The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar

Author:Tessa Afshar [Afshar, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Biblical, FICTION / Romance / Historical / Ancient World
ISBN: 9781496458247
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2022-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I cry out to God Most High,

to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

Psalm 57:2, ESV

I stared at my master with rounded eyes. “Does Artadates know?”

“He does not. The only parents he has ever known are Mitradates and his wife.”

“But . . .”

“Yes. We should tell him the truth. One day. For now, I consider him too young.” Harpagus removed his round hat as though the weight of it felt too great. “A slip of a tongue and all of us will be subject to Astyages’s vengeance.”

You, most of all, I thought, and realized I had spoken aloud.

He leaned back against his chair. “Now you understand why I welcomed the opportunity to bring you to Ecbatana. The boy deserves an education.”

“Do his parents know their son lives?”

Harpagus shook his head. “I could not risk it. The king has spies everywhere. Letters can be intercepted. Besides, if they knew, they would gather their armies and be here before Astyages had time to finish his dinner. It would be a bloodbath. One they will lose. Media’s army is far greater, not to mention better equipped, though I have no doubt they can deliver a mighty strike against us. Neither kingdom would benefit from such a war.”

“Why not just deliver the boy to his parents yourself?”

“I cannot simply ride off to Persia without the king’s express consent. My movements are a matter of state. Astyages has kept me from going anywhere near Anshan for ten years. Mandana has never returned to Ecbatana since she lost her child. Astyages wishes to ensure I do not ever come face-to-face with her. He fears I may slip and tell her what he did. He knows I never agreed with his decision.”

“Could you not have sent the boy to Anshan with the shepherd?”

“Mitradates and his wife dote on him. If I sent them off on that long journey, I am not certain they would find their way to the child’s rightful parents. The temptation to keep him for themselves might prove too much.”

Harpagus drew a weary hand over the crown of his head. “Let us say they resist the enticement of holding on to the boy. Let us even believe that, by some miracle, they avoid every danger as they travel without the benefit of guards and arrive at Anshan without falling prey to bandits or wild animals. How are Mandana and her husband supposed to believe the outlandish claims of a shepherd that this child is none other than the babe they supposedly lost ten years ago?”

“You could write them a letter.”

“Why should the king and queen of Persia accept the word of a Median general over the claims of Mandana’s own father? It would smack too much of political intrigue.”

Harpagus snapped to his feet and began to pace again. “A thousand times I have determined to send the boy off. A thousand times I have reconsidered. Perhaps if I had managed to return him years earlier, it would not be such a great dilemma. Now, it seems too late.

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