“Sorry it had to be this way, Mari,” Logan said quietly before scooping me into his arms and my view of the world dimmed.
A repugnant odor woke me from my slumber. I shook my head to try to get the smell out of my nose before opening my eyes. I cracked them open expecting to see bright light before I remembered it wasn’t morning, and I wasn’t just waking from a restful night. Everything rushed back at me. I was at my wedding. Something bit my neck. I think I saw Logan. No. I did see Logan before I passed out. I was with Logan. That wasn’t good.
I squinted into the darkness, expecting to see Logan looking back at me. Instead, by the firelight beside the bed, I found the clear blue eyes I had met several times before.
“Miller?” I croaked out. My throat was scratchy. I was certain Logan was the one who had taken me.
“Shh,” Miller put a hand on my mouth. I would have pushed it off, but found my hands were restrained. “I wasn’t supposed to wake you yet.”
I nodded to try to get him to understand I wouldn’t talk loudly.
“I need you to listen to me. Logan is getting desperate. He is looking for a way to remove your stones,” Miller warned me. “Kye is in danger.”
“Kye?” I whispered back.
“Yes. Logan is furious with him. No matter what you guys do, neither of you should ever go near the pool house back in your old time. Logan is setting up a trap to get you there and keep you. He plans to trap Kye first and then you,” Miller added urgently.
“Trap us?”
“You can’t time travel from there, and if he can lock you in, then you’re trapped. We already nailed all the windows shut from the outside,” Miller replied. “I don’t know how, but he will get you to put that bracelet back on to keep you from traveling. He hasn’t shared that part of his plan, but I know he plans to use the pool house.”
I remembered that you couldn’t time travel, but it wasn’t like you needed to get out of someplace when you had an Internet connection and phone service. The twenty-first century was a bit more advanced than where we were sitting now.
“Please promise me you won’t let Kye go into that pool house.” Miller looked desperate.
“What would Logan do to him? Kye is his son,” I replied. Miller looked scared for Kye.
“Son or not, he betrayed Logan. You can’t betray Logan and expect to not be punished,” Miller added, almost as if he was talking from personal experience.
“And what are you doing now?” I asked. I still wasn’t getting an answer or any clues as to what was going on.
“I already am being punished. There isn’t much more he can do to me,” Miller replied. “We all are being punished. Each one of us.”
I heard movement outside the doorway.
“Pretend to be asleep,” Miller told me, pushing my head back into the pillow.
I laid back and closed my eyes, trying to lie as still as possible.
“Wake her,” Logan demanded as he entered the room.
I got a big whiff of whatever Miller had used to wake me the first time. Nope. It didn’t smell any better a second time. I coughed as I gasped for clean air. I didn’t need to fake anything there. That stuff stunk.
“Where is it?” Logan was leaning over me so that I could see his perfect purple eyes. They held anger mostly, but I could see he was sad and disappointed too. I hated that I knew him that well.
“Where is what?” I croaked out. Whatever Miller used smelled worse when you were actually awake.
“The stone. I felt you leave Egypt and figured out you went back to your mother. She had the last stone, but it was gone when I got there. Where did you put it?”
“What makes you think I took it?” I replied, glaring back at him with as much anger as I could muster being tied down in the bed.
“Bring the light closer,” Logan told Miller. He did exactly as he was told to do without so much as glancing my direction. “Hold it near her arm. I need to see if there are extra lines. Maybe the goddess put the stone in her.”
Logan loosened the ties on my arm and gently took it in his hand. He held firmly yet delicately to my wrist as he turned it over. He traced the lines up my arm to my shoulder.
“Five stones,” Logan said quietly.
“Maybe she doesn’t have it,” Miller suggested.
“Oh, she has it. I can tell her mother was lying when she told me that she didn’t know what I was talking about. The only reason Kiya would claim that was because she did know, and had already given Mari the stone. I’ll ask again: Where is the stone?” Logan’s eyes turned steely as he looked at me. All gentleness was gone, and he tied my arms back to the bed.
“I don’t have the stone,” I replied with as much determination as I could muster from my position on the bed.
Logan shrugged.
“Well, I have all day, and I think you do too,” Logan answered. “I may not have been able to take you far, but it’s far enough. They’ll have to spend hours looking for you in a city this size. Maybe even a few days. I’m sure after being here for a few hours without water, you’ll want to tell me. It’s pretty dry this close to the desert.”
Was he serious? He was threatening me? Would he really do that? My eyes flickered to Miller. His own eyes were downcast. That told me enough. Logan was serious. This was the monster Seth and Ty told me about. I stared back at Logan in shock. I didn’t think I would ever see that side of him. A little part of me still wanted to think it was all a lie. How could I had never seen it before? I wanted to think the old Logan was still in there. His threat proved it wasn’t the case.
Logan must have seen my disappointment. His anger turned to pity.
“Mari, no one has trained you. It isn’t safe for you to have all those stones. You could end up in a time without knowing a thing and not knowing how to protect yourself. Being a woman isn’t safe in many places and times. Let me train you. Let me help you.” Logan turned his purple eyes to pleading, but I knew better.
“Oh, that sounds nice,” I said sarcastically. Logan gave me a smile that I used to genuinely believe. “Do you want me to just call the goddess here to take the stones back out and give them to you?”
Logan’s eyes grew a little bigger at the suggestion. He didn’t know that the goddess was essentially gone. I kept my features from giving that much away. Any news he didn’t know was something to keep to ourselves.
“I think I have a way to transfer those to me if you’d just come back with me,” Logan told me, but made no move to remove the ropes that bound me.
“And then you get to play god and do anything you want with no care for any consequences?” I asked. He wasn’t getting the hint of sarcasm in my voice. “Will you have fun when you lock me away and throw away the key? Will you even let me see my friends again, or my family—like Kye?”
Logan stared at me in shock. He looked like he was finally caught.
“He told you?” He told me more than that. Logan didn’t even know the start of it.
“Yes, he told me, and he also told me how horrible the future is. So thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take my chances in the past where I’m pretty sure Seth doesn’t die in war.” I glared at him. He had been lying to me all along.
Logan’s face mirrored his internal woes as his features changed from shock to rage and anger. I had never seen him truly angry, and it was scary. I knew why Kye and Miller feared him, and I was more certain than ever that I couldn’t let him get all the stones. Gone was the kind, sweet guy I fell for. I had to keep reminding myself of that. All the good I ever saw was gone in that instant.
Logan glared at me. I obviously didn’t give him the answer he was looking for. Not my problem. I was going to do everything I could to keep everyone safe and stay with Seth. I knew where I belonged, and it wasn’t with Logan.
“It was easier the last time, but if this is the game you want to play, so be it. It isn’t like I haven’t broken you before.” I shivered involuntarily. The goddess and Kye didn’t want me to know more
about my pasts, but I didn’t guess the reason was because of Logan.
Logan leaned down and pressed his face to mine in a surprise kiss. I didn’t wait for him to finish and bit down on his tongue as he tried to push it into my mouth. Kiss or not, I was never going to be Logan’s. I wasn’t ever meant to be with him, and he needed to get that through his head. Logan jumped back and raised a hand to slap me. I disappeared right before he could and reappeared across the room by Miller.
“You can’t do that,” Logan said as he looked at me. “We are in Kemut.”
“Actually I can, since this is my father’s country and all,” I replied. I reached to grab Miller’s arm, but he backed away from me. He discreetly shook his head to keep me from moving closer to him.
Logan continued to stare at me like I had two heads before he finally understood what I said.
“Wait a second. Who is your father?” After all these lifetimes, it seemed he didn’t even know.
“You came in and took me from my wedding and didn’t realize where I was even getting married?” I asked in reply. Logan was always so careful in his planning. It was odd to see him acting rash.
“You are marrying at the pharaoh’s palace, but there’s nothing odd about that. General Paramessu is fated to be pharaoh one day. It would only make sense that the gods would want his son married before the pharaoh to cement their family’s rise to the throne,” Logan replied, explaining his misinformation.
It didn’t sound as certain as Logan normally was.
“We’re leaving,” Logan said to Miller, and he didn’t even glance my way. It looked like my father being pharaoh changed everything.
Logan paused at the doorway and turned back to me.
“Don’t get too comfortable with Seth. I’ll be back for you once I get the last stone and make sure we get the ending we always deserved.” Logan began to walk away but stopped again. “And tell our son to stop meddling, or he knows the consequences.”
Chapter 8
New Plans
I lay on my bed and closed my eyes. I had already repeated the story over a dozen times, half of those to Kye alone, yet he wanted to hear it again. Ty was leaning against the window in my room intently listening. He wasn’t sick of the same story yet at least.
“I’m not saying it again until you tell me what it means,” I replied. “Who is Miller, and what does that threat mean?”
Kye stood up and walked to the open window beside Ty. He didn’t turn back to me as he looked over the city.
“My life growing up stunk. It wasn’t just that he took me from you and was a terrible father. He was a terrible person overall. I don’t know if it was from jealousy, or if he was afraid that the history with his mother would repeat itself if you and I were together, but he always told me that if I interfered with you, he would keep all those I love from me forever. He would go back and change my past so that I never felt their love. I would never be loved by anyone.” He turned back to me, and I could see the fear in his eyes. I didn’t doubt for a moment that his life had been torture under Logan’s rule.
“He can’t do that. You can time travel; I can time travel,” I added. I wanted to go over and hug him. Logan would never hurt him again. He was done terrorizing our son. “He can’t control us.”
“And if he traps us in the pool house, we can’t do either,” Kye reminded me. I knew that was what Miller said Logan was going to do. I didn’t care. Logan wasn’t going to win.
“So we don’t even go back there,” I answered.
That was the simplest solution, and the one I planned to stick with. What power did Logan really have over me now? I was in my father’s land where he couldn’t time travel and I could, and my family was all with me. He couldn’t hold Seth over my head. We were all safe now. At least I kept repeating that in my head, hoping it would make it true.
“And you think it’ll be that easy?” Kye added.
No, I didn’t think so. Logan was desperate; I saw that. He was going to do whatever it took to try to get us trapped. I just wasn’t going to let that happen.
“So what? Even if we’re trapped in the twenty-first century, it’ll be with modern conveniences. We have cells phones there. I know those work in the pool house. We’ll just call for help.” I still wasn’t sure how Logan could really trap us. The pool house was just a house after all.
“And you think Logan is stupid enough to let us just take a phone with us?” Kye was right about that. Logan was being rash, but he wasn’t stupid. It didn’t matter. I would find a way out.
I shrugged. Logan wasn’t thinking straight and getting more unpredictable as he continued to look for the stone we already found.
“I’m not going to worry about it. We’re here, and he’s wherever. Not our problem. I just want to finish getting married to Seti,” I replied. I had been taken away abruptly; we weren’t even finished with my wedding day.
Kye nodded. Getting married by the gods was the first part, but being stolen on my wedding night had put a damper on the celebrations. We only had a few hours before we were going to get all dressed up for a second time to finish all the formalities of presenting Seth and me to the people. My father was anxious to cement everything in the eyes of his people. He didn’t like my fate up in the air now that he had found me. I felt it in my bones. We needed to make the marriage official in the eyes of everyone.
“Want to go for a walk before the ladies find you?” Ty suggested as he continued to look outside.
I nodded. Walking or hiding was fine by me. Ty led the way to the gardens. I felt the flutter in my stomach as Seth was nearby, but he wasn’t outside. That was a bummer. I barely got to see him before I was whisked away back to the palace, and Seth led the guards around the city looking for Logan. From the feeling of exhaustion that crept up on me, I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only one lacking in sleep from the night before.
Kye led the way around the fountains and to my now favorite bench. It was positioned just right to see everything, but still be in the shadows instead of the harsh Egyptian sun.
“And who is Miller?” I finally remembered to ask him.
“My older brother,” Kye replied, sitting beside me.
My heart stopped a beat. I had more kids.
“Your brother?”
“Logan had another son before he ever had me,” Kye replied.
Logan, he said.
“Logan has another child?” I asked in return. That was a hard one to comprehend.
“He was a mistake, and Logan always treated him badly. Logan blamed his mother for him being born without gatekeeper powers. Logan tried to swear that Miller wasn’t his, but the bone structure was more than enough to convince everyone that he was. The DNA tests only confirmed it, but that didn’t change anything for Logan. He still hated him and made sure Miller knew it every day he was around him.”
Kye watched the water as he paused in thought. I hadn’t seen that one coming. Logan had another child, and one that seemed to hate him as much as the other did.
I tried to picture Miller next to Logan. He was a bit taller, but just as fair. He didn’t inherit the purple eyes, and maybe that was why I never looked too closely at them together.
“Miller was the only person beyond you I ever really knew growing up, as Logan would make him take care of me from the time he took you away until he put Miller in the future to watch over Seth. He’s the only one who truly understands what life is like with Logan, and the only reason I never ended up like Logan, either. Miller kept me grounded. He kept me good. I owe him everything.” Kye stared up at the sky.
I should have taken Miller with me, no matter if he didn’t want to come. I was pretty sure Logan didn’t realize how close Miller and Kye were; otherwise he would have never left Miller alone with me. Now the only question was: why did Miller want to be left behind?
Ty stood up quickly from my side, and it startled me. I turned to ask him what was going on, but several people were now in the garden, making
their way through the walkways to where I was sitting. I waited as I felt the butterflies flutter and grow stronger. Seth was with the people coming near.
My father stood with Seth as they stopped in front of me.
“We have some bad news. The wedding party will have to be postponed,” my father told me. My excitement crashed.
“What?” I asked, standing and looking to Seth for an explanation.
“We just got word that the Hittites have attacked one of our trade cities. Seti and his father must take the army north immediately to take care of everything,” my father continued.
“You’re leaving the country and its protection?” I asked. I wasn’t about to agree with that. We hadn’t even been completely married yet. He couldn’t just race away for some war.
“Seti is in charge of the chariots. He must be with the men. They depend on him to lead them,” my father replied, knowing I would object. “You have a few minutes to say goodbye, but he’s leaving, and we will have to wait to make the marriage official until he returns.”
“But what if that’s what Logan wants? What if this is what screws up everything?” I complained. I needed to keep Seth near me. Logan had to be behind it. He would attack and kill Seth the first chance he got.
Seth stepped forward and touched my cheek gently. “This is my life. It always has been, and always will be. I have pledged my life to protect this country and the people in it. I’m needed beside my father.”
I wanted to pout, but I saw it in his eyes. H was right; this was his life. He was always supposed to be on the front line. He was a soldier. I couldn’t keep him from it. War and protecting people was a part of him, just as time travel was a part of me. I didn’t have to like it, but I did have to accept it.
My father nodded to Ty and Kye, and they followed him as he made his way back through the garden, leaving me alone with Seth.
“How much time before you leave?” I asked, trying not to cry. This wasn’t how we were supposed to start our life together. It felt wrong. It felt set up. It felt like it was too perfect to keep us apart.
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