CHAPTER
Thirty-eight

Amestris heard the knock and sat up, listening to what her attendant was saying to the person on the other side of the door. A servant spoke in urgent tones, but she couldn’t make out the words.

At last her attendant approached her and bowed. “Mistress Zeresh, wife of Haman, is asking to meet with you, my queen. What would you have me say to her servant?”

Zeresh was seeking her out? So urgently? “I will see her. But not here. We will meet near the king’s stables.” It was a place she could go to speak with people outside of the palace and not arouse suspicion. And she could always explain away her sudden interest in horses.

“Very well, my queen.” The man rose and gave her message to the servant, then helped her to prepare for her secret meeting.

Amestris determined on the walk over to keep her relationship with Zeresh cooler than it had been in times past. Haman had done many things of late that could go for or against him, and she didn’t want to be caught having any relationship with him or his family should things not go well.

She and her attendant arrived with Zeresh already there, pacing the small area outside of the stable gates.

“Zeresh. What a surprise to see you like this.” Amestris extended a ringed hand and allowed the woman to kiss her fingers. “What is so urgent?”

“Did you hear about the way the king treated my Haman today?” Zeresh wrung her hands and gave Amestris an imploring look.

“I have heard nothing. I have been in my apartments all day. Has the king done something displeasing to Haman?” She raised a brow. She really should pay better attention to court gossip. But since Esther’s crowning, she rarely saw her husband, and until her sons were grown, she had little reason to pursue her place as queen. Once Darius was of age, she would do what she must to claim her rightful place.

But the look in Zeresh’s eyes told her that she should have paid more attention to the political goings-on. The palace was usually abuzz with news that had anything negative to do with Haman. No one liked the man, including her. But then, she suspected not many liked her either. It was the way of things in royal circles.

“The king forced my Haman to parade about the city, leading Mordecai the Jew on the king’s horse, wearing the king’s robe.” Zeresh lowered her voice. “To ask such a thing of a servant might make sense, but to force his highest official to do such a thing . . .”

Amestris felt the niggling sense of doom begin across the back of her neck, causing a slight headache. This was not like Xerxes at all. Did he not read his own edicts that the Jews were to be eliminated? Why on earth would he honor one?

“This is not good, is it? I knew it the moment he spoke, and then the eunuchs came to take him to Esther’s banquet—”

“Wait. Esther’s banquet? What banquet?” Why hadn’t she heard of it? Surely her choice to remain away from the court of women was no reason her servants should not keep her abreast of things like this! Anger simmered, but she pushed it down. She would deal with her eunuchs later.

“The queen invited the king and my Haman to a banquet yesterday and today. And tonight as we were speaking, the eunuchs came to take Haman to the banquet. I don’t trust her, Amestris. Whatever can we do?”

Amestris ignored the slight of Zeresh using her given name instead of addressing her as “my queen” as she usually did. She drew herself up and looked down at the sad woman. Zeresh had the makings of becoming a strong ally. But it was obvious that Haman’s fortunes were turning against him, and Amestris was not about to be part of helping him, for good or bad.

“I’m afraid if Haman is with the king and queen, there is nothing to be done, Zeresh. You know as well as I do that no one approaches the king upon pain of death. If the queen is holding a private banquet, I’m sure she will give her reasons if she has not already done so, and we will hear of it. Perhaps Haman will be honored and your worry will be for nothing.”

Zeresh slowly nodded. “Perhaps.” Though by her look she did not think so.

“I must go. I wish I could help you, but I fear there is nothing I can do.” She turned and marched toward her waiting attendant, the one she trusted to keep her secrets. Once inside the palace, guards would join her and she would pretend she had been to the gardens. It was a good arrangement when she needed it. She should have used it when she had met with Memucan long ago. But she need not think about what was past any more than she need think of Zeresh or Haman. She would wait to hear what fate awaited them, but Haman was no longer someone with whom she wished to have any contact.

She entered her rooms and sank onto the cushions, weary of life’s dramatic turns. “Tell me if you hear any news of Haman,” she told her attendant. “And I want to know about this banquet Esther planned for the king and Haman. Do not leave out any detail.”

“Yes, my queen.” The man left to find her answers.

Mordecai stopped at the threshold to his house, his mind still whirling with the day’s events. Dusk had fallen, and the neighborhood buzzed with the sounds of families talking and the scents of food cooking. But this was the second day of Esther’s banquet, and he had no appetite for food until he found out how things went.

He opened the door to the quiet house, but moments later he turned and walked out again. He moved in the shadows past his pagan neighbors to the Jewish quarter, where men and women spoke in lower tones and the atmosphere was weighted with the heaviness of fear.

He knocked on the door of his son Taneli’s house and was greeted with warmth. Niria set a place for him to eat with them, but he refused the food.

“I thought we should pray,” he said, looking at Taneli. “Gather your brothers and let us pray for Esther tonight.”

“We have prayed and fasted as she asked, Abba. Do you fear those prayers were not enough?” Taneli glanced at his wife and young children.

“The children can eat—you may all eat if you wish. But after today, I am confused by the display of honor from the king when he seeks the very lives of our people.” He ran a hand through his hair. “And I thought it might not hurt to seek the Lord on Esther’s behalf one more time. Surely her family can pray for her.”

Taneli nodded. “I will go to get my brothers, Abba. We will pray for our Hadassah.”

Mordecai released a sigh and leaned into the couch in the sitting room. Surely Adonai was up to something to cause his honor on the same day as Esther’s banquet. Surely He had heard their many prayers for their people. But praying one more time couldn’t hurt.