Hadassah's Sacrifice

CHAPTER 23

King Ardates Villa.
The ladies were each assigned a personal maid. Hadassah’s maid was a young Babylonian girl who liked her immediately she saw her. The girl was taken by Hadassah’s quiet look and beauty and Hadassah liked her too. Mylitta’s maid was a homely Jewish girl who looked modest, but couldn’t get the favour of her mistress who thought she looked ugly and wasn’t as fine as the other maids. She wondered how a girl like her maid could prepare her for what laid ahead when she didn’t even look fashionable. Tiamat liked her maid who was an Indian girl with long straight hair and fine brown skin. Not like she would have cared which maid she got, she didn’t want to be here anyway.

The other ladies got their maid, each maid was to help in preparing her mistress for the King before they were examined by Memukan who will decide if they looked their best. He was to train them on how a Queen ought to behave. Memukan observed that this was going to be a difficult competition; he also saw that some of the girls were more beautiful than others, if only they knew that what the King sought was beyond good looks. Queen Sabitum had it all, but her position had still been stripped off her. The King sought for a woman with a more beautiful character.

                                           
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“Who’s that girl?” Mylitta asked her maid as they settled into a comfortable chair inside a beautifully decorated hall.

“I do not know her, my lady,” the Jewish slave girl replied politely as her eyes followed the gaze of her mistress. Mylitta watched Hadassah and her maid who were seated closely in front. Never have she been in a room and felt less beautiful, but the lady she was seeing in front made her doubt her beauty. She didn’t like it.

                                             
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“I understand that not many of you know the reason for which you are here,” Memukan stood on a podium addressing the newest concubines of the King. “The King is in need of a Queen for his kingdom and one of you here will be that Queen.” Being a eunuch to the King’s concubines didn’t make him a happy man, in fact, it made him sad. His father was a eunuch before him, so was his grand-father and now him. It has been a generational position. He has been a eunuch to King’s Ardates father long before King Ardates was born and he knew all too well that being a concubine of the King was just about the pleasure. The concubines were going to remain concubines all their lives as long as they have been with the King. It was against their law for a woman to be with a different man after she has sexually known the King. That wasn’t a duty he wanted to live his life overseeing.

He felt enormous pity for these young women seated in front of him, for the King was going to choose just one of them as his Queen, the rest of them will remain his concubines all their lives. Letting out a long sigh, he continued “Beauty is important, but what the King desires is a woman with a more beautiful character.”

The girls were led to their rooms with their maid, and were to return during dinner after Memukan has made certain that they looked their best. Their wardrobes have been prepared — it was important that they dressed like royalty at all times. Whatever life they had outside the villa was all in the past now.

                                              
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King Ardates missed terribly his Queen. His kingdom was staying without a Queen for too long, and he didn’t like it. He called for a guard, “Who is in charge of the young women who got into the villa today?”

“Memukan, my Lord. He is the eunuch in charge of concubines.”

“Bring him here,” he commanded arrogantly, sipping on a goblet of wine in his hands.

A sober Memukan approached the presence of the King with fear. He was aware that one wasn’t summoned by the King without reason. Why has he been summoned? What offence might he have committed?

“Live long my Lord,” he bowed when he stood before the giant throne of the King.

“I hear you are in charge of the young women?”

At first he didn’t understand what the king asked. What young women? All he ever did in the villa was being in charge of concubines. But Memukan forgot that some young women were handed over to him earlier in the day.

“Young women my Lord?” confusion evident in his expression, he surely was going to die today.

The King studied him for a time to be sure that he wasn’t trying to mock him, but all he saw was a confused looking man who seemed not to understand his question. So he asked directly, “the women who I will choose a bride from?” he eyed Memukan.

“O yes, my Lord,” he answered obviously trembling. “I’m…I am the one in charge of them, my Lord.”

“Good,” he drank more wine and continued, “how soon will before I get to make my choice?”

“In six months, my Lord.” Memukan was afraid of why the King was asking him so many questions. This was the longest that he has stood before the King, and he didn’t enjoy it. His life could be called short any moment so long as the king willed it.

“What!” the King shouted. “You expect my kingdom to stay without a Queen for six months?!” his eyes popped with anger, causing Memukan to take two steps away from where he stood.

He surely was going to die now; it wasn’t his doing that it was going to take that long to prepare the ladies. It was their custom. King Ardates ought to know this, that’s why Memukan chose to voice his thought, “it is tradition, my Lord,” he pleaded gently with his voice for the King to understand and spare his life.

“Don’t tell me about tradition! I am tradition! My kingdom will not stay without a Queen for another six months, do you hear me?” His jaw tightened, a sign that their conversation was over and his decision final. King Ardates decision was simple and final — either this eunuch presented him a Queen or he died.

“Y…yes, my Lord,” Memukan shook terribly. The gods has spared him his life, he was going to find a way to carry out the King’s request. He didn’t know how, but he had no choice.

                                         
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In a little corner of the room in his majestic villa, Gershom sat depressed and deep in thought. His life was a shadow of what it used to be — a time when he was deeply in love with Nana, a time when he cared about her, when he was still the man she has married before this monster that he has become. He loathed that he made her an unhappy woman. He couldn’t even communicate with her anymore. She feared him. He saw it in her eyes, in the way she tried to stay out of his way. If only things were different, he would have chosen love over this fear he got from his wife.

                                           

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A/N: have you ever been in a room where you didn't feel as beautiful or smart like you always thought that you were?
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