Chapter 2 – A Wedding Dress… or a Shroud?
The drums and zurnas were still playing outside.
Inside the bridal room, Nazlı had already been brought in and the door had been shut behind her.
As soon as the women left, she lifted her veil.
Her eyes immediately fell on the decorated tray sitting on the small table.In the middle of the tray stood a crystal pitcher filled with sherbet.
It was tradition.
On the wedding night, after the groom entered the room, he would drink a special sherbet prepared by the bride herself. If he liked it, he would place gold coins on the tray as a gift.
Every bride prepared it differently.
But Nazlı's sherbet was… special.
She moved quickly to the table.
Opening the pitcher, she pulled out a tiny glass vial hidden inside her dress—so small it could disappear in the palm of her hand.
Her fingers trembled.
One drop.
Then another.
Then another.
The clear liquid dissolved into the red sherbet.
Nazlı closed the lid and shook the pitcher gently so the medicine would mix faster. When she was done, she placed it back on the tray exactly where it had been.
Then she walked to the bed.
Like any obedient bride, she lowered her veil again and sat quietly.
Waiting.
Her heart pounded violently in her chest.
If the plan failed…
She had no idea what she would do.
Thirty minutes later, the door opened.
The bear had entered his cave.
Nazlı tried to calm herself. In her mind, she began humming a song she loved.
Hanımeli…
A song by Rafet El Roman.
She repeated the melody silently, hoping it would slow the storm inside her chest.
It didn't help much.
Necati noticed everything.
The tension in her body.
The fear in her eyes.
But instead of disturbing him, it excited him.
In fact… he enjoyed it.
The thought that this wild gazelle would soon be in his arms filled him with a twisted sense of pleasure. The anger and hatred burning in Nazlı's green eyes only made her more desirable to him.
Necati stepped toward the bed.
Nazlı stood up immediately and faced him.
For a few seconds, their green eyes locked.
Pure hatred stared back at him.
Necati smiled.
Exactly as he had expected.
Without looking away from her, he spoke.
"Didn't I tell you?" he said smugly."Didn't I say you would eventually be mine?"
His rough hand slid across Nazlı's cheek.
She didn't move.
She only stared at him with pure disgust.
"What's wrong?" he continued."You're not going to say anything?"
He chuckled.
"Come on then… bring me that sherbet you prepared. Let's celebrate my victory."
Nazlı didn't say a word.
She turned and walked to the table.
Her hands trembled as she opened the pitcher and poured the deep red liquid into a glass.
Her breathing became shallow.
For a brief moment, she closed her eyes.
She had come this far.
Freedom was only one step away.
She couldn't make a mistake now.
Taking a deep breath, she lifted the glass and turned back to him.
Her expression was cold.
Hard.
Her gaze pierced straight into Necati's eyes.
She extended the glass toward him.
Their eyes met again.
Nazlı looked at him with revulsion.
Necati looked back with the smile of a conqueror.
He took the glass.
Without breaking eye contact, he drank the sherbet in a single gulp.
Then he handed the empty glass back to her.
He grinned.
"You know something?" he said.
"Even if it were poison… I'd still drink it from your hand, my dear."
He pinched her cheek playfully.
Nazlı wanted to recoil in disgust.
But she stayed still.
Your punishment is coming soon, you mountain beast, she thought.
Turning away from him, she began walking toward the bathroom.
But suddenly—
Necati grabbed her from behind.
Nazlı stiffened.
Her eyes widened.
But she forced herself not to react.
If he suspected anything…
Everything would be ruined.
Necati buried his face in her neck.
His lips brushed her skin.
Nazlı's stomach twisted with disgust.
"Well," Necati murmured.
"We drank the sherbet."
He kissed her neck.
"Should we begin now?"
He inhaled deeply.
"Mmm… you smell wonderful."
His arms tightened around her waist.
"I waited three years for this moment," he whispered.
Then he turned her to face him.
Nazlı's face had become completely rigid.
Her body felt frozen.
A terrifying thought flashed through her mind.
What if the medicine didn't work?
Her heart slammed violently against her ribs.
She couldn't become prey to this animal.
Her mind was blank.
Logic.
Emotion.
Reason.
All of it had abandoned her in the middle of this battle.
For a moment, an idea flashed through her mind.
The decorative vase on the table.
If she could just reach it…
She could smash it over his head.
But what if he didn't pass out?
Then she would lose her only chance to escape.
Necati's grip tightened around her waist.
Her heart began to race faster.
The medicine still hadn't worked.
What if it fails…?
And at that moment…
A memory rose from the darkest corner of her mind.
Her mother.
Her mother had died in her thirties because she refused to bow to injustice.
Even in her final moments…
She never surrendered.
Nazlı had been only five years old back then.
She barely remembered anything.
But her sister remembered everything.
Every detail.
Every night, her sister told them stories about their mother.
Stories that never had happy endings.
But in every story…
Their mother was the hero.
Their father was always the villain.
And their grandfather wasn't much better.
Their mother had also been forced into marriage.
She had never loved their father.
She had told him that openly.
He had humiliated her for years.
And because she never gave birth to a son…
He despised all three of his daughters.
"A real man has sons," he used to say.
One day, he even tried to sell Nazlı as an adopted child to a childless family in town.
Nazlı's fists tightened.
So the idea of selling her had existed for a long time.
When her mother discovered that he planned to send Nazlı's younger sister to an orphanage…
She snapped.
She shot him in the leg.
"Touch my children," she had said coldly, "and I'll kill you."
That limp he carried for the rest of his life…
Was a reminder of her.
Her mother had worked the fields like a man to raise them alone.
But fate never stopped testing her.
And eventually…
Cancer took her away.
Within a month, she had withered before their eyes.
Before she died, she made one final deal with Nazlı's father.
"If you take care of the children… the money is yours."
Three months later…
He married Şerife.
And Nazlı and her sisters became little more than servants in their own home.
Nazlı's eyes filled with tears.
But she didn't cry.
Her mother had never bowed her head.
Her sister had been silenced.
But Nazlı…
Nazlı would not be silent.
She would not accept this fate.