Promo: Under The Sword by Luv Lubker
Today, I'm delighted to welcome back author Luv Lubker, with the latest instalment in her thrilling Rival Courts series – Under The Sword. We're sharing an intriguing excerpt, so read on!
Under The Sword is currently on blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club. Find other enticing excerpts HERE!
“I have explored Constantinople on every side, on horseback, on foot, and more regularly in the twelve-oared gilded caique. My constant companion is a man from our embassy who is quite a master of both the Turkish language and the curiosities of the town.
“But for all the splendor displayed for the Sultan, one looks for corresponding wealth in the town, and there is as much difference as there is in Russia. All the magic is lost far too quickly when one enters the dirty streets of the city, which can only be compared to dried-up riverbeds.
“The Emperor of Austria has arrived, and the Hertha was the first ship to salute him – the first such greeting since the war.
“The Sultan has appointed him the state-rooms in the Dolmabagdsche, and has withdrawn himself into the Sereglio. Here, accordingly, I was received for my farewell. And so, I have been within the Harem, though without more of a glance of its usual residents than a shimmer of their silk and embroidery through an iron latticed window.
“I have found – from report – that most of the women are of the Near East – European – often Slavic or Circassian, not Turkish or Asiatic – and the eunuchs who guard them are from the Nile regions. This, they say, is a result of one occasion when a eunuch was not a eunuch, and the Sultan’s son was not the Sultan’s son. This would be far too obvious in the circumstances which exist now.
“Yesterday we visited the barracks at Scutari, and were served a kind of cherry soup, strong with sugar and onions, and a very pleasant rice pillaw, the second of which I required no time to grow accustomed to. At court, too, this has been served, thoroughly mixed with extremely sweet French cuisine. These are also joined by meat served on a spit, which they call a ‘kebab’, and Turkish coffee, which tastes similar to that which we had in Tunisia.
“One cannot pay a visit or enter a barracks without being invited to drink coffee and to smoke. The servants are always ready with the required paraphernalia for smoking, which, as you can imagine, is an annoyance to Louis and to myself. It is difficult to know what to do, as it is considered offensive to refuse.
“This and one other custom were displeasing, as you can imagine. This second is one which is considered part of the outfit of a visiting Prince’s sleeping apartments – the appearance of a young girl, her figure barely concealed by thin, lacy garments, far less opaque than your nightgowns. This choice gift one finds lying in one’s bed – or rather divan – on entering the apartment, and everyone thinks one extremely strange for wishing to abstain from such pleasures.”
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