On horseback, the ride from the castle to the gate was short, they would have arrived at the bridge well before sunset even if they hadn’t allowed the horses to run a couple of times, chasing one another and laughing.
Dismounting Dusk was hard. She walked up by the mare’s face and stroked her silky, gray neck, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.
“Did you enjoy yourself here?” Thomas smiled over at her, the late afternoon sunlight reflecting off his short, black curls.
“How could I not? Your family is so sweet and wonderful. I feel like I’ve been spoiled for ten days.”
“Good. That was the idea.” His gray eyes twinkled, as they usually did, though she had an inkling that something wasn’t quite right.
“Is everything okay?” She watched his face as she pulled her backpack out of Dusk’s bag, relieving her horse of some of the weight.
“Sure – aside from the fact that you’re leaving.”
She rolled her eyes, setting the backpack down at the base of the stone steps. He was grinning at her, but something was definitely amiss. “Did you ever figure out what Gavin was lying about, or what’s going on with your cousin?”
His entire expression changed; she’d hit on something. He stared at her, studying her face.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?”
After another long silence, he reached into his pocket and slowly pulled out an object. It was a chain – no – a necklace of some sort, with a silver circle hanging from it… She looked up at him, confused. “Your pendant?”
He shook his head. “Not mine,” he said, pulling his own out from under his shirt to show her.
She didn’t understand.
“It’s my cousin’s – it’s Lily’s. She’s the one I was looking for at the wedding.”
“Why do you have it?” This was the strangest conversation she had ever had with him. She had no idea where he was going with this.
“I found it.”
“Where? At the wedding?”
“No. When we were in Bay Run on market day, one of the vendors was selling it from his jewelry stand – he disappeared as soon as he realized I knew what it was. I’m sure much of what he was selling was stolen items, or things he bought from disreputable sources.
She frowned. “Wait. That doesn’t make any sense. Didn’t you say she lives in Philotheum?”
He nodded.
“Then how would it… How do you know it’s hers?”
He held out the small pendant and set it gently in her hand, pointing to the tiny words engraved near the bottom of the circle.
After staring at it for several seconds, beginning to understand his concern, she looked up. “I don’t suppose there’s another Lily Elise Rose somewhere?”
“Who’s a fourth-born from the Eirenthean royal line? No.”
She looked closely at the silver design. Above Lily’s name was an engraving of a flower she couldn’t identify, though the same one appeared on William’s pendant. She flipped it over and was surprised to find that the reverse side was blank. “Where’s the design that’s supposed to be on this side?”
Thomas reached for the pendant around his own neck and rubbed his thumb softly against the circular pattern. “The royal seal only appears on your pendant if you are a direct child of the king or his firstborn. My siblings and I all wear the seal, but only Simon’s children will.”
She raised her eyebrows. “There are so many things I don’t know about your world.”
He shrugged. “I’ll bet it pales in comparison to what I don’t know about yours.”
“Maybe … so how are you thinking Lily’s locket found its way to a market stall in Eirentheos?”
“I don’t have any idea. At first, I thought it had to be something simple, like that they were in town for the wedding, and maybe… I don’t know. Theft is somewhat uncommon in our kingdom, but obviously it happens.”
“But then she wasn’t at the wedding,” Quinn said, understanding.
“Right. She hasn’t come back to Eirentheos at all in quite some time.”
“Then how could the pendant possibly have gotten here by itself?”
“That’s the problem I’m having.”
She frowned. “Maybe it’s a fake?”
“No, that’s next to impossible. Besides, I don’t think I’d be any less concerned if that was the case.”
She nodded, absently pulling her fingers through Dusk’s mane, until the horse turned and nuzzled her hand, looking for a treat. Thomas pulled out an apple, which he tossed to Quinn but Dusk snagged it in mid-air and then crunched it, looking pleased with herself. They both chuckled.
“Maybe she lost it or it was stolen a long time ago when she lived in Eirentheos, and it’s just now turned up?”
“I was going to go with an explanation like that, just hope that it was something simple – and maybe it is. Probably it is. Really, it was probably stolen in Philotheum and just somehow made its way here, although a common thief would be crazy to steal a royal pendant. There isn’t much of a market for them, and they’re so identifiable. But then…”
Her intuition flared – Thomas was right, there was something to this. “Then there was Gavin at the wedding.”
“Exactly. I know he doesn’t know what he’s talking about – he never does – and I also know that he wasn’t telling the truth, even about what he might know…”
“What did he mean, anyway, about ‘accusations against healers in Philotheum,’ or whatever?”
Thomas shrugged. “I really don’t know. It could be all made up, but if I had to guess, I would imagine that there are rumors floating around after the whole shadeweed poisoning thing.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“Well, my father took the whole situation very seriously, of course. They have been investigating the source of the poisonings and trying to figure out who was really behind it all. They know it wasn’t just that one teacher. Anyway, healers are usually the most knowledgeable about poisons and things like that.”
Her jaw dropped. “Do you think Lily might have been involved with that somehow?”
He looked aghast. “With poisoning children? No, definitely not.”
“I don’t know these people, Thomas. I’m just trying to figure out what you’re thinking.”
Dusk and Storm had apparently grown tired of standing there as they talked; both of them walked down to the bank of the river for a drink.
“I know. I realize that you’ve never met Lily, but if you had, you would understand that asking if she was involved in something like that would be the same kind of thing as asking if William was.”
“Got it. Okay, then.” Frowning, she tried to remember the conversation at the wedding. “So, Gavin said something like she wouldn’t dare to come here. Do you think your father has accused her of being involved?”
“That’s about as likely as my father accusing William of being involved.”
“Okay, have you talked to your father about any of this?”
“I tried to.” Thomas had always seemed so confident to her, now his eyes were on the ground as he spoke. “Yesterday morning, I went into his office to ask him about Lily. He said he didn’t know why she and her family hadn’t been at the wedding, but I could tell there was something about it he wasn’t telling me. So, I told him about what Gavin had said.”
“How did he respond?”
“He said that Gavin doesn’t know what he’s talking about – that yes, there is a lot of tension between Eirentheos and Philotheum right now, but that it wasn’t something I needed to get involved in.” He rolled his eyes.
“What did he say about the pendant?”
The tiniest hint of pink appeared on Thomas’ cheeks. “I didn’t tell him about the pendant.”
“Thomas! Why not?”
“I don’t know. I was going to, but then I started getting annoyed that he was keeping something from me, and I left. Later, I almost went back to tell him. I was in the hallwa
y, right near the door to his office when I just got this crazy feeling, like I shouldn’t tell him, and then I just couldn’t.” He glanced up at her sheepishly. “Have you ever felt like that?”
She swallowed hard. In fact, she had – exactly once. “Back before I came to Eirentheos the first time, the day I realized that William was the boy I’d almost run over in the street… I saw him in the hallway, and I just knew it had been him. I turned to my friend Abigail, ready to tell her, and then something stopped me. It was like the words just stuck in my throat and refused to come out.”
“Well, that’s what it was like for me. So, my father doesn’t know about the pendant.”
The two of them were silent for a moment, both thinking, remembering. Below them, the river flowed lazily; a soft breeze made the leaves flutter in the trees. The light was starting to change; their shadows were growing longer. Soon, very soon, it would be time to walk back through the gate. She sighed, and started walking slowly toward the base of the bridge. Thomas followed her.
“Do you think there’s a reason for it, Quinn? I mean, a reason for you not telling your friend about William, and then you ending up coming here, still being able to keep it a secret?” They came to a stop, and Quinn climbed up the first step and leaned against one of the pillars.
“Like it was meant to happen that way or something?”
“Yeah.”
“I think anything is possible, Thomas, but I don’t really know.” She looked at him carefully. There was still something he wasn’t telling her. “Why, Thomas? What are you going to do?”
He was standing very close to her, there on the bottom of the bridge. Since she was standing up on the bottom step of the bridge, their heights were almost exactly equal, and his eyes were level with hers. “I’m going to go find her.”
“Lily?”
“Yes. I need to see her, talk to her, make sure she’s okay. There’s something wrong, and I don’t know what it is, and I just need to see her.”
Quinn blinked, trying to understand. “You’re going to go to Philotheum?”
He nodded.
“When?”
“Now.”
“What? Tonight? By yourself? It’s going to be dark.”
“Well, tonight I am going to go to Mistle Village and stay with Jacob and Essie. I’ll start traveling tomorrow.”
“By yourself?” She asked again.
“Well, with Storm. I’ll leave Dusk in Mistle Village.”
Despite the heat of the evening, she was suddenly cold. She rubbed at the goose bumps on her arms. “This doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, Thomas.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m sure Lily is fine, that everything is all right. I just need to see for myself.”
“You can’t wait for William to go with you? Or talk with your father and see what he thinks?”
“I’ll be fine, Quinn.” He looked into her eyes with an expression that disconcerted her, threw her off balance, and made her forget the next thing she had been going to say. Suddenly, though she could never figure out how it happened, he was kissing her.
As soon as his lips touched hers, she lost track of everything, she couldn’t remember where she was. For a fraction of a second, she wasn’t even sure who she was. The only sensations she understood were his arms around her, warm, comforting, gentle, his lips tender against hers. And then he stepped back, letting her go.
He reached down for her backpack, placing it on her shoulders while she stood there, half-stunned. “I will be fine, I promise,” he said, kissing her again on the cheek. “It’s time for you to go.”
She stared after him as he walked away, back over to the horses. He mounted Dusk, knowing Storm would follow him anywhere. He didn’t look back as he started down the road in the fading light.
As she watched him disappear, a slight wisp of cool air hit her neck, making her shiver again. She straightened, realizing what that meant. She fished her heavy coat out of the backpack and put it on before closing her eyes and stepping toward the gate.
~ 16 ~
Questions with No Answers
THE DREAM WAS SO VIVID. She was deep in a forest, surrounded by trees and plants. Many of them she didn’t recognize, but at least one of them she did.
Notably, the ground was covered in enormous yellow dandelions. Her hands trembled and her stomach shuddered as she ran. Something was lost, and she couldn’t find it. She wasn’t alone, but she wasn’t sure who was with her, only catching the idea that someone else was there.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound shook the ground beneath her feet, startling her. Where had it come from? Her heart rate was just beginning to settle when everything vibrated again.
Reaching frantically for the source of the noise and the motion, her hand touched a familiar object. Her cell phone?
“Okay, okay, I’m awake,” she muttered, throwing back the covers and flipping open her phone. Seven new messages? She didn’t usually sleep that soundly. How had she missed the phone buzzing that many times? She scrolled through the list. Four from Abigail and three from Zander. Both of them were apparently suffering from some serious impatience.
Not that she could blame them. Last night, when she had returned from Eirentheos, she had been too shell-shocked to think. She had texted Abigail immediately, as she walked from the bridge back to Nathaniel and William’s house to retrieve her car. Abigail deserved that much – to know that she had returned safely. But, of course, her friend had been dying for details, wanting to know where Quinn had been and what the big secret was.
Zander had called and texted several times last night as well, but she hadn’t known what to say to him. Finally, she’d sent a text saying that she was back, but that she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go home and rest. Her heart felt heavy telling him that – it felt like the only thing she had said lately that was actually true.
A ringing sound from downstairs startled her. It was a little early to be hearing the doorbell on a Sunday morning. She glanced down at the time display on her phone, and her jaw dropped. How could it be after nine? It had been many months since she had slept any later than seven.
There was a soft knock at her bedroom door, and the knob turned quietly. Owen’s head appeared around the edge. “Quinn? Are you still sleeping?” his low voice probably wouldn’t have wakened her if she had been.
“Yeah, buddy, I am. It’s okay, you can come in.”
The door swung open all the way. “Abigail is here.”
Crap. “Um, okay. You can tell her to come here.”
He nodded, staring at her with a serious expression, the kind that sometimes gave her the chills. “Are you okay, Quinn?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Owen disappeared into the hallway.
A few seconds later, Abigail came storming into the room, closing the door tightly. “Okay. Spill.” She sat down in the middle of the unmade bed, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable.
“I, uh…” She opened her mouth and closed it several times, feeling like a fish as she tried to figure out what to say. There had been one late night in Eirentheos, when she and Linnea had sat up giggling in their pajamas on Quinn’s bed, and the two of them had come up with dozens of possible explanations that she could give Abigail about where she had been. Right now, though, she could not remember a single one.
“Let’s start with something simple. Where did you go?”
“I can’t tell you that yet.” Or ever, but maybe she could come up with a better explanation when she’d had time to think.
“Still keeping secrets? Since when have you kept secrets from me? What is going on with you?”
“If I could tell you, Abbie, I would.” That was the truth. The memory of her conversation with William stung her now. Her lying, and her choice to go to Eirentheos was affecting people she knew and loved at home. She sighed. “It isn’t anything bad, I promise. It’s just … something I can’t explain right now.”
“You’ve got me worried here,
Quinn. Especially when you tell me you’re off with Doctor Rose and William. Doctor Rose was working at the hospital all weekend, you know. You weren’t with him.”
Her heart sank into her stomach. Abigail was checking up on her stories now?
The doorbell sounded again from downstairs. Both of their heads turned automatically.
“Quinn! Quinn!” Annie’s excited voice moved quickly through the house. “It’s Zander!”
Abigail raised her eyebrows, but Quinn could only shrug. A few seconds later, Zander appeared in the doorway.
“Oh, hey, Abigail. I didn’t know you were going to be here.” He looked a little annoyed.
“I just showed up a few minutes ago. Quinn, uh, forgot something at my house last night, and I thought I’d bring it to her while I was out.” She stared pointedly at Quinn.
“Yeah. Um, thanks for bringing me my toothbrush. I was going to be missing it.”
“Sure. I’ll call you later when I get home from my grandma’s house.”
There was no mistaking the meaning of the glare in Abigail’s eyes as she ducked through the doorway behind Zander. Quinn would be paying for this later. She was going to have to work on her story.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was worried about you. You didn’t sound very good last night, and then you weren’t answering my texts. I came over to see if there was anything I could do. Are you okay? You’re never in bed this late.” He shifted his weight, looking slightly uncomfortable standing there in the doorway.
She shrugged. “I’m better now. I must have just been really exhausted.”
“What did you and Abigail do yesterday?”
Did he notice the way her hands were shaking? “Nothing too crazy. I think it was just a really bad headache.”
He frowned, sympathy in his chocolate-brown eyes. He took a step closer to the bed. “I’m sorry. Is the headache all the way gone now?”
She nodded, pushing back the covers and standing up. Her arm was aching again and she glanced down, breathing a sigh of relief that she’d worn a long-sleeved pajama shirt to bed.
Roots of Insight (Dusk Gate Chronicles -- Book Two) Page 12