The Book of Time

Chapter 25

The family walked into the room laughing at some joke Thomas hadn't heard. Patrick froze when he saw Shay seated in his living room.

"What are you doing here!" he shouted. "I told you never to come back." He pulled his daughter and youngest son behind him. His eldest stood next to him, he and his mother glaring at Thomas and Shay. The woman was holding a baby that couldn't have been more than a year old.

"I asked you nicely before. I'm afraid if you don't come willingly, I will have to force you," Shay said.

"What is this woman talking about Dad?" the eldest asked. He was around fourteen and reminded Thomas a little of Brennan.

"That's no way to speak to your aunt, Erik," Shay said.

"Who is she? What is she talking about?" Patrick's wife asked.

Shay sighed. "I see you still haven't told her, brother." She stood up and walked over to where the woman was. Patrick tried to pull her away but his wife stood her ground. "Your husband's real name is Patrick Rikkard and his title is the Crown Prince of Massur. I am his half-sister, Shailene Curtis. You may have seen evidence of my visits such as food, medicine, a returned horse, fixed generator, ex cetera. Since he is the Crown Prince, you are the Princess."

"Massur already has a King," Patrick said.

"Not for long," Shay said turning to him. "For reasons I will not explain, he will be removed and you will be seated on the throne but not because you are in any way worthy of it."

"Then why me? Get Lana," he said.

"Oh, it isn't you I want. It's her," Shay said gesturing to his wife. "You're a spineless prick. Your wife however," Shay smiled, "let's just say she will be perfect. As for your kids," she bent down to look the youngest prince in the eye, "how would you like to be a prince and live in a castle?"

The boy looked at her shyly. He looked less than five. "A prince?" he asked.

Shay nodded. "A prince of a very powerful kingdom." She straightened and turned to the daughter who looked around eleven or twelve. "And you," Shay closed her eyes for a bit, then looked between the eldest brother and his sister and smiled. "Yes, the two of you will do perfectly. A strong sense of justice combined with immense knowledge and wisdom. You will make our kingdom even stronger, as long as you work together and, you know, try not to kill each other. That would be such a pain to deal with and I'm running out of people to put on the throne."

She turned back to Patrick's wife. "You will be the one making all the real decisions. Patrick is just the figure head because of his Rikkard blood. As long as you don't try to take over Australia, you will be fine. Do not touch Australia."

The woman blinked. "I'm not sure I'm following. We own a ranch. We're not royalty."

"Didn't you ever wonder how it is that Patrick knows so much about politics and foreign affairs even though he's as daft as a board?" Shay asked. "It's his tutoring."

"The King has a son," Erik's sister said. "We're not the first heirs."

"His mother is sick. Soon she will pass away. When that happens, adopt him into your family. As long as you treat him well and don't lie to him, you will have a most loyal supporter who won't make a single move to your throne," Shay said. The family was silent. Thomas could tell they were considering this.

"You can't honestly be listening to her," Patrick said.

"I want to be a prince," the youngest said.

Erik and his sister looked at each other, seeming to be having a conversation with their eyes. Erik turned to Shay. "We agree, if your story is true. Katie and I have often discussed how we would go about fixing that country and Mom has too." He turned to his father. "We knew you were Massuran. You couldn't hide it from us. We like it here but if we can help those people, our people, then that's what we want to do," he said. Thomas smiled. Spoken like a man more than twice his age.

"What about you?" Shay asked Patrick's wife. "What do you think about all of this?"

She was silent for a few more moments. "If what you're saying is true, then my answer is yes, we will go with you."

"Well, I say no and--" Patrick started.

"You don't have a say," Shay said. She gave him a harsh look. "You are coming with me whether you want to or not."

"When do we leave?" Erik asked. "Should we pack?"

"Not unless you're particularly fond of something," Shay said. She fell into the armchair she'd been sitting in when they'd arrived. "Otherwise, you'll be provided with all new things."

There was a knock at the door. A Jaguar poked his head in. "We have the cars ready," he said.

Zahir seemed to be getting a soft spot for Shay. He was granting her every wish and finding the most ridiculous excuses to spend time with the two of them. At first Thomas thought Zahir was doing that as a roundabout way of getting closer with him but now he was convinced that, while that had been his original intention, Zahir was also growing fond of Shay. They spent entire afternoons just sitting around talking over cups of tea. He'd even had a room outfitted in blues and purples and extra large stuffed animals (which Shay had loved especially since none of them had cameras) before Yavar had even let her out of the infirmary. Now he was allowing her to use his men for her own purpose. Even Brennan had started warming up to her, and they spent most of their time together in complete silence.

"That would be for you," Shay said. "They will take you to the airport. Take whatever you want with you now. Don't worry if you forget anything. Someone will be sent here to get it for you." She stood. "Thomas, it's time we take our leave. Don't worry, you'll be seeing me again soon, in Samuel's office when he's introduced to you, when the DNA test results come back and again at the funeral. Maybe a few more times after that. The Jaguars will take care of you so don't worry about anything."

She walked out of the house and went to the car they'd teleported in. She stumbled into the backseat. Thomas turned on the light and held her face in his hands.

"Headaches?" he asked. She nodded. "I thought they were easing."

"I was showing off," she said. She squeezed her eyes shut.

He kissed her forehead and held her against his chest. "We'll find something. Ashia said she'll come see you if they get to bad."

"I'm not sure it's easing up yet. Maybe you should kiss it again," she said.

He laughed and kissed her hair. "Once we're done secretly overthrowing a country, we have an entire list of things to do." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fold piece of paper. "I wrote down everything we wanted do do once this was over and a little extra. I'm going to take you to all of my favorite places and Luca, Brennan, Gavin and Ashia gave me a few more ideas. I think Zahir wants to show you where he and my mother went when they were still young and in love once this is all over."

She snorted. "Oh please. This was over the moment Jemma agreed. We don't have to do anything more than show up for the introductions and mention that Samuel killed Leanna. Everything will fall into place after that and then, we'll be free to do as we please."

Thomas smiled. "Just the two of us?" he asked. Shay didn't answer. "Shay? Just the two of us, right?" His heart skipped a beat. "Please don't tell me one of us dies any time soon."

"We're not going to die. We will visit those places on our list, just the two of us. Well... for now anyway," she muttered. "We may have some company in a few years."

A/N: Thanks you for reading until the end of this book. I hope you enjoyed it. Please remember to comment and vote if you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. See you in the next book.

P.S. I have a sequel out called the Scroll of Knowledge so if you liked this book, make sure to check it out.