Chrysocolla (9 page)

The party
really
began once my father and mother arrived. The music grew louder and people made it a point to come to the main table to greet us. I sat for hours as each person had a turn coming up to us, when I really just wanted to go talk to Kye. Logan had me worried. Could he really beat my father? Was I safe in my father’s country, or could Logan do as he pleased once he had the last stone? I had too many questions, yet I had to sit and play the part of the good princess.

“Honey, do you need to get up and walk around a bit?” My mother asked. I had enough nervous energy to run laps around the room. I smiled at her. Even as the queen, she was still my mother.

My father finally noticed. “Seti, can you please escort my daughter on a walk through the gardens. I don’t think she has seen the main gardens yet, and they are beautiful at this time of night. If she’s too tired to return, can you make sure also that she makes it back to her rooms?”

“Yes, my pharaoh,” Seth replied as he stood and bowed to my father. He was in formal mode.

Seth waited for me. He took my hand in his as he led me back through the room. I knew if we stopped, people would still want to talk to us, so I had to be discreet. I nodded to Kye, who stood and followed with Ty right behind him. It was nice that Kye understood me.

Seth noticed, but said nothing as he kept walking. In his hands, no one said a word to us. I felt the warmth where our hands connected. When I thought before that Seth was still mad at me or even over me, I could feel his love now. Our physical connection amplified what I felt through the bond. He still loved me. Now all I had to be sure was that he forgave me for what I did. I appreciated being able to leave the party and finally have time with him. Too bad there was more that needed to be talked about before we could talk about us.

Seth walked back through the palace to the gardens I had already found earlier. I smiled as he went over to the spot Kye, and I had claimed.

“What’s going on?” Seth asked, looking between Kye and me.

“I heard people talking that an ambassador from Assyria was here. I was worried that the only Prince from Assyria that would be close enough to make it to the wedding would have to be Logan, but I didn’t see him anywhere, thankfully it wasn’t.”

“Oh, it was him,” I replied. “He stopped by and told me that he was looking for the last stone and then he was coming for me.”

All three men turned and stared at me. I couldn’t sugar coat it. They had all been trying to keep me safe, and just now saw that I wasn’t. None of them had even seen Logan. It wasn’t a fair game. Logan was really good at stalking me.

“What do you mean he talked to you?” Getting visibly mad, Seth clenched his fists and tried to keep his voice composed. “When?”

“When I was trying to get over to talk to Kye and my father arrived. People started to surround me, and he was in the group of people,” I explained.

I shivered, hating that he had gotten close. If he had been able to time travel, I would have lost again. My father was the only reason I didn’t get whisked away. It stunk. I wanted to have more power and be able to stop Logan, but I was still at his mercy. What good was all the power the goddess gave me if it didn’t keep me safe?

“Mari,” Kye said, reaching for my hand. “He can take you, but he can’t stop you from traveling. You are stronger than him. Trust me.” He already knew what I was thinking. Kye was good at that, and his words made me stop my train of thought for a moment.

“He trapped me before,” I replied.

There was no way I was going to forget the bracelet. Kye had warned me not to accept anything from him, but I hadn’t listened. It was one of the reasons I was in this mess right now.

“That only works if you let him put it on. Your willingness to take it from him is what sealed it on you. If you don’t take anything from him, you won’t have to worry about that,” Kye explained. He didn’t seem too worried about the bracelet.

“And you have enough stones to travel through several times and back again,” Ty added, patting my back. He knew how this was terrifying to me. I had only just learned how to time travel. I wasn’t anywhere near prepared to deal with Logan, who had lived more than three lifetimes traveling as he pleased. Somehow I needed to get caught up on everything, and I needed to do it before Logan found the last stone or we all were in trouble.

“So we just sit here and wait?” I asked. I didn’t really like Kye’s approach now that I knew Logan could come and go as he pleased even in Egypt.

“How about we go treasure hunting?” Seth replied.

“Treasure hunting?” I asked, not sure where that was going.

“Isn’t Logan looking for one more stone? What if we find it first, and don’t tell him? He can spend the rest of his life looking for that stone and in doing so will leave us alone.” Seth looked at me, waiting for a response. He was right on my track. He was ready to go on the offensive.

I raised my eyebrows at the thought. I did want Logan to keep busy and away from me. Seth’s plan actually sounded decent. I was all for getting the last stone and not telling Logan, and I was definitely on board for being left alone. Why couldn’t Logan just go away? Treasure hunting it was then. Ty nodded, and Kye smiled and nodded, too. That sounded like a great plan.

Chapter 4

The Last Stone

I sat and
stared at Kye. He was still not making any more sense than he had the first time he explained it to me. With the goddess’ power running through my blood I was connected to all the stones. I should, in theory, have been able to feel them, just as the goddess could see when someone asked to use her power. Kye said that by embedding the stones in me, she was essentially giving me her power. While I only had five of the hundred stones, it was enough to make me feel the magic of her where ever it was. I had her powers now, supposedly all of them to some extent.

I understood that the stones were inside me, and how I was to access their power, but that didn’t help when
feeling
for the missing stone. Kye assured me that it was within my realm of ability. I trusted him. It made logical sense, but that didn’t mean I could do what he wanted. Somehow, I was now connected to the stones. According to him, it would be easy to find the lost stone. It wasn’t. And I was pretty sure I wasn’t connected to anything besides the ones I loved.

“Mari, focus,” Kye told me for at least the twelfth time. Focus really didn’t seem to help anything.

“Just give it another shot,” Ty said a little more kindly.

At least he wasn’t getting fed up with my lack of ability to do things perfectly on the first, second, or tenth time. Ty had been there since the beginning, and it was nice to have him there now, even if he couldn’t do anything to help. No one could. I wished time traveling came with a manual.

Training was just a bit hard with Kye. He had high expectations of me. I had to imagine the person Kye knew as his mother, and the person who was me were completely different. It wasn’t fair for him to compare me to my future self. She had years more experience on me.

I wished I had more help. The guys were good motivation, and while I had yet to figure everything out, they were also an endless stream of suggestions. I was completely drained and had no more ideas, so I appreciated them greatly, well at least Ty and Seth. Not exactly Kye, who sat with a scowl on his face watching me fail again.

It wasn’t fair that Dee got to bail on us. So what if he had a wife and wedding to get back to himself? Wasn’t he part of this? Couldn’t Kye bug him? And what about Seth? He wasn’t helping either. Why was I the one being forced to do something I couldn’t? I wanted to blame Dee because he wasn’t there, but I knew in reality it was all on me. I had to figure it out. I just needed a break from all the work. It was getting to be too much for one time.

I looked across the garden to where Seth was lounging by one of the ponds as he took a nap in the sun. It was obvious that he was happy to be at home. He was relaxed now. I thought he fit in perfect in the future, but now I saw that this was truly his home. I was foolish to think he would stay in the future with me. He belonged here. I guess I did also, but it was still hard. Until a few months ago, I didn’t even know I came from the past. I had no idea how my mother kept that from me. Why didn’t I suspect anything?

Seth was sprawled out, and I examined him. His eyes were closed so there was no chance he could catch me eyeing him over. His perfect abs rose and fell with each breath, and I greatly appreciated the dress of Egyptian males at that moment.

“While that’s good concentration, I’m guessing that you aren’t focused on finding the stone,” Kye told me as he stepped in front of me, blocking my view.

Oops.
I was caught, but you couldn’t blame me. Seth lying around half-naked was much more fun than to try to do something that I didn’t even know where to start. I had no clue how to concentrate on a stone, or anything like that.

“Come on, Mari. You can do this.” Kye was now trying to pep talk me. Nope. That wasn’t going to help either.

I tried not to look across the garden and instead shut my eyes. I looked for any feeling I could feel. My mother and father were across the palace in their rooms. Kye was feet away from me, but I already knew that. And Seth wasn’t much further. I peeked out of my eyelashes a bit, making it seem like my eyes were still closed when they actually weren’t. I really didn’t feel anything else, but I didn’t want to be scolded again.

“I thought you understood this stuff a bit more,” Kye said as he stopped his pacing and sat beside me.

“Know what? No one trained me. The goddess made sure I was unprepared for all of this.” I opened my eyes and stared at him. He knew that much.

I couldn’t help but be a bit bitter about it. From everything Logan and Kye had told me, I was the only one that she didn’t train. It wasn’t fair. How was someone supposed to figure it all out without the slightest clue about anything?

“Was time traveling like this?” Kye asked Ty.

Ty shrugged. “It was more like an accident. And then with a little bit from Logan, she was able to do it perfectly. Just a little knowledge is all Mari needs, but I can’t imagine how she is supposed to figure this all out on her own.”

I smiled at Ty. At least he had my back.

“But she still figured out how to travel on her own,” Kye pointed out.

It was just a coincidence more than anything, yet Kye didn’t want to believe that. I was the perfect mother in his eyes. I wasn’t just frustrating him right now; I was crushing his image of me.

“How do other people find the stones?” I asked, a little less grumpy. “Like when they want to time travel. Do the stones just drop into their lap? How do they do it?” I looked at Ty, and he shrugged.

“I didn’t find the stones; Seti did,” he explained.

I glanced across the garden to the sleeping Seth. Time to wake sleeping beauty. I stood up and put my fingers to my lips to shush Ty and Kye before making my way across the garden as silently as I could. Upon reaching Seth, I dipped my hands ever so quietly in the water and cupped a bowl full of the cool liquid. I moved carefully, trying to not spill a drop as I positioned my hands to over Seth.

“You know that isn’t the kindest thing to do to your future husband,” Seth said without opening his eyes.

“Do what?” I asked as innocently as I could, like I had just walked over.

“Mari, I feel you. I can sense you, and you are holding water in your hands right now.” Seth still didn’t open his eyes.

“Just ‘cause you can sense me, doesn’t mean that you knew there was water in my hands,” I complained, letting the liquid drip through my fingers onto the ground instead of Seth.

“No. That was because I could see you,” Seth replied, opening his eyes finally. “When I felt you moving closer, I cracked my eyes open a bit and watched as you filled your hands with water.”

I flicked the remains of the water from my hands onto him. Seth laughed.

Seth reached up and pulled me to him, using me to dry the drops of water on him. I laughed and tried to push away, but it was no use. Seth was way stronger than I was. I relented to being his towel.

“So was there more of a reason you came over here, or was it just to get me wet?” Seth asked. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need a bath.”

“Yeah,” I said as I scooted off him and sat beside him.

He sat up and waited for me to continue talking. I had never asked Seth much about his past. I figured he’d share what he wanted to share. Asking him now seemed wrong. Well not wrong, but it just felt odd like I had waited too long.

“How did you find your carnelian stone?” I finally asked as he peered at me with questioning eyes.

“This one?” Seth asked, tracing the line on my arm. I couldn’t help the goosebumps that formed. He grinned at my response. He wasn’t offended at all with my questioning.

“Yes, that one,” I replied, trying to sound strict to keep him on task, but failing miserably.

It had been too long since we actually were real around each other. His touch was gentle yet familiar. I was more than happy to have him trace the lines.

“And this one?” Seth traced the light green line also starting at my shoulder and then down my arm to my hand.

“Any luck?” Kye called from across the pond.

I looked up and glared at him. Wasn’t he the one that kept saying I needed to be with Seth?

“We thought that if someone who used the stones can tell me how they found them, maybe I could tap into my powers and find the last stone,” I told him, hoping that he wouldn’t drop his hand from my arm.

“I didn’t find the stones,” Seth answered, his hand still on my arm. His fingers had traced the lines and were starting back up my arm. “They were given to me.”

“By whom?” I asked. It was beginning to feel like a wild goose chase.

Seth’s hands made it back up, and now he was looking closer at my new lines. I knew they were on me and all, but I hadn’t thought much about them. He lightly touched the first line as we talked.