Sacrifice (The Venus Chronicles #1)

Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

Eve waited for everyone to go to lunch. If she was going to do this, there really needed to be no-one else around.

She’d been wearing Gran’s pendant for a few days now, beneath high-necked jumpers to keep it hidden. Wearing it felt naughty, like something she shouldn’t be doing. It was so ostentatious and, she suspected, so valuable, that wearing it was like strolling around with a 10-carat diamond on your finger. But there was more to it. Initially, the effects were subtle, but over time, she was noticing an undeniable boost to her energy.

With its gold in contact with her chest, Eve automatically stood straighter and felt stronger. Observing herself, she could clearly see that her skin had taken on a kind of radiance that no make-up would ever have achieved, and mentally she was having some kind of epiphany of clarity.

She felt powerful. There was no other way of putting it. What those powers were, she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Not yet.

Eve took the pendant from around her neck and held it up to the case where Ishtar’s crown sat on the head of a beautiful mannequin. It had been Rupert’s idea to help bring the goddess to life, although the model was last used in an exhibition about Cleopatra and still looked distinctly like the Queen of Egypt rather than Babylon.

Her grandmother’s star glowed with the same warm light as the crown, and holding them closely together like this, it was obvious they were made from the same ancient metal. They belonged together.

Eve checked around for onlookers one last time, opened the display case, and slipped her pendant from its chain.

The top of the crown had an inconspicuous empty setting, a detail she’d noticed, staring dreamily into the case the previous day. There was a thin opening in the design which, on further inspection, turned out to have structure around it. Trusting her instincts, Eve slid a point of the star into it and lifted the crown from the mannequin’s glassy eyed head.

The star sat securely in the setting. It was a perfect fit.

Eve’s heart rate quickened. The star sparkled, catching light in every facet, brighter and brighter the longer she looked. Her fingers buzzed against the gold. Reuniting the crown and the star had forged a connection, she was sure of it. The Crown of Ishtar and her star. The desire to place it on her head was overwhelming.

She closed her eyes and lowered it slowly into position.

It was like being hit by a beam of sunshine. Waves radiated from it down into her body to course through her veins. Her heart hammered. Something at her core expanded, jolted to life by the surge from the crown. Like a magnet, it was being drawn out, her essence pulled to the surface.

Eve looked down at herself for a physical sign of the sensations she felt and saw a wash of light flow across her skin like an incoming tide. This time it was golden, not the blue she’d seen in Lucien’s chateau. Without understanding how she’d come by the knowledge; in that moment, she knew that this golden energy had another its purpose. It wasn’t for protection like the blue—this held her together.

She closed her eyes to focus on what was happening inside her and visions erupted in her mind. Layer upon layer of previous lives—peeling away like the skins of an onion, each flickering in and out of focus. She was many, and she was one. She was her mother, her gran, Grandma Aliyah, Safiyya, Jamila. Like an out-of-body experience, she felt their memories merge with her own. The confidence of the pendant, the suntrap in the garden, the searing heat of the desert. Always the sun.

The warmth surrounding her shifted and faltered, to be replaced by a liquid cool. She opened her eyes and found Lucien standing in front of her. His eyes were dark, and the skin on his face shimmered to reveal archaic symbols that flickered and faded. Shadows danced at his back.

Eve stared at him, trying to understand what she was seeing. In this already bizarre experience, seeing that another person had multiple layers was a comfort.

“You have added to the crown,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Eve gazed back. Was Lucien’s shifting appearance the result of centuries of rebirth, too? He was undoubtedly otherworldly, and she knew now, without doubt, that there was more to her than the simple shop girl she’d always know. “What can you see?” she asked, “When you look at me, who am I?” The confusion of identities in her mind jostled for supremacy. If anyone would know, it was him.

Lucien assessed her with wide, blinking eyes, examining her from head to toe. “Very few people surprise me,” he eventually said. “I sensed you were special when we met, but this.” He swallowed hard and shook his head. “It seems you are ahead of me.” His gaze drifted up to the crown. “Where did you get that star?”

“Family heirloom,” Eve said with a shrug.

“And you just remembered it?” Lucien let out a small laugh.

“Recent events have been inspiring.”

“Yes.” A flash of greed shone in Lucien’s eyes.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He took a deep breath and straightened his back. “I see the woman I have been waiting for, for an eternity.” He reached forward and lifted the crown from Eve’s head. Immediately, the sharp supernatural focus she’d been experiencing faded. It was both a relief and an imposition. Her instinct was to snatch it out of his hands.

Lucien noticed her flinch. “Let’s put this away for now.” He nodded to the display. “There are things you need to understand.”

Her vision flickered. Perhaps it would be best to step away from the crown for a bit. She took it from him and locked it shakily into its case. The pendant however, she returned to the chain around her neck. Lucien watched the star of Ishtar drop inside her jumper.

“Let’s get some lunch,” he said. “I’ll explain. Then we can have some fun.”