Order Vashti dragged before him.

Xerxes did not need his wife to openly defy his order before his court -- on his birthday no less! -- when he was still recovering from the loss of his fleet to the Greek navy. He had hoped to succeed where his father King Darius had failed in having the Greek city-states under his heel but instead his armies fled across the bridges of Hellespont. He did not need to give his generals to another reason to overthrow him by appearing weak for his inability to control his Babylonian wife.

"Bring Queen Vashti before me," the Persian king bellowed.

"But, Your Majesty, she refuses your summons," an eunuch-chamberlain boldly replied.

"Then drag her here!" Xerxes spat angrily.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied the vizier, bowing before taking a few of his fellow chamberlains with him.

Although he initially wanted to brag to his court the unearthly beauty of Vashti, Xerxes realized he need to enforce his own laws. He stood up, silencing the whispers around the great hall, and raised his voice so all could hear him. "I have summoned Queen Vashti and no man may gaze upon her lest they are willing to die for such experience!"

The nobles, ministers, and generals looked at each other at the King's mood swing from merriment to anger. They knew that many men had been executed for lesser offences and turned their eyes downwards or towards the wall when the eunuchs announced the Queen's presence.

"Your Majesty, Queen Vashti," Haman announced with slight smirk when the chamberlains returned with the Queen carried by muscular eunuch-guards.

"Come," the King ordered his wife, pointing to his feet. The guards gently lowered the Queen to the top of dais before Xerxes.

Vashti paused, looking at the scores of drunk men averting their gaze from her nude form, before sauntering towards her husband. "What is the point of showing me off to your ministers and generals if they will not look at me without fear for their lives, my husband?"

"I must uphold my laws," Xerxes whispered. She was his favorite not only for her beauty but her guile and wise council. She was a great Queen but they both knew she had stepped over the line when she refused his command.

"Am I to be punished, my King?" she asked, pressing her large breasts against his chest.

"Yes," he nodded, glancing over to Haman before looking at his wife's brown eyes.

"Will you put my head on a spear?" she sighed.

"No but you will be speared," he answered. He grabbed her by the shoulders, spun her around, and bent her over the table, knocking over glasses of wine and plates of food.

"Your Majesty!" Haman began to protest but he was silenced by a glare by the King.