Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (20 page)

Chapter 9

A World I Wanted to Avoid

“
Mari
?”
My mother
asked, looking at me closely. I’m sure the hair threw her for a loop. It stunk, too.

“Mom,” I replied, trying to pull my arms from the guards. They were not letting go.

“Release the girl,” a regal lady said from behind my mother. She had followed my mother through the crowd.

“Our orders,” one of the guards complained. He seemed the most eager to drag me away.

“Are not my orders, and I’m the one in charge,” the older lady with my mother said to the two guards. They let go as they were reminded. Lady Saska didn’t look too pleased with either being upstaged by the older lady, or that I truly was my mother’s child, maybe both.

My mother ran over and hugged me. It was strange to see her made up in the same garb as the rest of the women, long tunics that were embroidered, and in the case of Lady
Saska, covered in jewels of various colors. My mother looked out of place not being in her normal business skirts that were all in various dull colors. This time seemed too colorful for my mother. My mom pulled me away from Lady Saska and her friend, and down to the other regal lady of the room.

“You can’t just take her word on that,” Lady
Saska complained while the guards left. “You know Hepa would lie to save a slave. This is a matter that must be determined by my husband.” Lady Saska’s hands were on her hips as she complained like a spoiled child.

“You forget that as long as my husband is alive, this is my part of the palace. You are merely a guest here, Lady
Saska. You may be the mother to my grandchildren, but you are still a princess. I am a queen. It would do you well to remember that before deciding how anyone is punished. I might just decide you should have the same punishment to learn a lesson,” the older lady replied, turning to me.

Lady
Saska turned a bright shade of red either from embarrassment or anger. I had a feeling that girl was used getting her way. She huffed a little as she stood in her place, and the older lady ignored her. I wanted to laugh at the jeweled lady’s little fit. It was rather comical.

The older lady looked at me. Stepping closer, she gently took my face in her hands. She turned my face left and then right as she studied me before looking to my mother.

“I don’t doubt this child is Hepa’s,” the older lady said. “Now let’s go get her cleaned up before we present her to Prince Saru.” Lady Saska glared at me in anger now. I had a feeling she already knew that I was my mother’s child, and was trying to punish me anyways.

My mother wrapped her arm around me as we followed behind the older lady. The crowd parted for us as we walked further into the courtyard. Women stared and some whispered. It looked like I was the new bit of gossip. When we were sufficiently away from the groups of women, who were slowly going back to their spots around the room, the older lady spoke.

“Dear child, what were you doing sneaking in the palace? Hepa said you were safely away,” she told me. “Didn’t Hepa tell you to stay away from here?”

I looked at my mom, and then the older lady. My mother never told me anything, and I sure didn’t know that I was to stay away. My mom shrugged and I was unsure what game we were playing now. Did my mother tell anyone the real truth? What was the lie she told? What should I say or not say?

“This is my aunt, Queen Juni,” my mom explained, interrupting the questions I was asking myself.

“Why would she tell me to stay away from here?” I asked, looking to my mom.

My mom looked to her aunt and shook her head no. My aunt shook her head back. There was an answer there, I was sure of it. They weren’t telling me something.

“This, my dear, is our bathing room. We need to get you cleaned up and that muck out of your hair before you see my son. Once your red hair is present,
Saska will not be able to deny that you are Hepa’s child,” Aunt Juni explained. She had seen through my disguise.

I looked at the large pool she referred to as a bath. It wasn’t a bath, exactly, it was a swimming pool, maybe even Olympic-sized. There were attendants standing alongside one of the walls holding various objects like towels or bottles I assumed had soap, but otherwise there was no one in the water. I looked over to my mother. It was ridiculous to call it a bath. It was skinny dipping if you asked me.

“The water is warm,” my mother told me.

I looked back at the water. It seemed a little excessive to me.

“And you don’t just have a tub-sized version of this?” I asked my mother. She smiled and shook her head. I nodded. Of course they didn’t. I went from using a bowl to a swimming pool to clean myself. I had a feeling my life would be ever changing like this.

“I’ll help you get that stuff out of your hair,” she offered.

I stripped out of my clothing and hopped in the water quickly. I was warm for being in such a large body of water. I had expected it only to be lukewarm. I dunked my head under the water and watched it turn the water a black color. When I came back up, I made my way over to my mother at the edge. I pulled my head far enough out of the water that she could kneel on the side while she used some sort of soaps in my hair. I silently sat there while she scrubbed my hair clean. I waited for her to say something, but she said nothing. By the time my hair was clean, I was turning into a prune from being in the water too long. I climbed out to be wrapped in a towel before being taken to a lounging chair near the water. The servants were working at rubbing some sort of perfumed oil into my skin while trying their best to dry my thick hair. When they finally finished, I did feel refreshed and clean, but the smell of the oils was a bit much for me. I wasn’t one to even use perfumes daily, but I couldn’t complain. It was good to get the dirt off me.

Sometime during my bath, my clothes disappeared and so did Aunt
Juni. My mother led me back through the halls, near the courtyard that all the women were in. Instead of entering the courtyard, she led me down an adjacent hallway to a bedroom. She picked out a dress and handed it to me.

“What are you doing here?” she finally asked as she shut the door and seemed sure we wouldn’t be overheard.

“I came to get you,” I replied, just as quietly. I had no clue what was safe and what wasn’t in the place.

“Oh, honey.” My mother bumped her forehead to mine. “You can’t save me. This is my life.” She stated it like it was obvious that her fate was already determined. I hated when my mother sat back and let life pass her by like that. I knew where I got my fight to change everything from- it had to be my father.

“It doesn’t have to be,” I replied. I needed her to see the truth. “I’ll take you back with me.”

“For how long?” She sighed, wrapping her arms around me like I was a little kid again. “Eventually I have to be here. This is where I was born, and this is where I will die,” she replied, just as the goddess told me. She had accepted her fate.

“Why?” I asked, pulling back from her and finally started to get dressed in the clothing that was lying out. I needed away from her comforting hugs. She was trying her best to hug me into acceptance of her fate. “Why does it have to be that way?”

“Because that’s how it works. We can’t change time,” my mom replied. “The goddess gave me way more than I ever expected to get. I got nineteen years with you. I got to watch you grow up. You’ve turned into a beautiful woman. But I need you to leave after meeting Prince
Saru. You can’t stay here.”

“I’m not leaving without you,” I replied stubbornly. And I wasn’t. She was going to married off to a man with eleven wives. I was saving her.

“You can’t take me with you. I no longer have the goddess stone,” my mom explained, blowing off my stubbornness. That’s when it hit me. Logan never gave me Ty’s stone. It didn’t matter completely because I could always get my mother home with the stones on my arm, but I did find it strange. Either he was setting me up to fail, or he had noticed the chrysoprase on my arm.

“But I do,” I replied and pointed to my arm. My mom squinted in the dim light and pulled my arm closer to the only window in the room.

“What is this?” she asked. She never was a fan of tattoos. I kind of wanted to tease and tell her it was a college rebellion thing, but we had limited time.

“Those are a blessed carnelian and chrysoprase in my arms. They work just like if they were whole stones. I can use them to go through time, Mom. I can save you. If you look here,” I pointed to the lines that ended at my forearm, “there is a little missing. Once it’s full and comes to a point, I can travel anywhere in time. I can take you home. I have two stones. Please let me save you.”

My mom smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was a patronizing smile, and I knew what she was going to say. She had believed and trusted the goddess completely. My mother wouldn’t go willingly to the future.

“Honey, this was always meant to be my destiny. I was born to be a pawn by being female,” she replied. “Use your stones to get free of here. Live the life I wanted for you. Please don’t make me watch you become subjected to the same fate I have been. Go, live, find love, be happy.”

“I can’t leave you here unhappy,” I replied. “If you won’t leave to come the future, let me take you to Dad. Tell me who he is and I’ll take you to him.”

My mom rearranged my clothing and hugged me close.

“I can’t let you do that either,” she responded. “I’m in the same spot I was years ago. I have already been given to someone else. If you take me to your father, a non-royal, then my cousin will be mad. I can’t bring that upon your father now. Besides, I don’t even know if he’s alive in this time. He was part of the military. They tend to not have a long life.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” I added obstinately. It didn’t matter what she said. She was coming home with me. I didn’t find her living happily in the past, which meant she was going to the future.

“I know that. You’re as stubborn as your father. You didn’t get that from me,” she answered, shaking her head. I was driving her as nuts as she was driving me.

The door to the room opened and Aunt
Juni walked in. Several maids dressed the way I was before entered with her. I now got the whole
who are you assigned to
thing. Funny how no one was assigned to my mother. I had to wonder what that meant.

“My son would like to see you both,” Aunt
Juni told me as she shared a look with my mother.

“What?” I asked. Something was up. They kept talking with just their eyes.

My aunt shook her head, indicating the women standing right behind her. No wonder my mother was quiet while bathing me. While I didn’t really notice the servants, they must have been noticing us. It seemed I had a bit to learn about this family I never knew.

I followed my great aunt out of my mother’s room and the women’s courtyard. After leaving the entrance hallway I already had seen, we moved further into the palace. Soon we entered a large room with extensive artwork on the walls. Drawings and tiles lined every open space, from the bottom to the top of the walls. People milled about the large room, as if waiting for something.

My aunt paused after we entered. She was looking around and saw something. I noticed what she was looking at. Lady Saska was across the room with a bearded man that wasn’t quite as tall as her. He wore as many jewels as Lady Saska did. I kind of got the feeling they were a matched pair. And if that was true, it didn’t bode well for me. I had guessed that Lady Saska might be the wife of my mother’s cousin, but the people standing there now basically confirmed what I expected. When Lady Saska finally noticed us, her cheerful smile immediately disappeared and her face turned to disgust. The man with her noticed us and abruptly turned. He followed the narrower hallway at the back of the hall, past the ten-foot-tall statues. I had no idea what animal they were.

Aunt
Juni took the man’s move as a lead to follow. My mother looped her arm in mine and led us behind her aunt. People in the room talked amongst themselves, yet many snuck glances at my mother and me. I wondered if my mother’s new husband was in the room. Everyone looked like they were elites.

“No matter what happens, don’t speak unless I say
it’s okay. Follow my lead,” my mother whispered in my ear. “And don’t mention that your father is Egyptian.”

As we passed the large statues my mother straightened up, like she was preparing for a battle. We rounded the corner, and I saw the battlefield. There were two large thrones sitting at the end of the smaller attached room. Lady
Saska was sitting in one and the man with her was in the other. He was no doubt my mother’s cousin, Prince Saru.

Prince
Saru watched us intently as we walked through the empty room to him. His gaze was like a hawk flying above, surveying the scene. He was examining every detail of me before turning to his mother. With one look, he had made a decision.

Aunt
Juni walked up to the throne and stiffly kissed his forehead beneath his brown curls. I stayed back with my mother. When she bowed at the waist, I did the same. I waited until she brought her head up before I followed.