Virago | 2018 Wattys Shortlist

eight

E I G H T

2021,
Yraqia

★ ★ ★

ESTHER 4: 14

And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

★ ★ ★

In the years that had since passed, through prayer and finding the courage to explore repressed memories, Hadassah could remember every fine detail pertaining to the night she had lost her parents.

And after years of being in the palace as Queen Nura’s wife, she believed that the struggle was over. She and Mordecai were supposed to be safe, away from any potential harm from the men who’d killed their parents.

And now it felt as though she was back in her bedroom in Cenin with her back pressed against the wall, praying that the men who’d just slaughtered her family would not find her in her hiding place. Her chest felt tight with panic and for a while, it seemed like her heart would stop then and there.

“Oh gracious, how could Nura let this happen?” Hadassah asked Mordecai after he’d explained all that he had gathered from Haman and his accomplice a few hours ago.

They were in the foyer that led to the Royal Chambers, far away from any prying company, because according to what Haman had said, not even servants could be trusted.

“Cousin, like I said before, Haman disguised the decree to make it look like a commonplace form like the ones she signs day in and out.”

“This cannot be happening,” Hadassah said and placed a hand on her forehead as she began to hyperventilate.

“What’re we going to do?” she asked, her voice was nothing but a mere broken whisper.

“There is nothing we can do, Cousin but to pray and ask Yahweh for guidance.”

“I can’t even tell Nura about it because she left for The United Kingdom this afternoon,” Hadassah said, ignoring what Mordecai had just told her.

“Maybe Nura can reverse the decree, yes, that’s it. She will know what to do.”

“Hadassah, are you listening to me? You need to pray and beseech Yahweh’s favour.”

“My prayers will not reverse a decree!” Hadassah cried and stood up and began pacing the room.

“Now is not the time to lose sight of your faith!” Mordecai said and rose to his feet to stand before her, “you will need to talk to your wife but you cannot step foot before her without Yahweh’s guidance, Cousin. I know you’re scared,” he said, lowering his voice to a gentle croon while Hadassah wiped the tears that had sprung from her eyes.

“This isn’t how the story was supposed to go, we don’t deserve this,” she said.

Mordecai wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed against his chest, her body trembling with the kind of fear she thought she’d never experienced again.

She could hear the sound of her aunt’s screams and the ghastly sound of blades slashing through human skin and the agonised groans of a grown man about to die being replayed on a loop in her mind.

“We are going to die,” Hadassah said through warbled speech.

“No we will not. Our G-d is the god of David who faced Goliath, the G-d who made the walls of Jericho come tumbling down, surely He will save us.”