A.D. 30(116)
“I speak of Aretas, not the Baptizer.”
“Aretas is no less a fool.”
I dipped my head and addressed only Herod now. “A fool with an army capable of crushing Tiberias. Did you think he would simply accept your divorce of his daughter?”
“And do you think I am powerless?” Herod said, but there was some respect in his voice. “Or that I know nothing?”
“No. You know that the king who kept me in his dungeon for three months is heartless. You know his fury is not easily quenched.”
“And why does this ferocious king send a blind woman to us?” Herodias demanded.
“Because I insisted,” I said. “Is it not the safest way for you? To give a payment in secret?”
I knew that I had Herod’s undivided attention. Herodias’s also, but for a different reason. She was still too self-important to be reasonable, I thought.
“Why would we pay Aretas?” she demanded.
“Please, my queen.” Herod faced her. “Not now. When the time comes, you will have what you want. Today I will be king.”
She considered his admonition, then submitted to him. “As you wish. Come to me soon.”
“Of course. Can I ever deny you?”
“No,” she said. “Remember that.”
“Always,” he said.
She was stronger than Phasa, I thought. This was what had attracted Herod. He longed for this kind of strength to satisfy his needs, having been raised under his father’s fist. So, then, perhaps they truly deserved each other in a way Herod and Phasa did not.
Herodias turned and left, leaving me behind closed doors with her king.
“What is it about you?” Herod said, coming closer now. “What has become of the queen who once trembled under my touch?”
“She sees Herodias’s slave,” I said.
“Then she sees far too much. And with wounded eyes.”
Herod had once shown his fascination for me as a woman. I thought he might now as well, but his resolve had already been rattled.
“You surprise me.” Herod turned away and paced. “So tell me, queen of the desert… what is his price?”
“One hundred talents in gold.”
He looked up. “Gold?” It was a massive sum of wealth.
“To be taken by me tomorrow. If I do not return within the week, you will face a bloody war.”
“I see. And if I agree to this price? What guarantee do I have?”
I had come to deceive Herod. I had come to save my own life and retrieve the gold so that I might find mercy in Petra. Judah’s life depended on it.
But now, deception seemed to be a mistake.
“None,” I said.
“None? Aretas sends me a demand for payment without offering any benefit for that payment?”
“On the contrary, Aretas sends assurance that one hundred talents of gold will free you of any further obligation. But he intends to deceive you and wage war regardless.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“Then you betray him by telling me.”
“Do I?”
He paced.
“Do you have his seal on this false assurance of his?”
“Show him, Saba.”
Saba withdrew the letter from Aretas and handed it to Herod, who broke the seal and read the contents. In it Aretas swore to wage no war if he received the price. The fabrication had been my idea.
“And you say that this is a lie?” he said, lowering the scroll. “Why do you tell me?”
“Because I serve neither you nor Aretas,” I said. “And because I know that you will still give me the gold as well as a guard of fifty men to see its safe passage to the border at Perea.”
Herod seemed amused. “Now she reads minds as well?”
“If you don’t, you heap salt in his wounds. Are you ready to wage war this month? Are the Romans ready to die in battle to defend you over a woman?”
“The emperor gave his consent.”
“But not his army.”
He stared at me for a long moment before speaking in a soft voice.
“So you think I will pay Aretas only to delay him?”
“Yes.”
“And how long do you think one hundred talents will buy me?”
“I don’t know, but he’s a patient man. A year? Two. Three, perhaps. Then Aretas will come. Or you can refuse payment now and immediately face a show of great force.”
He absently pulled his fingers through his beard.
“I see. And if I refuse, what of you?”
I shrugged. “He will kill me. With Judah and Rami, both held by the Thamud for leverage.”
Herod was silent, knowing well the full landscape now, for he understood the ways of kingdoms on earth. He finally turned and walked to the window to gaze out upon his own.