A Reluctant Queen (6 page)

This must be Hegai
, Esther thought. The eunuch’s gray eyes were unreadable as he looked her up and down. He spoke in a soft tenor voice that sounded odd coming from such a large man. “So you are Esther, daughter of Zopryas.”

“Yes,” Esther returned clearly. “I am she.”

“You may remove your veil, Esther.”

Esther did as he asked and stood in silence, straight-backed and rigid, as he cupped her chin in a soft, well-tended hand. He turned her face from side to side, then tilted it up so she had to look at him. Color burned in Esther’s cheeks, but she met his eyes directly and did not look away.

“Your face is lovely.” Hegai’s voice was matter-of-fact. He ran a finger along her cheekbone. “There is a pleasing sweetness in the curve of the cheeks. And the eyes . . .” He nodded approvingly. “They flash like black fire. Magnificent.”

He sounds as if he’s discussing a horse
, Esther thought, which probably made her eyes flash even more. He motioned for her to take off her head veil, which she did, revealing the waist-long fall of her hair. The eunuch looked at it and raised an eyebrow. “You do not curl it?”

“It won’t curl,” Esther said shortly.

“Hmm.” He took a strand between his fingers and rubbed it. He gave her a disapproving look. “You have not taken care of it. It is dry and dull.”

This interview was going exactly the way Esther wanted it to. “I come from a home where the women are expected to work. We don’t have the time to pamper ourselves as the wealthy Persian ladies do.”

Hegai frowned. “Filius assured me that you were an Achaemenid. The Great King is not interested in any women who are not of the aristocracy.”

Esther produced the answer her uncle had told her to give should this question be asked. “My father was an Achaemenid, a cavalry officer. We have a villa in the foothills outside Susa, but we are not wealthy.”

“Your skin is in deplorable condition. It is sunburned and dry.”

Esther had to force back a smile. This was going better and better. “I am outdoors a lot.”

Hegai’s crooked nose quivered as he took in that piece of information. “Without a veil?”

“Yes.” She said this emphatically. “It is difficult to work when one’s face is covered.”

“Filius told me you were recommended to him by a clerk in his office. A Jew.”

“He is a friend of our family.”

Hegai shook his head, as if he could not believe what he was hearing. Esther chose this moment to call attention to her hands by raising one to push the piece of hair Hegai had touched behind her ear.

A large, well-kept hand reached out and captured hers. “What have you done to your hands?”

Esther regarded her rough hands with complacency. “As I said before, in my family the women have to work.”

Hegai looked horrified and Esther was so delighted by his patent disapproval that she smiled.

This was a mistake.
You can warm your hands at Esther’s smile
, her Uncle Mordecai had often said. And now the Head Eunuch stood in silence, her hand in his, his eyes focused on her face.

He said slowly, “Your skin and your hair can be repaired and made beautiful. Your bones are already beautiful and it is the bones one cannot change.”

Esther’s smile vanished.

Hegai kept looking at her, then he nodded. “I do not think the Great King will be displeased with the results.”

Esther snatched her hand away and stepped backward. Her heart jumped in her chest. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that your face has passed the test, Esther. Now we must examine the rest of you.”

Never, for as long as she lived, would Esther forget the scalding humiliation of the following hour. If Uncle Mordecai had known about this, he would never have sent her. He would never have let her be handled like a piece of merchandise, prodded and poked and stripped naked in front of an expressionless eunuch who never said one single word the entire time. The worst moment came when he inspected her to see if she was indeed a virgin. She wanted to scratch his eyes out.

What followed was just as bad. She was taken back to Hegai, who told her that she was indeed a fortunate girl, that despite her flaws she had been accepted as a candidate. “Hathach will inform your friend, who will inform your family. I am certain they will rejoice at the news.” He gave her a narrow-eyed look. “Although, I must confess it amazes me that they sent you here in such a deplorable condition.”

Esther was speechless.

He crooked his finger. “Come, Esther, and I will take you to your room.”

She couldn’t move.
This can’t be happening. They are going to put me in the harem. It’s a mistake. I can’t let them do this. God did not want this. I’m sure He didn’t want this. How could He? I must tell Hegai the truth, tell him who I am so he will let me go
.

She had almost opened her mouth to speak when she remembered: If she confessed that Mordecai had lied about who she was, Mordecai would be in serious trouble. He would certainly lose his job. He might even be punished in other ways. She couldn’t take that chance. Angry as she was with him, she knew he had done this because he truly believed in his mad dream. He truly thought she was going to save the Jewish people from destruction.

I have to stay
, she realized despairingly
. I have to stay until the king picks a wife
.

Hegai, realizing she had made no move to follow, turned around. “What is the matter?”

“Nothing.” She took a long, steadying breath. “I am coming.”

Father in Heaven
, she prayed, as she followed Hegai deeper into the maze of corridors that was the harem,
I beg You to help me. I have no one else. No father, no uncle—no one to turn to except You. Please help me to get through this ordeal. Give me strength to bear what must be borne. Give me the strength to keep Uncle Mordecai safe
.

C
HAPTER
F
IVE

E
sther looked around her room. It was small and windowless. The walls stopped a foot short of the ceiling, providing the only possibility for the movement of air. Two small chests were pushed against one of the walls and a lamp, a charcoal brazier, and a table comprised the remainder of the furnishings. A small, polished bronze mirror hung on the wall over the table, upon which were arranged a variety of combs, colored ribbons, jars, and bottles. The heavy scent of some kind of musky perfume hung in the air.

Esther felt she would suffocate if she had to sleep in here.

Hegai said, “We had to send the king’s entire harem to Babylon to make room for the new additions here. The girl who was previously in this room was dismissed by the king yesterday, which is why we have space for you.”

“Dismissed?”

“Yes. The Great King is granting each candidate a separate interview. This has been going on for months, and so far he has rejected every one of them.” Hegai looked put out. “We have sent him some extremely beautiful girls, but Ahasuerus is fastidious.”

“What happens to the girls after they are rejected?” Esther asked with apprehension.

“They are sent to another part of the harem to wait until we can send news to their families to come and collect them.”

“They do not remain in the harem, then?” Esther was anxious to have this point clarified.

Hegai looked down his nose. “Achaemenid girls do not become concubines.”

Esther smiled in relief. It would be all right. This fastidious king would want nothing to do with her. Once her interview was over, she could go home.

Hegai pointed out the cupboard where the sleeping mat was kept, then told her that the Mistress of the House would come shortly to attend to her.

After Hegai had left, Esther looked slowly around the room again. She inhaled deeply, as if trying to convince herself that there was air enough in this enclosed space for her to breathe. Then she raised her hands in the ancient Jewish attitude of prayer and looked upward.

Father in Heaven, help me to get through this ordeal. Give me the courage to keep my purity, even though I must live in this unclean place
.

Her prayer was interrupted by the abrupt opening of the door. An immense woman surged into the room and Esther dropped her arms and backed up, overwhelmed by the vast amount of space the woman was taking up.

“I am Muran, the Mistress of the House,” the fat woman announced. “And you are Esther?”

“Yes.” Esther’s back was against the wall.

The Mistress’s eyes slowly scanned Esther, from the top of her head to the tips of her shoes. The woman’s flesh breathed out a sweet floral scent that overpowered the musk perfume that already hung in the air. Esther thought that never in her life had she seen such enormous breasts.

“Hegai tells me that you need a lot of work, that your hair and your skin are a disgrace.” The Mistress stepped forward, lifted a lock of Esther’s hair, and rubbed it between her fingers in exactly the way the Head Eunuch had done. She even went so far as to sniff it. Then she clicked her tongue in disapproval and asked, “Why are you wearing green?”

Involuntarily, Esther glanced down at her best robe, which she had always thought was pretty. “I got a good price on the wool.”

“You should never wear green. It makes your skin look sallow.”

Esther’s chin lifted infinitesimally. “Perhaps my skin
is
sallow.”

The woman’s eyes, buried in pouches of fat, were coolly critical. “It will look less sallow in a color other than green.”

Esther wondered why on earth they had taken her if she was so far below their standards. She longed to ask this question, but knew that it would look odd coming from someone who was supposed to be thrilled that she had been accepted.

Muran sighed. “Hegai was right; you need a great deal of work. Come with me now and we shall begin with a bath.” The Mistress turned, maneuvered her huge bulk through the narrow doorway, and Esther followed.

Esther had never had the experience of being submerged in water, and the thought made her nervous. All Persians were fanatical about personal cleanliness, and they expected all the various races who lived in their cities to be clean as well, but only the very rich had built-in baths. And, since Persians also believed that rivers were sacred, no one was allowed to bathe in them. In a city surrounded by rivers, most of the population of Susa laboriously washed and cooled themselves with a basin and a washcloth. The use of river water was permitted only after it had been removed from its natural flow.

Esther followed Muran down several corridors, all of which looked alike to her, until finally the Mistress opened a door and ushered Esther into a large mirrored room. Gold and silver stools lay scattered about the ceramic brick floor and the warm moist air was scented with roses. A tall, blond, blue-eyed young girl came forward as soon as Muran entered and asked, “May I be of assistance, Mistress?”

“Yes. This is Esther, a new candidate, Luara. Make her ready, please.”

Luara bowed to Esther from her waist. Then, as Esther stood stiff and silent, the girl slipped a long linen robe over her head. Esther was soon profoundly grateful for this modest covering, as Luara next began to remove Esther’s clothing. The experience of being stripped naked twice in one day turned her scarlet with outrage and embarrassment.

“Very well,” Muran said, her small eyes glittering. “We shall now begin your treatment. Come with me.”

The first thing Esther saw as she entered into the main room of the harem bath was a magnificent marble fountain in the middle of the room. Several girls clad in robes like hers were sitting on the edge of the fountain, trailing their hands in the water and talking to each other. Other girls were taking baths in the huge marble basins that were set up against the blue, yellow, and green enameled brick walls.

The sound of feminine voices stopped as Esther came into the room. For a moment the air seemed heavy with more than wet heat as the weight of all those eyes fell upon her, and she tensed. Then the girls turned back to their companions, and the soft sound of subdued laughter and whispered conversations filled the steamy room again.

“Come with me, my lady,” Luara said briskly, leading her to one of the unoccupied wall baths. She turned on the two faucets that were set in the wall and, to Esther’s amazement, hot water came out of one and cold out of the other. Muran had stayed behind to speak to a woman whom Luara called the Mistress of the Baths, and Esther felt comfortable asking the servant girl how they managed to get hot water to come out of a faucet.