Chrysocolla (8 page)

“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.

My mother looked equally beautiful on his arm. Her bright, white linen dress flowed as she walked. She reminded me of the goddess, and my heart ached for the woman who was no longer able to be with us. My mother looked the same as when she left me in the morning, except for the pure gold head covering she was now wearing. Wings of sort came down from the top of her head and framed her face with gold. It was beautiful against her auburn hair.

Together they paused just inside the room. My father waited until all the people looked back to him before he spoke.

“Welcome, guests, to my wedding. I never knew this day would come and was even as surprised as they rest of you were,” my father started. Several people around us chuckled with him. “The gods have blessed me more than I can ever thank them for. Today, we celebrate my wedding to Kiya. Many years ago, I met the princess when I traveled to escort her to Kemet. She disappeared, but not before taking my heart with her. The gods have been kind to return her to me, and I couldn’t wait another day to marry her. Today we asked for the blessing from the gods and are happy that they agree that we should be wed.”

Cheers erupted around us.

“Along with Kiya, they gods were even more kind to have brought me an even greater present. The gods returned my child to me.” The audience went completely silent at his admission. My father looked across the room to me in the middle of everyone. His eyes sparkled as he spoke. “She was taken away from me before she was even born, but I thank the gods for returning her to me. Unfortunately, she is all grown and I missed many years, but that won’t stop me from doing my fatherly duties. After talking with my councilors, I have arranged what I feel will be a good match for her. In one week’s time we will celebrate yet another marriage back in my palace in the capital where my daughter will marry General Paramessu’s eldest son, Seti. I hope you will all join us for the important day when we bring two families together. It will be a momentous occasion when the house of Horus and the house of Seth are joined in marriage. We have worked hard these past ten years to bring Kemet back from the ruins of the former pharaohs. The priests have told me that great things will come from uniting these two houses. Join me as I welcome my daughter back.”

My father nodded to me and motioned for me to stand. I slowly stood in the hall of kneeling people, and it was strange to be a pillar and exposed. I didn’t know how my father was used to having people always kneeling around him. It felt weird to me. Now he didn’t seem to mind, but I kind of wondered about my father when he was younger. I’d have to ask him when I got the chance.

The people around me starred as I stood there. No one said a word, and it was nerve-wracking to stand before everyone as the center of attention. Slowly, a girl near me raised her hand to touch me. She waited with an outstretched hand, and I had no clue what it meant. My father raised his own hand and motioned for me to do so. The girl touched my hand and then her forehead before bowing to me now instead of my father. Quickly everyone around me stood to do the same, and I was engulfed by the crowd that all wanted to touch my hands. Seth was pushed away from me, but he just smiled and nodded as I desperately watched him go. I got the feeling this was all part of being the princess.

Person after person approached me to touch my hand and mumble some sort of greeting. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but just played along since my father and Seth both seemed to understand. The crowd around me pressed tightly as more people tried to touch my hand. I got the feeling they understood I wasn’t going to stand around all night doing it, and would walk away as soon as I could.

“Don’t think this changes anything,” a way-too-familiar voice said into my ear. My heart beat faster, and I didn’t want to turn and confirm what I already knew. Logan was in my father’s palace. “You will still be mine. I can see our son is still here, and that’s all I need to know. This changes nothing. Once I find the last stone, I’ll be coming for you and there will be nothing your father can do to stop me.”

I turned to fire a retort at him even though I had no clue what I was going to say. He backed up and flashed me one of his model Logan smiles before fading among the guests who were still trying to touch me. I stared dumbfounded and watched him go.

Coming to my senses, I looked around the room to see if I could see the rest of my family and friends. The mob was too tight, and I just wasn’t tall enough. I dropped my hand and began to push through the mass of people to where my father and mother were. Everyone parted and allowed me through. Seth came out of the crowd also just as easily as I had. When I reached my parents, my father bent down and touched his forehead to mine.

“I’m so happy you returned to us,” he told me.

My mother beamed from beside him. They were beyond happy. This was probably the day they both had been waiting their whole lives for. I couldn’t ruin it by telling them about Logan. I’d have to wait and talk to Kye. This was their wedding day, and they deserved to have it without worry. Even with everything, I was happy to be there with them.

I looked around the hall of people. Once I reached my father, everyone took that as their cue to go back to their little groups and enjoy the night. Seth waited just below us on the stairs as he watched me. I wanted to decipher his smile, but I was too worried now about Logan. I scanned the crowd and my father’s words rung way too true in my head. I was happy to have returned to him, but unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who returned.