Читать книгу Familiar Mirage - Caroline Burnes - Страница 14

Beth could barely force herself to sit still as the boat sped back to Alexandria. She’d planned on at least three days of diving. It was almost unimaginable that she’d found the temple on the first day of the underwater excursion. This put her two days ahead on the expedition. It was almost as if Con were guiding her.

She smiled at that thought. She’d had so much doubt about this adventure. All her professional life she’d been content to settle in to work the sites that others had found. Her work was important, but it was always the work of the follower, the detail work that made for footnotes in history. The lost City of Con was a major discovery. She would make her mark as a leader, as a woman with a vision of the past. More than that, though, she would change the way history viewed women.

Sure, Cleopatra had been viewed as a powerful ruler, but it was her romantic interludes for which she was famous. On the other hand, Con and her progeny had been the guiding force behind the Ptolemy rule. She had served as the eye to the future for the leaders of Egypt, as well as for many of the rest of the world.

What if there were actual records of Con’s predictions? Or the predictions of her female ancestors and descendants? What if there was some description of how these women were able to predict the future?

Beth felt chill bumps shift over her body at the very thought. Modern science was just beginning to accept the power of the mind. What if there was written documentation of that power and how it might be accessed?

The possibility of what that could mean to the world made Beth short of breath. She stood up and began to pace the deck of the boat.

“How long do you think it will take you to decipher the hieroglyphics?” Omar asked her.

She’d failed to see him approach, and his question caught her off guard. She turned to him and was aware of the sun’s light rippling through his dark hair, the glint of his tanned chest. Unlike the other men, whose pale skins had begun to redden, he was a creature of the sun.

“I don’t know. Just looking at them, it seems to be a combination of symbolic pictures and symbols that also represent sound. It looks pretty complex.”

“I wonder why they chose to use symbols,” Omar said. “They could have written it.”

She nodded. “Yes, the Egyptians were using a written alphabet at the time.”

“Perhaps the hieroglyphics were used deliberately.”

“To prevent outsiders from finding the city?” Beth asked. This seemed to be a theme with Omar.

“‘Outsiders’ is a harsh term. I do know that the followers of Con were a very secretive bunch.” He smiled to take the sting out of his words. “I think that for them, everyone who wasn’t absolutely bound to the group was considered an outsider.”

“They lived a long time ago. Perhaps they’ll look kindly on another woman who simply wants to understand them.”

He stared deeply into her eyes. “Is that really what you want, Beth?”

It was the first time he’d used her name, and she knew that his question was loaded with meaning. “It’s my job, Omar. It’s what I do because I love doing it. I think by learning about the past, we can prevent mistakes now. We can learn from those who came before us.”

“And is all this learning for yourself or for the glory that will come with it?”

She hesitated. “I would be lying if I didn’t say both. I want to be recognized and acknowledged as a top professional in my field, but I could have gone in search of any number of other sites of archaeological importance.”

“So what is it about the City of Con that drew you to it?”

“It’s not the city. It’s Con.” Beth wondered if a man could ever understand her motives. She suddenly decided to try to make Omar see. “I dream about her,” she said softly. “I see her, and I want to know what role she played in history. I want her to have the credit she deserves.”

“Perhaps she didn’t want credit.”

Beth smiled. “I can’t know for certain, but neither can you.”

Omar leaned closer, sending a shudder of pleasure through Beth as his whisper lightly touched her ear. “What if I told you that I, too, dream of Con? And in my dreams, she tells me that the past is best left shrouded in mystery.”