Read Esther Online

Authors: Rebecca Kanner

Esther

PRAISE FOR

“You will love Rebecca Kanner's take on the biblical queen Esther, a woman not only beautiful of face and form but also preternaturally wise, resourceful, spirited, morally courageous, and kind-hearted. Reading Kanner's beautifully descriptive, mesmerizing tale of an enslaved harem girl's transformation to powerful queen, and how she used her power to save her people from annihilation, had me turning the pages late into the night. Readers will alternately fret for her and cheer for her while wishing not only to befriend this remarkable heroine but to
be
her. Skillful, empathetic characterizations; elegant writing; and seamless, edge-of-the-seat plotting make
Esther
a novel you won't want to put down, and that you'll wish would never end.”

—Sherry Jones, author of
The Jewel of Medina
and
The Sharp Hook of Love

“The book of Esther comes to life in this vivid novel based on the Old Testament tale . . . Kanner's descriptions are convincing and rich.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Kanner has done it again. A beautiful story spun with the gilt and grit of historical detail and biblical tradition. Esther's story the way it really could have happened, a riveting tale of courage.”

—Tosca Lee,
New York Times
bestselling author

“In her compelling novel of this well-known biblical heroine, Rebecca Kanner reveals the story of Esther as it's never been told. With evocative prose and vivid historical detail, Kanner's riveting story brings to life an imperfect, conflicted woman gifted with both beauty and intelligence. With strength and courage, Esther navigates the dangers of Xerxes' court and her own desires to become the heroine of her story and save a nation.”

—Stephanie Landsem, author of
The Tomb

“Like a shimmering mirage, the peasant girl Hadassah rises from humble roots to become the beguiling Queen Esther. Let this tale of exotic lands and palace intrigues weave its spell on you. You will be rattled, enthralled, and ultimately won over as Rebecca Kanner brings another woman of the Bible to radiant life.”

—Duncan W. Alderson, author of the
Harper's Bazaar
must-read
Magnolia City

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CONTENTS

Cast of Characters

Chapter 1: Kidnapped

Chapter 2: The Virgins' March

Chapter 3: Screaming

Chapter 4: Goddess of Bullheadedness

Chapter 5: The Ride Back

Chapter 6: The Market

Chapter 7: Vashti

Chapter 8: The Vow

Chapter 9: The Palace

Chapter 10: The Harem

Chapter 11: Hegai

Chapter 12: The Inspection

Chapter 13: Night

Chapter 14: Life in the Harem

Chapter 15: My New Chambers

Chapter 16: Mistress Esther

Chapter 17: The Women's Court

Chapter 18: Lioness

Chapter 19: The Bloody Dagger

Chapter 20: Saul's Mistake

Chapter 21: Erez

Chapter 22: Utanah

Chapter 23: The Approach of My Night with the King

Chapter 24: Erez, the King, and I

Chapter 25: Her Majesty

Chapter 26: My Banquet

Chapter 27: In the King's Chamber

Chapter 28: Ruti and Hegai

Chapter 29: My Servant, My Guard

Chapter 30: Heavy Is the Head

Chapter 31: The Queen's Men

Chapter 32: The Brothers' Blood

Chapter 33: The King's Soldier

Chapter 34: Returns

Chapter 35: The King's Bed

Chapter 36: Trapped

Chapter 37: The Routine

Chapter 38: Dagger Training

Chapter 39: Here Lies the Empire

Chapter 40: The Plot on the King's Life

Chapter 41: Warning the King

Chapter 42: The Fitful Blade

Chapter 43: The Kick

Chapter 44: A Crime One Woman Commits Against Another

Chapter 45: Xerxes' Homecoming

Chapter 46: The Only Place

Chapter 47: The Woman Who Walked Beside Me

Chapter 48: Haman's Visit to the Royal Treasury

Chapter 49: Desire

Chapter 50: Time Is Servant to No One

Chapter 51: News of Mordecai

Chapter 52: The Edict

Chapter 53: Ghosts

Chapter 54: The Golden Scepter

Chapter 55: The First Feast

Chapter 56: Friends and Allies

Chapter 57: The Second Feast

Chapter 58: The King's Dream

Chapter 59: Purim

Chapter 60: Leave-takings

Epilogue

Author's Note

Acknowledgments

About Rebecca Kanner

For Lynn

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Esther:

an orphan who is kidnapped and taken to the king's harem

Mordecai:

Esther's cousin who takes her in after her parents are killed in a revolt in Babylon

Xerxes:

king of Persia

Erez:

an Immortal with whom Esther has a complicated relationship

Hegai:

the powerful eunuch who takes a liking to Esther

Ruti:

Esther's servant

Haman:

a high-ranking adviser to the king and enemy of the Jews

Parsha:

Haman's firstborn son, one of Esther's tormentors

Dalphon:

Haman's second-born son

Halannah:

Haman's niece and Xerxes' favorite concubine, she aspires to be queen

Bigthan:

one of the many eunuchs who serve in the palace of Shushan

Hathach:

a eunuch assigned to Esther, Esther questions whether he serves her or the king

Cyra:

Esther's childhood friend

Utanah:

the first girl to volunteer to be one of Esther's handmaids, she was suspiciously absent from the harem when the virgins were assigned their places

Opi:

a Nubian girl, Esther tries to befriend her

CHAPTER ONE
KIDNAPPED

Outside the Persian capital city of Shushan, 480 BCE

They were the night itself. First the darkness and then the blinding light of torches that hid the stars. The whinnying of horses, the crying of a hundred girls, the clashing of swords. The smell of flesh that has traveled a long way through the desert, bringing with it dust and sweat from far-off lands.

I was lying on my straw mattress when I heard the hooves pounding in the distance. It was much too long past the day's end for a merchant's caravan to be traveling upon the road, and the sound was not the slow plodding of oxen, elephants, or camels. It was the hard and fast approach of horses.

My hands started to shake. They did not want to obey me, but mostly they did, clumsily tying my head scarf behind my neck. My feet too were clumsy as I slid them into sandals and wound the straps around my ankles, all the way up to my calves. I pulled them tight. Because I knew. I knew why the hooves came.

Yet I did not run.

I no longer knew what would save me and what would lead to my death. I did not even know if the pounding in my ears was hooves striking the ground or the beating of my own heart. The horses were upon the village—I could smell dust rising from the road.

The door was yanked open and a shadow blocked the light of the stars. It would haunt me until I learned who had cast it. As it approached I heard not only heavy footsteps but also the clanking of armor. The king's soldiers had fallen upon the village. And not just ordinary soldiers, of whom the king had hundreds of thousands, but the king's most elite, highly trained force: Immortals.

A month before, the king had issued a decree that virgins from every province of his empire were to be gathered and brought to the palace at Shushan to serve in his harem. At the news, my cousin, Mordecai, had said,
Soldiers are lazy, they save themselves for great battles. They will take only the girls nearest the palace.
So he had sent me only a day's journey from the heart of Shushan, to a village where a friend of his was willing to let me stay in the tiny servants' quarters behind his hut.

As the Immortal came to hover over me, the rest of my cousin's words rang in my ears:
Though Xerxes is the richest man in the world, he will not feel rich until there is nothing, anywhere, that is not his.
It seemed the shadow was Xerxes himself emerging from my cousin's tales, hungry to add me to his possessions.

“Forgive me,” the Immortal said. No two words had ever terrified me so greatly.
Forgive me.
He spoke loudly, as though he spoke not to me but to someone else who was not so near. Perhaps to his god. He pulled me from my straw mattress, threw me over his shoulder, and began walking. My head fell against his armor.

His shoulder pressed up into my belly, making it hard to speak, but still I tried. “Please—” I did not finish—I didn't want the words
do not make me spend the rest of my life as a harem concubine
to exist in the world.

He did not hesitate at the doorway of the hut. He had already asked forgiveness for all he would do.

As we approached the road I could hear girls crying, and I did not want to join my voice to theirs. I did not want to be one of them. I had cried while Xerxes' soldiers quashed the last revolt of Babylon so brutally that for days the city smelled of blood. My tears had not saved my parents.

Instead I felt for the soldier's dagger. My fingers wrapped around it and slid it from his belt.
Lord, let it be me who will need to ask for forgiveness.
I plunged it up the inside of the soldier's tunic sleeve with all my strength.

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