In 1099, a mysterious child of noble origin was taken in by Jews who had fled the Crusaders' arrival in front of Jerusalem.
Years later, Ada, the descendant of this child, travels through Palestine with her father. He's a merchant and knows medicin...
It's hard to believe that the sultan is such a horrible man because he looks almost like a kitten lapping up some milk. He sits next to me and raises my hand to his mouth, drooling a lot on it.
He's not a kitten but rather a snail
"Where did she come from?" he asks Chajar.
Unfortunately, my ability to speak for myself isn't on the table.
"As far as I know, Your Highness, Mameluke emirs captured this jewel recently," Chajar explained cautiously.
"Recently? What were they waiting for to give her to me? Did they hope to reserve such a wonder for their personal use?"
A strange metamorphosis then occurs before my eyes. Scary faces suddenly deform the sultan's features. He has just stood up, and his arms are making powerful movements as if he were slaying invisible enemies. All this gives him the look of an infernal goblin since he's not very tall.
"Maybe those ex-slaves think I will suck up to them like my late father!" he growls.
Chajar is mute, frozen with fear.
"Let her be taken immediately to the main harem! She will honor my bed tonight," the sultan growls again with an ominous gaze.
Once more, Chajar blends into the pink marble. The supreme ruler is gone, and his guard has been instructed to question everyone.
No one remembers anything about my captors, and behind their glittering veils, the ladies of the secondary harem, their eunuchs too, keep their mouths shut.
Is it loyalty to Baibars and his brother? Or have the two emirs emptied their purses to obtain this silence? It would be easy for me to denounce them, but I have many bad feelings about the sultan.
When I leave the secondary harem, the wide black-rimmed eyes of the other women watch me without the slightest envy.
I question Chajar with anguish, "What will happen to me? Can't the Sultan abuse me? I know he is ... uh ... impotent."
"Shut up, insolent girl," she mumbles. "You will do your best to satisfy him, or you will never see the daylight again."
When I enter these places where wives and favorites live and probably die, heavy doors close on me with a thud. Women are always soldiers sent into battle armed only with their courage, without a sword to defend themselves.
Whatever the harshness of my fate, I had an extraordinary chance to meet Reyn. His great memory keeps me standing, storm after storm.
The room is vast and little lit, pink marble again, on walls and floors. A fountain in the middle adds freshness. Through a half-opened door, one can see a shady garden under acacias and sycamores.
I'm led to the bath to be washed, massaged, perfumed. My hair is combed and artistically styled. My eyes are surrounded with black, according to the oriental habits. I'm entirely dressed in gold, to the point of making the sun jealous.
Chajar turns me around for a moment before giving her verdict.
"You're almost too gorgeous. Whatever may happen with the sultan, keep calm. Above all, try to stay alive!"
Then she grabs my hands and says in a serious tone, "Baibars and Altan will blame me personally if you don't get away with it. Touran Shah is special! His father wasn't happy to know his son would succeed him one day. That's why he sent him to study in the depths of Anatolia. The mere sight of his heir upset my beloved sultan so much."
She was thus the favorite of the former sovereign or even his wife.
"Since his arrival," she continues, "I tried to present him the most beautiful pearls of the harem, the most consenting, the most devoted. But, alas, he crippled two of them, and another one agonized for a long time! So you'll have to be clever and cunning with him."
I'm not convinced that with this crazy Touran Shah, it will be helpful. Women perfectly trained to seduce have failed. Thus I'm almost certain to incur an unfortunate fate.
I walk with eunuchs in a garden where pomegranate and doum trees flourish. Then, finally, enter the sultan's apartments through the main opening, passing under a big arch in a horseshoe shape.
Ceilings are as high as those of a church. Black and white marble covers the floor. On the walls, magnificent stucco decorations reproduce glorious hunting scenes. Touran Shah is sitting at a table on which many scrolls with writing are placed. Messy blankets are scattered over what appears to be the sultan's bed, and multicolored carpets are spread everywhere.
I stare at Touran Shah, thinking that my Prince of Wolves would break this runt in two without the slightest effort.
He ends up moving slowly towards me, with a gait that would like to be royal, but his gestures are feverish, his look tormented. Closely, the young sultan reeks of wine.
Frightened, I see he's undressing. Once naked, this animal proudly parades before my eyes. Does he want to be admired?
Suddenly, he throws himself at me.
We fall together on the bed. I struggle energetically, but he pulls up my gown. Touran Shah moves frenetically on my belly for several minutes. His crimson face and sweating body are most unpleasant.
Fortunately, nothing more!
So Assia wasn't wrong about the Sultan. When he goes away from me, I expect the worst punishment. Because, luckily, I'm not the one who will solve his serious problem.
Touran Shah didn't put his clothes back on.
And I quickly understand why.
A poor slave is dragged in front of him by eunuchs, and this spineless worm rushes on her, starts to strike her with unheard-of violence.
Terrorized, I hold back from yelling. The unfortunate woman is in blood, almost dying.
Nobody helps her.
Nobody listens to her moans of agony.
When I try to move, the eunuchs block my way.
I see then a nightmarish vision. Now the sultan's penis is erect like an oak tree, and this madman assaults his victim with ferocity. He groans, grunts while lashing out at the bloody body.
He has finished and walks towards me.
He looks like a butcher, a ripper, a demon. However, he lies down by my side. Pieces of broken bones, shreds of skin are left hanging in his hair.
I shudder with fear.
I'm probably the next one he intends to rape, to slaughter.
But, instead!
"You have made me happy, my beautiful slave," he mumbles, wrapping himself around my waist.
Silently, some eunuchs take away the dead woman's remains, then they start to clean the marble and carpets. Touran Shah dismisses them with a gesture before plunging into a deep sleep.
***
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"Some people have a library like the sultans have a harem" 😭
