“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?”