If they were caught, she thought for a brief moment, if- “Oh, yes,” she breathed eagerly. And she tore away her robe in eagerness. He caught at her hands. “Slowly, my lady. Let me.” And he carefully removed the silken underdrawers and chemises. Gazing at her longingly, he thought what a fine figure of a woman she was. A bit flabby in places now, but he would soon take care of that. Ali Yahya had been correct about her. She was eager for a lover.
Kneeling beside her couch, he took her little foot in his hands, tenderly kissing each toe, then the sole, the heel, the ankle. His lips slid up one leg and then over and down the other. Still kneeling, his mouth moved across her navel and up to her breasts. Gently he bit at her nipples, then teased them with his hot tongue. She was panting quickly, her eyes closed, a look of bliss on her face. He moved to enter her bed, and she gasped, “The door! Bolt the door!”
Returning, he mounted quickly and drove into her. She spent too quickly, sobbing with eagerness, and cursed in frustration.
“No, no, sweet lady,” Demetrios reassured her. “I am like a bull and will pleasure you long and slowly.”
It was a promise not lightly made, and it was the beginning of the most incredible night of Thamar’s life. The eunuch serviced his mistress again and again until she was so exhausted that she could not raise her head from the pillows. At this point Demetrios deemed it wise to stop, though Thamar protested.
“You will come to me tomorrow night?”
“As my princess wishes,” he replied, smiling down at her.
“Yes! God, yes!”
“Then I must obey.”
“You must become my chief eunuch,” she said.
“You have a chief eunuch.”
“Dispose of him somehow,” she murmured, and instantly fell asleep.
Demetrios slipped from the room and went immediately to Ali Yahya’s quarters. As he grew older, Ali Yahya had discovered he needed less and less sleep. Consequently, except for about three hours in the deepest part of the night, he was always awake.
“You have finally succeeded?” he asked as Demetrios entered, a look of triumph on his face.
“I have succeeded completely, master. I caught her in a weak moment. She returned from the wedding in very low spirits. She was so busy dismissing her women she did not even see me. When she thought herself alone, she wept. Making my presence known, I comforted her.”
“Fully?”
“Fully, master. I am now her lover. She has already begged me to return tomorrow. She wishes me to be her chief eunuch and has told me to dispose of Paulus.”
“Indeed,” said Ali Yahya dryly. “You must be well worth the outrageous price I paid for you. I will see that Paulus is sent to Prince Halil’s house in Nicea. You have done very well, Demetrios. Now, you must gain Princess Thamar’s complete confidence, and you must keep it. From now on your contact with me must always be a secret and made only when absolutely necessary. You know what you must do. I now give you control of Princess Thamar’s household. You will answer to no one but me.”
“I hear and obey, master,” said the young eunuch, bowing.
Ali Yahya nodded slowly, then spoke again. “Remember where your true loyalties lie, Demetrios. If you become ambitious and attempt to betray me, your death will be a very long and extremely unpleasant one. Serve me well, and you will be a rich and a free man some day.”
“I hear and obey, master,” replied Demetrios. He left the room.
Ali Yahya sat back, well-satisfied. He trusted the younger man. He had picked him most carefully.
He had observed, as the sultan ignored his second wife over the years, that the only outlet for Thamar’s love was her son. Yakub had been taken from his mother at the age of six and brought up in his own court, a strict Muslim one. He respected his mother and even harbored an affection for her, but he did not understand her. She was too intense, and her plots to advance him in the eyes of his father were embarrassing.
Ali Yahya worried about Thamar. Allah only knew what the lonely, embittered, and frustrated woman might do. He had decided to give her a new interest, one who would not only involve her attention, but who would keep him fully informed of her plots.
He had looked for several months for the right person. Thamar was suspicious by nature. He had needed a young man, but not too young. Someone moderately intelligent and trustworthy, but not ambitious.
By chance he had heard of Demetrios, the slave of a wealthy merchant. As his master had aged and grown feeble, Demetrios had taken over his business and run it at a profit for his master. Unfortunately he had also gotten involved with his master’s two bored young wives, for Demetrios hated to see a pretty woman unhappy. When one of the wives discovered that the other was also enjoying the eunuch’s services, she revenged herself by crying “rape” the next time Demetrios visited her. Demetrios was flogged and sent to the slave market by his outraged master. He was to be re-gelded, and then sold.
Fortunately, the slavemaster was taken by Demetrios’ beauty. Re-gelding was seldom successful. If the young man died, which was likely, a handsome profit would be lost. The risk was to the slavemaster, not to the slave owner. The slavemaster had remembered that his old friend, Ali Yahya, was looking for a young eunuch. Ali Yahya came, was impressed, and the bargain was made. Demetrios was so grateful for the gift of his life that he swore to obey Ali Yahya unquestioningly. The sultan’s chief eunuch knew he could trust this new addition to his staff.
Prince Bajazet must be protected at all costs for he was his father’s choice. Prince Yakub, though loyal to his father and older brother, might be tempted by his unhappy mother‘s plots. Thamar must be sidetracked. Demetrios was chosen to do the job.
Paulus was replaced by Demetrios. And, one day, the few female slaves Thamar kept were all replaced by new women. Knowing no differently, these women gave their loyalty to Demetrios.
The sultan’s second wife began to change. The extra pounds she had gained melted away, and her hair became soft and shining again. Demetrios satisfied her physical needs each night.
Though she grew calmer and more content, she could not refrain from plotting. But Demetrios managed to confine Thamar’s schemes to the talk stages. He was worried by her extreme hatred of the sultan’s favorite wife. Thamar could become completely irrational if Theadora’s name were even mentioned. She would rant on and on about her plans to make Adora suffer as she had suffered. Demetrios did not understand this, for Thamar quite frankly admitted that she had never loved Sultan Murad. Why then, this unreasonable hatred for Theadora? This was one thing Demetrios did not report to Ali Yahya.
The young eunuch was truly fond of his mistress. If a humble former fisherman from the province of Morea could dare to love a princess, then Demetrios did. Though Thamar might be her own worst enemy, she now had someone who would protect her from herself.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Prince Andronicus had been imprisoned for several years in the Marble Tower, which was located at the far western end of the city. After his temporary blinding, he had been returned there to languish. His wife was dead, and his one son, John, was being raised in the palace.
He lived comfortably, his servants were pleasant, and he was denied nothing…except women, and his freedom. His world consisted of the rooms in which he lived, though the tower windows gave him a panoramic view of the city, the countryside beyond it, and the sea of Marmara.
He was allowed no visitors for fear he would begin plotting again. No one came in any case, for none of his former friends wished to be identified with a convicted traitor. Andronicus was quite surprised, therefore, to see his mother arrive one afternoon, heavily cloaked, and paying lavish bribes to his guards.