Free Esther by Rebecca Kanner Page A

Shushan, Babylon, or anywhere in between,” I said. In truth I did not know why Mordecai had not found a husband for me.
    â€œLet us see,” Halannah said, coming toward me, “how pretty you are with lines of blood across your peasant face.” She raised her hand over my head and her bracelets jangled down her arm. As her nails descended toward my face I caught her wrist, squeezed, and turned her arm out to the side so that she stumbled sideways, screaming. I let go and she fell to the floor, her goblet clattering across the marble.
    Her braid was so heavy she could not pick her head up. She remained on her hands and knees with her head pointed straight at the floor. She reached blindly for the frayed hem of my tunic.
    She bunched it in her hands and pulled with all her weight.
    I felt my tunic cut into the back of my neck. I hurried to hold on to it but still I heard a tear and then I was standing half-naked in front of the whole harem. The women broke into laughter. As I tried to pull my torn tunic around me, I felt Halannah’s nails and then the warmth of my own blood on my stomach. Her neck was still bent by the weight of her braid and it seemed a demon was upon me as she clawed her way up my body. Her braid was so tight that winding snake-shaped lines of scalp were visible, fringed by tiny flakes of skin. She was about to tower over me and perhaps rake my face.
    â€œForgive me,” I said, and drove my knee into her stomach.
    She fell sideways and let out a garbled scream. I backed away, remembering what my mother had told me. A wounded animal is the most dangerous. You may wish to help, but do not be foolish enough to do so.
    â€œ No one but the king is allowed to touch me,” Halannah said, though she allowed a eunuch to hold her braid and help her rise to her feet. “Especially not some low-born vermin-ridden girl.” She pointed a finger with my blood under the nail at me. “Once the servants have tended to my flesh I will tend to yours. The only difficulty will be watching to make sure you do not take your own life. It is mine .”
    I held my torn tunic tightly around me and lifted my chin. “I am not here by accident. When God wants me He will take me Himself.”
    At that Halannah threw a goblet at me. I was impressed by her strength if not her aim. The goblet struck one of the girls in the chest, but by then it was empty. Only a girl beside Halannah had been hit with the wine—her and the pool.
    â€œ Ahura Mazda ,” Bigthan cried. He called to the other eunuchs, “Drain the pool and refill it quickly, before Hegai arrives.”
    As soon as the words left the eunuch’s mouth, a rotund man in royal purple with a tall white turban entered. He towered above the four other eunuchs who attended him. They stayed back as he came to stand before us.
    A lioness in a jewelled collar and gold anklets walked beside him. She was unchained.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
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HEGAI
    Though I clutched my tunic tightly around me, as I stared into the lioness’s eyes I felt as naked as a cut of lamb hanging in the butcher’s stall. Her eyes were shiny black rocks, unreadable. She yawned, revealing four long fangs.
    Hegai smiled, almost sadly, as girls shuffled backward. “Do not panic, it will excite her. She had only a small portion of the wildebeest she killed yesterday and has not eaten since. She will soon be hungry again.”
    â€œFeed her as much as you like,” Halannah said. “One day she will still crave the abundant flesh of a fat man. Or whatever is left of a man inside that gaudy robe.”
    Hegai raised his palm up and the lioness sat back upon her haunches. She yawned again, perhaps enjoying the effect upon us. She seemed more regal than any human queen.
    A serving woman walked into the room with a pitcher. She passed close enough to the four eunuchs behind Hegai for me to see that she was at least a head taller than all of them. Hegai was