Free Esther : Royal Beauty (9781441269294) by Angela Elwell Hunt

of the sea did not satisfy the king’s need to vent his frustration. He summoned the engineers who created the floating bridge; when they stood before him, shamefaced and cringing, he ordered their execution. The hapless builders, most of them weeping like women, were impaled on stakes outside the camp.
    I watched, my flesh crawling beneath my white slave’s tunic, as my master called for a second corps of engineers. When no one volunteered, he called for the assistants of the men he had executed and placed them in charge of building a second bridge. More than one tanned face went pale at the assignment, but oil lamps burned in their tents throughout the night.
    The next morning the assistants offered a second plan: theywould build two bridges, one for the soldiers and another, farther downstream, for the livestock. They would use thicker ropes to lash the ships together. And as an extra precaution, they would build large windlasses on shore, a winch at each end of the floating bridge to keep the ropes taut.
    Knowing their lives were at stake, the engineers labored for weeks, carefully positioning the boats, lashing the vessels together, and securing the ropes with the windlasses. When the bridge finally floated in its place, the engineers strengthened the structure by placing embankments of timber, stone, and packed earth across the ships’ decks. I could barely believe my eyes when a veritable road rose from the sea.
    And then we crossed.
    My master’s army marched through Greece, intent upon reaching Athens, the city that had dispatched its men to Marathon to defeat Darius. Fortunately, we did not encounter hostility along the way. Every city we encountered en route submitted, offering my king food and hospitality, content to let him pass through the land until he reached his destination. Every night we feasted on the best Grecian culture had to offer, and every morning our troops gathered up items of value and we moved on.
    I felt a little guilty about stripping the populace as we traversed the land, but the practical aspect of my nature reminded me that we had left the people alive and unharmed. If they had resisted, their cities would be corpse-filled ruins, and their children would be marching away with nooses around their necks and fetters on their wrists. . . .
    The thought nudged a memory from the dark recesses of my mind. I had once marched along an unending road with my hands tied. My wrists still bore scars where the rope had chafed the skin away, and my neck would never be smooth and unmarked.
    But an orphan slave had few prospects, and I had been more fortunate than most.

Chapter Ten Hadassah
    W ITHOUT THE KING , Susa seemed like a body without an energizing spirit. The royal complex still glistened in the slanting rays of a sunset, but the aura of the palace had faded. Men still climbed the gleaming staircases to conduct business in the king’s name, but they climbed without urgency and walked without trepidation. Mordecai often came home early, stating that his office had no visitors. The lines in his forehead relaxed, and he smiled more than usual.
    Life without the king might be easier for Mordecai, but for me, Susa had become a dull no-man’s-land. Without the influx of foreign visitors, Susa closed her shutters and drew inward. Many merchants left the bazaar or closed up their shops. The talented men and women who worked silver, brass, and gold in the Valley of the Artists moved away, in search of other wealthy settlements whose residents could afford the luxury of art. Even shepherdsmoved their flocks farther south, where the grass hadn’t been torn and trampled by wagons and cattle.
    I remained at home, helping Miriam, working in her garden, milking the goat. Mordecai said nothing about my marriage, and I didn’t mention the topic. Life with Binyamin would probably be even duller than life with Mordecai and Miriam, so I resolved to remain quiet and content. And