Part I, Chapters 4-5 Summary

In chapter four, "Darkness," at age sixteen, Jahanara weds the man her parents have chosen for her. Khondamir is a wealthy merchant, important to the Empire's trade relationships, and more than twice Jahanara's age. Jahanara dreads her wedding day, but also desires to please her mother and father by doing her duty to strengthen the Empire. The marriage ceremony itself is elaborate and lengthy, her jewels and dress are magnificent, and the wedding feast is lavish. A nervous Jahanara, repelled by her coarse, loutish new husband, drinks more wine than she should at the wedding banquet.

The drink proves to be a blessing, however, as it numbs her to the brutal insensitivity of her introduction to her marital duties in the bedroom. Khondamir takes his new bride's virginity in a short, violent episode, after which he falls...