Lost Love Found (52 page)

“I am indeed betrothed, madam, and my intended husband is with me here in Istanbul,” Valentina replied.

“When will you leave us, my child?”

“Within the next day or two, madam. There is no further need for me to stay, and we would be home before the autumn gales attack the seas. My mother will be anxious to learn of my adventures, and I wish to tell my father how very much I love him! In my darkest hour, he swore he believed himself to be my true sire. If he was not, he told me, it mattered not, for he loved me anyway. Now that I am free of the terrible doubt, I want to go home as quickly as possible!”

“Of course you do,” said Safiye sympathetically. “I am going to ask a favor of you, my dear Valentina. Tomorrow morning, a messenger will deliver to you a parchment from me that I would have you carry to your mother. Will you do that for me?”

“Gladly, my lady Valide!” Valentina replied.

The visit had reached its natural conclusion, so Valentina politely took leave of her hostess. She and Sarai were escorted to the Kira litter, which was waiting at the Gate of Felicity opposite the Throne Room.

The young French-speaking eunuch who accompanied the women was pleased to identify the various sights as they went along. Valentina was so interested in what the eunuch was saying that she did not observe, near the gate of Felicity, the sultan standing with another man in the shadow of a large tree.

“My half sister,” the sultan grumbled to Cicalazade Pasha. “I would have paid a king’s ransom to possess her, but even I draw the line at incest.”

“Your half sister?” The vizier was fascinated.

“Yes,” the sultan answered irritably. “She is the daughter of a long-ago favorite of my father’s, Marjallah. Unfortunately, my father was not a favorite of Marjallah’s.” The sultan chuckled. Seeing that Cicalazade Pasha did not understand, the sultan explained about the attempt on his father’s life and the subsequent sentence of drowning.

“I met the Englishwoman some months ago at Esther Kira’s house,” the vizier told the sultan. “I desired her myself, my lord.”

The sultan’s eyes narrowed contemplatively. “It seems a pity, Cica, that we should both be doomed to disappointment. Well, doesn’t it?”

“My lord?” The vizier wanted to be certain the sultan was suggesting what the vizier believed he was.

“If my beautiful half sister were to disappear before she leaves Istanbul, little could be done to find her. Of course, I would insist that all of the slave markets and brothels be thoroughly searched, and I would condemn such an outrage, but I do not believe she would be found
anywhere
,” the sultan murmured. “Of course, you would tell me all about your victory, Cica, would you not?”

“Perhaps, my lord, you would enjoy watching me win that victory,” the vizier said softly.

“You would not mind?” The sultan’s voice had a boyish excitement to it.

“It would give me great pleasure to offer such exquisite entertainment to you, my lord,” Cicalazade Pasha said. “I have not been so taken with a woman since my ravishing Incili died. She quite spoiled me for others. I now dislike complacent harem beauties quite heartily. Love, I believe, should be a battle, hard fought and honestly won. These creatures with their soft words and soft bodies quite bore me. I do not believe that the beauteous lady Valentina—which means the valorous one—shall bore me. And you, my lord, will be well entertained by my taming of that marvelous creature with her amethyst eyes and creamy skin.”

“How will you capture her?” the sultan demanded eagerly.

“I do not know yet, my lord,” said the vizier. “I must first learn her plans for the next day or two. I do not believe I have much time.”

“I cannot be involved in the capture,” the sultan said. “I must be able to say honestly I know nothing. My mother’s eyes are so very keen that she always knows when I am lying,” Mehmed finished in an annoyed tone. “The Kiras will come to my mother when the girl disappears, you may be certain of that. They pride themselves on their connection with us—though why they should have that connection I have never known, nor does anyone else. It appears to be a tradition lost in time and tied to that wretched old woman who is their matriarch. I will have to play my part convincingly, Cica, if I am to deceive them successfully.”

“Tell me,” he asked eagerly, “will you make her beg for your favors?”

The vizier smiled. “She will beg,” he said with dark certainty.

The sultan let his gaze drift toward the Gate of Felicity, through which the Kira litter had so recently departed from the palace. “If only she were not my sister,” he repeated sadly.

Valentina laughed, relating the story to Sarai. “The Valide told him I was his half sister. You should have seen the look of disappointment on his fat face! I cannot tell you how relieved I was that she protected me from him. I would kill myself before I allowed such a creature to touch me.”

“He is said to be like his father,” Sarai said, her voice barely a whisper. “Absolutely insatiable and wickedly lustful. During his father’s reign and his, the price of beautiful women has doubled and tripled in the slave markets.”

“You and your family have been so kind to us,” Valentina said, “but now that I have solved the mystery of my paternity, I shall be glad to go home. If the queen is still alive, I intend asking Padraic to allow me to serve her until her death. She is so very lonely.”

“She has no family?” Sarai was puzzled.

“No. Her siblings all died without issue, and she never wed. There are cousins, but no one who is close to her. The heir to the throne is the son of her greatest rival, her cousin.”

“Poor lady,” Sarai said, “I see now how very fortunate Esther is, and why she does not want to leave us.”

“Esther will live forever.” Valentina laughed. “She is so full of life.”

“Ah, but she has slowed since her legs became unreliable,” Sarai said.

“It is not her legs that make Esther so alive,” Valentina said. “It is her wonderful spirit.”

Sarai nodded, then said, “What did you think of Ali Ziya?”

“A snake of a creature,” Valentina said. “What happened to Ilban Bey, who was the aga when my mother was in Istanbul? My mother told me of him. She did not say he was an old man.”

“He wasn’t,” replied Sarai, “and he treated Safiye with great respect, anticipating her eventual rise to the position of Sultan Valide. When Nur-U-Banu died in 1583, he continued on in his duties, even though he had been Nur-U-Banu’s choice when she became valide. Tahsin, Safiye’s eunuch, was not well. He could not accept so much responsibility. Then he died and Safiye elevated your mother’s old Jinji to the position of personal eunuch, but Jinji was too inexperienced to become Aga. So Safiye was content to allow Ilban Bey to remain.

“Then Ilban Bey was found at the foot of a flight of stairs, his neck broken. Ali Ziya was his assistant. There was no one else, so Safiye chose him to be the Aga Kisler. He is a very dangerous man.”

“I felt that,” Valentina admitted. “How fortunate the valide was willing to protect me from the sultan. I am appalled by the way women are viewed in this land. I do not understand how my mother tolerated it for one moment, let alone a year!”

“She chose to survive,” Sarai said quietly, “and in order to survive here, you must accept the culture. It is either that or, as your mother finally chose, death.”

Valentina shook her head. “I will be glad to go home to England,” she replied. “When Padraic and the others return from Pera, we will make plans to leave as soon as we can!”

“But before you go,” Sarai said, “you must let me take you to the Covered Bazaar. Let us go tomorrow, for even if the gentlemen return tonight, it will take several days to provision your ships for your departure. You will not be leaving Istanbul for at least another few days. Surely you want to bring presents to your family? There is no better place in the entire empire to buy gifts than the great Covered Bazaar of Istanbul!”

They returned to the Kira house late in the afternoon to find that the gentlemen had returned from their hunting expedition. Valentina met her cousins and the earl in the only place in the Kira house that they could gather together, the gardens.

“There can be no doubt,” she told them happily. “I am my father’s daughter!” She related the story of her audience with Safiye, telling them of Safiye’s protecting Valentina from the sultan.

Murrough smiled at her. “Your trip has been successful. We may return home soon, then?”

“Aye!” she answered, “as soon as possible.”

“Home for our wedding?” Padraic demanded.

“Aye!” She kissed him quickly.

“Home to my lonely life,” grumbled Tom.

“No,” Valentina said, refusing to allow him to feel sorry for himself. “Home to find you a wife to love, even as Padraic and I have found each other.” She kissed Tom on the cheek and he could not prevent a smile from touching his lips.

“And now,” she said ominously, “I have a bone to pick with you gentlemen. How could you go blithely off to Pera without even telling me you were leaving?”

“It was quite a momentary decision,” Murrough defended himself and the others. “The ambassador heard that we were at the Kiras’, and he sent his barge for us. You were sleeping when the messenger came. We did not wish to awaken you, for we knew how exhausted you were, just barely over your ordeal.”

“How thoughtful,” Valentina murmured sweetly, but they could see that she was not placated.

“What can we do to reinstate ourselves in your good graces, divinity?” demanded the earl.

“Tomorrow, while Murrough prepares the ships for our return to England, you two will take me shopping in the Covered Bazaar. Sarai says there is no place like it anywhere on earth!”

“I can see,” said Padraic, laughing, “that our folly will cost us dearly.”

“Indeed, sir,” replied Valentina, insinuating herself into the curve of his arm, “and should it not? Besides, you have not yet given me a betrothal gift. Because I am a widow and not a maid, do not think to get off lightly!”

“No more than
you
shall get off lightly,” Padraic murmured softly against her hair.

Valentina’s eyes closed as she leaned against him, and the look on her beautiful face told Thomas Ashburne that Valentina was most certainly in love with Lord Burke. There was no hope for him at all. He sighed softly, wondering if he would ever find that much love, and when. At a touch on his arm, he looked into the sympathetic gaze of Murrough O’Flaherty, and the earl flushed guiltily at having worn his heart on his sleeve for all to see.

“Let us leave them,” Murrough said softly, and drew the earl away.

“Do I look as big a fool as I feel?” Tom Ashburne asked his companion.

“You’re not a fool for falling in love, Tom” was the quiet reply.

“Were you ever in love, Murrough?”

Murrough chuckled. “I was betrothed as a lad to my stepsister, and from the first time I laid eyes on my Joan, I was lost. When I was a boy at court, there was many a lady who would have made a pet of me, but all I could see was Joan’s sweet face, and I would have none of it. Aye, I’ve been in love, Tom, and I’ve never stopped being in love. That will come for you with the right woman. Valentina was not the right woman.”

Padraic and Valentina stood facing each other. She gazed up at him adoringly, and he said, “If you look at me that way, Val, I shall be incapable of ever leaving you again.”

“ ’Tis precisely what I had in mind,” she returned pertly, then she pressed herself against him. “I do not like this society where men are so strictly separated from women. I want to lie with you, Padraic. I want to feel your hands on me, for it seems so long since we laid together in the Great Khan’s yurt.”

“Ohh, vixen!” he groaned. Then his mouth found hers in a fierce, passionate kiss. They kissed seemingly without end until finally he pulled reluctantly away from her. “We cannot do this to each other, Val,” he said. “There is no place in this house that we can go to to satisfy our longings, and we are too old to play at courting games.”

“Aye,” she agreed with a deep sigh. “My lord, we know only too well where such games can lead. Oh, I want to go home this very day!”

Lord Burke laughed. He had never seen her quite like this. “Why, sweetheart,” he teased, “I am flattered that your passion for me is so great.”

“And would have been satisfied long ago,” she grumbled, “had you not been so slow to speak up, Padraic!”

“I wanted only what was best for you, Val,” he said quietly.

“
You
are what is best for me, my lord, and I shall be certain that our sons are not so lackadaisical about speaking up!”

He kissed her tenderly, her scolding lips, her beautiful eyelids, the tip of her nose. “I love you, Val, and we are together now and forever. That is what is important. You are my lost love found, and I shall never desert you, my darling, never!”

Chapter 12

T
he city of Istanbul was utterly and breathtakingly beautiful. The Ottoman Turks, in comparison with their predecessors, the Byzantines, had done little to contribute to that beauty, but the Byzantines had built for the ages. There were no street names. Residents of the city referred to streets by some identifying characteristic, such as the Street of the Gemcutters. Like Rome, Istanbul was built on seven hills, so the streets meandered up and down and all around the city. The majority of houses were of wood, though the wealthy and upper-middle-class merchants had taken to tearing down their old wood houses and building new ones of brick or stone. The Sea of Marmara, the great harbor of the Golden Horn, and the straits of the Bosporus could be seen from many vantage points.