prove useful. Very useful, if Sitt Hatun's growing suspicions concerning Gulbehar's sudden wealth proved accurate. Sitt Hatun thought once more of Gulbehar's strange half-smile. Perhaps she would now be able to solve the riddle behind that smile. A week passed before Sitt Hatun saw Cicek again. Returning from evening prayers in the harem mosque, she found Cicek in her bedroom, waiting for her. Sitt Hatun moved to embrace her, but Cicek motioned for her to stop.
'I must be quick, My Lady,' Cicek whispered. 'If Yilan learns that I have come to visit you, then there will be trouble for us both.' Sitt Hatun nodded. 'There is a girl outside waiting to speak to you, an odalisque from Gulbehar's household. She has asked for your protection in return for information about Gulbehar. She will not tell me her secret, but I believe that it is important. Will you speak to her?'
'Of course. But what of you?' Sitt Hatun asked. 'Does Yilan treat you well?'
'I have seen nothing of her,' Cicek replied, her voice tired. 'She has placed me among the lowest jariye. I spend my days embroidering and doing laundry. I am not allowed to wait on Gulbehar.' There were tears in Cicek's eyes, and Sitt Hatun could tell that she was sparing her the worst. 'I must go, My Lady.'
Sitt Hatun embraced Cicek, and they clung to one another. 'Thank you, my friend,' Sitt Hatun whispered. 'Now go, and may Allah protect you.'
Cicek left, and seconds later a Polish girl no older than fifteen entered. She wore the same scarlet and gold robes that Sitt Hatun had seen on Gulbehar's odalisques in the garden. This meant that she was a member of Gulbehar's inner household. The girl was beautiful, in her own way. She was long and thin, as if she had been stretched. Her slender arms ended in graceful fingers. Her neck was elongated, and her blonde hair hung nearly to her waist. Her wide eyes were blue, innocent and afraid. She bowed low when she saw Sitt Hatun and did not rise.
'Stand up, girl,' Sitt Hatun ordered, but gently. 'What is it that you have to tell me? Speak freely. You need fear no spies here.'
The girl remained silent, and Sitt Hatun feared she would not speak. But, then she opened her mouth, and the words gushed forth in a torrent. 'Please protect me, My Lady,' the girl began. 'Cicek has told me so many good things about you. She said that I could trust you. Still, I would not ask your protection, but I know that you hate Gulbehar. She would kill me if she knew I had come to you, but I will die anyway without your help. I will tell you my secret, but first, promise to protect me.'
'Protect you from what? From Gulbehar?' The girl nodded vigorously. 'And why should Gulbehar wish you any harm?' The servant girl blushed and lowered her eyes. 'Have you stolen from her?'
'Of course not, My Lady,' the girl protested. 'She is jealous of me.'
'Jealous? I see.' Sitt Hatun was not surprised to hear it. She had experienced Gulbehar's jealousy first hand. But if she was jealous, then it could only mean that this girl had come between Gulbehar and a lover. Who? Surely not Mehmed, far away in Manisa. Sitt Hatun suspected that she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from the girl. 'Do not fear,' Sitt Hatun told her. 'I will protect you. Now, tell me why Gulbehar would be jealous of an odalisque?'
'Because I am gozde,' the girl replied, blushing. To be gozde meant literally to be 'in the eye' of the sultan. It meant that Murad had taken note of the girl, and perhaps even ordered his haznedar to schedule a night with her.
'And how did you, a servant of Gulbehar, come to be gozde?'
'Murad visits Gulbehar's apartments to be with her,' the girl said, her cheeks burning and her eyes fixed on the floor. 'Gulbehar makes us wear masks so that we will not catch Murad's eye, but he took note of me nonetheless. It was not my fault. I did nothing, and yet a friend has told me that the haznedar has placed my name on the calendar of royal nights. Gulbehar is a jealous woman. If I lie with the sultan, she will have me killed. My friend tells me that I am scheduled for next week.'
'And what would you have me do?' Sitt Hatun asked. 'I have no power with the haznedar. Once a name is written, it is beyond my power to change it.'
'Take me into your household,' the girl said. 'I was there in the garden when Gulbehar took Cicek from you. She offered you a servant to replace Cicek. Ask for me. She cannot refuse you.'
Sitt Hatun was inclined to grant the girl's request. It was the least she could do in return for the information the girl had given her. When Sitt Hatun told Mehmed that his beloved Gulbehar was unfaithful — and with his father no less! — then Mehmed would surely reward her. Perhaps he would even lie with her. But then again, this girl could be lying. She could be a spy sent by Gulbehar. Even if she did speak the truth, Sitt Hatun would need more than this girl's word if she were to accuse Gulbehar.
'I will take you into my household, but first I need proof of what you say,' Sitt Hatun told her.
The girl produced a golden chain, from which dangled a huge ruby that flashed a brilliant red, like the final blaze of the setting sun. There was no mistaking the gem. It was the kumru kalp, the dove's heart, and Sitt Hatun had never seen Murad without it. 'Murad gave it to Gulbehar. I took it from her quarters. Do you believe me now?' the girl asked.
'I believe you, girl, but I need to see this with my own eyes. When will the sultan next visit Gulbehar?'
'Tonight.'
'Then tonight you will show me.'
'But that is impossible,' the girl stammered. 'I could never sneak you into Gulbehar's apartments. Certainly not while Murad was there.'
'If you cannot bring me with you, then there is only one solution,' Sitt Hatun said. 'What is your name, girl?'
'Anna, My Lady.'
'Anna, take off your clothes.' Dressed in Anna's clothes, Sitt Hatun hurried through the palace and slipped inside Gulbehar's apartments. Although she wore the mask that Anna had given her, Sitt Hatun did not want to take any chances. Her disguise might fool the casual observer, but her clothes — clearly too long in the arms and legs — would not stand up to close scrutiny. She dreaded what would happen if she were found out. It would be easy enough for Gulbehar to have her murdered and then claim ignorance. When a woman left her place within the harem, she had very few protections indeed.
Sitt Hatun entered her old apartments, now Gulbehar's, and took the servants' passage that left the entrance room and skirted a reception room covered in pillows and filled with the smoke of a hookah. She came out of the passage into the interior garden, bathed in golden light that shone through the open roof. Moving quickly to the far corner of the room, she slipped behind a potted palm and gently pressed one of the cool tiles on the wall, triggering a hidden door. Sitt Hatun slipped through and into another servants' passageway, this one leading past Gulbehar's bedroom and to the apartment's private kitchen.
The passage was dark, save for the pinpricks of light that shone through the wall from small spyholes. They were there so that servants could watch their mistress and respond instantly to her every whim. No one stood at the peepholes now. No doubt Gulbehar kept this passageway empty during her meetings with Murad. Sitt Hatun put her eye to one of the holes and saw Gulbehar's candlelit bedroom before her. Gulbehar had made many changes. The glory of the room still lay in the huge, floor-to-ceiling windows that ran along two sides, showing a spectacular view of the imperial palace stretching away to the river. But the windows were half-hidden now behind screens of woven gold. The rest of the walls were covered with silk tapestries, shimmering with gold and silver thread. The tile floor was now covered with deep rugs. Altogether, the decor gave the impression of a richly decorated tent, an impression that was contradicted only by the enormous bed that dominated the centre of the room. The bed, hung with yellow silk curtains, was easily ten feet wide. And there, nude on the bed, were Gulbehar and Murad.
Gulbehar lay on her back, her head hanging over the edge of the bed so that Sitt Hatun could see her face, contorted in ecstasy. Gulbehar's long legs were wrapped around the waist of Murad, who lay atop her, grunting as he thrust. Gulbehar cried out in Albanian as he moved faster and faster. Finally, Murad moaned with pleasure and collapsed. After a moment, he rolled off and stood. A long scar marked his right shoulder, and there were several more on his thin legs. His sunken chest and large belly were covered with fine grey hair. Gulbehar remained on the bed, naked and covered in sweat, while he began to dress.
'Must you go so soon?' Gulbehar pouted.
'Ibrahim Bey is making trouble again in Karamania. I must write to the loyal beys there,' he told her. 'I spend too much time in your quarters as it is. Even loyal tongues will wag if the price is right. Mehmed is a rash young man. He must not know about us.'
