Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (27 page)

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 were 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.

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
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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
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