Read Online Esther by Rebecca Kanner - Free Book Online

emerged into daylight again. I ignored the heat. I had decided I would ignore as many horrible things as possible. I would live if I could, I would fight if I had to, I would do whatever was necessary in order to hold on to my life no matter how much I would not like it.
    We were herded around the northeast corner of the palace, through the doorway of a court larger than some villages. As I gazed around I had a wonderful realization: Parsha and Dalphon could never raise a whip here . There are too many treasures. Xerxes had not foregone the opportunity to display his victory over the Greeks. White stone men with no tunics on—spoils from Athens—stood all around. Beyond them, colorful statues of soldiers with spears were posted at even intervals along the perimeter of the room. I was startled when one of them coughed. Though the soldiers were as still as Greek statues, they were men, men who might cough at the dust we brought from the road or run after me should I try to escape. Despite the size of the room, I knew I was trapped.
    I looked to the heavens, hoping for some sort of sign. Columns higher than twenty men held up a ceiling made of stone. I could not suppress a vision of it crashing down and crushing us the way the winemaker crushed grapes beneath his feet.
    Dalphon’s voice came from somewhere ahead of me, ordering the soldiers to untie the girls from the line. A soldier looked suspiciously at the rope I held in my hand. But he undid the bowline knot around my wrists and took it from me without a word.
    â€œCome up here where we can see you,” Dalphon ordered us.
    Parsha was suddenly beside me. “Did you not hear my little brother?”
    My feet and legs were too tired from climbing up the stairs for me to shuffle any faster. I expected Parsha to prod me with his hand or foot as he had done before. I braced myself for the kick, but it did not come.
    Instead he said, “Slowing your steps will not stop time.”
    I smiled despite the aching in my body. “You cannot touch me here.”
    â€œI told you I do what I want.” But he did not sound as confident as he had outside the palace.
    I looked him full in the face, unafraid of him for the first time. My mother had once told me: Be careful what you say, Hadassah. Being unkind drains the beauty from a person’s eyes. When I looked at Parsha’s huge honey-colored eyes I could see that she had lied to me. “Farewell, Parsha,” I said.
    â€œMaybe not. My cousin Halannah is the king’s favorite, and she will skin you like a lamb being readied for a stew. We will see how the king likes you then. Perhaps you will end up in our barracks and we will come to know each other better.”
    He laughed, and then , mercifully, fell back.
    There were many more girls in the hall than there had been on the march. At least two hundred girls were ahead of me. There were girls from Ecbatana, Persepolis, Sardis, Nineveh, and Memphis, and a few other girls who must have naively visited Shushan at precisely the wrong time, or perhaps their families had heard of the royal decree and sent their girls here in the hopes they might be queen. The king would have his pick. It seemed many more girls were crying now than on the march. Perhaps they had not had the energy to cry then.
    Little men walked amongst us. If they pointed at a girl, the soldiers separated her from the group. I looked at these girls, trying to figure out why they were being set apart. When I saw a girl with pale, desert-colored skin tuck her chin to her shoulder to hide a dark mole, I understood that I did not want any of the little men to point at me. The girl raised a hand to hide her face but it was too late. A little man pointed at her and a soldier directed her to another group of girls and a life that I would not have wished upon anyone.
    One of the little men looked at me. When he walked on I took a deep breath. I could no longer tell what was greater—my