Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) Read Free

All I know is there was another man that had saved me. He protected me from the attack, and stayed beside me as I healed.
    When I recovered, I was sent across the desert to the king I was promised to. By this time, I found out what love was. I loved the man who saved me, and I was pregnant with his child. We didn’t know what to do. We could run away and start over, but it was not that easy back then. The man I loved was a military man. All he had ever known was the military. He had no trade, and I was a princess. I could sing and play board games, but knew nothing of tending a house or cooking a meal. Neither of us were suited to start over. The worst part was that if anyone found out about you, the man would have been killed. Agreeing to the engagement made me the property of the king I was to marry. My love had touched the king’s property. No one could save him, not even his best friend, the young general that ran the military. Paramessu had his own young son to protect; he could not protect his friend or me.
    When my love heard there was a way to get away from all of it, we found a site dedicated to the goddess. We prayed together, and she answered by sending me here. My love was left there alone, knowing that we would be protected. When your grandfather found me hidden in his artifacts during a trip overseas, he brought me back, and he lied to get me into the country by claiming me as his child. I had you seven months later, and the rest you know.
    I never meant for this to stay a secret for so long. You would need to know some day, but I was too ashamed. Rather than stay and try to live out a new life with the man I loved, your father, I chose the easy way- to run. I have never regretted the decision to keep you safe, but I regret that you never knew your father. I wish you had known him, and he you. He was a great man, destined for great things. I know everything worked for the best, but I can’t change the past.
    I just hope I taught you enough. I know you are a wonderful young lady. I wish I could be around to see you grow up and get married. I wish I would see my grandchildren. I wish I could stay with you forever, but I can’t. I’m not of your time, and never will be. I have to accept that, and hope that I taught you enough. Never think that I didn’t love you. Never think that your father didn’t love you. And when you find that one man that steals your heart someday, don’t let him get away. Love is worth fighting for.
    - Mom
     
    I stared hard at the letter and read it over two more times. I had tried to convince myself that it was all a dream and not real, but deep down I knew it was true.  She was from the past. Seth’s father, the general, was right. My mom was a princess. Now, after reading my mother’s words, I couldn’t deny it any longer. My life just got a lot more complicated, and a lot emptier. I felt bad for my mother then and now. I couldn’t even begin to imagine her life, being sent off to marry a man she didn’t know. I really needed to talk to Seth.
    Everything was crashing down around me. Nothing seemed real to me now. My mother was gone. I could travel into the past and future. People here might not actually be from here, and there was no one that would remember my mother beyond my grandfather and me. She would just disappear like Seth did.
    It wasn’t fair. The goddess let me meet Seth, and let me go back and get him, but now it seemed like she was making me choose between them. By going to the past to get Seth back I had lost my mother. Would it be the same in reverse now if I went back to get my mother? Would the goddess take Seth? I know neither of them was from my time, but it still wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t they stay here? Seth was here for three years. My mother was here for over nineteen. There was no reason to send her back right at the moment the goddess did. Why couldn’t I have a little bit of time with both my mother and Seth here?
    I stood and paced my room.