“Never,” Seth replied. “I can’t breathe without you. I could never move on. You are the light in my world. No matter where you go, or if you never come back, you are all I ever want. There is nowhere I can move on to.”
I hiccupped a little as my tears flowed. They were for both relief and happiness now. I had my doubts when I was in the future. I had only known Seth for a few months, and had spent most of them avoiding him and his plays to win me over. I never was sure if it was really love he felt for me, or just the thrill of conquest since I was the only girl that ever turned him down. Seth held my face and wiped more tears away. They were slowing down. He stared intensely at me.
“Marcella Navina, I swear before the gods that you are the only girl for me. I love you with every bit of my body and soul, and will never love another in life or death. I was serious when I told my father we should get married. I will never marry another. You are already bound to my heart tighter than any marriage could ever be,” Seth declared. A breeze swirled into the room and then out again as if the goddess had heard his declaration and approved. My heart beat fast. There were no doubts now.
I leaned in and kissed him, pulling our bodies as close as I could while I was on his lap. I couldn’t form words as pretty as his to tell him that he meant the same to me. He had summed up exactly what I was feeling inside. I needed to show him. I untied the belt around the overtunic I wore. Seth lifted it over my head, stopping the kiss only long enough to get it off me. I was left in the lighter, white under tunic as he laid me on the bed. Seth hovered above me, balancing on his arms on either side of my head as his lips never left mine.
Having no clue how any of the odd clothing either of us were wearing worked, I tugged at the waistband of the kilt-like, linen wrap-around skirt he wore.
Seth pulled back just inches from my face and looked deep into my eyes.
“Are you sure?” he asked, ever the gentleman.
I pulled his face back to mine with one hand, and reached down and tugged again at the only thing covering him with my other hand. I didn’t know how much time I had in the past. I didn’t know what the next moment would bring. I didn’t know if I could even save my mother. But I did know that I wanted to be with Seth. I needed to be with Seth. He declared his love for me before the gods and in my heart I felt the exact same way. Our world together would always be a mystery, but I didn’t have to be alone in that mystery. Seth would always be there for me. We were meant to be together.
I woke sometime during the night when the noise below finally was gone. It was too silent. I had no idea what time it was beyond early morning, but I did know where I was. I was still in Seth’s arms. We had been alone all day making memories that would last a lifetime if needed. Only a thin sheet covered our naked bodies. The night air had cooled from the day’s harsh sun. I was tucked into Seth’s arm, and his body provided the rest of the heat to keep me warm. Seth kissed my forehead.
“You’re awake?” I asked quietly.
“I wasn’t,” he replied a little gruffly, like he just woken up, too. “Are you warm enough?” he asked, tucking me closer to him.
I was definitely warm enough, but I wasn’t going to pull away from him, or tell him otherwise. I didn’t want his body to move. His bare skin rubbed against mine, making me blush a little from the thoughts of our day and night together, and it made my stomach do flips. With one little touch he could make a host of emotions run through me. Seth chuckled as he could see my face with the faint sunrise lighting up our room slightly.
Seth kissed the tip of my nose.
“How did you know I was there yesterday outside the bar?” I asked. I had been wondering about it. The carnelian lines on my arm directed me to him, but how did he know to come outside at that exact moment.
He grinned. “Fate,” he answered. I pushed back from him a little. “Okay, okay. When you’re around, I feel it. I can tell if you’re angry, scared, happy, excited.” Seth’s finger trailed down my arm, causing goose bumps to form and my heart to beat faster. “The goddess told me I would know when I found you. I asked her to explain, and she said that I would just know. I do just know. It’s like how I imagine music would feel, not hearing with your ears, but feeling with your hands. I feel like that when you are around. We’re fated to be together. The goddess was right.”
I smiled. He was just as attached to me as I was to him.
“And you feel something, too, don’t you,” Seth deduced.
“Yeah,” I admitted. He was right, we were meant to be together. “The carnelian lines tingle when I’m close to you, like they want us to be together.”
Seth pulled me in tight before releasing me to talk more.
“We’re meant to be together. I will fight to be with you until my last breath,” Seth swore to me.
I stared into his eyes and saw he was very serious. The guy I thought was just another player turned out to be someone else. Seth was far more than just another guy. He was the guy for me. I’d fight to be with him. The goddess brought us together for a reason, and I was unsure if I ever would find out why, but I knew one thing for certain: I was glad she did. We belonged together.
“And I’ll fight to be with you,” I replied. I touched his face gently and he smiled. He took my hand and kissed each of my fingertips.
“Now, are you going to explain these lines to me?” he asked, my hand still in his.
I laughed. I had meant to explain the lines to him earlier, but we just didn’t spend too much time on them. I think I remembered the conversation as, these are new, uh-huh, and that was it. Even after spending all day together, there hadn’t been many words spoken.
“Your stone,” I told him, using his finger to trace the deep red line in my arm. “Dee’s stone.” I traced the green lines next.
“Those are the chalcedony stones?” Seth asked, holding my arm gently and looking closer at the lines.
“Yes. The goddess said that since I can travel, she doesn’t want me to get stuck. She put the carnelian stone in my arm before I came the last time, and the chrysoprase stone this time,” I answered.
Seth held my arm up so that the sunlight could catch on it. There was a faint sparkle to the lines.
“You’re a goddess now,” Seth said reverently.
“What?” I asked, looking at him and then the line. “No, no, no. Not even close,” I added.
Seth shook his head. “You carry the magic of the goddess within you now. You are a goddess.”
I wasn’t sure how to argue with that. The lines were there, plain as day, and they did contain the magic of the goddess. But to me, that didn’t make me a goddess. It made me the person wearing the magic, just like the necklace Seth wore when I first met him.
Seth leaned back close to me and kissed my forehead again when I couldn’t come up with an argument against him. He smiled like he’d won, and slipped out of bed.
He stood up and wrapped his shendyt, as he called it, back around his naked body. I stayed in bed and just watched him. I was distracted from arguing as I gazed at him. He was perfection from head to toe. Every part of his body was formed as if he had been molded out of clay by a sculptor. I watched the toned muscles in his arms move to wrap skirt around him. It sat low, just on the hips, and I could still see the indents where the muscles connected at the hip bones.
Seth caught me staring and grinned at me. He crossed the room in two strides and bent down to kiss me.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, tugging at the covers I now used to cover my body. “And don’t you dare move from this spot. For anything,” he ordered, and I got his point. He had seen me eye up my clothing. It wasn’t like I was sure how to put the under tunic back on anyways.
Seth left the room and I settled back into the bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed I ever slept in, but I would have been happy to never leave it, if Seth was going to keep me company. Days in bed sounded good to me now. I had screwed up all our plans anyways, and it wasn’t like it mattered if I took
my time with Seth. I was sure Logan was looking for me, but I didn’t care. I’d stay with Seth as long as I could.
Seth came back into the room carrying a tray with bowls of steaming food on it.
“Breakfast in bed for the love of my life,” Seth declared as I sat up.
It hit me as I watched him. I was in some run-down little inn in the middle of a city I didn’t remember the name of, in a time I shouldn’t have even existed in. Everything about it was too surreal, yet Seth sat down beside me and opened up dishes of food I couldn’t recognize, like it was normal for us to be sitting around like this. It was peaceful and just seemed right, as this was the life we were meant to have together. Seth didn’t notice, but I did. This was meant to be our life. We were meant to go on adventures together, and we were meant to be happy, just as we were now.
“You’d like that one,” Seth said, pointing to what I’d describe as off-white, speckled mush. “And the dates.” Seth pointed to the brownish, nut-looking things beside the mush.
I tried each. I knew what dates were, but had never tried them before. They had a very sweet, almost nutty, flavor with the texture of raisins. I was really surprised, because they didn’t look like they would taste good. The white mush turned out to be some sort of grain cooked up with spices. While it wasn’t sweet, obviously they didn’t use sugar like present-day meals tended to, it was good anyway.
“What was the plan you messed up?” Seth finally asked. We had to finally talk. I hated to go back to reality.
I wanted details from him, but it looked like I’d have to tell my tales first. As we ate, I told him everything about the past five weeks; my mother missing, learning how to time travel, and even Logan. There would be no secrets between us. Seth listened intently, laughed, smiled, and even showed a bit of anger when I told him about Logan. By telling him everything, it made it feel like he was a part of it all. I saw how he wanted to be able to experience it with me, but we were together now and that was all that mattered.
“And what about you?” I finally asked after my story was done.
“My time wasn’t as much fun as yours,” Seth said, setting the food aside. “When Dee finally got my father’s rescue team to me, I was in pretty bad shape. I don’t remember a few weeks there.”
My heart broke. Seth was in the past where there was no modern medicine or cures, and he had been sick from saving me. I couldn’t bear to think of him like that. It wasn’t fair. Seth caught the sadness in my eyes and pulled me to him. What if he hadn’t made it? What if I returned to the past sometime, and found him no longer in it?
“Mari. I told you. I’ll survive anything because I want to be with you,” Seth added quietly, stroking my head as I rested it on his chest.
“When I got better, I found out that your mother had suddenly appeared like you had. My father ordered me to bring her back here. I don’t know what was said between my father and your mother, but my father knew her,” Seth said, leaning me back on the bed. “My job was to bring her back and ask to have her marry the current Pharaoh like she had been promised to the previous one.”
“You want to take her back to Egypt?” I asked. I had never pictured my mother anywhere in the past but where we were now. I guess I thought she was past marrying age in this time.
“That is the plan,” Seth replied. “But I’m not sure if it will happen or not. Your mother’s cousin, Prince Saru, is in charge because his father has been ill for years. I don’t think he wants to ally himself with Egypt. He isn’t outright fighting Egypt at this time, but I don’t doubt he is making plans to do so in the future. He isn’t strong enough right now to take on the Egyptian army, but if he makes enough other allies, I think he will try. We chose not to stay in the palace because there is just something about that man. I don’t trust him.”
“What will happen to her if she doesn’t go to Egypt?” I asked. My mother’s situation was a bit worrisome now. I didn’t understand why Logan chose to come back at this exact moment. He had chosen the time after all.
Seth twirled a piece of my hair around his fingers. “More than likely he will marry her off to which ever country he still needs help from. I know both the Hittites and the Assyrians are looking to claim Nahrin. I don’t think he is looking to Egypt to help, but he’s trying to keep both of them happy for the time being.”
My breath caught in my throat. He was telling me the worst thing I could think of. My mother ran away from this time to avoid exactly what was happening. Now she was back in the middle of it. Not keeping secrets was a bit hard. Seth tried to tell me the truth gently, but it still hurt.
“But she’s old,” I replied before I could help it.
Seth laughed. “Yes, to our time she is old, but since she lived in your time no one here can guess her real age. She looks as young as some of the twenty-year-olds that grew up in this harsher time. She looks older to these people, but not old enough that she wouldn’t be able to bear more children.”
“I need to help her,” I replied, sitting up and looking to the mass of fabric on the floor that was my tunic.
Seth pinned me back to the bed just as quick as I sat up. The sheet was only loosely covering me. Tingles of anticipation tickled through me down to my toes.
“You are going nowhere right now,” he replied and began kissing down my neck.
When he was like that, he was right. I wasn’t going anywhere at that point. I was his completely.
Seth paused in his kisses. “We don’t know what Prince Saru will decide, so we can’t make any plans to take your mother until we know. He could still surprise us and let her come with us,” Seth explained as he began kissing me again.
“Are your orders to leave her here?” I asked. General Paramessu didn’t seem like the type that would take her and potentially start a war.
“My orders are to be as persuasive as I can to get her back to Egypt. Little does my father know that I don’t think that prince could be persuaded to do anything.” Seth tugged on the covers I was still holding up against me.
“Are you trying to persuade me to do something?” I asked with a smile.
“Yes, is it working?” he asked, winning a few inches with his last tug.
“Seti,” Dee called from behind the closed door. Seth sighed and stood up to answer the door. I pulled the sheet up higher.
“Yes?” Seth replied as he opened the door. It wasn’t wide open, but I was sure Dee could see inside. Being a gentleman, Dee kept his eyes on Seth.
“Our escorts are here now,” Dee explained his intrusion.
“Now?” Seth replied. Obviously, he wasn’t expecting them so soon.
“Yes. Downstairs,” Dee replied.
“Fine. Can you bring up some extra food and drink for Mari? I’ll gather the men and be right down,” Seth replied while shutting the door. He straightened out his shendyt and pulled another cloth over his short hair.
“What do I do now?” I asked. He was running off to save my mother, which was meant to be my job, according to my plans.
“Nothing. You sit here and wait,” Seth replied. “You’re not leave this room. It isn’t safe anywhere in this city for you. Dee will bring some food for you to last the day. I will be home by evening at the latest.”
How was I to just sit and wait? I wasn’t good at waiting. This was my fight. I wanted to be there. I needed to see my mother. Was she okay? Was she being treated well by her family? Or were they are rotten as I pictured, forcing her to run away when she was younger than me? Seth watched my face before coming back over. I was not a fan of just waiting.
“I can’t explain this any better to you. For your own safety, you have to stay here. Your hair alone will give away who you are. While most people will let you be, fearing the wrath of the nobles, others might not. You could be an easy way for some to make money— if they find a royal maiden outside the palace. That isn’t allowed and you could fetch a nice ransom. Please, just stay here. Don’t be seen by anyone,” Seth pleaded. I heard the des
peration in his voice. “I can’t go off and do this if I’m worried about you.”
I didn’t need to see his eyes to know how concerned he was about me. I wanted to be helping my mother, but Seth was right. I didn’t know enough about this place, and would be a hindrance to him more than a help.
“I will,” I promised. Seth pulled me up, sheet and all, to kiss me one last time before he left.
Chapter 8
Finding Mom
I waited around all day for Seth to return. I was lucky Dee brought me food like Seth asked or I would have missed lunch by staying in the room. I had the door barred, and there was nothing to do in the small space. There was less space than the dorm room I shared with Sim. I paced for a little bit. I slept for a little bit. I even tried to give myself a bit of a sponge bath from the small bowl of water we had to use. A world without technology was boring, and a world without books was even worse. I didn’t want to get stuck in the past without books. I’d have to live somewhere with books. Did they let women be scholars? Then again, that wasn’t the kind of book I was looking for. I never did ask Logan if we could take stuff back with us.
I did end up spending the majority of the day sitting in the window. Our room was on the backside of the building, but we had the corner room. From the angle of the window I could see a small patch of the street. I wasn’t allowed to look around the day before, but I could now in my hidden perch. I wasn’t disobeying Seth since I kept my hair covered. If someone even caught the sliver of me in the window, they wouldn’t know who I was.
By nightfall my stomach was growling again. Breakfast before dawn, and a lunch on my own, wasn’t enough to fill me by the time the sky turned black. I sat in complete darkness as the sun faded away. Because I wasn’t sure how to light the candles in the room. Luckily enough I did figure out how to get my billowy tunic back on, therefore I wasn’t naked. I jumped at the sound of the door handle being turned, even though I knew it wouldn’t open.
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