Asherat

Meli­sande had set aside the Veil of Asherat for our meeting and her features retained the same remorseless symmetry, pale and fair, eyes the hue of sapphires at twilight, her hair unbound in a rippling fall of blue-black waves, her figure statuesque nigh to perfection.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

The priestesses of Asherat frowned visibly behind their veils and muttered, displeased.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

Asherat, who had once saved my life; Asherat, by whose mantle Melisande Shahrizai herself was protected.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

They say Asherat-of-the-Sea held you in her hand and bore you up on the waves.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

“She took the Veil of Asherat the minute she entered La Serenissima,” Allegra said.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

Asherat stared across the open space unmoved, surrounded by leaping waves.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

Even then, the priestesses of Asherat had treated Melisande like a Queen in exile.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

Squares of winter sunlight lay upon the marble floor, and sunlight gleamed on the Veil of Asherat, drawn back to lie in a glittering net on her blue-black hair.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

And I prayed, in that twilight, to the goddess Asherat, to Blessed Elua and his Companions, to Isis who knit the sundered pieces of her beloved Osiris, and to Adonai Himself, the One God of the Habiru.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003

Full many a time had I met the blank stare of the great effigy of Asherat, towering vast and stony above the altar, carved waves surging at her feet.

Kushiel's Avatar Carey, Jacqueline, 1964- 2003