch smiled. “The seraglio is not as many outsiders think, a place of unchecked lust and depravity. It is a well-ordered household, guided by rules, regulations, and many customs.
    “The women of the house fall into several categories. Some are simple servants. Some are attendants on the sultan, or in the baths, or for his women. The maidens who make up the harem are also ranked according to their status. The majority are called gediklis, the privileged ones. Next are the guzdehs, girls who have caught Bajazet’s eye but have not yet gone to his bed. Then come ikbals, those girls who have been to the sultan’s couch and managed to keep his favor. Finally we have the kadins, who have given the sultan a son or sons. A sultan may have only four kadins, with the bas-kadin—the mother of the heir—being highest-ranked. Though Besma’s son is the heir, the sultan never took the rank of bas-kadin away from Lady Kiusem.
    “The highest positions in the harem are those of the sultan’s daughters and the sultan valideh, who is the sultan’s mother. Our sultan has no mother living, so we have no valideh at present. This is the highest position to which a woman in the Ottoman household can climb. Her word is law in the palace and among the women of our empire. Only the sultan himself can countermand her orders, and many times he does not dare.
    “Guzdehs, ikbals, and kadins have their own apartments and attendants to wait upon them, but the gediklis live in dormitorylike odas, each of which is presided over by an older woman. It is the duty of this woman to train her girls in our ways and develop their individual talents.
    “I am placing you in a small, unobtrusive oda. Its mistress is the lady Refet”
    “The sultan’s favorite?”
    “She is no longer a