Just a little history tour. Thanks Annette for the beta read and Steve for the editing and making it a better story.
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We met Abdul when my twin brother and I were thirteen. It was not unusual for foreigners to attend our private schools, but this was the first one from the Ottoman Empire. The three of us were in the same dorm room with five others. From day one Abdul was picked on by two of the other boys, first because of the way he dressed and then about his high than thou attitude.
Though Elroy and I were twins we didn't look alike. Elroy was big and strong where I was thinner and shorter. My name is Cort, I got the brains and Elroy got the brawn. Elroy and I took Abdul under our wings and became the best of friends.
When we turned sixteen and were in the second year of our Lycee education starting our next phase of education, Abdul was summoned back to Constantinople to become the next Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Before his departure he extended his hand in friendship and said that we would be as brothers till the end of time.
After we graduated in 1841 we realized our parents were on the wrong side of Louis-Philippe the First's rule so at eighteen, we set off for Constantinople and a new life.
Abdülmecid the First welcomed us and made us feel like family. One of the new customs we had to get use to was the idea of being able to have a harem. Harems were usually only for those of the wealth or nobility. Abdul had given us a large plot of land with which to start our new life in the summer of 1842. Elroy ran the workers like a general in the military and I ran the books like a banker.
In 1843 Elroy took his first wife, Abdul already had six. I just couldn't seem to find someone that appealed to me. In 1844 Abdul and Elroy both took two more wives. We were sitting around a feast just after the latest harvest when a chambermaid drew a knife and lunged towards Elroy. Not thinking I dove in front and took the dagger in my left shoulder. The chambermaid was subdued while I was bandaged up.
When Abdul was informed, he sentenced her to be beheaded. I sent forth a plea that as it was my life she had tried to take it should be me that determined her fate. Abdul granted my wish and she was remanded to my custody. I had her hands bound and had the rope thrown over a rafter then tied to a wall so that she had no movement.
When I first saw her face as she was lunging at Elroy I saw the face of a person in conflict. It was the face of an angel doing something against her nature. It was the face of the person I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
Her name was Shirin. She was the daughter of a merchant and had been purchased from a small village on the Black Sea. Shirin was told that if she didn't kill Elroy or me her family would die. The people holding her family hostage were the landholders whose land Abdul had taken away the then given to us.
With my bad shoulder I could not control her without her being tied up so most of the day she would hang with her hands above her and at night lying on her back with her feet tied to the opposite wall. I spent most of my day and all of the night with her. I fed her and cleaned her up. I helped her use the chamber pot and changed her clothes. Never once did I do anything inappropriate.
As the days passed, my shoulder healed. After a week of being tied up I took her down and led her to the bath chamber. I stripped her and then myself and sat her in the bath to clean her. I washed her body with a light hand and then washed her long black hair. More than once, I heard a sigh. I patted down her body, put a robe over her shoulders and walked her back to our room.
"Cort, why have you not tried to take advantage of me?"
"Shirin, you are the most beautiful woman I ever seen. The first time I saw you I knew I had to have you, so I couldn't let you throw your life away. I live on the hopes that some day you too will want me."
