10. Eshe #3
With slight hesitation and probably against her better judgement, Taliba eventually showed me the harem.
Where the women slept, where they ate, where they danced, sang, and read.
She brought me to the room where they prepared themselves for Ezra, the washroom with the baths.
It was small, but there weren’t many women here.
We passed by a few who seemed equally confused to see a stranger in the harem. They whispered to themselves behind us.
I felt like a bear in the desert.
“Where does Ezra take us?” Why I was curious perplexed me.
“Oh, you won’t have to worry about that, Mara. He won’t have any of us. We’re here for him, of course, but it has been years since he has taken any of us except for Safina.”
“Safina?” The name sounded exotic. Something twisted in my stomach, and I wasn’t sure how to identify it. I was surprised anyone could take his attention. For a moment, I remembered how he wouldn’t even look my way when I was dancing for our families. He seemed bored and annoyed.
“Yes.” Taliba chuckled softly and continued our tour. “She is his favorite. She is quite lovely, so I don’t blame him.”
In Tehara, the Qahl could have one wife, but he could have countless favorites and concubines in his harem.
Zyriah was slightly different—a Qahl could have multiple women, but unlike a harem, they were all wives.
My mother was my father’s first and only wife.
It always made me swoon the way my father didn’t want any other woman beside him but my mother, even though rumors were that he grew tired of her around the time I came along.
They said my mother was a thousand wives to handle in one, and that was why he didn’t take another.
It was interesting that Safina had been his favorite for years but wasn’t made wife yet.
“Does he come here often?”
“No, he doesn’t. Maybe once or twice a moon cycle. He’ll bring us presents, usually wine and garments and jewelry, but then we don’t see him again until weeks pass.”
She seemed lonely and sad. It almost made me sad.
I felt my brow lower. “He is kind to you?”
“Oh, of course! He has saved all of us, as I’m sure you know, since you are here.” What does that mean? “I just hope one day he takes notice of one of us,” she said quietly.
Wow. She really saw him as a god. “It is peaceful here, but… serving him, giving him a child, and hoping to become his wife is something that we all dream of.”
My God, she was in love with him! I wanted to throw up.
I knew this was how harem women were, and I wasn’t judging them at all.
It was part of our culture, but it was pathetic to see how these women drooled over Ezra.
Typically, after a Qahl requested a concubine multiple times, they may become a favorite.
From there, a favorite might have the chance to become a wife.
In this case, only one of them could become Ezra’s wife.
I reminded myself why I was here. If anyone knew anything about Ezra, it would be his favorite—Safina.
“Do you know where Safina is?”
“You’ll find her in the garden, reading the Deratem.”
I tilted my head. That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. Deratem was our religious book.
“Does Safina say anything about their relationship?”
“No, she remains quiet about it. She’s very reserved, even though we beg her to give us something to talk about. Though it is interesting, every moon cycle she bleeds. She is not pregnant with his child. She says nothing of it, but to the rest of us, it makes us wonder.”
A favorite not utilizing bragging rights? That didn’t make sense. And if she was his favorite for years, shouldn’t she have had a child or two by now?
Taliba pointed in the general direction, and I found, as she said I would, a tall woman covered conservatively with a thin robe sitting on a stone bench.
I began to step toward her before Taliba tugged on my elbow.
“If you’re looking for her to share anything, she won’t.
In fact, she rarely talks to any of us. And I know you’re not here under Ezra’s orders.
I’m not sure why you are here, but if he finds out, nothing good will come of it.
He’s very private and protective of this place… I would leave before word gets to him.”
When I noticed several guards speaking to some of the women at the entrance, I gave her my thanks before leaving Ezra’s harem.
I sprinted back to my chamber from a back door that Taliba showed me. As I ran down the hallways that would lead me to temporary safety, I heard two male voices shouting that I was no longer in the chambers.
Ezra had every guard searching for me.
Moments after I bolted myself in and the voices of the guards had faded, I heard a pounding on my door, vibrating the walls of the chamber.
Patting my hair down, taking a breath, I mentally prepared myself to make someone believe they were clinically insane by denying what they saw. I opened the door.
But it was Casimir who stood in front of me, leaning on the doorway, waiting for me to welcome him into my chambers.