Chrysocolla by B. Kristin McMichael

guys seemed to have taken over the area. I don’t know if it was because they wanted to lounge around ponds and foliage all day, or if it was because it was one of the more isolated areas of the palace. I had to think it was the latter. We still were unsure if anyone was working for Logan. We had to assume someone was, how else could he enter a party and exit without anyone noticing? He was a prince, after all.
    I quietly made my way back outside into the garden. As I neared, I paused to listen to the guys talk.
    “It has to be embedded in you,” Kye was talking to Seth. “But you can’t do the whole just stick it in your skin. That doesn’t work with Logan. He will find it and rip it right out of you. It needs to be like Mari’s stones.”
    “And how do you propose we do that?” Seth asked.
    Seth and Kye were getting along? That was new.
    “But even if we did know,” Ty chimed in. “We still don’t want Logan to be able to see it. Where would we put it?”
    “What are you guys talking about?” I asked as I finally got close enough and was too curious to sit and wait for them to continue arguing.
    “Seti needs the stone in him to travel at will like you can,” Kye answered. “Logan knows the key to getting you is to take Seti.”
    “If he takes Seti, he will get you too,” Ty commented.
    They were both right. Seth was my weak spot, but so was everyone else we brought back. They were all my friends and family. I had to believe my father would protect my mother and neither would leave the borders of Egypt, but what about Seth, Ty, and Dee? Ty was always with me now, and I really didn’t plan to leave the borders, so he would be safe. Dee and Seth were part of the military. Even if I wanted to keep them here, I was pretty sure that would never happen. There were always wars to be fought. What they were saying made sense.
    “So how do we put it in him?” I asked. The sooner the better, the way things were going. I had my doubts Logan would wait patiently for me to marry Seth.
    Seth turned to me. “The stone is yours. You should keep it. You’re the one that needs all the power.” Seth was eager to give up his chance to permanently time travel.
    “No. They’re right. You need to have a stone in case Logan does anything to take you from me,” I replied. It made complete sense to me. “Just where you do you even put it on him. It can’t be out in the open, or Logan will see it. It is something that needs to stay hidden to be effective.”
    I looked over Seth. His little white skirt didn’t leave much of his body uncovered. Basically there was nothing beyond what was under his skirt that would stay hidden from normal people in ancient Egypt. Seth grinned as I looked him over.
    “And the stone is a blue color, really hard to hide.” My cheeks felt warm. I wasn’t undressing him with my eyes, but it probably seemed that way.
    “You can put it just about anywhere. I wonder if you could put it inside him even,” Kye suggested.
    “I can put it?” I asked. That wasn’t the conversation I thought I was jumping into.
    “Yes, you. Who else has the goddess’ powers now?” Kye replied, shaking his head like I was unbelievable for not realizing that it was me that was going to do it.
    This was so not what I thought. It was less than a day that he expected me to be able to trace the stone, and now he thought I could put it into Seth. Kye had such high expectations of me. It kind of made me wonder what sort of mother I was. I doubted I knew everything like he seems to think. Then again, I had no idea how young I was when I had him. Maybe I had lived a few lifetimes and did know much more than now.
    “Not the same as the way where it’s just under the skin, though. Logan knows how to get those out of people. You need the dusty tattoo thingy to do it,” Kye continued on, as if I wasn’t shocked by his direction as it was.
    “And I can do this, just like I could trace the stone?” I was being sarcastic,