“Because you were impossible and knew it.” “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Because I wanted someone to see me. Not the sultan. Not the tyrant. Me.”
“And from the first moment you looked me in the eye without flinching, I knew you were different.” Azra felt her heart fill. “You said no woman had ever been able to handle you,” she whispered, remembering that first night.
“But you were wrong.” She smiled the smile he loved more than any treasure. “I didn’t just handle you, Selim.”
“I loved you. And that’s not the same thing.” Selim looked at her as if she were sunlight after a long winter. “Then loving me will be your burden forever,” he said.
“It isn’t a burden,” she answered. “It’s my blessing.” On that wedding night, beneath the stars of Istanbul, they began their life together. Not as sultan and servant. Not as master and slave.
They began it as two souls who, against every odd, had found each other in a vast world—and decided never to let go.
The setting sun washed the gardens of Topkapi Palace in gold and crimson. On a quiet terrace, a middle-aged woman stood looking out over the Bosphorus. Silver now threaded through her black hair.
Fine lines at the corners of her eyes spoke of years of laughter and a few tears, but she was still beautiful. Perhaps more beautiful now, because happiness had changed her. Sultana Azra, they called her.
The sultana who had come from nowhere. The woman who had tamed the lion of Istanbul. Arms wrapped around her from behind.
“What are you thinking about?” Selim whispered in her ear. “How strange life is,” she said, leaning back against him. “Twenty years ago I was peeling pomegranates in the kitchen, and now…”
“And now you are the most beloved woman in the empire.” “I only care about being loved by one man.” Selim turned her toward him and kissed her with the easy tenderness of twenty years shared.
“Do you know what our son said to me today?” he asked. “Which one of the three?” Selim laughed.
They had three children—two sons and a daughter, all with their mother’s eyes and their father’s determination. “The oldest said he wants to find a love like ours.” Azra smiled.
“And what did you tell him?” “I told him:
