“Mari,” I filled in the blank.
“Lady Mari, please follow me. I’ll take you back to your aunt,” the man replied. I nodded. My aunt was better than my cousin’s evil wife.
The walk back through the palace was very enlightening. We had come too far the night before in the darkness, I wasn’t sure how far we had traveled in the dark. Now we passed through courtyards and hallways that seemed endless. I had not realized it, but the palace was huge. Somehow my mother had found the point farthest away from the royal side of the palace to hide. Now in the light I saw how elaborate my surroundings were. The walls were finely finished stone, and if it wasn’t immaculately smooth, it was covered in pictures of men, rows of men, chariots with horses, fighting, winning, anything you could imagine was delicately painted on the walls. I always thought of the past as dirty and worn down. Any pictures you ever saw in the twenty-first century of ancient Egypt were of pieces of stone falling apart. Even the Great Sphinx was missing parts of its face. I never imagined the past being real. Now I was walking through it, and it was very real.
“Lady Mari, are you hurt?” the guard asked politely. He had already checked me over, but I guess I still looked ragged.
“No,” I replied. My dress was torn in a few places, but that was from our run in the dark.
“Your aunt will be glad to hear that, as will the Prince,” the guard replied.
“Why would the Prince care?” I asked. He was the one that Lady Saska said I needed to keep Lord Enil happy for.
“The Prince?” The guard asked, surprised. “Because he has chosen your betrothed. If he gave you away in any condition other than perfect, Prince Arik-ninari would seek to have punishments upon us. The prince specified that you were to be unharmed in every way possible. Lady Saska was putting up a real fight about punishing you.”
That made no sense. Lady Saska made it seem like Lord Enil was the final choice to be my husband, and now he was not. Was he ever even a choice? A lord or a prince. I didn’t know much about the past, but I was pretty sure marrying your cousin off to a prince would help you better in the long run.
As we finally made it back to women’s quarters, I dreaded entering. I had directly defied Lady Saska when I fought back against the Lord Enil she had been giving me to. I walked into the courtyard and held my breath, waiting for the onslaught of at least words from the wicked lady. Surprisingly, it was empty.
“Where is everyone?” I asked the guard escorting me. He stood just outside the pillars, watching the room.
“I’d guess at the midday meal,” he replied, satisfied I’d be safe.
“Everyone?” I asked.
“Except me, dear,” my great Aunt Juni told me. I turned and found her walking into the room. She was my mother’s aunt, and mother to the current ruler of Nahrin. The regal older lady was waiting for me. “We need to get your cleaned up. My son will be here soon to question you.”
Aunt Juni, along with her maids, hurried to clean me. It was not the relaxing bath I had the day before with my mother’s help. This was a mission to clean all the dirt off me as quickly as possible. Even Lady Juni got her hands wet. As soon as we finished, we returned to the courtyard to find Prince Saru pacing around alone.
“Dear cousin,” he said, eyeing me suspiciously.
I stood where I was and waited for him to say more. I had no idea what to think now. Was he mad? Was he happy? I couldn’t tell.
“Where is your mother?” he asked.
He wasn’t a man to lie to. I learned that already about the curly haired man. He seemed to tell when someone was telling the truth, or at least when I was. It was time for me to learn the game. I could tell him no lies, but I could never tell him the whole truth.
“I’m not really sure. I chased her through the halls of the palace, as I don’t know my way around. She just vanished,” I replied. He nodded.
“Was her Egyptian guard with her when she vanished?” The prince moved closer.
“No, he was not. He was further behind us. I think he was trying to keep up with us, but neither I nor he knew our way around the palace like my mother,” I answered. I was glad Dee left at a different time.
“And where is he now?” Prince Saru stood in front of me and stared directly into my eyes.
“I don’t know. He chased after her. I think he was trying to get to her to keep her safe,” I replied.
“Was she alone when she left?” Now this one was tricky. If I said yes, then the prince would think she ran away. But in reality she traveled back to my time alone. Then again, I was with her.
“No, she was not,” I replied. The prince nodded again.
“What country were the people from that were with her?”
“That I don’t know. I don’t know the difference between any of the men I saw last night. I wasn’t raised here. I don’t know how you tell where anyone is from,” I answered. Selective truth telling was easier than I thought. Maybe I was cut out to play this game.
“Why did you run?” he asked.
“Because Lady Saska told me to please Lord Enil, and I could not. If I was married to the man, it would have been different, but I’m not,” I replied. I didn’t even care if he saw that as a lie. There was no way I was ever planning to be alone in a room with a guy like Lord Enil.
“Who sent you alone with Lord Enil?” Prince Saru asked, coming closer and staring into my eyes again. I had a good feeling it was never his order.
“Lady Saska,” I replied, not even blinking. I don’t know if anyone ever told him what an evil wife he had, but I wasn’t about to lie about that.
Prince Saru nodded and walked back a few paces. After a moment in thought, he turned to me and eyed me over. “That should do,” he said before waving the guards forward into the room.
My heart began to beat. Was I in trouble for telling him that his wife was to blame for me running away? Did he really mean for me to be a play toy for this Lord Enil? I glanced at the lines on my hand that indicated whether I could travel through time soon. They were incomplete. There was enough to escape, but I had to be sure. If I used any of the time travel ability, it would mean a longer wait until I got back home to the future. The guard that found me smiled at me gently, like he was trying to calm a caged animal. I got the feeling he didn’t want me to disappear. Could I trust him? He could see the lines. Did that make him trustworthy?
I walked behind the Prince flanked by guards. I didn’t know how to get far in the palace, but I was sure of our direction now. We were going back to the eating hall that I was in the night before. Prince Saru walked ahead and opened the door.
“Prince Arik-ninari, I have found your bride in one piece,” he called into the room.
A man toward the back of the room turned to our entrance and hurried over to us. He was young, much younger than I expected, but he didn’t seem like a prince. Several of the men were dressed more elaborately than he was.
“Prince Saru,” the kid said, bowing to the prince beside me.
“Prince Arik-ninari has begun packing his traveling companions to head back home. He left me here to say goodbye to you,” the kid added.
“Leaving?” Prince Saru asked, confused and hurried at the thought.
“Yes, since you lost his bride,” the kid added, looking to me.
“I didn’t lose her. I found her and will bring her to him myself,” Prince Saru added, a bit frustrated.
Prince Saru turned on his heels and led me out of the dining hall. We walked through an elaborate entrance hall that matched the dining hall, and out to the courtyard. It was mostly empty, except for a small group that was packing up carts and animals.
“Prince Arik-ninari,” Prince Saru called into the mass of people.
The guard who had escorted me from my hiding place back into the rest of the palace stood beside me. He grabbed my arm as Prince Saru made his way through the crowd, getting ready to leave. They parted for the prince, but I was unseen. The guard was protective over me. Mules wer
e being packed up with goods and people were all going about their duties and ignoring the yelling prince. In the center of the mess was a well-dressed man. He stood taller than his workers and pointed in various directions as he talked. His sandy brown hair curled at the edges that brushed the top of his tunic.
My guard held tight, yet gently, to me.
“Don’t run now,” the man told me. “Prince Arik-ninari is nothing like the one you ran from last night. You will be safe with him before you can travel again. Just don’t accept any gifts from the prince. He’s safe, yet do not trust him.” The guard whispered to me.
“You know who I am?” I asked. He saw the lines. He knew what it meant.
“Yes, but ask no more from me. I’ll follow and make sure you stay safe,” the guard replied. I looked up at his grey purple eyes. He reminded me a lot of Logan, but there was nothing hidden in the young guard. He was trying to help me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The guard smiled. “Someone you will know in time.”
“Prince Arik-ninari,” Prince Saru called again.
The man in the middle didn’t turn around as Prince Saru arrived next to him. I watched Prince Saru elaborately talk, flinging his arms around as he explained something to the man. When he was finished with his rant, the man nodded, and Prince Saru hurried back over to me, a smile on his face.
“The prince will still have you,” Prince Saru told me.
That wasn’t exactly good news if you asked me, but a journey would give me time to recover my ability to travel. The guard promised me I’d be safe. I don’t know why, but I trusted him.
“You must leave now with him,” Prince Saru continued, pushing me forward toward the unknown man. It wasn’t enticing me any to be running off into who knows where with some prince, but I couldn’t say no, and I didn’t want to risk time travel quite yet. It had to be a last resort as I needed to get home.
I got near the new prince, and his baby-faced messenger was beside him. The messenger offered me a hand to step into the chariot that was prepared. I stepped up and waited. I didn’t even want to look at the new prince. I was terrified enough. The prince climbed in after me and placed his arms under mine as he grabbed the reins to the horses.
“Thank you for finally joining me, lady,” the prince said into my ear. He voice reminded me of someone, but I didn’t turn around. “Please accept my gift.” He placed a bracelet around my wrist. I didn’t know how to stop him, and still I didn’t turn around. I faced forward. The guard said not to accept a gift, but what was I to do?
“My lord, are you ready,” the messenger asked from behind us.
The prince replied by snapping his horses into motion. I gripped the side of the chariot as it moved. I wasn’t expecting to feel the movement as much as I did. I was a city girl. This was completely out of my element. I turned slightly to grab my loose hair and keep it from whipping the prince in the face, and my mouth dropped. I finally knew why I recognized the voice.
“No need to worry, Mari. I really am an expert at driving one of these things,” Logan said as the horse turned slightly, leading us down a street that was a straight shot out of town. “I’ve spent years in this time period.”
I figured out why Logan never came to help me when I needed him. Logan Jones was Prince Arik-ninari, my betrothed.
Acknowledgements
As with any work of fiction, there are many people to thank along the way.
To you, the reader. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to read this story and go on the journey with me. If you liked it, please leave a review on your favorite online bookseller (or all of them!) and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, etc. The greatest help you can do to keep a writer going is to support them by spreading the word about their books and leaving them encouraging words. If you are really inspired, join my mailing list to get updates first on my current and future writings, I also announce all of my sales to my email fans.
Also, I would like to thank my editor and cover designers. A good editor is essential to getting the story correct. Thank you so much, Kathie, for catching all those errors and keeping my tenses correct. Thankfully she can catch everything to make this a better novel for everyone else to read. Thanks to Ashton Brammer for the second edit to make this book even better and catching those little glitches. A thank-you to my cover artist, Alexandria, at Gothic Fate for such a pretty cover. A great cover helps get people interested. They may say never judge a book by its cover, but everyone does! I greatly appreciate all those that can do what I cannot, like editors and cover designers. I’m grateful I was able to find great professionals to work with on this book.
I’d also like to thank my hubby for continuing to push me further down the writing road. He gives me time when I need it to work on my stories. He encourages me to keep going each and every day on this adventure. And he does all the behind-the-scenes effort to make this work (have you seen my trailers—he is awesome!). This would be so much harder without his help. So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or the cliff as I see it sometimes). And a great big thanks to my little munchkins who keep me going from before the sun comes up ‘til long after it sets. Being a mom is probably the best job in the world. Love you AK, KB, and baby.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novel!!
About the Author
Originally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in biology as a scientist. In her free time she is currently hard at work on multiple novels. Every day is a new writing adventure. She is a fan of all YA/NA fantasy and science fiction and continues to promote good indie books on her own blog at www.bkristinmcmichael.com. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads
B. Kristin McMichael, Chrysoprase
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