CHAPTER
One
Six Years Later
Hadassah moved through the market, basket on her head, Levia one step ahead of her. “Hurry along, child,” Levia scolded. “The crowds are growing too great.”
The market had been quiet when they’d arrived after their visit to the well and preparing the morning meal. But now, servants of visiting nobles and governors from the king’s 127 provinces descended upon the shops. Hadassah could feel Levia’s tension and protectiveness.
“I’m coming,” Hadassah assured her as she picked up her pace and came alongside her cousin’s wife, the only woman she had known as mother. She glanced behind her and noticed the servants streaming from the palace halls. The palace stood in all its grandeur like a towering sentinel in the center of the city.
Her heart skipped a beat as she and Levia nearly ran through the cobbled streets, and she breathed a sigh of relief as they finally entered their neighborhood. The clay brick home looked like every other in their small community, all clumped together with little space between them, owned by those subject to King Xerxes. While the Jews tended to settle together, Levia’s husband, Mordecai, had kept them slightly apart—a few blocks away from other Hebrew people.
Most of the Jews had returned to Jerusalem several years before, but Mordecai had followed his father in service to the king and felt compelled to stay. Sometimes Hadassah wondered if they would have been better off to go with their people, to be free of the wild debauchery of Susa. But when the king moved to Persepolis for the winter, Susa was quiet. Peaceful even. After a cleansing rain, Hadassah could stroll with her older cousins to the hills outside the city. Life felt safer during those times.
They reached the house and hurried inside. Levia shut the door and leaned against it. “How long is this revelry to go on?” She wiped her brow and moved into the cooking area. “A person should not have to feel like a thief stealing spices from the market.”
“But we aren’t thieves, Ima.” The endearment had come early in her life. “We purchase what we need.”
“I know that, sweet girl.” Levia touched Hadassah’s cheek. “I just hate to be so rushed, as though I’m sneaking away before I’m caught.”
Hadassah smiled. Levia was always dramatic in her telling of tales, while Hadassah cared more for Mordecai’s matter-of-fact, often earnest way of sharing the day’s news.
“How long does Abba say the governors will be here?” Hadassah took the basket from her head and unloaded its contents—muskmelon, carrots, eggplant, pistachios, garlic, and a sack of beans. She looked forward to tasting all of it with the evening’s meal.
“Mordecai knows nothing.” Levia waved her hands as if batting at flies. “What good does it do to work at the king’s gate and know nothing of what goes on in the king’s house?” She pulled out the jar of flour ground earlier that morning and set about to knead bread for the evening. Levia began early in order to use the community oven first. Perhaps one day Mordecai would be able to build a grand oven for them in their own courtyard, but he’d been too busy to work on anything since the king had called together the leaders of the provinces to Susa. If their old oven had not crumbled to where they could no longer use it, Levia would not always be in such a hurry.
“Perhaps Abba will learn something new today,” Hadassah said. She realized that Levia would hurry no matter what the circumstances because she was simply anxious, and to expect her to be anything than what she was would do no good. None of it mattered regardless. Hadassah loved Levia just as she was. “They’ve already been here five months,” she added, setting the vegetables on a board to begin chopping them.
“How long can men sit around and just eat and drink?” Levia clucked her tongue. “Such a waste of time.”
Hadassah nodded. She had never seen drunken men, but Mordecai had often told tales. It was said that the king drank far too much for his own good and couldn’t make decisions when he was in such a state. Yet Mordecai had also told them that the purpose for this grand celebration was to gather the leaders from every province where Xerxes ruled in order to plan a great war. The war his father, Darius, had planned to wage before his sudden death. In the uproar of Xerxes’ coronation and marriage to the Persian princess Amestris, then the birth of their two sons, there had been little time to leave Persia. Apparently now, Xerxes was ready.
“Hopefully, it will all be over soon.” Hadassah took some of the flour and kneaded a batch to be made into a sweet pistachio treat, while Levia prepared two round loaves of bread.
“Yes. Hopefully.”
Silence fell between them, a pleasant camaraderie Hadassah enjoyed, though sometimes she wondered what life would have been like had her own mother lived.
“Do you remember the time we stopped at the palace gardens and Princess Vashti talked with us?” Levia’s comment brought the memory to mind.
“I was just a child, but I remember she was kind.”
“She was carrying Xerxes’ heir and gave birth a few months later. I wonder if her son will have any standing at all in the kingdom, with Amestris bearing two sons in two short years of marriage.”
“Vashti is the first wife. Her son should rule after his father.” Hadassah recalled how bold she had been to even touch the future queen’s face.
“Yes, but Amestris is the wife of royalty. She wed Xerxes after he was crowned king. My guess is that her sons will rise above Vashti’s boy.” Levia glanced at Hadassah. “It’s a shame, really. Vashti is truly a queen. Amestris, from what the gossips say, is a cruel person.”
Hadassah shivered. “I am glad to have nothing to do with any of that. I want to marry a Hebrew man and move to Jerusalem.”
Levia scowled ever so slightly. “You are too young to marry, my child. As for Jerusalem, the walls are not yet built. It is not safe.”
“Perhaps by the time I am ready to marry they will be built and we will all move there together.” She smiled, hoping to diffuse any doubt in Levia’s mind.
But Levia shook her head. “Walls take years to build, child. As for all of us moving together—Mordecai would never do so. He could have gone before our sons were born and chose not to. Personally, I am glad of it. The rumors coming from Jerusalem say that rebuilding the temple was no easy task.” She bit her lip. “No. It is safer to stay here, despite our drunken king.” She lowered her voice and met Hadassah’s wide eyes. “But you must not worry, dear girl. Mordecai will always keep you safe.”
Hadassah merely nodded. There was no sense in disagreeing with Levia when she began worrying about Hadassah’s safety. It was something she could do nothing about. She wanted peace, but she enjoyed adventure too. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever know her own mind or what she wanted in life.
Not that it mattered. Girls didn’t get to choose their futures. Mordecai would pick a husband for her one day, and she would belong to him. Others would always make choices for her—at least the ones that mattered.
Hadassah sighed. She would think about her future later. For now, she simply wanted peace and time with her cousins and her friends. To be a girl, and not have to worry about the things that troubled Levia. She sensed that day would come soon enough.