Читать книгу Jewel of Persia - Roseanna M. White - Страница 14

Amestris glared at the eunuchs that dared intrude on her feast. “The king wills what?”

The head slave cleared his throat and bowed. As if a meaningless show of respect could soothe the vibration of rage inside her. “He has been boasting of your unsurpassed beauty, my queen, and wishes you to grace his presence so that his esteemed guests might bask in the awe inspired by your countenance.”

Her husband wanted her to parade her swollen body before his guests for the sake of his pride? If so much rested on the beauty of her face, then perhaps he should have spared it a thought when he gave that harlot the torc commissioned by Amestris’s hand.

Her fingers curled into talons and dug into her couch. “No.”

The eunuch blinked. “My queen?”

“Are you deaf, slave? I said no. The king has taken enough from me. He will not strip me of the last of my pride by forcing me before an assembly of men in my condition.”

He straightened, his eyes narrowing. “Perhaps the queen would like to rethink publicly disobeying her husband the king?”

“Perhaps the king would like to rethink the way he treats his wife the queen.” She grabbed the maidservant that she had charged with holding the symbol of his betrayal and ripped the torc from her. With a sneer, she slung it toward the eunuchs. “Give that to your king. Tell him I hope it keeps him warm at night, because neither I nor the Jewess will be.”

“Mistress.” Her maid sounded panicked. “The king will be furious.”

She leaned back against her chaise again, though she could not convince her fingers to relax. “His fury is no match to mine.”

~*~

Xerxes spied his seven eunuchs returning and frowned. There was no female in their midst. Was Amestris unwell? He ought to have made it clear she was only to come if she felt up to it . . . though it was rare she felt unequal to flaunting her beauty.

The wine’s stupor dissipated when he saw the expression upon Zethar’s face. Xerxes stood. “What is wrong? Is the queen in labor? Unwell?”

Zethar’s jaw ticked. He extended his hand. “The queen sends you this, master.”

Xerxes felt his forehead crease. He reached out and took the broken circle of silver. She sent him a gift by way of apology? It was a bit extravagant for that, what with the intricately fashioned lions’ heads . . .

The last of the wine cleared from his head, and Xerxes cursed. He stepped closer to Zethar, kept his voice low. “Did she send a message along with this?”

Zethar leaned forward. “One she delivered for all to hear. Forgive me, master, for bearing such a message . . . that she hoped it kept you warm at night, because neither she nor the Jewess would.”

He cursed again and closed his hand around the torc. He had forgotten Amestris had given it to him. But how did she get it back? She would have had to take it from Kasia . . .

Xerxes charged for the garden’s exit, not even slowing to order his brother and son not to follow. There was no time. Amestris’s threat that she would not keep him warm at night did not concern him, but Kasia?

“Father!” Darius broke into a run, but Xerxes refused to slow. “What are you about? Please, do nothing rash against Mother. You know how she is, especially when so near her time. She must not feel well enough to—”

“You do not want to take her part right now, Darius.” He held out an arm to keep him out of the way as he neared the corner.

Perhaps she only meant that she and Kasia had discovered together that he had given to one a gift purchased by the other, and that they were both angry with him. Perfectly reasonable, and that would be no cause for alarm.

Yet it did not sound like Kasia. Had she been distressed, instead of festering she would hunt him down and demand an explanation. Her anger may have been quick that afternoon, but so was her forgiveness.

No. Amestris had not been speaking of shared anger.

“Brother.” Masistes panted in his effort to keep up. “I called for your legal advisors as we left the feast. They can counsel you on how to deal with the queen’s disobedience. There is no need to race to confront her—”

“I will not confront her.” He turned toward the house of wives. His servants sprinted ahead of him to open the massive doors. They barely managed a wide enough opening before Xerxes reached them and hurried through, sideways.

“Then where are we going? What was her message?”

He ignored Masistes and barreled down the hall. All of his wives must still be at the queen’s feast, otherwise the commotion would have brought them to their doors. But he knew Kasia would not be with them.

Zethar must have realized where he was headed—he led the way to her rooms and opened the door. When Xerxes stepped inside, his heart lurched into his throat and choked him.

Kasia. His sweet Kasia lay stretched on the floor, undoubtedly felled by Amestris’s wrath. Why had he not been alerted? No, her servants lay about the room too. Had she ordered them all slain?

His hands shook. His stomach clenched. His vision blurred. Then his spine went stiff and his chin came up. She would pay. She would pay for Kasia’s life with her own and—

The figures on the floor shifted as the noise of his entrance hit them. All but Kasia. One of her wide-eyed servants leaned close to her, though, and said, “Mistress, the king.”

She was well. Not dead, not injured. She leapt to her feet with that enthusiasm he loved and raced toward him.

He met her in the middle of the room and closed his arms around her. “My love. She sent me the torc. I thought—I feared—”

Shaking her head against his chest, Kasia hugged him tight. “I am unharmed.”

“Not for lack of trying on the queen’s part.” One of the maidservants stepped forward, and her eyes burned with fury. “Her food was poisoned, master. Hemlock. Had she taken a sip, a bite . . .”

Kasia pulled away enough to send her maid a mild glare. “We know not that it was on her order.”

“Yes, we do.” Xerxes’ hand still shook as he lifted it to her cheek, but not with grief or fear now. With rage, pure and hot. “She has tried me enough. Her arrogance I can tolerate, but to disobey me in front of all the world because she is angry with me—to try to kill you! I will not suffer it. She will pay for this with her life.”

“Father, no!” Darius rushed forward, his distress coating his face.

It put not so much as a dent in Xerxes’ determination. The boy would be better off without his mother’s poisonous influence.

Kasia shook her head and splayed a hand on his chest. “Xerxes, please. She is the mother of four of your children, will soon deliver another.”

“Her execution can be stayed until after the birth, then.”

“My love, no. Act in haste now and you will regret it forever.”

He doubted that. “She tried to kill you.”

“She was angry, as you are now. But my God was watching over me, and he kept me from tasting the poisoned food. No harm has been done. And though her reaction was wrong, her feeling was justified.”

He tipped her chin up with a finger. “Do you rebuke me, woman?”

No fear entered her eyes, though he read respect within them. More than could ever be said for Amestris. “Punish me for it if you must—my life is worth far less than hers. I have no children to mourn me.”

Darius stepped forward with a worried frown. “You would take on yourself the wrath intended for your enemy? It makes no sense.”

She did not so much as glance at his son. “Forgiveness is not logical. But it heals the wounds left by bitterness and hatred.”

Xerxes sighed and lifted her hand to kiss her fingers. “I cannot forgive her. She would have stolen you from me, solely because she knows how it would pierce. But this crime was against you, and no one outside this room knows of it. If you wish her mercy, then mercy she shall receive. For this. But she publically disobeyed me. If I ignore that offense, everyone will whisper that Xerxes is a weak man ruled by his women.”

Zethar inclined his head. “And their wives, master, will remember that the queen greeted your servants with anger and defamed you before them all. They will use it as an excuse to act the same.”

“Your advisers on the law are right outside,” Masistes said. “Hear their counsel before you make your decision on a punishment.”

Xerxes nodded at the eunuch nearest the door, who motioned his advisers into the room. The seven of them filed in, the men of soundest wisdom and highest birth below the princes. Most of them had advised his father before him.

Were any fond of their queen? Or had they been bitten by her temper at some point?

They all looked around the chamber as if wondering why they had been called to one of the lowliest rooms in the palace compound.

Kasia tensed in his arms. Xerxes released her and urged her behind him, knowing she would be more comfortable shielded. “My noble friends, your king has need of your wisdom. You were all at my feast—you know I called Queen Amestris to me, and you saw that my eunuchs returned without her. Had her refusal been due to her physical condition, I would have understood. But she refused from anger—which she made clear to everyone within earshot. Such impudence cannot go unpunished. What is an appropriate reaction?”

The men exchanged a few glances, a few whispers. And, if he were not mistaken, a few smiles of glee.

Not fond of her, then. He had expected as much.

The eldest, Memucan, stepped forward. “How harsh does the king wish to be?”

He clenched his teeth, swallowed, and forced himself to relax. “The king would see her killed, were it not for the children we share and the one even now growing in her womb. For their sakes, and only for their sakes, do I wish to spare her life. There must be a punishment less than death but still severe.”

Memucan looked to another of the advisers with raised brows. At the answering nod, he said, “The queen has indeed done a great wrong, not only against the king, but against all of Persia and Media. For when the queen disobeys her husband, why should any woman in the empire obey theirs?

“If it pleases the king, she could be deposed. Knowing the queen as we all do, that may be harsher than death to her. The king could send out a royal decree and let it be written in the law, that the queen is never again to enter the presence of the great Xerxes. Let her crown be given to one more deserving.”

Xerxes’ lips tugged up. Losing her power would indeed be worse than death to Amestris. Yet it would spare his children the grief of losing a mother.

“This pleases the king very much. Write up the decree this very hour, and at first light it shall be sent out to every province in its own language. Let the world know that Amestris is queen no more.”

There would probably be dancing in many a street.

Memucan bowed. “It will be done as the king says. And in her place, who will you name? One of your other wives?”

“Father.” Darius stepped near, a line of worry between his brows. “You can take away her crown, but her power will not be easily negated. Whomever you appointed in her place would be dead before she could feel the weight of the crown upon her head.”

Xerxes smiled. “It is a wise son who knows his mother so well. Let it be enough for now that she is removed. Another queen can be named when we return triumphant from Greece. There is no rush—I have my heir already.”

Memucan and the other six bowed out to prepare the proclamation. Darius drew in a long breath. “Thank you, Father, for sparing her. I know she is a hard woman to love, but she is my mother.”

“I am not the one to thank. Letting her live will undoubtedly prove as troublesome as the canal at Mount Athos, as you yourself pointed out.”

His son acknowledged that truth with a glance over Xerxes’ shoulder. “I will use what influence I have with her to caution her against riling your anger any more.”

“I suggest you go to her now and keep her from anything rash when my decision reaches her ear.”

“Yes, Father.” Darius sped from the room.

Xerxes looked to Masistes. “Brother, bid our guests good night. You may tell them I am busy seeing justice done for the queen’s crime.”

“It is my honor to carry out your will.” Masistes left, too.

Xerxes turned back to Kasia. “My son is right about Amestris’s response, and not only for whomever I name the next queen. She will know that my anger is kindled largely on your behalf and will blame you for this.”

Kasia pressed her lips together. He read no fear in her eyes, only sorrow.“I am sorry to bring you such trouble.”

“It is no fault of yours.” He tugged her closer so that he could rest his cheek against her hair. “I will have her removed to Persepolis as soon as possible. In the meantime you must exercise the greatest caution.”

“I will. But there is no need to fear, my love. Jehovah has delivered me from her schemes this day, and I feel peace in my spirit that he will continue to protect me.” Her arms slipped around him.

He stroked his hand along the glossy locks that tumbled down her back. “Your God is responsible for your being spared?”

She hummed. “The moment Leda brought in my meal, I felt the most urgent need to pray. I decided to fast and turn my heart toward Jehovah. He saved me.”

“And when I came in? I thought the lot of you slain. Were you praying more?”

“In thanks, and for the larger situation. And for the dog.”

“The . . .” He glanced around the room. Sure enough, one of the guard dogs lay on a fine rug in the corner, its breathing heavy. He assumed it was the unfortunate beast given some of her food. “You bother your God with concern for a dog?”

“I could not stand the thought of it dying in my stead. I think it will recover, though, it only had a bite.”

Xerxes shook his head. “What a strange creature I have fallen in love with.”

She stretched up and bestowed a sweet kiss upon his lips. “You ought to get to your new bride. She will be anxious.”

Was there a more bizarre woman in the world? One more baffling? More perfect? He cradled her head and gazed deep into her eyes. “Given the events still unfolding, it would be fairer to see her first another night. I will send her my apologies and make sure the situation is explained.”

“Xerxes . . .”

He silenced her with a kiss. Then pulled off the torc he had slipped on and held it between them. “I believe this is yours.”

She stared at it. “I cannot. It was a gift to you.”

“And so I ought not to have given it away two weeks ago. I would have apologized for forgetting its source, had she approached me privately. Things have changed. It is yours.” He slid it up her arm, as he had done at the river. Now, as then, desire filled her eyes. Desire that had nothing to do with the silver. “You will come with me, my love, lest treachery visit this room again. I will see with my own eyes that you remain safe until the viper is out of my house.”

Kasia nodded and tucked herself against his side.

Why could the rest of the world not agree with his will so readily?