Note to Reader: It's 1532 and the main character, Leyla Khanom, is a Harem girl of Turkish Anatolian origin. A raven beauty with dark hair and eyes with light skin, she is a woman of great intellect, culture and possess artistic and musical qualities. A great conversationalist who can hold discussions on Greek Philosophy, Astronomy, Theology, Political strategy, Poetry and great works of literature. But Leyla is not just dinner entertainment, she has political ambitions and wishes to use her talents as a lover to get closer to the corridors of power in the Ottoman Empire. Her position is constantly threatened by other women in the Harem leading to the Harem wars.
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A crier burst into the Sultan's Majlis (throne room) while he is holding court and discussing important military matters with his generals. "Murder... Murder... Murder most Foul," the crier repeatedly says in an erratic fashion, which alarms the Sultan. The Sultan stares at the crier with a look of surprise and agitation on his face. The crier is humbled before Sultan Suleiman called the magnificent by some and the law-giver by others. Before the crier is the most feared emperor in Europe and leader of a rising empire.
"Oh glorious Sultan, please forgive my abrupt entrance but I come baring nefarious news. The Lady Shireen, who lives in your Excellencies Harem, has been found with multiple wounds to the head and lying face down on the floor." The crier proclaims. The atmosphere changes from concerned to tense, The Lady Shireen was a gift to the Sultan from Shah Tahmasp of Persia and she was meant to cement Safavid-Ottoman goodwill. The Sultan's armies had finished fighting in Hungry and tension was rising on the Empires eastern border with Persia and now a Persian is murdered in the Sultan's Harem.
While confusion reigns supreme, one person not confused is Leyla Khanom, who is quietly recovering from the heinous act she has committed. Leyla has never murdered before, but desperate times call for desperate measures. While rumours circulate about a Habsburg plot or an Uzbek conspiracy, Leyla has not interests in quelling these rumours, because Lady Shireen was no ordinary Harem girl. She was a niece of the Shah of Persia and was in-fact a Safavid Princess and whoever killed her would be executed immediately. But as they say 'You think you know a story, but you only know how it ends. To get to the heart of a story, you have to go back to the beginning.'
6-months earlier: Leyla Khanom in her own words
The new batch arrived today. More girls from the provinces, Greece, the Balkans, Ukraine and Hungry. Desperate European girls who hope to be married off to the Sultan or some high ranking official. I don't pity them, I despise them. My brother is in the Ottoman Army and is fighting in Hungry, and the brothers of these girls are trying to kill him. But nothing will stop our Empire, we are the rightful heirs of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian, Chinese, Roman and Greek Empires and heirs to the Ummayad and Abbasid Caliphates.
When Mehmet II took over Al-Rum Empire (Byzantine), and conquered Istanbul (Constantinople) from them, it was a sign from God about our ascension. It was a vindication of Sultan Osman I dream of glorious empire and we shall continue to fulfil his dream by marching into the hinterlands of Christendom. They may have discovered the 'New World', but we are about to take the 'Old World' from them.
Hasan the Janissary approaches me in great haste, the Janissaries are a corps of guards and special forces soldiers who fight in battles and provide palace security and security in the Harems. Despite being brave they are eunuchs or men who have had their manhood chopped off, which means the Sultan trusts them with us. Hasan looks at me and says, "Oh my dear lady, Farooq the commander has arrived and has requested your company."
Farooq and I are lovers, genuine lovers, for I am not a concubine. "Very well! If he indeed requests my company, than by the grace of God, I shall go." Farooq is a young officer who is helping to build up our naval fleet- he also has one of the largest manhoods I've ever seen. He'll want to indulge in some sodomy, before we must depart ways. I am entertaining at a dinner this evening and he has some other engagement. Of course, I do all of this with the greatest levels of secrecy, no one can know. In-fact Farooq doesn't even know I have other lovers or that I have been deflowered.
I arrive at Farooq's room and there he stands, the eunuch leaves us and Farooq turns his attentions to me. He walks over to me and as I try to greet him, he grabs my face and starts kissing me. Slides his wet tongue and smelly breath into my odourless mouth, our tongues encourage and entice one another. Slurping away and sucking on each other's tongues, like a couple of sloppy animals during feeding time. I haven't had a cock inside me for a few days and so it would be nice to have something before dinner.
Farooq pauses ravaging my mouth for a few moments, "Oh lady flower, you ignite a fiery passion within my heart, stomach and crotch. Like a rose you tease and beckon all those who approach, tempting them to pick your petals. Every flowers needs water for sustenance, every flower needs the sun and rain to grow, survival is the best indication of exposure. Yet, I am left to wonder what thou has been exposed to, how has this flower bloomed in the uneven soil of palace life?"
"Every flower has its secrets, but every follower has its morals and ethics. The flower remains loyal to the gardener and survives only by the grace of god. I have peaked only for you to enjoy me."
"You're too clever and lovely for your own good, but I fear, the urgent matter of relief takes precedents over riddle and mystery solving."