Bedazzled

'But he did not send for one of us last night,' the flame-haired Sarai exclaimed. 'He always has one of us to warm his bed.'

'He was not alone,' Baba Hassan replied.

'The English girl?' Samara spoke the words with loathing.

'Oh, not the English girl,' blond Deva half whispered. 'She is so beautiful.'

'I will scratch her eyes out!' Samara snarled.

'Attempt it, and you will find yourself in the open slave market within the hour,' Azura replied sternly. 'How spoiled you have all become! Your duty is to please our master, and if India gives him pleasure, then you should be glad for him. I will not tolerate jealousy in this harem, and neither will Caynan Reis. Resign yourselves to what was meant to be. Or would you prefer to provide entertainment for the janissaries?' She turned away from them, saying, 'Come, Baba Hassan, we have business to discuss.' Leading him to her own quarters, she asked, 'Have you eaten yet? Come, and sit with me. Where is the dey?'

'I awoke them myself,' the chief eunuch said. 'I brought the morning meal, but India insisted on bathing her lord herself as she has been doing these past several months. Last night I told you that he loved her, but this morning I tell you that she loves him as well. This is just as we hoped, but now, my dear Azura, we must make certain that India follows our plan else we all find ourselves in jeopardy from the irrational and foolish behavior of the janissaries.'

'I will go to the dey myself, and see what plans he has for India,' Azura said. 'I am certain that now he will no longer expect her to serve him as a body slave. I shall bring a beautiful kaftan for her to wear today. If she is to become his favorite, then she must have her own apartment, and everything that goes with such an honor. We have been friends since her arrival. Now I shall build upon that friendship. She is an intelligent girl, and can be brought to see reason. If she loves him as you believe, Baba Hassan, she will want to protect him from all harm. Melon?' She offered him a plate, and together they ate their morning meal, all the while planning how to protect the dey and El Sinut from chaos. When they had finished, Azura went to the main wardrobe for the harem and chose an exquisite turquoise-blue silk kaftan, embroidered with gold thread butterflies and creamy pearls, as well as several pale gold veils for India's head, and to shield her beautiful face should she go from the harem today.

Hurrying through the palace, Azura entered the dey's apartments, greeting her lord with a smile and displaying the finery. 'I thought, perhaps, my lord, that you would want India garbed somewhat differently today. I have brought these garments for your approval.'

'What think you, my precious?' Caynan Reis asked India.

'They are lovely, my lord. If it pleases you, I will wear them, but please let me come with you to the general audience. I love watching you judge and settle disputes. I will be happy to ply my fan today that you not become overheated.'

'Nay, you will sit by my throne,' he said. 'Someone else will ply the fan. Now go and put on your new clothing for me while I speak with Azura,' the dey commanded her, and India, taking the garments from the older woman, hurried into the bedchamber. 'I want you and Baba Hassan in the audience chamber today, as well as the ladies of the harem. Seat them behind a carved screen so they may see, but not be seen,' he told her.

'Is this a special occasion I have somehow overlooked?' Azura asked.

He laughed, and the sound was so happy and carefree that she was surprised, for she had never heard him make such a noise in all the years they had known each other. 'I am going to marry her,' the dey said. 'Do not feign amazement, you lovely creature,' he teased Azura. 'You and Baba Hassan have dangled her before me since the day she arrived. You wanted this to happen, and while I believed you both mad, it would seem you know me better than I know myself.'

'It is a man's nature to want love, and be loved in return, my lord,' Azura answered him diffidently.

'Hah!' he chuckled. 'You plotted the entire matter.'

'My lord.' India had come forth from the bedchamber.

Caynan Reis's deep blue eyes widened with approval. 'Allah!' he exclaimed. 'How exquisite you are, my precious love.'

'Then you are pleased?' She smiled happily, then turned to Azura. 'Thank you, my lady, for making such a fine choice.'

Azura nodded in reply, and then said to the dey, 'You will, of course, want the lady India to have her own apartment, my lord?'

'Aye. Have the empty rooms next to mine prepared for her,' he instructed the mistress of the harem.

'But, my lord, those rooms are not within the harem,' Azura reminded him, a trifle amazed by his instructions.

'The harem is for my concubines,' he answered her. 'The rooms near me are for my wife. I do not want my bride far from my side. While India will rule my house, and bear my children, you, my dear Azura, will continue to be the mistress of the harem. This is my wish.'

'Yes, my lord,' the older woman answered him. Allah! He really was in love with her. She bowed politely, and backed from the dey's apartments, hurrying to find Baba Hassan so she might tell him of all that had transpired and prepare the harem for their outing. She did not, however, tell her charges of the dey's decision to marry. That must be his little surprise. The concubines would, of course, be distressed by the news, but she would reassure them that their place within the dey's household was a secure one. He would not, for the time being, want their company as frequently as he had in the past, but they would come to accept the new arrangement. Any who caused difficulties would be sold away, and replaced.

While Azura was content that Caynan Reis take a wife and have children, the beautiful India must not be allowed to have such influence over her husband that he perhaps ignore his faithful servants. Eventually there must be a second wife, or at least a favored concubine to engage the dey's interest. India, however, could be the only woman allowed to give the dey sons lest El Sinut be subjected to the same sort of internecine warfare afflicting the Sublime Porte, where the sultan's women warred with each other, ambitious for their sons. It was just this sort of thing that had weakened the empire, leaving it vulnerable to factions like the greedy, power-hungry janissaries, who were even now plotting treason. For now, though, India would serve their purpose while making Caynan Reis the happiest of men, the mistress of the harem concluded.

'Come, ladies,' she said, reentering the harem. 'You are to dress in your finest garments, and be allowed to sit in the audience hall today, and watch our master in judgment over his subjects.'

With cries of pleasure the harem women rushed to find the most flattering clothing that they could; rummaging through their jewel boxes; calling to their personal slaves for their cosmetics and perfumes. Azura oversaw it all, a secret smile upon her beautiful face, watching as Samara chose flame-colored garments, the equally dark-haired Leah, a deep rose. Red-haired Sarai was resplendent in green and gold, and the four blondes exaggerated their delicate coloring in the palest of pastels: pink, sky blue, peach, and apple green. And when the seven women were dressed with matching veils covering their bejeweled hair and their pretty faces, Azura escorted them from the harem to the audience hall.

Before them the chief eunuch went, clearing a path through the waiting populace, all of whom were fascinated to be given even the slightest glimpse of the dey's harem women as they hurried through the corridor, heads bowed, eyes lowered, and heavily veiled. Baba Hassan led the women into the vaulted chamber with its green-and white mottled pillars, and settled them behind a carved wooden screen facing the dey's throne, and set to one side. There, small chairs had been arranged in such a manner that each woman could gain a good view of the proceedings no matter where she was seated.

Samara silently counted the seats. There were but eight. Just enough for