Star of Persia: Esther's Story Read online

  She moved into the large sitting room, where Xerxes sat lazily on one of the couches. She bowed low and kissed his signet ring. He took her hand and pulled her onto his lap. His breath touched her ear.

  “How I have missed you, my love.” He traced a line along her jaw. “How beautiful you are.”

  “And how handsome you are, my king.” She submitted to his lingering caress. He had a way of wooing her that still caused her heart to beat faster despite their years of marriage. “I have missed you as well.”

  “Six months with little time for anyone but the military men is more than enough time away from my favorite wife.” He cupped her chin and deepened his kiss.

  “Did you accomplish what you wished?” she asked once he took a breath. She leaned away from him to better see his face.

  He nodded. “The men are ready. We will leave for war within the month. The Greeks won’t see us coming. At last we will subdue them and rule those rebellious Spartans and Athenians with the iron resolve they deserve.”

  Vashti tilted her head. “Surely you will treat them as you do the other nations you have subdued.”

  The lines along his brow furrowed, so much like her son’s did when he pouted. “Once they are subdued, we will see. It depends on how much trouble they cause me.” He laughed. “But I did not call you here, my love, to discuss what I’ve spent six months planning with the governors and satraps. Come, let us eat something and talk of other things.”

  He led her to a table filled with rich food, and she sat after he did, allowing servants to fill her plate as they did the king’s.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said after eating a mouthful of fish. “I’m going to give another feast for seven more days.”

  At her look of concern, he held up a hand. “Do not worry, this one is for the people of Susa, who have put up with the additional people in the citadel and city for so long.” He paused. “I want you to give a feast for the royal women at the same time.”

  She nodded. Of course she would do his bidding. “It will be an honor, my lord, to serve you.” The royal women would include his wives and concubines and the noblemen’s wives. And his mother. But it was Amestris whom she wished she could keep from attending.

  “Good.” He took a bite of bread and washed it down with wine in his favorite golden goblet decorated with the sun, moon, and stars. He leaned back to look at her, a smile curving his lips. “I will hold my celebration in the courtyard, while you can invite the women into one of the banquet halls. I’m sure your attendants can help you bring it together by tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? Her mind whirled with so much to do. But she only nodded.

  “You might ask my mother to help,” Xerxes said, interrupting her thoughts. “Or Amestris. I’m sure both women would enjoy something to do.”

  Vashti’s jaw clenched, though she bid her expression to remain neutral. “Yes, my lord. I will see what can be done, though I’m certain my servants can handle the details.” She would stay up all night if need be, making sure things were done her way.

  But as he led her to his decorated bed, where they had often shared their love, she knew she would have little time to plan a feast while he slept beside her.

  Vashti slipped from the king’s chambers before dawn and hurried to her rooms. “Omid!” She called the eunuch’s name before her feet had fully crossed the threshold. “Gather my servants—every last one of them. I need a banquet put together today and invitations sent to every woman in the king’s household and all of the wives of the nobles.” She whirled about, spotting Gazsi rubbing sleep from his eyes as he moved from his chamber to her sitting room. She paused. His nurse would need to remain with him, as would the servants who watched the other children of Xerxes. She looked at Omid. “Only the caretakers of the children are excused from helping. This must be as lavish a feast as the king is giving.” Xerxes would expect it of her. Of course he would.

  But if she didn’t ask for his mother’s help, she would probably hear of it from him in a week when the feasting ended. Coming war or not, it would do no good to distress Atossa. Or Atossa’s favored Amestris.

  A sigh escaped, and she cinched the neck of her robe tighter. She needed to bathe and change into fresh royal robes before she called for her mother-in-law or Xerxes’ second wife.

  “Omid.”

  “Yes, my queen.” The servant bowed low. “What else may I do to help you?”

  She looked into the kind face of the eunuch. “Once I am ready—give me until the sun rises halfway to the middle of the sky—send for Atossa . . . and Amestris. The king would like them to be included in the planning. But I want to get started before they come.”

  “Understood, my queen.” Omid smiled.

  Could she trust him? Surely she could trust him with a simple statement if she could entrust her son’s care to him. Even if the man did show Gazsi things he was too young to see in the king’s court.

  “I will need you to handle the servants. Have Jahan take the children.” She turned then, signaling his dismissal. Her maids descended on her in a flurry, and suddenly it seemed as though the entire court of women had come alive with activity.

  Vashti worried her lip before she caught herself. She lifted her head and drew in a breath. She could do this. She could even handle two women who were her constant nemeses. She would prove to her husband that she was still his best choice for queen.

  “A banquet with only one day to plan?” Amestris plucked a grape from a silver tray in Vashti’s meeting chamber and glanced at Atossa. “Not even a full day. Am I to understand this is the king’s doing?”

  Vashti nodded, and Amestris couldn’t help the kick of jealousy in her heart. She should have been the one to plan such a feast. She tapped one foot, wishing not for the first time that she had some way to rid the kingdom of this woman. This half Persian. But she smiled and held her tongue.

  “I’ve had the invitations sent, and the food is being prepared as we speak. The hall will be ready for the evening meal. I wondered if either of you had suggestions on how we should seat the guests?” Vashti clasped her hands in her lap, her look serene. How smug she must be beneath that smiling demeanor.

  They quickly worked out the seating arrangements, and Amestris excused herself before Atossa left. She had no desire to be alone with Vashti. The woman would work to make her son king simply because he was Xerxes’ firstborn. Amestris would have none of it. Her Darius would be his father’s successor, whatever it took.

  She straightened, lifted her chin, and made her way through the women’s quarters to the courtyard and gardens that separated the king’s area and the rest of the household. The place where Persian nobles often gathered. It was a risk to meet one of the king’s advisors, family or not, but Amestris needed Uncle Memucan’s advice. A walk among the gardens with the man and her eunuch as guard should not garner suspicion. At least that is what she told herself over and over again since she had requested they meet.

  She glanced behind her at her servant Shahin, then looked ahead toward a secluded area of the garden and saw Memucan waiting for her. She drew closer. He bowed slightly at her approach.

  “My queen,” he said, offering her a slight bow.

  “Would that were true,” she said, her jaw rigid. “But we both know that it is not.”

  “And something that you cannot change, for the king delights in Vashti.” Memucan turned and Amestris fell into step with him, her guard two steps behind. “But I am sure you have thought of ways to discredit her. Have any of them worked?”

  He seemed amused with his question, raising Amestris’s ire. “I’ve done nothing of the kind. You know Xerxes would not take kindly to me speaking against her. What do you think I’m supposed to do?”

  She was frowning and she knew it. She forced her lips into a grim line. Be cool and calm, like Vashti managed to be. Why was it so hard to copy the woman’s ways? It could not be so hard to act a part one didn’t feel. Hadn’t she done so all of her life?
But she had not come upon a foe as difficult as the woman her husband loved.

  “Do not think me callous, my queen.” Memucan’s handsome face held a furrowed brow. “You know I have always favored you among the king’s women.” He briefly touched her shoulder. “Even if the king married one of my daughters, I would still consider you their queen. Unfortunately, Darius the First gave Vashti to Xerxes long before he wore the crown, and he has remained besotted with her.”

  “She is too beautiful.” Saying the words pained her. “Xerxes is drawn by physical beauty, and somehow Vashti has remained exactly as she was when he married her. At least that’s what Atossa tells me.”

  “Perhaps her beauty could be used against her.” Memucan’s words made Amestris stop.

  She faced him. “You have a plan?” Her mind whirled with ideas, none of which were of any worth.

  “No. Not one that would work the way you hope it will.” Memucan stroked his chin. “But do not worry, my queen. Eventually, Vashti will do something that will not please the king, and then we will make the most of the opportunity.”

  “I cannot think of a single thing she could possibly do that would upset him enough to get rid of her.” Amestris did not stop the scowl this time.

  “Perhaps we will know it better when the opportunity arises.” Memucan touched the small of her back. “Trust me, my dear child. You know you have always been the favored of our family. I will do whatever I can to see that your son Darius and not the son of the usurper follows his father.” He met her gaze. “We will find a way.”

  Amestris gave her uncle a small smile. The truth was that he would have given one of his many daughters the privilege he offered her, but she was the mother of the heir apparent. He had no choice but to help her if he wanted to further his place in the kingdom.

  “Thank you, Uncle. I am counting on you.” She turned and walked back to the court of women.

  She could count on Memucan. Couldn’t she?

  CHAPTER

  Five

  Hadassah followed Levia to the home of her oldest son, Taneli. Darkness blanketed the streets, but lamps cast light from the shadows onto the paved stones between Mordecai’s home and Taneli’s.

  “I should have brought more pastries,” Levia said, fretting in her usual way. “What if Niria invited more women from among our family? Her mother is near. She would have invited her mother.”

  “I’m sure we have plenty of food, Ima.” Hadassah hefted a basket filled with the delicate pastries, shifting it to her other hand. Levia carried one as well. They had spent the day baking, and Hadassah was anxious to rest with her cousins’ wives and enjoy the laughter of family and the antics of the children. Someday Hadassah hoped to have many sons and daughters.

  “It is good to come to visit with family again,” Hadassah said as they crossed the threshold to Taneli’s home. The warm atmosphere that greeted her put her completely at ease.

  “Yes,” Levia said. “I will enjoy it more though when Mordecai is home to join us. A few more days. This feast, this keeping ourselves to the shadows or indoors, has worn me out.” Levia tsked her tongue as Hadassah put her basket on a low table in the food preparation area. Her cousins’ wives busily arranged fruit and nutmeats and cheeses and olives on silver trays and set them on low tables in the sitting room. Children ran in circles, squealing and chasing each other throughout the house. Hadassah ran after two-year-old Isha, chasing the giggling toddler down a hall toward the sleeping room.

  “I’ve caught you!” Hadassah scooped the child into her arms and held her close, rewarded with warm hugs.

  “’Dassah! Play with us?” Isha squirmed to be set down, took Hadassah’s hand, and tugged her toward a corner where a pile of carved wooden animals sat. Obviously Taneli’s work, though some of them had been Hadassah’s as a child.

  “Of course.” Hadassah sat on the floor opposite Isha and joined in as several other children plopped beside her. She told them the story of Noah and the big ship he built and then filled with every kind of animal.

  “Even lions?” one of the boys asked. “And camels?”

  Hadassah smiled. “Even lions and camels and horses and apes and lizards of every kind and more birds than you can imagine.”

  The children laughed and turned a small table upside down to make a pretend ship. Hadassah listened to their animal noises and the conversations as they took turns being Noah. At last she stood, brushed off her tunic, and moved back to the sitting area to join the women.

  “Taneli claims the king grows drunker by the day,” Niria said. “It cannot be good to have the ruler of such a vast kingdom no longer in control of his thinking.” She flitted about the room, serving Levia and her sisters-in-law along with several other Hebrew women who had joined them.

  “I’ve heard the same thing,” a neighbor said. “Some say he is always this way.”

  “Mordecai thinks he is worse than he was when the governors and satraps were here a week ago.” Levia jumped up to rearrange the tray of sweets.

  “I don’t suppose he could have remained drunk for six months while planning a war.” This from her cousin Sakeri’s wife, Keran.

  “Unlikely. But it is a concern to have the whole city in such an uproar that an invading force of women could conquer us!” Levia’s comment came in hushed tones.

  “Only if the women were us,” Keran said. “I doubt the guards at the gates are allowed to leave their posts. The king may be merry with wine, but not all of his advisors will be as besotted as he is.”

  Hadassah listened, her mind whirling. How she loved times with these women, listening to their combined wisdom. She paused a moment and thanked God again for not leaving her an orphan. She had Mordecai and his family, and she couldn’t imagine loving anyone more.

  But what must her cousins and Mordecai be facing as they ate and drank with the king and the rest of Susa’s men? She tried to imagine what the palace looked like on the inside and what Mordecai was forced to deal with each day.

  “Nevertheless, Mordecai is still concerned.” Levia picked up a spindle, and Hadassah smiled. Her ima could never sit idle.

  “Let us talk of more pleasant things,” Niria said, offering the tray of sweets to the woman next to her. “The feasting will soon end and we will all forget this week. What could possibly happen during a drunken feast other than foolish men asleep in odd places and women alone waiting for them to come home?” She laughed lightly. “Now tell me, how shall we divide the preparation of food for Passover? Assuming we are going to celebrate it next month?”

  The conversation drifted to life’s simpler things, and Hadassah half listened to the women and half listened to the children playing in the back room. The women were right, of course. The king often put on lavish feasts. If nothing else, King Xerxes was known for his drunken carousing and his obsession with war and women.

  A sudden compassion for the queen filled her. How hard it must be for the woman to have her only rightful position crowded with more wives and plenty of foreign women. Hadassah shuddered at the thought.

  She hoped Mordecai would someday give her to Gad in marriage, though even Jola did not know this was her secret longing. He belonged to their tribe of Benjamin. He would grow up to make a good husband. And he was her friend. At least he was during those few times she was allowed to mingle with the boys in their circle. Perhaps one day he would be much more.

  Amestris allowed a servant to refill her golden chalice with wine, though she did little more than sip. She glanced about the large banquet hall, listening to the incessant noise of female voices thrumming like high-pitched bees. Annoying beasts, these cloying women. But necessary annoyances nonetheless. None of them came close to what she might call a friend, though Memucan’s wife at least attempted to make polite conversation. His second wife, after the death of his first. Amestris had never quite become accustomed to her as either “aunt” or “friend.” She was simply a relative—one among many.

  She was looking about for
a place to set her chalice when a maid took it from her. She stood and moved about the room, searching until her gaze landed on Vashti. The woman sat on a gilded chair, a single circlet of gold about her head. Xerxes would not be pleased to see his queen hosting a feast he had commanded without wearing her proper royal jewels and crown. If Amestris were queen, she would most certainly let every woman in this place know it. Dressing the part would be nonnegotiable.

  Vashti was a foreign peasant and had no place in the king’s household, let alone the place of his queen.

  Never mind that he loves her.

  Bah! She almost spoke the word aloud. Xerxes did not know the meaning of love. He favored Vashti’s beauty, nothing more. But if the reflecting pools were any indication, Vashti was the most beautiful woman in the harem. Probably in the entire kingdom.

  So what are you going to do about it? She hated when her thoughts rambled in her head as though they were a different person. If she had known what to do about Vashti, wouldn’t she have done it years ago? Even Memucan could think of no way to use Vashti’s beauty against her.

  Amestris turned, disgusted with herself. Tomorrow the last day of the feast would commence, and she had yet to figure out a single way to discredit her rival. Vashti did not drink wine and moved about the room with grace, treating every woman in attendance as though she was her favorite friend.

  Few women look with such kindness on you.

  That did not matter. What mattered was wearing the crown. The true queen’s crown. She turned again and stared at the golden circlet. Why did Vashti not wear the heavy headdress filled with jewels so that the women would have no doubt as to her superior status as queen? Why put herself on par with some of the lowest nobles in the room?

  A headache began along her temples, and Amestris could no longer bear the mixed scents of perfumes and sweat, which they could not avoid despite the many slaves wielding fans. She nodded to her servants to follow her and headed toward the door. She would sleep, and then she would attempt to think again. Though she doubted either one would do her any good.