Page 39 of Inconvenient Honor
“I will give him a choice, little one,” he said gently, as if he read her mind.
“Choice, honored uncle?” Lily asked, momentarily confused.
“He can agree to a respectable marriage with no harm to your name, in which case he will keep his head, or—” He shrugged. He didn’t need to spell out the alternative he had in mind.
“Please no. Oh God, no. I do not wish to marry him, uncle.”
“Foolish. Without marriage you have no protection.”
“Marriage to that man would condemn me to misery.”
“You are a defiant one, little one. You should do your duty to the man and this child.”
Lily raised her chin and shook her head. “No marriage,” she said.
Sahin Pasha looked thoughtful. “Is it possible I own some responsibility for this catastrophe?” he asked shrewdly.
Lily dropped her eyes. The old man is too perceptive. She focused on her toes where they peaked out from her gown and bit her lip. She would not help him puzzle out what happened.
Sahin waited a long time, but she didn’t budge. At long last he sighed. “How is it you think I can help with this ‘employment’?”
I have no idea. Despair washed over her. Idiot. Women have even less freedom in his country than here. What were you thinking, Lily?
She tried frantically to recreate the notions that drove her here.
“I thought,” she began, spelling out the only strategy that had presented itself in long days of searching for alternatives, “you mightsuggest a place where I can teach. I will call myself a widow, have my child, and earn my keep.”
“And then?”
“In a few years, with my father’s help, I can return to England, a widow with a young child. It would work if?—”
“—if you had ‘employment,’ a refuge, among people easily fooled.”
“No! I don’t mean to fool anyone, I just—I have told you the truth, favored uncle.”
The old man nodded. “Yes. Truth is good.”
Neither swish of fabric nor footstep warned Lily. The tall, dark man behind her moved to Sahin’s side. He made obeisance and spoke in rapid Turkish. Sahin appeared to object. Lily strained to hear. She understood the language. Sahin’s visits to her father helped pass long winter nights in Saint Petersburg, and it entertained him to teach her. The men’s soft whispers, however, made it difficult to sort the words. The tall man’s responses sounded respectful but emphatic. He glanced at Lily, spoke a few more words, and returned to his place.
“My debt weighs in your favor,” Sahin said. “Ahmet reminds me that I must help you find a solution. He has suggested a way.”
Lily’s hopes soared. She felt her heart beat in her throat. She glanced up at the one called Ahmet and quickly back to Sahin.
“My aunt is Valide Sultan. Do you know what that is?”
“The Sultan’s mother, I believe.”
“Usually, although not currently. She is a woman of great influence and power, the head of the sultan’s household. She administers the entire household, the Seraglio, hundreds of people. You understand?”
“What has this to do with my problem?”
“My aunt devotes herself to good works, most particularly education. The Sultan, or in reality the Valide Sultan, requires that every man and woman in the household be literate.”
Lily sat up, attentive. “Hundreds of people? The household? You called it the Seraglio?”
“The Seraglio, yes, a complex that requires considerable administrative skill. It is vital, you understand, that no scandal upset the smooth running of the household.”
Lily nodded.
