“Sit.” She motioned for me to take the seat she was just in. I obliged and sat before her and untied the band that was keeping my bright red curls in line. Taking out a large comb, she began to try to detangle the curly knots that were my hair.
“So what do you do today?” I asked. When they said they were planning a wedding, I assumed it would take a few days, maybe even weeks. My father was Pharaoh, after all. But no, it would be less than twenty-four hours, and my mother was getting married.
“There’s a ceremony for your father and me, and after that, a party,” my mom replied, just as cryptic as everyone else.
“What sort of ceremony?” I asked. I was really curious.
My mother shrugged. “Stuff to the gods and what not. I’m not completely sure, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that it will be legal and that your father is excited to introduce you to everyone.”
I turned to peer up at her better as my heart caught in my chest.
“Wait, introduce me? This is your wedding, shouldn’t he be introducing you?”
My mother smiled. “Oh yes, me too, but right now making sure everyone knows you’re part of the royal family is just as important.”
I had enough to deal with; this was just icing on the cake. I didn’t want to be a royal family member. I just wanted to stay with Seth and not worry about all the responsibility that went with titles. I want to forget about the powers that the goddess gave me, too. I wanted to be a normal girl and just live a plain normal life.
My mother continued to part through my hair. She had to know that would be my response, but she didn’t stop me.
“An heir is everything to a pharaoh, and because your father has one, it is cause to celebrate, whether you want to be a princess or not.” My mother gently tugged on a knot. She was so good I didn’t even feel her getting through it.
“Why does it matter that much?”
I hadn’t asked the day before, but my father had been married already. Didn’t I have siblings? Wouldn’t all this attention make them mad? I felt like a phony. I grew up in another place and time and was just walking back into a life I should have had, but one that was as foreign as my life was to my father.
My mother laughed as she continued to expertly pull apart some tangled curls without hurting my head at all.
“You really don’t listen to anything, do you?” She paused before starting to comb through more of my hair. “Yesterday. Your father explained why we had to get married. He needs to claim you as his daughter before he marries you to Seti. He needs everyone to see that you are legitimately his daughter and not just some girl his general’s son plans to marry.”
I shrugged. I got that much. I still didn’t see the importance of it.
My mother stopped combing and came in front of me. “Mari, you are his only heir. Egypt will be yours when he passes onto the afterlife,” my mother explained. She waited to see that I understood before she moved back to finish the job of my hair.
Egypt would be mine. I hadn’t heard that detail before. This couldn’t be happening to me. I wasn’t really even an Egyptian. I was an American. I knew nothing of this place. I would stink at being a ruler.
“Wait.” I turned to her and regretted it as my hair pulled that was still in her hands. “How can I be his only heir? He was married before.”
“She died during childbirth,” my mother replied quietly.
It was strange to hear. I had grown up in modern times and didn’t know of a single family where the mother was gone because she died during childbirth. It was a reminder that I wasn’t in the modern future anymore. I was in the past. And it was a life I was going to have to get used to.
“So I have no siblings?” I asked. I kind of was hoping for several younger half brothers and sisters. I always wanted a sibling.
“No siblings,” my mother replied, parting my hair to start on another section.
She had wanted more children, but she never could love another person after my father. What they had just couldn’t compare to anything else.
“So what does introducing me to everyone entail?” I asked.
I remembered not too fondly my stay with my mother’s cousin in Nahrin where he was trying to use my hand in marriage to barter off the best alliance he could get. Maybe my dislike of being called a princess came from that and not wanting to repeat that experience.
“He has some sort of speech planned where he tells everyone we are now married, and you are our daughter. Simple really.” My mother was almost finished with my hair.
“And how many people will be here for all of this?”
“Not really sure.” My mother dropped the last chunk of hair she was working on.
I had to hope with the short notice it would be a nice small dinner party and no one from my mother’s family would be invited. I had a feeling they wouldn’t be happy to see me not with Logan, and even less happy to see that my mother went and married the pharaoh after they told Seth no. Good thing no one could just time travel right into the party. I had to at least be thankful for that.
My mother backed up, and I stood and turned to her. She really looked like a princess now. She was always beautiful, but now she really shined. Her eyes sparkled, and her hair had an incredible sheen to it. Her smile told me everything. She was more than just happy. She was completely where she always wanted to be. She was finally with the love of her life. I knew how that felt. I never wanted to be separated from Seth again. I couldn’t imagine how my mother made it through eighteen years without my father, but she was back with him now. That was how I wanted my life to turn out. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with the one I loved.
My mother pulled me into a hug.
“Thank you for being brave and for coming back here. I know how much easier it would have been to stay in the future. As odd and weird as it seems, this is where we were always meant to be. This is our home.”
The servant girls entered the room again and our moment alone was over. It was time for my mother to go get married, and me to get ready for a party I really didn’t want to attend.
My mother briefly kissed my head before she left for the ceremony. I was disappointed to see her leave. There wouldn’t be too many more alone moments for us like this. Everything was changing, and that was good and bad. I was kind of sad to see her walk away. I really wanted to see my parents marry. Kye reassured me that the real wedding function was the party that night. My mother stopped at the doorway and turned back to me one last time.
“Welcome home, Marcella.”
I nodded to her. It was true, this was our home. We were home.
Chapter 3
Wedding Time
I stood in my doorway and waited. The guards outside the room didn’t move as I stood there, nor did they look at me. It would have been nice to talk to someone. Kye had said he was coming right back, but I had beat him when getting ready. Ty stood behind me in the room, also keeping watch over me. I hated that I couldn’t speak freely to him when others were around. I had no idea how Seth got through doing that.
Kye returned from down the hallway. I followed him back into the rooms, away from the guards. Glad he was allowed to leave the room to get answers. The guards had made it very clear I wasn’t to leave the quarters I was confined to.
“The general and Seti will be stopping to pick you up,” Kye told me.
My heart did a little flip. Seth was coming back to get me. Since yesterday, I was nothing but disappointed at our short meeting. I had hoped he would come back after he left with his father, but he did not. Ty tried to reassure me that Seth wanted to be with me, but I still felt like he might be mad at me. I didn’t want to break up with him the last time I returned from the past. In fact, since the day he first told me that he loved me, I had been prepared to spend my life with him. Logan interfered, and all I could do now was hope that Logan didn’t win by making Seth hate me.
“And the room? How many people have arrived?” Ty asked.
&nbs
p; Ty was calculating how to keep me safe. My father had told me that many people had been invited, but not many would show up. I really didn’t know what many meant to him. It could be twenty or two hundred for all I knew.
“The main hall is about half full. The general said that he is guessing that there are at least a dozen or more families left to arrive,” Kye replied.
Still not a straight answer. I didn’t even know how large of a room it was to even begin to guess how many people fit in it. He was watching me for a reaction. Yes, I wanted to hide under the covers on my bed, but no, I wouldn’t do that. I had a role to play. I understood that. Part of marrying Seth was to be my father’s daughter. It made somewhat logical sense, but that still didn’t mean my stomach wasn’t making me want to puke at the thought of a room full of people that would analyze every little detail about me.
“Are you ready for this?” Kye was concerned. I didn’t blame him. If he knew me as well as he said, he should be worried.
“Ready?” I replied.
Yes, I was nervous. I hated all this parade me around for everyone stuff, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t already done the same thing several times now in the past. That part was a bit annoying but as time clicked on, I was more nervous about Seth for the moment. The more I thought about it, the more I worried. I had broken up with him. I had broken his heart. He said that he didn’t believe me for a moment, and Ty had told me several times how much Seth loved me, but I still worried. Until I got time alone with him, I couldn’t be certain that Seth had forgiven me.
“Ah-hem.” Someone coughed from one of the front rooms attached to the hallway.
I stood and followed Kye to the other room.
Seth’s father was standing in the doorway. He hadn’t crossed the threshold, but stood just outside it by the guards.
“I was asked to escort you to the dinner,” he told me. I looked behind him expectantly. Seth wasn’t there.
I tried not to be, but I was saddened without Seth there. His absence made me worry further.
The general turned and began to walk down the hallway inside my father’s home. He didn’t say anything to me, but I got the feeling I was expected to follow. Aside from our little venture out to see my mother arrive, I hadn’t left my rooms. Now with guards outside my room, there was no way I could explore.
The general kept at a leisurely pace as he made his way through the maze of hallways. That didn’t settle my nerves any. I was about to be introduced in front of a crowd and still didn’t know if Seth forgave me yet. I used the drawings on the wall to try to distract me from worrying about him, but it didn’t work. The pretty intricate pictures could not keep my thoughts from going back to Seth. The plan to save us all was for me to get married to him. What if he didn’t want to marry me now?
The general’s silent stroll gave me way too much time to think. Kye and Ty walked behind me, silent as Seth’s father.
When the general finally stopped in front of a door, I wasn’t sure I wanted to enter. I could feel Seth in the room as my stomach did flips. I felt for my parents, and found they had yet to arrive. I still had to wonder about the ceremony. They’d been gone all day.
Music called from inside the room, and talking could be heard from where we stood, unseen in the hallway. There was a party already in motion, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I already knew that, as the new outsider, people wouldn’t just let me walk in and disappear.
The general began to move to the doorway while I stood in my spot. I wasn’t ready for all that came with tonight. I wasn’t certain exactly what had been planned, but I was sure that I wasn’t going to be able to just hide away for the rest of my life. What my father wanted was taking responsibility. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. After all, I was just a kid. I should have been off at college, still growing up without all the responsibility of really being grown-up. The moment I walked through that door, everything was going to change.
I felt the tingles as Seth came near to the doorway. His father finally stopped and realized I wasn’t beside him anymore.
“Father,” Seth said, loud enough for me to hear over the music.
“And you took care of the business you needed to do?” the general asked in reply.
“Yes, Father.” Seth bowed his head. The general nodded back to me.
“Then you may escort the princess to her seat beside her parents,” the general replied. He stood and watched us. I was still unsure what to make of his gaze. He didn’t seem like the type to believe in time travel.
I nervously tugged at the light linen back to my dress. It wrapped around my arms almost like a cape and was something to distract me. The soft linen was almost see-through to show off the elaborately embroidered dress I wore underneath. I rubbed my fingers over the soft fabric, hoping to calm my nerves.
Seth bowed to me after he passed his father.
“Princess, may I escort you to your seat?”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what was going on with Seth. He was very formal when he asked me. There wasn’t even a hint of a real smile at the corners of his lips. I had to look away.
I nodded as I looked back at Kye and Ty. They didn’t make a move to follow, and that made my heart speed up. They were leaving me to face the mass of guests alone.
“We will find our own way in,” Kye told me. The general stood not too far away and nodded to Kye. Kye moved to walk past me with Ty behind him.
He was abandoning me. I tried not to pout. Seth was acting strange, and my two best friends were running off to the party without me. Kye paused near me and leaned in close.
“You’ll be fine,” Kye whispered to me.
Before I could even protest, Kye was gone. Not fair!
Seth was still waiting beside me with his hand held out for me. I tentatively took it. Was he still mad? I couldn’t tell, and it was killing me. He led us to the open doorway, and the music grew louder. There was no time to back out. It was now or never.
Seth didn’t wait and walked me into the room. I was surprised to see all the people standing and sitting around as they ate and talked amongst themselves. Off to one side, a few people were even dancing next to the musicians. Seth led me through the guests. No one stopped their conversation, but I did see several eyes turn to my entrance. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I kept my concentrating on the floor so that I wouldn’t step on my long dress. When we finally stopped, I was happy to see empty seats waiting for us.
Seth led me to the seat beside his father, who had reached his spot only moments before us. Seth sat on the other side of his father, and I was left beside the general and two empty seats. I sat down and took a deep breath. I could do this.
“Mari, my son has told me a lot about you,” the general spoke as food was brought to us.
“He has?” I tried to look around him, but Seth was avoiding my glance.
“He said if you had grown up here you would have been bored. That in your time you learned a lot and had a more active life than that of a typical princess,” he continued, dipping his fingers into water first before reaching for the food in front of him.
I followed suit and dipped my fingers in the water, not that I had the stomach to eat anything. My nerves were all over the place. First, I had been thrown into a different time and place again where everything was strange, then Seth was avoiding me, and now I had to sit and talk with his father, my future father-in-law, and one of the most intimidating people I had ever met. It was all a bit overwhelming.
“I’m not sure what the life of a princess is like here,” I replied honestly.
Honesty is the best policy, right? Or at least when you’re sitting next to a guy that has lived his life fighting wars and was still alive to tell about it.
“Learning to play music, dance, play games, that sort of thing,” the general responded before plopping the dark goop of food into his mouth.
That sounded like a nice break, but not a way I would have liked to
have lived my life. I was already going stir-crazy being confined to one wing of the palace and I had only been in my father’s palace for just over twenty-four hours.
“I suppose Seti is right,” I replied. I really didn’t suppose. He was right.
“He was trying to explain college to me, but I really didn’t understand it,” the general kept talking. For as scary and imposing as he was, especially the first time I met him, this was a completely different side of him.
“The concept, or how it was done?” I asked in reply. I was still intimidated, but to hear him talk about something familiar to me made me feel more at ease.
The general grinned. He liked my reply. “And he said you were smart, also. The concept. You go to school, and then go to school to learn more for a job. Why don’t you just apprentice? Why more schooling?”
That was a good question. I didn’t get a chance to respond as Ty tapped my shoulder. I looked up at him and he pointed across the room. Kye was giving me a look that told me to get over to him right away.
“I think Kye needs to talk to me,” I told the general as I stood.
He looked across the room and nodded. “Seti, accompany her.” He wasn’t asking; it was an order.
Seth stood up and followed behind me as I began to weave between the people standing around. Somehow the room had grown tighter in the past ten minutes since I sat down. More people had kept arriving and were still coming into the room. I wasn’t sure there was space for everyone.
Halfway across the room, the people all turned and began to bow to the doorway. I followed suit and dropped to a knee also when my mother and father were entering the room. Peeking up at them I was happy to see them arrive all smiles.
My father looked much different than the day before. Instead of a clean, white head scarf with a plain gold band, he was wearing the pharaoh headdress of blue and gold with a serpent around it. His arms and legs were covered with gold cuffs and bracelets and the plain neckline from the day before was replaced with an elaborate gold necklace that reached from his neck to his shoulders. Even his white shendyt was beautifully embroidered with a patch of gold. My father sparkled, literally and figuratively, as he stood before everyone with his arm around my mother.