Meylisah was the daughter of a past maid and best friend of Hurrem sultan. When her parents tragically died she was taken under Hurrem sultan's wing to be cared for. Not really adopted for it was forbidden in Islam but she was just glad to have a ro...
"What do you think is a perfect present for his majesty?" Selim asked. We were sat in Selim's room eating dinner. Murad was sat in my lap munching happily on the smashed food.
"What does his majesty love most?" I asked looking from Murad to Selim. He looked really concentrated and thinking hard.
"My mother" Selim answered with a shrug. I chuckled and filled a spoon and held it in front of Murad who opened his mouth wide open and let me place the spoonful into his mouth.
"What does he like to gift her?" I asked again trying to get my point across. Selim grinned when what I was thinking of finally reached him.
"I should send him precious gems, he would like that" Selim said and jumped up. He walked out of the room to probably look through our collection and choose the most beautiful and send them to his father.
"Your daddy is excited today" I whispered to Murad tickling his tummy. Murad let out a loud laugh and wiggled in my lap trying to pull away from my grabby hands.
"He's in a good mood," Esma said from the corner of the room. I turned to her and grinned and nodded. Murad has been turning very playful lately.
"He has a lot of energy, in no time he will be running around" Murad giggled as I let him go and he started crawling around. He reached one of the drawers in Selim's room and tried pulling it open but since it was locked he couldn't and he fell back from the force of his pull. I laughed when he huffed angrily and turned to crawl in another direction.
"Esma, go back to the harem and make sure everything is alright and eat dinner, go to be after," I said to the older woman. She bowed and left the room leaving me alone with Murad. I sighed and turned back to the food table, Selim had barely eaten from how worried he was over the present he was going to send to his father and for me, I was busy feeding Murad and I still can barely stomach anything without throwing it back out. Murad however finished his whole plate and was full.
A crash made me jump and I turned to the side to find that Murad had pulled a table cover off and everything on it came crashing down with the table cover. I chuckled and walked over to the troublemaker and pulled him up from the floor. I kissed his forehead making him squeal and kick his legs excitedly.
"You trouble maker," I said to the young boy. I placed him in the middle of Selim's bed so he wouldn't fall off, I know that he eventually will roll off his back and crawl over to me or the edge of the bed and I will have to fix the way he was sitting.
I walked over to the mess Murad had made. I kneeled down and started picking up the things that fell to the floor and placed them back on the table. I didn't bother putting back on the cover knowing that Murad will eventually pull it again when I let him crawl again. I noticed a piece of paper among the things that had fallen, I picked it up and out of curiosity I opened it to see who had sent a letter to Selim. What was inside of it shocked the hell out of me and I was really shocked.
"Selim darling
Please forgive me, I know that I did a lot of bad things like attacking your wife and putting your unborn child in danger.
I'm your Nurbanu, I can't believe that agreeing to not come with you to the capital will end with that snake pulling you towards her. Please don't let her kill me, I know that you love me too much to kill me and that is why I am still alive. Let me be part of your harem again, let me stay by your side and bring you, children.
With much love, you Nurbanu"
I sighed and rubbed my forehead, what she said rose uncertainty inside of me, what if he was actually still in love with her. What if he even for a second actually wished that I had died when she attacked me. What if he regrets marrying me and having Murad with me. Even after all these years that we spent in love, just over a year of marriage made me doubt them all. I placed the letter on the table and walked back over to the dinner table and sat down on the pillow I was originally sitting on and kept an eye on Murad who by now made the bed a mess and played with the many pillows and blankets. The doors opened yet again and Selim stepped back inside with a grin and sat down in front of me on his own pillow, he threw me a toothy smile and started eating.
"Selim, I have a question," I said breaking the silence that fell over the room the second I read the letter. Selim looked up from his food and nodded at me to continue.
"Why isn't Nurbanu dead yet?" The question made him freeze. He slowly looked up at me with a confused look on his face.
"What do you mean?" He asked almost looking innocent. I felt my heart drop at his question, he was actually still in love with her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Nothing," I said back dryly and stood up from the pillow. I walked over to the bed and pulled Murad closer to me making him whine as I picked him up from his new play place.
"I'm going to take Murad to bed" I bowed to Selim and hurried out of his room. He looked very confused when I left but he didn't know that I knew his true feelings towards Nurbanu. I should have known from the very beginning when he married off the entire harem and left her here as a concubine. I should have known when his heart broke over her when their son died, I would understand if he was sad over the child but he was also sad over her pain and suffering. He didn't only love me, he loved her too.
