Seth reached forward and took my hand. Warm tingles shot down my arm. Standing closer to him magnified everything. I could feel the love he radiated. It was contagious, and it quickly calmed my nerves.
Seth brought me to the northern courtyard where our chariot was waiting. My father stood with my mother and General Paramessu. No one said a word to us, but watched as Seth helped me up onto his chariot. He didn’t even acknowledge them as we took off.
“I’d like to take the long way to the temples if you don’t mind,” Seth told me in my ear, his breath tickling me.
He slowed his horses from a trot down to just walking. The chariot actually wiggled more than it did when it was going faster, but it didn’t alarm me. Seth would never put me in danger. We continued on our way to the temples, I assumed, but I really had no clue where we were going to begin with, so a detour didn’t matter.
The slow walk of the chariot gave me time to look around me. It didn’t take much to leave the ornate area around my father’s palace. Soon we were in the real city, where the real people were living their normal lives. Two store buildings lined the streets and people went about their day. Most of them didn’t give us any notice beyond moving out of the way, and without us racing through the city, we could just pass by normally. I looked at the faces of the people, the old woman sitting outside a shop, a young kid playing with a cat, a group of teenage boys on one side of the street pointing to girls on the other side. Everything seemed normal. Everything seemed so much more tangible than our first ride.
As I had been whisked back and forth to the past, all I had really seen was bits and pieces. I never looked too close. Why would I? I was always heading home. I wasn’t now, and it was different. There was so much more I wanted to see. I hoped that I would be able to just walk through the city with Seth some day soon. He could show me everything. I could meet the people, our people.
It began to feel like when I went off to college. I ran off to live a little before I was stuck in a life I didn’t choose. Right now it felt like we were following the life that was planned for us by fate. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry Seth. I did, more than anything. But I wanted to do it on our own time and in our own way. That was never going to happen.
I looked at the faces all around me. There were young, old, people with skin as brown as Ty to as fair and blond as the people that populated the Scandinavian countries in my own time. More and more I could see how much my father’s city was a merge of many different people. College was my first experience of being around a diverse group of people on a day-to-day basis, and that didn’t last long. I was beginning to see it was just practice for my real life. The Egypt I was to rule one day was just a larger version of what I’d already been exposed to.
Seth turned, and what I saw down the street was the end of the densely populated city. The houses became sparser, and there were desert and rocks behind them. Seth went in the direction of the rocks. I held on tight as he maneuvered his horses around a couple bends and up a few hills before he pulled the reins to stop them. He hopped off and instead of offering me his hand as I expected, he lifted me off the chariot.
“I didn’t take you as they type to run away on your wedding day,” I teased. This was nowhere near any temple I could see.
Seth grinned. “Marrying you is the one thing I’m doing right in my life. I’d never run from that.”
He took my hand in his and he led me up a well-worn pathway. After all the effort the servants had put into making sure I was clean, Seth didn’t seem to care in the least. I supposed that was what happened when you married a military man. Seth led me until the pathway opened up to a flat outcropping. We walked to the edge before we stopped, and I paused as I looked out.
Below I saw the entire valley where my father’s city was. It was if we were looked at a miniature city just like the museum pieces I used to look at. I could see where the palace was and where the multiple temples were, though I didn’t know which two we were supposed to be visiting.
“I used to run away here when I was a kid,” Seth explained, snaking his arms around my middle.
“I thought your family wasn’t from around here,” I replied, still looking over the scene laid before me.
“No, my original home city is up there.” Seth leaned in close and pointed north. He smelled just like fresh linen and the sea. In Minnesota it was strange, but now I could see why. “Down the river, a little further.”
He dropped his pointing hand to my waist and held me close to him, my back pressed against his bare chest.
“I came to your father’s city often with my father when he was working, and really there’s nothing for a ten-year-old boy to do in town that wouldn’t get him in trouble. I’d come out here and just watch the city and the water.” Seth leaned down and kissed my neck.
They looked small from where we were, but I saw people as they walked around. I could even see the larger animals as they lay by the river’s edge.
“And which building are we supposed to be arriving at, probably about ten minutes ago?”
Seth chuckled, and I could feel it on my ear and my back.
“I don’t think anyone expected me to arrive on time,” he added. “I’m kind of always late to these sorts of things.”
That was good to know for future reference. There was still so much to learn about him. I loved him deeply yet found time and time again that there was more to learn.
Seth backed up and took his hand in mine.
“Time to go back already?” I asked. It was kind of nice to get away from it all. I heard the breeze, and no one else speaking. We were alone, which didn’t happen much when you lived in a palace with servants. “Are we fashionably late enough for you?” I teased.
Seth grinned and my heart melted. Giving Seth the stone was probably the best choice I had made since I was thrown into the time traveling world of goddesses and ancient Egypt. I loved him too much. Now I didn’t have to worry about him being used as bait.
“I wanted to get the chance to speak to you before we got married. Once we go back to the temples, it will all be a whirlwind of activity from ceremony to ceremony and then to the party your father is throwing. We won’t exactly get another moment together until tonight and since they got us both up before dawn, I have a feeling we might crash before many words get said,” Seth told me. He was way too logical. I had to put that on my list of things to remember about him.
“Come, sit,” he offered me a rock nearby.
“If it’s about Melissa, forget it. I knew all about her before I ever went on a date with you,” I replied.
Seth nodded. “I’m happy for that. But I do need to say it again. I didn’t know she was who I was supposed to marry. Our parents set up the arrangement when we were little. I never saw her again and wasn’t going to until our wedding. I knew from the moment I found you that I could never go through with the arrangement. I was happy my father agreed that I should marry you and that the gods had always meant for us to be together. I just had to break the news to her older brother at dinner the other night. I didn’t know she would show up here, and I sure didn’t know it would be Melissa. She never said anything about being from this time. I swear.”
I didn’t doubt him in the least. I didn’t know she was a time traveler either, and I had two very different college experiences with her. The first time she hated me and the second time she was my best friend. And it was all an act. As a time traveler, she remembered each past. I kind of had a feeling that the real Melissa was the one who hated me.
“But enough about her. She was my past and you are my future,” Seth continued. “I brought you up here to be alone, yes, but also for you to see. On the horizon to the north is where I’m from, that’s my home. To the south is the capital. Your father and my father have bought a home there for us. Tomorrow we will travel back there to live. I know you had wanted to stay in the future, but I need you to see this is where you’re safe. I can’t imagine you going anywhere
else and being in danger. Logan still has plans to take you, and he is going to have to kill me to do that. You were never meant to be with him. You are mine and always will be. I have loved you from the first day I saw you.”
Seth pulled me into his arms and onto his lap and kissed me. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and pull me tight and couldn’t stop my own hands from reaching up around his neck. The kiss was shortly cut off as someone coughed behind us. Seth only pulled back a little so we were still forehead to forehead.
“I hate to have to rush you two, but your father is a little mad by now,” Ty said from behind me.
I bit my lip and tried to not smile. Guess his hiding spot wasn’t exactly a secret.
“In a minute,” Seth replied, still looking into my eyes.
I stared back up at his. They were different now, and I had done that to him, but they were still him. He was still the man I fell in love with. Fate or not, I could feel the love between us.
Seth pulled stood me up before rising next to me. We were being called back.
“I hate that we have to rush into this wedding. Things are different where you were raised, and I don’t want to make you feel like you’re being pressured into something you don’t want,” Seth added, looking for some sort of answer from me. How could he know I had any sort of hesitations?
“I want to marry you,” I replied, moving to my tiptoes and giving him a quick kiss. I may have wanted life to slow down a bit, but it didn’t matter. I was always going to be with Seth. He was my future. “But I have a feeling your father might kill you if we don’t hurry up.” The general didn’t seem like the most patient man.
Seth must have felt the truth behind my words as he took my hand and kissed my knuckles. It was strange to feel everything happening without any input from me, but that was fate. I was going to have to get used to it as I was pretty sure fate was what always kept me on track and where I was always meant to be. And that meant Seth. He was my fate.
We came back from the ceremony to a palace full of guests. My father greeted us upon our return with my mother by his side. Her arm was wrapped delicately around him. As a child growing up, all I wanted was for her to be happy, but she never dated. Not even once. When I grew older, I wondered what could be so special about my father that it kept her from dating, but I could see it now. What they had was beyond special. It was perfection. I hoped my love life would be that perfect.
“Come on, my wife,” Seth said to me, tugging me from my reveling in my parent’s happiness.
Wife. That was foreign to me.
“Time to meet your new family.” He grinned at me.
Now the nerves really set in. Marrying Seth didn’t make me quite as nervous once we got to the temple; that felt natural, that felt real. Meeting his family? Now that was horribly complicated. His father approved of me, but he knew the truth behind everything. We couldn’t afford to tell anyone else, so how would Seth’s mother and sisters view me?
“Mother,” Seth said to an older woman as he drew near and bent a little to hug her. Her eyes were a much lighter color of brown than Seth’s, but the kindness that shone through them was exactly the same.
“My newest daughter,” she beamed, pushing Seth back and grabbing me for a hug.
By age, his mother was only a couple years older than my mother, yet she looked to be at least a couple decades older. Her weathered hands pulled me close.
“I’m happy to meet the young lady who stole my little Seti’s heart,” she said, pulling me to sit beside her at their table where they were already eating. She wasn’t mad or resentful at all, and seemed genuinely happy.
I raised my eyebrows to Seth.
“The arranged marriage wasn’t her idea,” Seth explained to me.
“Gosh, no. Why would I want my son to marry someone he doesn’t love?” his mother replied. She shook her head at the thought.
“These are my sisters,” Seth indicated to the girls on the other side of him as he sat beside me. “Twins are Tia and Tula, and my youngest sister is Nia.”
All three girls stared at me. Nothing like meeting your in-laws on your wedding night. Everything thus far was way too surreal. This was just icing on the cake.
“Daughter,” my father said as he stood over us. “I have more people I’d like you both to meet.”
Seth’s mother and sisters all bowed to my father. We were being whisked away before I even got the chance to really speak with them.
“But…” I wanted to complain that I had just met Seth’s family and didn’t get more than a hello in.
Seth’s mother reached over and patted my hand.
“We have a lifetime to get to know each other. No need to rush everything tonight,” she told me, knowing exactly what I was objecting about. “Let the boys have their moment. This is what they live for.” She spoke from experience. I liked her already.
I followed my father and Seth to where a group of men were waiting. My father began talking and introducing each man to the both of us, but I was lost by the time he listed the second man’s enormously long name. Seth, though, was completely captivated by meeting these men. He kept his face serious, but his eyes sparkled. These people must have been important. Good thing I had Seth. There was no way I would last long in the political world of my father’s.
I looked to the darkening sky. The large pillars of the patio ran the length of the northern courtyard. The yellow-orange sunset was brilliant and lit the sky just the way my perfect day should end.
I turned back to the men. Seth was watching one of the men talk animatedly. He nodded right along. I really had no clue, nor cared to have a clue. I was exhausted. We had been up before dawn, and the dinner party was just starting. We hadn’t even yet had time to sit down and eat.
I looked longingly at the courtyard. The way the wind came into the stuffy room filled with people celebrating brought some comfort. I was happy, and it was nice to have everyone around me happy, but parties had never been my thing. I needed some fresh air. I took a tentative step backward, but Seth’s hand came up to the small of my back. Even completely immersed in whatever conversation, he was still with me.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told him, pointing to the open courtyard.
Seth smiled and nodded. He got it.
“Would you like me to join you?” he asked quietly enough that the other men wouldn’t hear him.
I smiled and kissed his cheek. He didn’t really want to join me. Those men were important; I could tell that much. He really wanted to stay and talk with them, and I wasn’t about to take that away from him.
“No, have your fun,” I replied.
Seth nodded and kissed my forehead. “Ty will go with you.”
I smiled and nodded, figuring that much. Ty was my own little shadow these days. I don’t think I so much as slept without him watching over me most of the time if he even slept now.
I weaved between the people all sitting or standing around talking. Not a single person paid attention to me. Possibly they were too afraid to, or just didn’t notice me. Either way, I didn’t care. It really didn’t matter. I didn’t know anyone there anyway.
It didn’t take much to make it to the three-story-tall pillars leading outside. I paused to look into the darkening courtyard. Servants were making rounds to light torches, and the place was starting to glow. Against the beautiful sunset that was now turning into purple and blues, it kind of just ended my long day magically.
I made my way to a bench, not too far from the party. Ty stood in the shadows and didn’t approach me. There were a couple people around, and I knew already from the week before that he would be my silent statue. I liked the old Ty better, but even just servants were not trusted. He didn’t want to get into trouble, and I didn’t want to be the one making him get into trouble either.
“Is there enough light for you, my lady?” one of the servants bowed to me, holding his torch in front of him and pointing to the spot right near me. I hadn’t even
noticed that I sat down next to an unlit torch. There was enough light to still see by.
“I’m fine,” I replied, and I was. The torches all around me gave the courtyard a nice yellow glow. While inside everything was much brighter, I liked the dim light to sit by.
As the sun set on the horizon, it was peaceful sitting in the cool night breeze. The sounds of the party drifted to where I sat, but for the most part, it was quiet. I didn’t know how long I would be able to sit outside. It was my party inside after all, but that didn’t make me want to go back in there any more than I already did. Crowds of people weren’t my favorite, but these were crowds of strangers. It came even harder when everyone seemed to know me because of my father, but I didn’t know a single soul. Seth would know where to find me when I was needed to return inside. There was no rush.
Life was whirling by me. So much had changed in the past six months. Sitting in the torchlight, I watched the stars appear one by one. At least they hadn’t changed. While I could see more stars and wondered if some of them didn’t exist in the time I was really born, I felt at ease with all the change around me. Life always changes. Nothing is forever. I understood that, even if it was hard to watch everything hurry past me while I tried to just understand the time period.
A thunk behind me made me turn, but it was too dark in the shadows. It sounded like it was where Ty was, but I still couldn’t see him.
“Is everything okay, Ty?” I asked the darkness.
A bug bit my neck, and I swatted at it. I pulled back as I felt something there. Carefully I pulled it out and held it up to the light. It appeared to be a small dart, and my head began to feel lighter. Before I could get another word out, everything in front of me began to twirl.
“You all right?” the servant who had been lighting the torches asked.
He moved closer and put an arm out to catch me. I couldn’t help it as I fell forward to him. I turned a little bit in my fall, as much as I could muster and looked up at the man holding me. He couldn’t be a servant. They were forbidden from touching the royal family. His purple eyes looked down on me.
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