The next morning, a sleepy Lark, and even more tired-looking Josh, met up in her study. Snowy, having had the best sleep out of all of them, frolicked around the room, chasing the occasional dust mote.

Josh dumped an armload of books, papers, and his tablet onto the desk before they decided to drag the coffee table from the sitting room over to the study’s fireplace. Lark brought some energy drinks and glasses of water for them, then settled in one of the soft chairs.

“Let’s start with time travel,” Josh began. “You did a pretty good job, for a first try. The closer in time and location a trip is set, the more control you have. But you should be careful. There were barely enough particles for you to establish a link.”

“Is that why the portal was smaller than the one I originally came through?”

“Yes.” He sounded serious. “You should always look for one that stays at least as large as Conan. The edges always fluctuate a bit, but if it stays that large, then you know the connection can last for a couple weeks, if you’re not going far away. Location-wise, anyway. We haven’t seen an influence on how far away in time you go, as long as there are Wright Particles in the location.”

“And they move around, correct? I wasn’t able to make a connection to three weeks ago.”

Josh nodded. “Correct. How did your head feel during the trip and after?”

She concentrated for a second. “There was little ache behind my eyes during my trip, but nothing much. I don’t remember when it disappeared, but it was definitely gone by the time you helped me out of the river.” She tried not to blush, remembering her ungraceful fright.

“I’d really like you to try a few more test trips back in your own timeline, but I’m not sure I should recommend it. The bio-bots will probably take care of any damage garnered, but we shouldn’t be flippant about it. The main goal is to get the princes, er, your brothers, here safely. Not to see what the bio-bots will heal.”

“True.”

She needed to be careful. She shouldn’t be stupid, thinking the bio-bots would save her from anything. After all, she had managed to nearly kill herself with them.

“So, what do we need to save my brothers?”

“We are going to need a date, time, and location,” Joshua said. “It would be best with an exact GPS location, but if we have a rough idea of where to go, we can search for the closest group of Wright Particles.”

“Well, I have a date, but we’ll have to dig for a time and location,” she mused. “I know the day my brothers died, but it was on a classified rescue mission, so I was never told where. And believe me, I searched.” She found herself clenching her dog tags and relaxed her grip, willing herself to stay calm. She had to think straight, not get blinded by emotion. Again.

Josh handed her one of his notebooks. “Write down everything you know about that day, and I’ll start searching through archives. This could take awhile.”

She nodded and began scribbling everything she could remember. Once she was done, Josh sat, poised to take notes himself.

“Now,” he said. “Can you tell me more about them?”

“What do you want to know?” Lark asked, not sure where to start.

“Anything and everything,” He said. “Hobbies, interests, loves, hates. This could come in handy if their mission fails to bring results. If I have other places to look for them, we can get on their trail.”

Always happy to reminisce about Alex and Sterling, Lark launched into story after story.

“Alex is the oldest, ten years older than me. Sterling is eight years older. Alex has–had–blue eyes, while Sterling had these gorgeous gray eyes. The colors my eyes used to be.” Lark got a little choked up.

Josh looked uncomfortable, probably remembering the first–and only–time he had commented on her eyes. She had nearly screamed that they weren’t her correct eye colors.

“I’m sorry I was so mean about it that first time.” Lark grimaced. “It’s not like you knew they were going to change my eyes. It’s still, admittedly, painful, but I shouldn’t have blamed you.”

He nodded. “So, what did they do in the army?” he asked a little too quickly.

“Alex was the captain of an Army rescue team, and Sterling was a survival specialist. They weren’t always in the same unit, but Sterling had just been transferred over about three months before the...the mission. Alex signed up when he turned eighteen, in large part so he could afford college and have a steady paycheck. Our...father...was out of the picture since before I was born. So Alex had been my father figure since he was ten. Sterling and I practically idolized him. In fact, Sterl insisted on joining the army because he wanted to follow in Alex’s footsteps. He eventually found out he loved survival training and pursued that.”

“What happened to your mother?”

Lark knew he was simply curious, but Josh’s question made her tense. “She was killed when I was ten,” she answered shortly.

Seeming to realize she wasn’t going to talk about that anymore, Josh cut the family history short for today. “Let’s talk about your new family.”

That only made Lark more irritated. She was a Kynaston now, thanks to Avi. And while it had its perks, she was still sore about being torn from her life and burdened with all this responsibility.

“What do you think Avi is hiding?” she asked.

“I’m not sure yet.” He leaned forward. “His insistence on not only you as his heir, but also your adoption had me wondering. Especially your adoption. He could have appointed you heir without that. You are, after all, an adult. Well, technically you were still a teenager when you first met, but your brothers were undeniably of adult age. I’m not sure if he just wanted to keep the power in his family or if there’s another reason.”

She mused for a bit. “Honestly, back on Earth, I thought he and Franklin would be cool grandfathers. But now that you mention it, his insistence on me does seem odd. For any of it. I know he wanted a redo for parenthood, but there are plenty of people here on this planet and in this time that he could have used.”

He frowned. “King Avi and Grandpa Franklin always treated Conan and me like family. But I have always been attached to Franklin, while Conan was closer with King Avi. He has been, for the most part, a good king. He brought Lothar back to glory after generations of neglectful and idiotic ruling. And I was so caught up in science and experiments, I didn’t think about what my leadership was doing. But now, as Director of Science and an advisor, I need to know who, and what, I am supporting.”

Lark stayed silent. Josh had obviously struggled with this. She was glad he would be one of her own advisors to the throne. She was even more determined now to be a queen he could look up to and willingly support.

Eventually, Josh looked at the old books he had brought. “King Avi has always been a lover of mythology. But once his wife died, he seemed to become obsessed with it. I wonder if he stumbled upon something in his studies that you resemble.”

Her eyes widened. “Me? There’s nothing mythical about me.”

He gave her a look.

“Right.” She remembered the bio-bots. “But there wasn’t anything like that when I first met him.”

He shrugged. “I brought some of these books about myths, legends, and prophecies on the off chance we might find something. But most likely, you’ll need to gain access to the king’s private store of documents.”

“Me?” she said again, her heart sinking.

“Yes, you.” He sounded almost annoyed. “You are his heir; everything will eventually come to you anyway. We just need to help it along. Which means you will need to actually interact with him.”

Lark groaned. She usually tried to avoid Avi as much as possible. When she worked with him a few hours a week to start learning the ins and outs of governing a kingdom and when they had their weekly dinner, she used only as much civility as protocol demanded. He obviously wanted more, but she merely treated him as the person she would replace one day. They couldn’t stay like this forever, but every time she looked in the mirror, Lark couldn’t bring herself to forgive Avi yet.

“Prin–Lark,” Josh corrected himself. “He is not all bad. He might have a hidden agenda where you’re concerned, but I believe he truly does care deeply for you.”

She nodded reluctantly. “We have dinner together tonight. I’ll try to ask about exclusive documents.”

Now it was Josh’s turn to groan. “How about you start by asking about things regarding his interests? Like mythology?”

“Right.” She felt sheepish. “That would probably be less obvious.”

He shook his head. “I’ll try to help you. King Avi asked my family to join you both for dinner.”

Lark perked up, hopeful the atmosphere wouldn’t be as suffocating with the Cynbels present.

She and Josh each picked a book and started reading. They poured over manuscripts for several hours, with the occasional interruption of Snowy, before a knock at the door interrupted them.

“Come in,” Lark yawned.

Shamira opened the door. “It’s lunch time. Did you two forget?”

Lark checked the clock. “I guess we did. Do you want to grab something to eat, Josh?” Shamira looked a little surprised at the nickname, but Josh didn’t seem to notice.

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll try looking into what we talked about earlier.” He grabbed the notebook with notes about Alex and Sterling, and his tablet. “You can keep the books here if you want. I’ll meet you after lunch,” he added before leaving the room.

“Josh?” Shamira asked, after making sure he was too far down the hallway to hear her.

Lark smiled. Today had been more relaxing than she had anticipated. Josh was still Josh, but it seemed he was really willing to be friends. Talking with him was like getting a little bit of Alexander back. Their personalities were similar. The single-minded dedication to their interests, balanced by a warmness only a few were privileged to experience. But soon, she would have both Alex and Sterling. She couldn’t wait to introduce them to her new friends.

“Jealous?” Lark teased. “You want a nickname, too?”

Shamira laughed as they left the room together. “Well, I wouldn’t oppose one.”