Queen of Persia

Queen of Persia Chapter 4

"Morning Esther," replied one of the girls, giving her a small smile.

"Who do you reckon is going first?" asked Esther casually.

"No one really knows, it could be in an order, or it could be completely random,” replied another girl.

“We’ll soon find out though,” replied the first, nodded at the stairs.

There stood Hegai, looking down at the mass of chattering girls.

He waited until they had all gone quiet, before opening up a scroll and clearing his throat.

“Today, as some of you may know, I will be announcing who is seeing the king first, then I will continue to go through the names of each and every girl here, telling them on what date they will see the king. Listen carefully, as I do not want to repeat myself because too many of you were too busy chatting to one another.”

The girls continued to stay quiet; all of them had been waiting for months to hear this news and none of them wanted to miss out on hearing when they would get to spend their night with Xerxes.

“On that note,” continued Hegai, seeing he would be able to speak without competing with a chorus of girls’ voices, “The first girl that will be seeing the king is Josie of Cush.”

The girls clapped and cheered for Josie, who was blushing like crazy.

“Congratulations Josie,” said Hegai, smiling at her.

She nodded to show she had heard him.

“Now I will begin to read out the other girls’ names, so listen closely and do not talk, even after your name has been called. Being polite is part of what makes up a wise and kind queen.”

                                                               ***

Hegai spent the next half an hour reading out every girl’s name, along with the date they would get to see the king. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he read out Esther’s name, making her the last girl to see the king.

“Esther of Susa,” he said, scanning the mass of girls, looking for Esther’s face.

Once he caught sight of her, he gave her a warm smile and told her on what date she would see King Xerxes.

“You will see the king on the seventh day of Tebeth.”

Esther smiled and nodded, relief washing over her that she had not been forgotten. Up until she had heard her name, there was a hint of fear that lingered in the back of her mind about not being on the list.

“Now I’m sure all of you are hungry and ready to eat, so please go and enjoy your breakfast,” said Hegai, dismissing the girls with a nod of his head.

                                                                  ~ Three days later~

Esther awoke to the sound of girls screeching and a scurry of feet from outside. She was about to get out of bed and find out what was going on for the girls to be making all that noise when the thought hit her. It wasn’t a lot of girls making that noise. It was only one – Josie, the first girl to see the king in the evening. There was probably a lot of fussing just a few paces down from Esther’s private room, so she decided not to leave the room. The poor girl sounded stressed enough without having to worry about other girls bothering her.

Hegai had given everyone instructions about not disturbing the girl who was next to have their night with King Xerxes. They were sent to a special room to get ready and were to be given any help they requested, which is why most of the servants who had been helping the girls with their different beauty treatments all year were now with Josie, who seemed to be making quite a fuss over something.