Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (18 page)

“What do I do now?” I asked. He was running off to save my mother, which was meant to be my job, according to my plans.

“Nothing. You sit here and wait,” Seth replied. “You’re not leave this room. It isn’t safe anywhere in this city for you. Dee will bring some food for you to last the day. I will be home by evening at the latest.”

How was I to just sit and wait? I wasn’t good at waiting. This was my fight. I wanted to be there. I needed to see my mother. Was she okay? Was she being treated well by her family? Or were they are rotten as I pictured, forcing her to run away when she was younger than me? Seth watched my face before coming back over. I was not a fan of just waiting.

“I can’t explain this any better to you. For your own safety, you have to stay here. Your hair alone will give away who you are. While most people will let you be, fearing the wrath of the nobles, others might not. You could be an easy way for some to make money— if they find a royal maiden outside the palace. That isn’t allowed and you could fetch a nice ransom. Please, just stay here. Don’t be seen by anyone,” Seth pleaded. I heard the desperation in his voice. “I can’t go off and do this if I’m worried about you.”

I didn’t need to see his eyes to know how concerned he was about me. I wanted to be helping my mother, but Seth was right. I didn’t know enough about this place, and would be a hindrance to him more than a help.

“I will,” I promised. Seth pulled me up, sheet and all, to kiss me one last time before he left.

Chapter 8

Finding Mom

I waited around
all day for Seth to return. I was lucky Dee brought me food like Seth asked or I would have missed lunch by staying in the room. I had the door barred, and there was nothing to do in the small space. There was less space than the dorm room I shared with Sim. I paced for a little bit. I slept for a little bit. I even tried to give myself a bit of a sponge bath from the small bowl of water we had to use. A world without technology was boring, and a world without books was even worse. I didn’t want to get stuck in the past without books. I’d have to live somewhere with books. Did they let women be scholars? Then again, that wasn’t the kind of book I was looking for. I never did ask Logan if we could take stuff back with us.

I did end up spending the majority of the day sitting in the window. Our room was on the backside of the building, but we had the corner room. From the angle of the window I could see a small patch of the street. I wasn’t allowed to look around the day before, but I could now in my hidden perch. I wasn’t disobeying Seth since I kept my hair covered. If someone even caught the sliver of me in the window, they wouldn’t know who I was.

By nightfall my stomach was growling again. Breakfast before dawn, and a lunch on my own, wasn’t enough to fill me by the time the sky turned black. I sat in complete darkness as the sun faded away. Because I wasn’t sure how to light the candles in the room. Luckily enough I did figure out how to get my billowy tunic back on, therefore I wasn’t naked. I jumped at the sound of the door handle being turned, even though I knew it wouldn’t open.

“Mari,” Seth said quietly.

I hurried to the door and opened it. Seth was carrying more food as he entered. I shut the door behind him and waited for Seth to set the tray down. I didn’t even care what it was this time, I was too hungry. Hot food smelled delicious to me. I wasn’t cut out for his time period and the lack of nutrition. Seth set the tray on the bed and the burning candle he brought with him onto the bare nightstand. He used the candle to light the lamp that I had no idea how to use. I felt helpless in this new time.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Eat first,” Seth ordered. He handed me a dish of something but took none for himself.

I shoveled the mush and chunks of who knows what into my mouth and stared at him. He took one of the glasses. I couldn’t tell by the dim light in the room, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t water. Seth stood by the window and looked outside as I ate in silence. When the food was finally gone, I waited for him. He didn’t say anything or turn around. I stood up and walked over to him. I placed a hand on his shoulder. He covered it with his own larger hand.

“Prince Saru has agreed to the Hittite King’s request of your mother,” Seth told me.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“In three days, your mother will be shipped north to marry the Hittite king as his twelfth wife,” Seth answered.

I sat back down on the bed. That wasn’t supposed to happen. My mother was meant to be happy in the past. The goddess sent her back. She said my mother belonged here. My mother didn’t belong in a place that traded her like cattle. She was a person, not an object. Why couldn’t these men see it that way?

“What can we do?” I asked as Seth sat beside me.

“I don’t know, Mari,” Seth replied while putting his arms around me. “I really don’t know.”

That was answer enough for my earlier question. The general hadn’t agreed to Seth taking my mother back by force. I had no doubt that Seth’s order was for him to return back to the military with or without my mother. General Paramessu was a smart general, and not one who would place such a risk on his country or his son. I hated, but respected, that.

“It’s not fair,” I said, trying to hold more tears at bay. I had cried enough over and for my mother. “She ran away from a life of being sent off as a bargaining chip between nations. The goddess even helped her. But where is the goddess now? Why is my mother being forced to live the life she tried hard to avoid? We have to do something.”

“I know,” Seth replied, pulling me to his chest. “I know. Just give me some time. We’ll think of something.”

I sniffled and cuddled into his arms. We had to think of something, and we had three days. I looked down at my arm. The lines were almost full again. I would be able to travel with her, but now I was unsure how to even do that. I was nowhere near her, and Seth didn’t want me near the palace because of who I was. I was stuck.

Seth picked up my arm and looked at the lines. He turned my arm around and traced the lines with his finger. He was as amazed by them as I was.

“They really are growing, aren’t they?” he said.

He had seen the lines the day before, but they weren’t much beyond a single swirl around my wrist and few up my arm. If I hadn’t let go of Logan, they would have been full and ready to travel like we had planned. Oh well. I enjoyed my time letting them grow back. They now stretched up my forearm.

“They still have a little to go, and then I can travel again,” I replied. Seth nodded and traced the lines with his fingers back down to where they started.

“This will take some getting used to,” Seth replied, looking closer at them.

“For you, but not anyone else. Only people who have time traveled before can see them,” I explained. “They’re almost full. That means I can travel and take someone back with me. If I can get close to my mother, I can take her back,” I added before Seth could change the subject off my mother completely.

“No,” Seth replied. “I’ll talk with Dee. We will find a way that doesn’t involve putting you in the middle of it. I need you safe. I have no idea what I’d do without you, or if you got hurt.”

“But I’ll be safe. See the lines? They prove it. If I get stuck, then I can just travel away,” I explained. “Superhero powers. Trust me. I can do this.”

“No,” Seth said with more finality to his voice. “I’m not letting you go off and potentially get taken away from me. These last six months have been torture, never knowing when I’d see you again. If you step foot in the palace, they will keep you from me, whether you want to be with me or not. I’m only a soldier. Royalty marries other royalty. I can’t have that, time travel or not.”

I couldn’t agree with his assessment that my new traveling abilities wouldn’t help, but I could agree that it was torture. And I didn’t want to torment him, he deserved that much.

“But I thought your father agreed to us being married,” I replied. “They would have never accepted that.”

“Well sometimes they are forced to accept marriages,” Seth cryptically replied, looking back to the window and not meeting my eyes.

“How?” I asked. I was a bit suspicious, but more than that, was wondering if he knew something that could help my mother.

“If you were with child,” he replied.

“But that didn’t work for my mother,” I answered, completely glazing over the fact that he admitted his father wanted him to knock me up that day they found me.

“Because she was still here and promised to someone else. If you were with my people, and protected by them, your cousin would have no choice but agree to the marriage or disown you. Your mother’s problem was that no one would have protected her. Her own people wouldn’t have wanted you born, and my people would have seen it as a sin to dirty the pharaoh’s future wife. You wouldn’t be in the same position with me. My father would protect us, and I would protect you.”

“This world is messed up,” I added, and shook my head. Love was love, and no one could control who they fell for.

“Don’t worry about your mother. Let me do this. Let me save your mother. Let me protect you,” Seth begged. I couldn’t say no to that.

I cuddled close to him as he dimmed the light in the room. Everything was so messed up, and it was all my fault. The wheels turned in Seth’s head. He was planning something, but he didn’t realize that putting himself in danger was also torture to me. He wanted to protect me, and I wanted to protect him. I wouldn’t be able to stand by and watch him get hurt. This time period was dangerous, and I was sure he was planning something risky. As much as he wanted to keep me safe, I wanted the exact same for him.

The next two
days were slow for me, but quick for Seth. Dee came by each morning and tried to come up with ways of getting to my mother. There was nothing they could agree on and nothing really seemed feasible actually. My mother was left in the palace, preparing to go off to be a wife to a man she didn’t love. It wasn’t fair.

By afternoon, the guys both left me alone as they scouted out the city. They were trying to find a way as best they could, but it was failing. They didn’t have many options since they weren’t in their own country,
and my mother was heavily guarded. After her last disappearance, it seemed that the Nahrin weren’t taking any chances this time.

When the third day came, the last full day my mother would be in the city, I had to take things into my own hands. Seth was trying his hardest. He wanted me to stay in his room all day and be safe, but she was still my mother. I had listened to the guys plan and throw out options. They were nowhere close to saving her. There would be a dinner tonight, and she would be given away first thing in the morning. Time was running out, and they couldn’t stop my mother’s fate. I trusted Seth to try his hardest no matter what, and knew he would do everything in his power to save my mother, but sometimes trying hard wasn’t enough. Sometimes it took more than you could give. Sometimes, someone else had to help.

I waited until the guys were gone out into the city again before I made my move. I couldn’t delay any longer as she was soon to be moved out of the city. I had no clue where to find her beyond the fact that she was in the large palace not too far away. If they took her, it would be even harder for me to find her, and you never knew what could happen on the way. It seemed like it wasn’t uncommon to kidnap a princess, I learned this after I listening to Seth and Dee throw out ideas. They could be ransomed for large amounts to various countries. If she left now, it might be close to impossible to ever find her again. I had to try to rescue her. I could send her home and come right back to the room where Dee and Seth would be waiting for me. We’d need to leave quickly since the Egyptians would be the first people they would blame for her disappearance, but that’s where Logan would come in. I tried several time to tell Seth of my plan, but he wouldn’t listen. He refused to allow me near my mother. I checked the door lock a second time before speaking. My plan was solid, and this time I wasn’t going to deviate from it.

“Logan,” I called. He said he would be watching me. I hoped that was true.

Logan appeared before me. It was strange to see him dressed in the rich tunics of the wealthier men around the city, as I had grown accustomed to seeing Dee and Seth in barely anything. Relief lined Logan’s face.

“Thank the goddess you called for me,” Logan said, coming over and inspecting me. “I have been looking all around the city for days, but couldn’t find you.”

“I’ve kind of been here for days,” I added, motioning around the room.

“That was a very smart decision. They would have hauled you off to the palace by now if anyone knew you were here,” Logan commented. “How’d you get into a room like this?” I had no money either, so it would seem strange.

“It’s Seth’s room,” I replied before I realized that maybe his wasn’t the best name to mention. Anger flashed briefly across Logan’s face before he was back to normal. I don’t think he thought I saw it, but I did. My being with Seth angered him. Maybe calling to him was a bad idea after all.

“And yet you call for me,” he commented, his cocky self easily returning.

“I need help,” I said, only further boosting his arrogance that I’d come to him over Seth. “I want to get into the palace to take my mother home like we planned. Seth doesn’t think it is safe for me to be there.”