She always felt uncomfortable in the moment before she greeted the king and queen, fighting an odd urge to curtsy, or kneel, or whatever else it was people in movies did when they were approached by royalty, but any of those actions would have made her feel even more awkward than she already did, and so she just stood there.
Charlotte walked straight up to her, taking Quinn’s hands in her own soft warm ones. “Hello, sweetheart, we’re so glad to see you again, so happy you were able to come.”
At Charlotte’s words, Quinn’s shy insecurity inexplicably melted away. Though she never could have explained it, somehow, she was at home here.
“Thank you, Charlotte. I’m quite happy to be back here. I’ve missed everyone.”
Charlotte’s eyes held the same glimmer that Quinn had grown so accustomed to seeing in Thomas’ as she hugged Quinn tightly.
Behind them, Thomas cleared his throat. “Don’t I rate a greeting around here anymore?”
Quinn looked around. Stephen was hugging William, speaking to him in low tones.
“When you’re gone for as long as William and Quinn have been, we’ll greet you first,” Charlotte chided him gently before she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Stephen now turned his attention to Quinn. “Welcome back. We’re so pleased to have you. You’ve been missed – by Linnea and Thomas in particular.”
If her grin had been any wider, it might have split her face in two. “It’s wonderful to be here, Your Majesty … Stephen,” she amended, when he cast a disapproving look at her.
Quinn was exhausted by the end of the dinner, wonderful though it had been. It was such fun to see all of William and Thomas’ younger siblings, who were sweet and funny as always. Emma had wanted to chat with her endlessly, and little Sarah had climbed into her lap as she was finishing her dessert. She even managed to snag a few moments of cuddling with tiny baby Hannah.
She had been impressed with herself when she’d managed to remember everyone’s names, and the order of the siblings. Simon was the oldest, and he was there with his fiancée, Evelyn, whom Quinn was meeting for the first time. Next came Maxwell, then Rebecca, who was married to Howard – they were warm and welcoming as always. William, Thomas, and Linnea were next, followed by Joshua and Daniel. Alex and Emma were another set of twins, then quiet little Alice, the toddler, Sarah, and finally Hannah.
Dinner had run long, with lots of conversation and laughter, and Quinn had enjoyed herself thoroughly.
She was glad for the quiet, though, as she followed William, Thomas, and Linnea upstairs to the wing of the castle that contained the family’s private apartments. Near the end of the hallway, Quinn could see light spilling out of the open doorway of the room that had been designated as “hers”. She paused just before she reached the door.
“Are you okay?” Thomas turned to her with a concerned look in his eyes.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a second.”
“Are you sure?” Linnea chimed in.
“I’m sure,” she said glancing now at William, who hadn’t said anything. His look was different – it held no questions, no concern, only understanding, as if he expected the reaction she was having and he appreciated it. A strange new emotion welled up in her throat before she looked away and walked into her bedroom.
Once inside the room, she felt like she had last been there only this morning. Everything was the same: the soft white bedding on the four-poster bed, the sofa, the little table and two chairs under the window, and the young woman who stepped out of the bathroom at the sound of their approach.
“Miss Quinn! I was just finishing the preparations for your stay.”
“Thank you, Mia.” Quinn walked over to her, and took the small bucket of cleaning supplies from her hands, setting it on the floor before turning to face her again. “It’s so wonderful to see you. I’ve missed you.”
Mia’s round cheeks became just a little rosier. “It’s lovely to see you, too, Miss Quinn. It hasn’t been the same around here without you.”
It was Quinn’s turn to blush. “I’m sure that’s not true, Mia. I only stayed here for a few days.”
“That was enough to make us miss you once you left,” Thomas interrupted.
“Yes, Miss. I don’t think a day has gone by when Master Thomas hasn’t mentioned you, or I haven’t caught him here in your room, looking for something.” Mia’s expression was teasing, which surprised Quinn, who had only ever seen her behave in a way that was both kind and subservient.
“You’ve caught me,” he said, smiling his most charming smile. “It’s true that I’ve been pining away for your company. But don’t think for a moment that I’m the only one.”
“No, he isn’t. Did you bring any of those magazines from your world that you were telling me about last time?” Linnea was already camped out on her sofa, one hand on Quinn’s small backpack – someone must have brought the bag upstairs for her. “Do you need help unpacking, Miss Quinn?” Mia asked.
“Thank you, Mia, but no, there’s nothing in there worth troubling yourself over.” Knowing that most of her own clothing would be out of place here, and mollified by Thomas’ assurances that his parents enjoyed providing for her needs while she stayed, Quinn had packed very lightly, bringing only a few small things to give as gifts. William had actually taken advantage of her mostly empty backpack to cram in more medical supplies.
She did notice, as she sat down next to Linnea, that the packages of bandages, tape, medical tubing, and syringes had disappeared. William and Nathaniel worked hard to share their medical knowledge and healing technologies with their world, but William had explained to her that certain things, especially plastic and adhesives, were either difficult or impossible to manufacture here.
“Is there anything at all I can do for you?” Mia was still fretting over her comfort.
“Actually, Mia, could you bring bedding in for me? I’m going to sleep in Quinn’s room tonight – if that’s all right with you, Quinn?”
She smiled at Linnea. “Of course it’s fine. We’ll have a sleepover.”
~ 10 ~
An Emergency
“IT’S WARMER HERE THAN I remember.”
“It’s much later in the summer,” Thomas told her.
“Not that I’m complaining. I hate cold weather.”
“I like warm weather better too,” William said. “Although I do think there’s such a thing as too hot.”
Quinn, William, Thomas, and Linnea were walking out through the back gardens of the castle, headed toward the stables. The late morning sun was beating down on them; they were all dressed in shorts – well, what passed for long shorts here, considering they’d be horseback riding – and short-sleeved shirts. After spending her first full day back in Eirentheos with the family in the castle, Quinn was excited about the chance to spend a day on a horseback ride with the siblings out in the sunshine.
Thomas led the group as they walked into a large airy stable, passing a number of stalls before he paused in front of one.
Quinn would have recognized Dusk anywhere. Her glossy gray coat seemed to shimmer, even here inside the stable. She held out the apple she had been carrying. Dusk turned her nose at the offering, eyeing Quinn with a look that was almost reproving.
Thomas snickered, standing in front of his own horse, Storm, whose gray-black coat was even darker than Dusk’s.
“I didn’t mean to disappear on you for so long,” Quinn said, returning Dusk’s gaze.
In response, Dusk reached down and snatched the apple. She still looked aloof as she chewed.
“See, I told you I wasn’t the only one who missed you,” Thomas said.
After two more apples, Dusk seemed to be through punishing her and a short while later, the four of them were riding down a path away from the castle. Quinn was surprised to find that some of her surroundings were already familiar.
“So the wedding is in six more days?” she asked.
“Yes. So we have plenty of time
to just visit and have fun while you’re here.” Linnea smiled widely from atop her mare, Snow, a beautiful horse who was almost white, but her flanks were flecked with gray.
“Linnea is quite pleased that she’s been assigned to keep you entertained, rather than working on wedding preparations,” Thomas said.
“A job that Thomas is so disappointed to be helping with.”
Quinn chuckled, and looked over at William. “What about you? Are you being forced to spend time with me as well?”
“Nah,” Thomas answered, before William had a chance to respond, “Will’s pretty much off the hook whenever he’s here. Nobody requires him to do anything. Of course,” he added, watching William’s expression turn into a glower, “he never leaves off from working, even when he is home. You should feel privileged that he even came with us today, instead of cooking up potions in his lab.”
“That’s not fair. I do fun things with you, too.” William looked a little abashed – something she had never seen on him before. “Some people just have more responsibilities than others,” he added pointedly.
They rode for nearly an hour, giving themselves – and the horses – a chance to stretch out. Quinn soaked up the sunshine, enjoying the weather, even though sweat was dripping down her back after the first twenty minutes. Although they rode in silence, it was companionable, and she felt happy and at peace.
Finally, the path they were on wound back down near the river, and they led the horses into a shady grove near the bank. The river here was wide and full. The horses waded in immediately. Of the group of four horses, William’s horse, Skittles, loved the water the most. She had stomped her feet impatiently until William had released her, and she was first into the water, heading almost to the center of the river, where the water reached all the way to her underside. She was the most unique of the horses, a chocolate-brown color with perfect, white circles of color scattered in random locations on her body. These patches did, in a way, look like handfuls of candy.
Quinn, Thomas, Linnea, and William sat down at the edge of the water in the shade.
“Are you glad you came back to visit, Quinn?” Linnea asked.
She rested her chin on her knees, looking out over the water, noticing the sunshine sparkling off the currents. “Yes, I am.”
“You weren’t scared off after the last time?” William asked.
“No. Why would I be?”
“I don’t know. That whole almost-getting-poisoned thing?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I would hardly call that almost poisoned. I could accidentally touch a dangerous plant at home, you know. I wasn’t hurt.”
“And you were nearly attacked the last time you were here.”
She paused for a second. “Tolliver isn’t coming to the wedding, is he?”
“Definitely not.” Thomas answered before William could. “Even if that hadn’t happened, things are not exactly going well between Eirentheos and Philotheum these days.”
“Because of what happened with me?” Quinn remembered Tolliver’s threats at the Naming Ceremony when Thomas had stood up for her to protect her from him.
“No. That, um, incident didn’t help the situation any, but there are much bigger problems between our kingdoms than that.”
“Like what?” Quinn wondered, intrigued. “Just that whole thing with Tolliver claiming to be the heir when he shouldn’t be?”
“There’s that,” William said. “And then there’s the fact that we were able to trace the source of the shadeweed poisoning back to Philotheum.”
“What? You never told me that.” She glared at William.
“You never asked about it again. It’s not like there’s ever much of a chance to talk to you in Bristlecone. You’re always with Zander.”
“And you’re always off by yourself in a corner somewhere with your nose in a book.”
Linnea’s eyes were wide. “Who is Zander?”
“Quinn’s boyfriend.” William answered.
“Quinn, you have a boyfriend, and you didn’t tell me? I’m spending the night in your room again tonight. I need details!”
Quinn pretended not to hear her. Although she had shared nearly everything about her life at home with Linnea, she’d sort of left out the part about Zander. She wasn’t entirely sure why she hadn’t told Linnea about him. “I want to hear about this shadeweed thing.”
“Well, you knew that we had traced the poisoned books back to one particular teacher.”
“Right, I remember that.”
“There are still a number of things we’re not sure about. The teacher has been arrested and imprisoned. He was from Philotheum, and had come to live here in Eirentheos about a cycle ago. We’ve been able to trace the first reports of poisonings back to a short while after he began teaching.”
“How could someone from Philotheum just come here and be a teacher?”
“Up until now, Quinn, our kingdoms have been at peace for generations. We were originally one big kingdom – remember the story from the History book? Our ruling families descend from the same ancestors. People have always been free to come and go between the kingdoms, and to live or work in either one. Nathaniel and I have helped friends and relatives of ours establish a few medical clinics in Philotheum. We’ve never stopped people coming here and working any kind of job they choose.”
“Until now.” Thomas said darkly.
“So, what? Why? Why would a teacher be poisoning children’s books, even if he was from Philotheum?”
“We really don’t know,” Thomas said. “It’s one of the strangest things that have ever happened here. An attack on children is just … unthinkable. There is obviously more to it than just that. I’ve no doubt that Tolliver is involved, but we don’t really know. All we really know is that the teacher was from Philotheum, and he was poisoning the books.”
“Well, that’s all Thomas and I personally know, or all we’ve been told, anyway,” William amended. “Our father doesn’t share every detail of kingdom politics with us, only with his political advisors and with Simon.”
“It’s an awfully beautiful day to waste talking politics.” Linnea said, directing a rather dark look at her brothers. Quinn had the distinct feeling, though, that Linnea wasn’t actually uninterested – it seemed more like she was changing the subject for Quinn’s benefit. Linnea stood, taking off her shoes and wading into the river.
William and Thomas rolled their eyes at each other, which made Quinn laugh, but Thomas quickly joined his twin. Quinn wasn’t quite as ready to let the topic drop, but it really didn’t seem the time. When William headed for the water, too, she followed him.
The cool, clear water felt incredible in the hot sun. Quinn was tempted to submerge herself completely, but she didn’t want all of her clothes to be soaked on the hour-long ride back. She contented herself by engaging in the water fight William started – a much more subdued one than she knew the brothers were capable of, because Linnea didn’t want her hair messed up when she went back to the castle.
Of course, they were all still dripping when they climbed back out of the water and found a sunny spot to stretch out in. Quinn was lying there, soaking up the sunshine, and watching an occasional bird fly overhead, when she realized that she had been hearing a sound that she didn’t expect.
“Are there children nearby?”
“Yes,” Thomas replied without opening his eyes. “We are very close to a village here. It sounds like there are children playing near the riverfront not too far away.”
“Oh.” Her curiosity satisfied, she laid back, enjoying listening to the distant shouts and giggles.
Less than five minutes passed before the four of them sat up simultaneously.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Linnea said.
They all listened for a minute, straining to see if they could decipher the noises. A few moments earlier, the shouting and shrieking had sounded lighthearted and fun, but there was a different tone to it now. William had nearly mounted Skittles b
efore the rest of them had even stood.
“Quinn and Linnea, you stay here. We’ll go check on them and see if everything is okay.”
“Are you kidding, Thomas?” Linnea asked, clicking her tongue to call Snow. Quinn had already reached Dusk; it wasn’t in her to be able to ignore the panicked shouting of children. She hit the trail right behind William, with Thomas and Linnea following.
It wasn’t hard to locate the children; the sense of alarm in their voices only increased as they grew closer. Quinn followed William through a deep thicket into a tiny clearing about fifty feet from the edge of the river. Two young boys stood at the base of an enormous tree, shouting and pointing upward. Tears streamed down both of their faces. One of the boys had an abrasion on his right cheek; small drops of blood were running down to his chin.
“What’s going on?” William yelled, dismounting and running up to them.
But Quinn could already see.
Perched about ten feet up in the tree’s massive branches was a wooden structure. It was probably a tree house, or some kind of child’s hideout. It had been there long enough that the wooden boards were beginning to fade and splinter at the edges. And now, it had slipped. The entire platform had tilted, and then slid down, probably about four feet from where it should have been. It had landed against another limb of the tree, which had stopped it from falling all the way to the ground. For now.
Sticking out of the window of the tree house, now tilted toward the ground at a precarious angle, was the face of a third child, younger than the other two. She thought he was maybe six or seven. His face was as white as a sheet, and he was silent, staring out the window.
Thomas and Linnea arrived in the clearing a few seconds after Quinn had dismounted. William had reached the boys and was trying to get them to explain to him what had happened, but they were too upset to be helpful. He was worried about the injury he could see, and was asking the children where else they were hurt. He still hadn’t seen the child in the tree house above him.
Roots of Insight (Dusk Gate Chronicles -- Book Two) Page 6