Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Roksolana looked at Lady Miriam feeling confused. She looked around the hall and saw the rest of the women having the same confused looks.

“I said which one of you stole it?” She asked again. This time, her voice was a little raised than proper.

“What is that, Lady Miriam?” One of the concubines asked.

“My golden bracelet. The one the Sultan gave me himself.” She answered with a loud voice.

“What’s going on here?” The Sultan’s voice sounded at the door.

Roksolana looked as Lady Miriam ran to the Sultan’s side. She began to explain with tears how someone had stolen her bracelet. Roksolana wondered why the woman was always dramatic in everything she did. Roksolana was sure that the concubine or one of her maids had probably just misplaced the ornament she was shedding crocodile tears for. After much insistence on Lady Miriam’s side, the Sultan finally agrees to let her search each one of the chests of each lady in the harem. The search for the bracelet began from the room of a concubine who looked half afraid and exhaled when it wasn’t found in her room. And the search progressed from one room to another until it got to Roksolana’s room. She let them in and watched as Lady Miriam ruminate through her things, then exclaimed in surprise when Lady Miriam lifted the supposed bracelet from the chest Ayesha had brought earlier. Lady Miriam walked up to Roksolana and slapped her.

“Explain how this got into your chest of ornaments,” Lady Miriam barked at her.

Roksolana looked at the bracelet again to be sure that she hadn’t imagined it, then looked back at Lady Miriam. How does she explain how an object she had no idea about had gotten into her belongings? She looked at the other ladies of the harem and saw that they all looked anywhere but at her. None of them were ready to defend her. Roksolana turned to the Sultan for help, saw the disappointment radiating from his face and she stepped back. The Sultan believed that she had indeed stolen the bracelet.

“Why did you do it, Roksolana? If you needed something like that, I would have given it to you if you asked me,” Jamal spoke up, confirming her thoughts.

“But…” Roksolana tried to defend herself but got cut off by Lady Miriam.

“I want her punished.” She said.

“I didn’t do it. Please believe me,” Roksolana said, holding Jamal’s hands.

“You got the bracelet back, so I think it’s enough,” Jamal said.

“I am the harem leader and I want her punished. Otherwise, the others will start stealing too,” Lady Miriam said.

Roksolana looked as Jamal sighed in surrender, before removing his hands from hers.

“Guards.” She heard the Sultan call. When the men arrived, he continued. “Take Lady Roksolana out and flog her ten times.” He commanded.

“No. I want her flogged in front of everyone standing here,” Lady Miriam said.

“Flog her in front of everyone,” Jamal said, conceding to his favorite mistress’s request.

Roksolana let the tears threatening to fall from her eyes fall. She felt like she was making a fool of herself and giving Lady Miriam and the others the chance to think she was guilty, but she didn’t care. More than the wrong accusations and the punishment, the Sultan’s disbelief in her hurted the most. She thought that the Sultan should be able to know that she was stubborn but never a thief. Why? She had even been thinking about returning the chest before Lady Miriam came in. Yet, the Sultan seemed to believe the words of another over hers.

Jamal stared in amazement as Roksolana began to cry silently while looking at him in contempt. When the guards strapped her onto a long chair, she didn’t make any sound. When the first stroke landed, she didn’t flinch. By the time the second stroke landed, it killed Jamal not to stop the guards. But Jamal knew that Lady Miriam was right about her words if he let it slide this time, there was a chance the act would repeat itself among the others, and it would be too late to take action about it. Roksolana should have come to him, and he would have gladly given her three of the same bracelet. By the time they were done with the beating, Jamal walked away from the kafes without even a backward glance.

Roksolana looked at the disappearing form of the Sultan and fresh tears began to flow. Lady Miriam bent over and whispered words into her ears that she should just go back to being a maid. Roksolana looked at the woman, saw her smiling in a devilish manner and she realized that she had just been set up. Lady Miriam had definitely set her up with the bracelet. She stood up and walked away from the hall into her room as quietly as she could. She removed her dress and lay down on the bed on her chest. As she laid down on the bed, the Sultan’s betrayal flashed through her mind and she began to cry again.

Roksolana felt someone’s touch on her and woke up. She saw princess Azeezat applying something from a bowl to her wounds and winced. When the princess was done, Roksolana began to feel some relief from her wounds. She smiled her thanks at the woman who sat down at the edge of her bed, staring at her with strange eyes.

“You should be careful.” The princess said moments later.

Roksolana felt the tears threaten to fall again and she sniffed to suppress them. She wasn’t going to cry some more over the injustice she had suffered at the hands of the Sultan and his favorite mistress.

“Didn’t you check the chest to see if they had only the things you ordered?” The princess asked.

“I didn’t order the chest. A maid brought it over and I thought each concubine had gotten one, I was going to…” Roksolana explained, cutting short her explanation as things began to clear up.

Lady Miriam had been able to frame her through the chest Ayesha brought. The woman had used the maid she trusted to set her up. Roksolana finds it hard to believe that Ayesha could deceive her that much. When she had met Ayesha on the ship about seven months ago, she hadn’t struck Roksolana as someone who would betray her loved ones and that was why Roksolana had taken a liking to the other woman. But all in all, Roksolana wasn’t about to let go of the notion that Lady Miriam had lost a bracelet and found it in the chest Ayesha had brought in for her the same day. If she wanted to know the truth, she had to look for Ayesha.

“Looks to me like you are hurted more by the Sultan’s action than the beating.” Princess Azeezat said.

“What do you mean by that?” Roksolana asked the princess.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“I just guessed that you are in…”

The princess was cut off by a man announcing the arrival of the Sultan. Princess Azeezat quickly covered Roksolana’s body with her clothes before rushing out of the room to greet the Sultan. The Princess looked at Roksolana who refused to get up from her lying position and shook her head. As she turned at the door, she collided into the body of a man, who quickly held her steady. She looked up to appreciate the person and saw the Sultan looking at her with curiosity in his eyes. She also saw that the women of the harem and Aabdeen were with him. The princess shook the Sultan away from her arms and stepped back from him.

“Sultan.” She greeted, bowing slightly.