Equal of the Sun A Novel - By Anita Amirrezvani Page 0,28
the dynasty as fiercely as he did—with or without your help. All of you must return to your posts. Tomorrow morning, we will begin with reports from each department, including the treasury. It is your job to ensure that the next shah doesn’t meet chaos and confusion upon his arrival. I should not wish to report that you were absent when you were needed most.”
Shamkhal cut off further discussion. “Heed the words of the foremost daughter of the Safavis! You are dismissed.”
Shamkhal showed the men out, including Majeed, so that Pari could emerge. I lifted the curtain, and she came out wiping her face with a cloth. She looked as wilted as day-old basil.
“I didn’t accomplish what I had hoped. How unruly they are! I will send an urgent message to Isma‘il and tell him how delicate the situation is.”
“God willing, he will come soon,” I replied, hearing the alarm in my own voice.
“I hope so. I feel as if I am holding on to his throne with a thin silk thread.”
Shamkhal returned and approached his niece. “You did well, my child,” he said, but his hooded eyes did not look happy.
That afternoon, as Pari and I began working, the princess’s mother came to see her unannounced. She walked into the room so quietly that neither Pari nor I heard her until she greeted her daughter, and we looked up from a document to find her standing there.
“Mother, be welcome,” said Pari. “How is your health?”
“I endure.”
Pari raised her eyebrows. “May I offer you some tea? Sweetmeats? A cushion for your hip?” Her tone was considerate, but I sensed her impatience.
Her mother declined refreshments and sat down stiffly near Pari, a proximity that made it difficult to see any common traits. Daka Cherkes Khanoom was a woman of about fifty who didn’t appear to have had the strength to pass on anything of herself to her daughter. She was small-boned, with fair skin and pale brown eyes.
“Daughter of mine, star of my universe, I think you know why I have come.”
Pari’s smile was strained as if she were bracing for what was ahead. Daka stared into her daughter’s eyes, and to my surprise, the princess looked away. I had seen Pari tolerate much in the last few weeks, but never had I seen her look so uncomfortable.
“You have refused me the pleasure for years, but the time has come for you to think about marriage.”
I was alarmed by the thought. If the princess married, I would be under the command of her husband, not her. What if he were a boring old drudge? Pari made my mind feel as alive as a buzzing nest of bees.
“Can’t you see that I must manage the affairs of the palace?”
“My dear child, how long do you think that will last?”
“Only God knows.”
“You have always prided yourself on your reason. Isma‘il will arrive and take the throne, and then what will you do?”
“I will advise him.”
Her mother’s gaze was pitying. “You haven’t spent as much time with Sultanam as I have,” she said. “Lately, she has been in an uncommonly good mood. Once when she did not think I was near, I heard her singing, ‘farewell, ill-favored fairy!’ meaning you. If any woman will advise her son, it will be her.”
Pari’s mouth turned down in displeasure. “She doesn’t know what I know, and neither does her son. If a man is to be appointed a subgovernor, which four officials must affix their seals to the document and in what order? All she can do is whisper her likes and dislikes in his ear. He will soon tire of that.”
“It doesn’t matter. She will poison his mind against you.”
“Mother, you overestimate her.”
“She wishes to bury you. I beg you to let me find you a new protector in the person of a husband.”
Her mother took Pari’s hand, her eyes shining with hope. “We will look for a handsome man whose face will be like the sun to you every morning. Someone as strong and as fierce as a lion to hold you in his arms.”
Pari withdrew her hand abruptly as if the very idea made her wish never to be touched again.
“Mother, who could that be? Who can match the purity of my blood but a son of my father?”
“None, but what about a son of his brother?”
“Ibrahim, Badi, Hossein—they all have first wives. I will not be married as a second wife.”
Daka grabbed her cushion as if to brace herself against her daughter’s arguments.