Carved in Stone

by Stein Willard

  Their host smiled. “I concur. However, I find Aeron’s point of view quite interesting. At the risk of sounding too personal, what, if I may ask, drives you then?”

  “Happiness,” Aeron said immediately, not in the least offended by the question. Turks were straightforward people who call things as it is. “I would want to meet someone I can build a home with.”

  The two men stared at her, making her slightly uncomfortable. After a moment Sadik shrugged.

  “It is rare to find someone who places a stable personal life above money. It’s commendable, Aeron, and if possible, I think my admiration for you grew exponentially.” He glanced Mustafa’s way. “This is the kind of person my corporation would want to do business with. You are lucky to have her.”

  Mustafa cleared his throat softly, his face serious, as he looked down at the table. “She will not be with us much longer.”

  Sadik’s head jerked in Aeron’s direction. “You are leaving?”

  “My tenure ends in six months. I miss my family and friends,” Aeron replied quietly.

  “That is the saddest news I’ve heard all day. How will the THA cope without you?” Sadik pressed. He picked up his glass and drained it. Aeron was surprised by the man’s reaction to her imminent departure. She could’ve understood had it come from Mustafa. Her eyes were once again drawn to the security camera.

  ***

  Aspen’s eyes hurt as she stared at the monitor, but for the life of her she couldn’t blink. She was scared that if she did, the image on the monitor would disappear. Her heart thumbed in her chest as she traced the beautiful face with a shaking finger. It was unbelievable. Besides the looks, even the voice and mannerisms were the same. Aka came to stand by her side and it was only then that Aspen realized that she had the small monitor gripped in both hands, her face close to the screen. She slowly sat back.

  “I brought you something to drink.”

  “She’s leaving in six months for the States, Aka,” she croaked, her eyes still riveted on the screen. “She will be gone soon.”

  Aka placed the drink on a nearby table. “At least we’ll know where she’ll be. But that still doesn’t mean that we don’t have time to come up with a plan.”

  Aspen took her eyes off the monitor to look at Aka. The woman looked determined.

  “What do you mean?”

  Aka shrugged. “Seduce her?”

  “Seduce her?” Aspen stared at the woman as if she’d just grown two heads. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Because it is. You’re gorgeous.” Aka walked over to the small bar. With her back to Aspen she fixed herself a drink. “If she’s who we think she is, I can assure you she will not leave these shores.”

  Aspen turned her gaze back to the monitor. The blood in her veins bubbled as she met the golden gaze head on. She was entranced. The golden gaze was pensive. Was she aware she was being watched? The gaze lingered before the blonde head turned away sharply.

  ***

  “I have a job for you if you want it.”

  Both Mustafa and Aeron stared at him. Sadik threw a quick look at the camera. Aspen will kill him for sure if Aeron wasn’t the right woman. His gaze returned to the stunned archaeologists. He almost sighed loudly with relief when the doorbell rang.

  “Dinner’s here,” he announced as he came to his feet. The waiters filed into the room at his invitation. One trolley was pushed through to the dining room; the other was left standing close to the door leading to the study. He smiled at his guests, but could see Aeron’s eyes were fixed on the second trolley. The woman was not to be underestimated. She was not dubbed one of the most brilliant minds in the archaeological world for nothing.

  “If you would, could we move to the dining room?”

  Aeron was the last to move, her eyes trailing to the camera again. Sadik grimaced. He was usually a good judge of character, but when it came to Aeron, he seemed to have walked into this blindly. The woman’s intuition was razor sharp. His smiled deepened. Of all the tales he’d heard of Phage when he was young, all of them stressed Phage’s almost otherworldly instincts. The only time she disregarded her instinct, was when she got ambushed and died as a result.

  ***

  He offered her a job.

  Aspen smiled. Those exorbitant amounts of money to educate Sadik had not been in vain. She made a mental note to kiss him when all this was over. The boy really could think on his feet. She watched as the entourage left the lounge. She had held the golden gaze when it touched hers right before the woman left for the dining room.

  “Is it her?”

  Aspen smiled faintly. “There’s only one way of finding out.”

  “And that is?”

  “If I tell you, you’ll blush,” Aspen said as she stood up. “I’m hungry. Shall we eat?” At Aka’s stunned look, she chuckled and walked to the door to retrieve the trolley. She lifted the covers and smiled when her stomach growled. This was the first time in a very long time that she felt this hungry. She waited patiently as Aka served them. The woman hated being side-lined when it came to domestic duties.

  ***

  The food and the conversation was wonderful and Aeron enjoyed it immensely. But still her thoughts kept wandering to the sudden job offer from Sadik. She didn’t plan on staying in Turkey after her contract ran out. Returning to the States, she would be surrounded by friends and family. She wanted that, in fact, she missed it. However, working for a global corporation such as Sultan Enterprises could be advantageous. She glanced at Sadik, who was in conversation with Mustafa. She wondered if he was serious about the job offer. If so, she would love to know if they had any positions open Stateside. But it seemed that the offer was prompted when she mentioned her leaving Turkey. They would want her to stay here. She was good at her job, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it really warranted a position at such a prestigious company.

  “I pray you do not consider it rude, but I thought we could discuss the reason I called you here over dinner,” Sadik said quietly, his eyes on her.

  “I don’t have a problem with it,” Aeron said and looked to her boss, who nodded too. Sadik took a sip from his water and dabbed at his lips with his napkin.

  “I will get to the point. There is talk of a major find at the one of your dig sites.” He smiled slyly. “With more than five million dollars invested in the dig, we had to have someone out there monitoring the process. My man informed me that a tablet and some sort of a coin were unearthed recently. What does this mean for us?”

  Mustafa turned to Aeron. “We spoke about it as we drove over here, thinking it might be a reason why you called us here.” He reached for his water glass. “We will only know in a few weeks the exact date and origin of the pieces.”

  Sadik nodded. “But what are your preliminary findings?”

  “Well...” Aeron cleared her throat softly. “It would seem that the pieces date back to the Amazonian era.” She studied Sadik closely to gauge his reaction. She swallowed hard when he didn’t even blink at the news. He definitely knew something. “As I told Dr Klimt, this could easily be the find of the century since the existence of Amazons were mostly written off as myth.” She held Sadik’s gaze until he looked away.

  “Why do I get the feeling you are not entirely convinced, Aeron?” Sadik said as he picked up his fork. “This find could go a long way in supporting some of the facts in your thesis. Would you not want to make the fraternity fall flat on their faces for dissecting and questioning your thesis?”

  Aeron smiled. Now he sounded just like Harry. “It would be a great feeling to prove a lot of people wrong, but I would need concrete evidence to achieve that.” Aeron looked at Mustafa. “It might not be vital, since the find is significantly important, but there is something off with the timeline. Finding Galatian era pieces while still digging through layers of sediment dating to the Ottoman period are disconcerting for me.”

  Sadik slowly put his fork down. He had a heavy frown on his face. “Could that discred
it the find?”

  Feeling Mustafa’s eyes on her, Aeron quickly shook her head. “Although the context of the find will raise eyebrows, the find in itself and its authenticity cannot be questioned.” Sadik heaved a sigh of relief and Aeron grinned. “It was not my intention to distress you. I sometimes like to over-analyse and to question every little shadow.”

  “That is how it should be, Aeron.” Sadik grinned at her. “It will certainly be a great loss for the THA when you leave.”

  “I think the sentiment is mutual. I like working for the THA.”

  “Then why not consider a second term?” Mustafa said as he cut through a piece of venison. “We can arrange that you return to the States once every two months or so.” He looked up hopefully. “You will see your friends and family regularly.”

  Aeron looked to Sadik and found him watching her, a pensive look on his face. “I don’t know. My parents will join me in two weeks. I haven’t seen them for a year.” She slowly chewed a piece of venison. “But it doesn’t mean that I won’t consider this generous offer.”

  Sadik’s face lit up with a broad smile. “That is more than enough for us.” He glanced at Mustafa, who was also sporting a wide smile. “Now, tell me more about the finds. When can we let the media know?”

  Aeron bit her lower lip. “As soon as Dr Klimt can supply us with all the information about the pieces, we could get the media involved. I’m scared that the news might leak before then.”

  “Then get the PR people to downplay it until we have all we need to go public.”

  The rest of the dinner went by as they discussed possible ways of how they could break the news to the world. Aeron found herself to be enjoying the night tremendously. Sadik was a great host and knew how to keep the conversation flowing.

  After dinner they returned to lounge for coffee and Aeron’s eyes immediately found the camera again. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

  “You said your parents will be visiting, Aeron. Do you plan on taking them anywhere?”

  Sipping from the strong coffee, Aeron shook her head. “I was supposed to fly to the States for my birthday, but something came up.”

  “Your birthday?” Sadik smiled warmly. “When exactly is that?”

  “On Saturday.”

  “Aha, that is truly wonderful. Since you will be a guest of my employer’s over the weekend, I think we could arrange something special for the day.”

  Aeron’s eyes widened. She was already nervous about meeting the elusive recluse without adding more pressure. “Please, there’s no need for that. I don’t want you to go through all the trouble.”

  “It will not be trouble at all, Aeron. In fact, I’m sure my employer would insist that we do something special for you,” Sadik said quickly.

  Not sure how to reply to that, Aeron simply nodded. Had she not been so eager to see the collection, she’d have cancelled the visit to avoid this discomfort.

  CHAPTER 10

  Aspen hungrily eyed the leftovers on Aka’s plate and smiled when the woman carefully pushed her plate over to her.

  “Are you sure?”

  Aka grinned and took a drink from her wine glass. “It is good to see your appetite returned, Khatun.”

  At the sound of the ancient title for ‘Queen’, Aspen looked up from her plate. She’s hasn’t felt like a queen in a very, very long time. A small smile curled around her lips, but tonight she did. She felt powerful and feminine and sexy. It all had to do with the quiet presence of the tall blonde. Phage always caused those emotions to surface in Aspen. She could be caught up in a meeting with her Council, but the moment Phage entered or walked past the room, her body would respond to her Consort’s proximity. It seemed to be the same case, even after all these years.

  “I feel much better now,” she said to Aka before continuing with her dinner.

  “She’ll be joining us for the weekend. Would you like for me to prepare the suite facing the sea for her?”

  Aspen was slightly surprised. That particular suite is only used by her. In fact, it was an extension of a hidden staircase leading from her vault, where she spent her days in stone form, to the suite. She rarely slept there, but sometimes, when the images and memories of Phage became too much, she escaped by locking herself in the suite. Now Aka was asking her if she would give her consent for the blonde woman to use the suite. She looked up at the other woman.

  “It is fine if she sleeps there.” She didn’t comment on the flash of shock in Aka’s dark eyes, but continued to eat her dinner. She looked at the screen and stop mid-chew. Intense golden eyes met hers and Aspen slowly pushed the plate away, her gaze fixated on the screen. “What do you think of her, Aka?”

  Aka appeared next to the chair. “She’s beautiful and…tall. Was she always this tall?”

  “Yes,” Aspen said with a small smile. “She was the tallest woman in the kingdom and…” Aspen stopped abruptly.

  “And?” Aka prompted.

  “She was the most beautiful woman in the whole kingdom.” Aspen eyes were dark with emotion when she looked up at Aka. “I’ve missed her so much.”

  Aka put a gentle hand on Aspen’s shoulder. “You will be together very soon.”

  ***

  As hard as she tried, Aeron couldn’t keep her gaze from straying to the camera. Nor could she shake the sensation that she was being watched. What was worse, was the tingling feeling going through her as she watched the camera. Whoever was doing the watching had a very strange effect on her.

  “What time would suit you for the trip to the island this weekend, Aeron?”

  Aeron reluctantly took her gaze off the camera and back to Sadik. He was watching her thoughtfully over the rim of his coffee cup.

  “I will be ready whenever you want to leave. What time did you have in mind?”

  Sadik smiled. “We could leave in the morning so I can take you on a roundabout of the island before we travel further to our destination.”

  “The morning sounds good. I will be ready from seven onwards.”

  The rest of the evening they discussed the recent find, but Aeron couldn’t help to wonder at Sadik’s almost blasé attitude towards the topic. The man looked vaguely bored as they talked about the tablet and Aeron would, more than once, find him studying her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was glad when the night finally came to an end and Sadik walked them to the door.

  “Thank you both again for coming at such short notice. I will discuss the find with the Sultana.”

  Mustafa nodded. “Thank you for inviting us.”

  Aeron smiled at Sadik and gave one last look at the camera before she followed her boss out. The ride back to her flat was short, but Aeron remembered nothing of the trip, nor the discussion she’d had with Mustafa.

  Back in her flat, she stripped her clothes and stepped under the shower to relax herself. Standing under the cool stream, her face upward, Aeron thought about her upcoming trip to Lesbos. There was a lot of talk about the Sultana and her charitable work and, of course, her immense wealth, but no one, it seems, has even met the woman face to face. It would be interesting to meet her and to find out how she managed to build such an impressive private collection.

  She turned off the shower and padded naked to her bedroom where she threw her tired body onto the cool sheets. Tomorrow, was going to be a very busy day. She’ll have to talk to the PR department to set up a press conference. Even with her doubts about the find, it can’t be denied that the pieces were extraordinary and needed the due attention. With a soft sigh she turned on her side and closed her eyes.

  It wasn’t long before she was sound asleep.

  ***

  Sadik turned away from the door and was surprised to find Aspen standing behind him. The Sultana had a peculiar look in her dark eyes.

  “She’s magnificent, isn’t she?” he said quietly as he studied Aspen closely.

  “She always has been,” Aspen replied. “She’s also not easily fooled.”
Aspen appeared irritated now. “Which artefact were you talking about?”

  Sadik bit his lower lip, avoiding Aspen’s piercing gaze. “We had hoped to catch her attention with the Amazonian tablet.”

  “And?”

  “We underestimated her.”

  “Good that you noticed that too. What will you do about it now? If she has reservations, no doubt others will too.” Aspen slowly circled the sitting area and came to a stop behind the chair Aeron had occupied earlier.

  “I will speak with the PR team tomorrow. We can use our influence as the biggest investor at the THA and give our news channel the scoop.” Sadik swallowed when Aspen spun around to face him and pin him with a piercing glare.

  “No. If the intention was to get Pha… Dr. Whittaker’s attention, you succeeded. We need not go any further with the charade.”

  “But what about the archaeologist who found it?” Sadik liked Aspen’s reasoning, but it still left a few loose ends.

  “Tell him about the doubts you have and let him find a way to justify his find. Let it come from them. Over the centuries, grave robbers have been known to contaminate sites.”

  Sadik nodded slowly. “It sounds like an excellent plan. I will call early tomorrow morning before the media is invited.”

  Aspen’s hand gently stroked over the back of the chair. “Yes. While you’re at it, also confirm the weekend plans with Doctor Whittaker.” The dark eyes turned to Sadik. “I can’t wait to meet her.” Aspen cleared her throat. “And Sadik?”

  “Yes, Sultana.”

  “If your team messes up like this again, I want you to fire all of them,” she said coldly and left the lounge. Sadik pursed his lips. He had failed her. She hadn’t said it, but he knew her long enough to know that she was disappointed. At that very moment he felt like calling up each and every member of the Natural Science team to fire them. They had made the whole project an uphill battle for him.