A Reluctant Queen (22 page)
The two sentries stared at Mordecai with impassive faces and made no reply.
Mordecai’s voice sharpened. “Did you hear me? If you value your lives at all, one of you will go instantly and bring Hathach to me.”
After another strained moment, one of the eunuchs turned, pushed open one of the massive doors, and disappeared.
The two guards and Mordecai waited in tense silence under the eye of the remaining eunuch until the first one returned. He was followed by Hathach.
“Thank you, Lord,” Milis heard the Jew say under his breath.
The smooth-faced young man looked from the guards to Mordecai. His expression was unreadable. “You sent for me, Master?”
Mordecai said, “Hathach, I must see Esther.”
“
The queen
is resting at the moment. May I make an appointment for you?” Milis realized that Hathach had been offended by Mordecai’s familiarity and he hoped the Jew had not made a critical mistake.
Mordecai said, “I must see her immediately. It involves the king and is a matter of life and death.”
“A matter of life and death?”
“That is what I said. It cannot wait, Hathach, believe me.”
Hathach once more scanned Mordecai’s face. “Very well. If you will wait here, Master, I will ask the queen to see you.”
The wait was only fifteen minutes, but to Milis it seemed an eternity. Finally Hathach reappeared with good news. “The queen will receive you, Mordecai. These guards must wait here.”
Mordecai looked at Milis and said, “I will explain matters to the queen and then we shall send for you.”
Hathach and Mordecai disappeared through the door, and Milis and Artanes stood in the portico with the two impassive eunuchs and waited. Milis thought of all the hours he had spent standing and waiting while on sentry duty. None of those long boring hours had dragged the way the minutes were dragging now. He stared through the open space between the wooden columns of the portico to the expanse of the Apanada that lay beyond. He began to count the columns in the Apanada.
Time passed slowly.
At last the door opened again and Hathach reappeared. He said in a clipped voice, “Come with me.”
Milis and Artanes trailed Hathach’s long, elegant back through the great double door into an anteroom and then into what was most certainly the king’s private dining room. Opening off this room was the large, columned courtyard that was the private venue of the royal family.
Milis discreetly cast curious glances around as he followed Hathach’s silent progress through the deserted courtyard. On the nights they did sentry duty at the king’s door, the guards entered the bedroom wing directly from the Rose Court. Milis had never seen this part of the palace before.
They went up a few shallow steps and he recognized they had moved into the corridor of the bedroom wing. When Hathach opened a door on the left, not the right, Milis realized they were entering the Queen’s Apartment.
The first person Milis saw when he stepped inside was the king.
“My lord.” He dropped like a stone and felt Artanes drop beside him.
“You may rise,” said Ahasuerus.
They got to their feet.
“Which of you is Milis?” the king demanded.
“I am, my lord.” Milis took a half step forward. Out of the corners of his eyes he ascertained that Mordecai and an unveiled woman were sitting on one of the divans.
The queen
, he thought.
The king said, “Tell me what Teresh said to you.”
Milis drew a deep, steadying breath and proceeded to recount the entire conversation.
“Now tell me exactly what you said to Smerdis this morning.”
Once again, Milis replied.
Silence fell.
Milis saw the queen make a motion, which she quickly stilled. Her eyes were fixed on her husband.
“So,” Ahasuerus said. His voice was calm, his face was composed, but his eyes were like twin chips of ice.
Mordecai spoke quietly. “Smerdis would have warned you if he was not part of the plot, my lord.”
“Yes, he would have,” Ahasuerus agreed.
“They wanted to smother you while you slept,” the queen breathed, her voice filled with horror.
The king had made up his mind. “Hathach, bring Coes to me.”
The eunuch went out again and the five people left in the room waited in silence. The king went to the window and stood looking out, his back to the rest of them. Mordecai sat on the blue-cushioned divan and stared at the tips of his shoes as they protruded from beneath his clean but worn-looking robe.
Milis peeked at the queen and saw she was looking at her husband’s back. The king’s very stillness was frightening.
Mordecai said, “Did I tell you, Esther, that Milis came to me because he was one of the guards on duty in the harem courtyard the day you and I first came here?”
She dragged her eyes away from her husband and turned to look directly at Milis. He dared to look back and found her smiling at him. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling back. “It was clever of you, Milis, to remember Mordecai. You did well.”
“Th . . . thank you, my lady,” he said.
He watched her eyes return to the king, who had not moved.
They waited in silence. At last the door opened to admit the broad-shouldered young noble whom Milis knew to be one of the king’s closest friends. Ahasuerus turned to face Coes and briefly, in a cold, controlled voice, he related the plot.
“I want you to take an escort of guards and bring Teresh to me,” he ended.
Coes’ faced was flushed with anger. “Yes, my lord.”
Coes left and once again the room was silent. For the first time since he had come in, Milis saw Ahasuerus look toward his wife.
“Is this too much for you, Esther? Do you want to retire?”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. I want to stay.”
“All right.” And he went back to staring out the window.
She said, “These guards must be hungry, my lord. It is well past their suppertime. Perhaps Hathach could take them to the dining room for some food.”
Ahasuerus nodded.
Milis was relieved to follow the eunuch out of the queen’s room. He had no wish to be present when Ahasuerus confronted their commanding officer.
He could have been killed
. Over and over the same thought repeated itself in Esther’s brain.
He could have been killed. If Teresh had approached another man . . . if Milis had not thought of coming to Mordecai . . .
She shivered. The cold she felt had nothing to do with the temperature in the room.
But why? Why would Teresh want him dead?
It was only when both Ahasuerus and Mordecai turned to look at her that she realized she had spoken out loud.
“We shall find out soon enough.” For some reason, Ahasuerus’ icy fury was far more terrifying than boiling hot anger would have been.
Mordecai said, “Is there any chance that these guards might be lying? Perhaps they saw this ploy as a way to win favor for themselves.”
“We will know when I question Teresh.”
He looked back out the window.
Esther longed to go to Ahasuerus, to put her arms around him, to comfort him with her love. But she knew that, even if they had been alone, it would not be the right thing to do. She could not comfort him. The leader of his own Bodyguard had just tried to have him murdered. Nothing she could say or do would change that.
When the door finally opened, all their heads turned, but Coes came in alone.
“Where is Teresh?” Ahasuerus demanded.
Coes replied somberly, “My lord, when he saw me coming with the guard, he killed himself.”
E
sther, Ahasuerus, and Mordecai waited again while Coes next went to fetch Smerdis. Ahasuerus once more asked Esther if she wanted to go to bed, but she refused. She did not want to let him out of her sight. Mordecai also urged her to retire, but Ahasuerus looked at her face and said, “If you wish to stay, stay. But you can leave at any time.”
“Thank you, my lord,” she whispered.
Coes had better luck with Smerdis. The Grand Vizier was a sweaty puddle of fear and excuses as he came into the room to face his king. He swore that he was not a party to Teresh’s plan. When the king called upon Milis and Artanes to confront him, he admitted that the guards had told him of the plot, but in his defense he pleaded that he had not believed it.
Ahasuerus had Smerdis arrested.
“You will have your chance to vindicate yourself before a judge,” the king said, and Coes removed the protesting, petrified Grand Vizier from the room.
As the door closed behind the two, Esther felt an overwhelming tiredness sweep over her. She thought that if she stood up, she might faint, so she stayed where she was as Mordecai said, “He is guilty, my lord. I saw it in his face.”
“Of course he is guilty.” Ahasuerus’ face was a mask, showing nothing. “I only wonder who else in the court may have been involved in this sordid plot.”
Others? He thinks there might be others?
Esther’s breath caught audibly. As Ahasuerus turned to her, she stared at him in terror. “Do you think there are others, my lord?”
A softer note crept into his voice. “No one else is going to try to kill me, Esther. Thanks to a loyal guardsman, the plot was discovered in time.”
“This time it was. The next time you might not be so fortunate.”
“I am going to make Coes the new Commander of the Royal Bodyguard, so there is no chance that this episode will be repeated.” He walked to the divan and held out his hand to her. “You are exhausted. It’s time for you to go to bed.”
Esther let him pull her to her feet. “I don’t think I will ever sleep again.”
“Nonsense.” He put an arm around her shoulders. “You have been through a bad time tonight, that is all. Once you are in bed, you will sleep well.”
“I don’t feel safe, Ahasuerus.” She looked up at him. “I don’t think I’ll ever feel safe again.”
“I’ll have Milis and Artanes stand guard outside your door all night,” the king promised.
“It’s not myself I am afraid for.”
Ahasuerus began to walk her toward the door. “Then I’ll join you, and Milis and Artanes can guard us both.”
“All right.” At the door she turned her face into his shoulder, inhaling the scent of him. His arm tightened and he kissed the top of her head. Then he opened the door and said, “Hathach, take the queen to her bedroom and have Milis and Artanes stand guard outside her door.”
Hathach took Esther’s arm, and Ahasuerus stepped away from her. She turned her head and smiled uncertainly at her uncle. “Good night, Mordecai. And thank you.”
Mordecai understood it was time for him to leave as well. Esther was not the only one who was tired; he was exhausted.
Mordecai said, “It is no secret that Teresh wanted you to go to war with Greece, my lord.”
“I know.” Ahasuerus walked to the divan and sat, gesturing Mordecai to join him. “Nor is it any secret that he was a friend of my Uncle Mardonius.”
“Do you think Mardonius was involved with this plot?”