She knew they were only words – that Zander was speaking from his gut, that his instincts might not even be right – but the question was like a physical assault, making her gasp. Samuel stirred against her, letting out a low fussing noise. She stood to rock him, swaying back and forth on her feet, though she wasn’t sure which of them she was really attempting to calm. What disturbed her even more was the long, poignant silence after Zander finished.
Marcus stood, too, and Quinn found herself unconsciously taking a step back. The dark shape of Marcus’ shoulders sank, as did the bottom of her stomach.
Behind her, William shifted; she could feel he was going to rise as well, but she held her hand back in a signal asking him not to. He settled back.
“There is a third possibility, Zander,” Marcus said quietly, although he faced Quinn. “Your observations are remarkably accurate, but your interpretations of them are, perhaps, colored by the knowledge and experience you gained growing up in a different world.”
“Colored how?” Quinn asked. “Is he wrong, Marcus?”
“It’s true, Your Majesty, that we’ve had concerns for some time that Dovelnia was possibly involved in the poisonings in Eirentheos and the fact the gate was compromised. We don’t have solid evidence to connect Tolliver or King Ivan to the rabies situation, but it’s certainly suspicious, especially with Tolliver then appearing at the gate, and his apparent ability to move between the kingdoms without detection. None of this information has been hidden from you.”
“It just hasn’t all been explicitly shared with me, and moreover some of your concerns about the implications of the information have been withheld.”
“Yes.” Marcus’ chest rose and fell.
“Do you believe I’m incapable of ruling the kingdom as queen?”
“No.” His answer was immediate enough to allow her to breathe again. “I do, however, believe that you are young – the youngest ruler ever crowned in either Philotheum or Eirentheos. That would be a challenge even without your … complicated background.”
“And then there’s the fact that I’m a girl.”
He hesitated – but only for a second. “That probably influences decisions about what concerns to bring to you more than it should. I try not to allow it to affect me personally, but I’m far from perfect. I’m learning on this part of the job as well, Quinn.”
His candor relaxed her a little. Whatever was going on wasn’t quite as sinister as Zander’s conclusions had implied. Still… “So you’re trying to protect me.”
“All things considered, protecting you is my job.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure you understand what I mean – how I – how everyone perceives serving you. Many decisions are made with consideration of an entire future with you – your family – ruling the kingdom. You’re not some interchangeable stand-in, here for a little while, and so we have to humor you and deal with you. You’re the rightful queen, appointed by the Maker at the time of your birth, the mother of the future king, and the grandmother of the ruler after him.” He paused, his head tipping toward the floor before he looked back up at her.
“And you’re young and inexperienced in every possible way. You have no parents, at least in any meaningful sense, and you’re both a new bride and a new mother – to the future king, no less. So, yes, I have to admit to a certain level of protecting you. Or attempting to, anyway.”
“Who else is in on this?” Zander demanded.
Quinn sighed. Part of her wished that Zander would cool it, but another part was grateful for his willingness to push for answers. She looked at him. “I would guess that it’s primarily Marcus and Stephen. Nathaniel has likely been involved in it as well … and Charles.”
Marcus didn’t argue, and Nathaniel remained silent. “It’s not some kind of conspiracy, you know,” Marcus said, more to Zander than to her. “We’re not deliberately withholding critical information – it’s more a series of judgment calls over what issues are important enough to push you to deal with. Clearly, with the new information that has come to light today, some of those judgment calls have been in error.”
“Did you ever plan to share your concerns with me?”
“Yes. I mistook – rather gravely, it seems, how much time we had to deal with the possible threat coming from Dovelnia.”
She took a long, deep breath through her nose, thinking as she patted the baby’s back to the rhythm of her heartbeat. “Are you keeping anything from me now? Information or concerns?”
“I quite dislike that tonight’s incident happened with Lady Sophia out of the castle.”
“Oh, I think we’re all on that page. I have a number of questions for Jonathan as soon as we’re somewhere safe… Do you think we’re safe out here with Jonathan, Marcus?”
“As safe as we are anywhere.”
“Well, that’s not a ringing endorsement, but I guess I’ll take it.”
They both chuckled quietly. From behind her, William reached up to gently brush the side of her hand.
“I do have an idea about where we could go,” Marcus said, glancing around the carriage, his gaze landing on Nathaniel.
Nathaniel nodded.
“I’m listening,” Quinn said.
“Nathaniel and I have some friends – they’re Friends of Philip.”
“We’ve known them for a very long time,” Nathaniel said. “I’ve been in contact with them about starting a clinic in their village. Staying hidden will be difficult, but we’re going to run into that everywhere.”
“Will they take us, do you think?” Quinn asked.
“I can go and talk to them privately at first. If they refuse us… they’re near a forest.”
She inhaled deeply before slowly letting out a breath. “Well, carriage camping in the forest is better than nothing, I guess. At least there will be wood for the fire. Shall we tell Jonathan?” She sank back down onto the bench, finally allowing William to put his arm around her shoulders.
Zander stayed on his feet. “Can we really trust Jonathan with this kind of information?” he asked as Marcus headed toward the door.
Quinn wasn’t entirely sure about that herself, but she shrugged. “If he’s isn’t really on my side, I’m sort of screwed either way, don’t you think? At this point, we need to get through tonight. It will be dawn soon.”
Zander didn’t sit down, even when Jonathan climbed into the wagon with Marcus. Jonathan raised an eyebrow and chuckled under his breath when he saw him. “Have you come up with a plan?” he asked Quinn.
“I think so. Marcus thinks we should…”
“No, Your Majesty. That is not information I want to have right now. Your horses are watered and doing well, the carriage is in good shape, and Neil is bringing in some more firewood for you all for the remainder of your journey tonight. Then he will accompany me away from here. Dorian, James, and the others will remain here with you. Please, please, stay far away from any main thoroughfares until you’re much farther from the castle than we are now.”
“Where are you going?”
“That isn’t something you should worry about. It’s best for each of us to have as little information about the other’s whereabouts as possible right now. I will do what I can to get in touch with Charles and see that he and his family are safe. For the present time, please be careful not to try to contact anyone in any way that might allow your location to be traced.”
Quinn was too stunned to do much besides nod a couple of times and then stare as Jonathan exited the carriage and mounted his horse.
After Jonathan and the guard, Neil, were gone, Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Now that it’s just us, I have another idea.”
~ Ten ~
Tobias
THE SOUND OF THE carriage door opening woke Zander from an exhausted, dreamy half-sleep. When he finally managed to pry his eyes all the way open, he saw Marcus standing in the opening, blocking a stream of vivid yellow sunshine. He looked around for a m
oment, trying to orient himself and clear his thoughts enough to understand what was going on.
Linnea was the only one asleep – besides Samuel, who was splayed out in dramatic fashion on William’s chest. Everyone else had either awakened at Marcus’ return or had never been asleep to begin with. Even after traveling all night and for several hours this morning, they were all too on edge to truly rest.
“What’s the news?” Quinn asked. Zander didn’t think she’d slept at all.
“The birds have returned. We have a place to stay,” Marcus said. “Although we’ll have to leave the carriage here. It’s not possible to travel with it all the way to where we’re going, and I don’t want to take any chances of someone finding it and getting closer to you.” His voice was dark, tired, and filled with worry. “News of trouble at the castle has made it this far already.”
A sharp thrill of fear raced down Zander’s throat all the way down his body, slicing him in half.
Quinn was having a similar reaction. “How is that possible?”
“The Friends of Philip are used to quickly communicating important events. There is already considerable worry about your welfare. We need to get you hidden quickly. James and Dorian are saddling the horses now.”
“I’ll help,” Zander said, standing and brushing himself off, mostly in an effort to return sensation to his extremities.
Marcus gave him a sideways glance, the fatherly kind that almost asked whether he was up to this, if he’d had enough sleep to even contemplate riding a horse, but then he sighed and held his hand out toward the door. There wasn’t another choice anyway.
The ride through the forest and along dirt trails was tense. All of the guards formed a tight circle around Quinn, William, Thomas, Linnea, and Nathaniel as Marcus led them to wherever they were going. Every noise was cause for alarm. Zander brought the whole group to a halt once when he heard a rustling sound in the nearby trees which turned out to be a capiya – not that the discovery of one of those creatures made him feel better.
Zander was impressed – although Quinn hadn’t done much riding for several months, and he’d had intense training lately in the skill, she was still much more at ease on Dusk’s back than he thought he could ever be on a horse. And she had Samuel tied to her chest.
Exhausted as he was, he was alert – they all were. A shift in the wind brought with it a cold breeze that warned them they needed to make it to shelter before dark.
Two long hours after leaving the carriage, they emerged from the thick woods at the top of a hill. Down below them, in the only clearing he’d seen since they left the carriage, was what looked like a farm. A low, but large and rambling house surrounded by outbuildings, including an enormous barn. The roofs of all the buildings were made of thick, weathered wood shingles. An inviting ribbon of smoke curled up from the stone chimney at the northern end of the house.
Not for the first time since coming to this world, Zander had visions of the fairy tales he’d read as a child. Today he was almost waiting for a wicked witch or a giant to appear at the edge of the woods on the other side of the clearing – or soldiers, he reminded himself.
Marcus led them down the hill, stopping in front of a tall iron gate. Up close, the stone wall that surrounded the property was higher than it had seemed as they’d approached. He was straightening to dismount when a man appeared on the other side. He was older, his hair a silvery gray and his hands wrinkled and worn.
“Sir Marcus, Prince Nathaniel,” the man said, lifting the iron latch inside the gate and pulling it open. Despite the appearance of his hands, they were strong and moved the heavy bar easily. “Come in.”
When Quinn rode through the gate, the man dropped to one knee. “Your Majesty, it is an honor.”
She shook her head. “The honor is mine, Sir…”
“I’m Tobias Sheppard. Most simply call me Tobias. Welcome to my home. Come on inside. Quickly. There is plenty of room in the stables for your horses.”
Even in the short time he’d been in this world, Zander had learned that lengthy, overly polite introductions were the norm, so when the man ushered them into a large living room and immediately began discussing business, he knew things were bad.
“Is everyone in your party all right, Your Majesty?”
“I think so. Prince Jonathan and one of my guards left us early this morning. I’m not sure exactly where they were headed.”
Tobias leaned his hands on the back of a large chair. “Did he know you were coming this way?”
“No.”
“Were you seen by anyone as you were headed in this direction?”
Quinn started to shake her head, but Marcus responded, “Earlier this morning, when we still had the carriage, we passed by a small village, close enough to be in view of some of the houses. I don’t think we were seen, but I can’t be certain.”
“Okay.” Tobias nodded.
“What news have you heard?” Quinn asked.
“Not enough to be very helpful. Reports of troops traveling through the capital city, and of smoke coming from the castle this morning.”
“Smoke?” Zander asked.
Nobody else looked surprised, though. When Quinn responded to him, her expression was upset, but resigned. “That would be an effective way of rooting us out if we were hiding somewhere in the castle.”
“So it could be a good sign, then? They don’t know if or when we got out safely.”
“Sure,” she agreed. “It could be good news. Depending, of course, on who else they murdered in the process.”
He gulped and took a step backward, even though she wasn’t actually angry – just sad. She needed to be angrier.
His ill-chosen observation had drawn Tobias’ attention, though. “I’m afraid I don’t know everyone in your party, Your Majesty.”
“Of course, I’m sorry,” she said. “This is Prince Thomas and Princess Linnea of Eirentheos.” She pointed to each of them.
“Yes, I know all of the royals and Sir Marcus. I also recognized James and Dorian Blackwelder when I saw them, and the other guards outside helping them with the horses are, I believe, Kian Mondragon and Ethan Power?”
“That’s correct.” Quinn sounded as impressed – and curious – as Zander was.
“I don’t know your maid.”
“Mia Willoughby, Sir,” Mia said quickly, bobbing her head at him.
Tobias’ eyebrows went up. “Any relation to Luke?”
“Yes. He’s my father.”
“Very nice,” he clicked his tongue. “You are surrounded quite well, Your Majesty. Which brings me to my last question.” His eyes fell on Zander.
William cleared his throat. “This is Zander Cunningham, our newest personal guard.”
“In training,” Zander muttered under his breath.
“An apprentice? Interesting. In King Stephen’s castle, you would be considered quite old to begin training for a position with the family. You’ve also only just arrived in Philotheum, and yet you seem quite well acquainted with Queen Quinn – rather impertinent for an apprentice, actually.”
Uncomfortable warmth spread through Zander’s chest and arms as Tobias looked him over. He didn’t know how to respond to the man’s observations – but he didn’t get a chance to, anyway. “You’re not from here, are you?”
Now he couldn’t tell whether the sensation was fire or ice, but it was hard to breathe around whatever it was. He coughed. “From Philotheum? No.”
“You’re not from Eirentheos, either.”
“What are you implying, Tobias?” Quinn asked in a tone Zander hadn’t known she possessed.
“I’m implying that perhaps you brought Mister Cunningham with you from the other world.”
Around him, even the air grew tense – at least the air surrounding William, Thomas, and Linnea. Nathaniel and Marcus didn’t look as shocked as he would have expected. Quinn must have noticed that as well, because she didn’t react with shock, instead she squared her shoulders. “Actually,
it’s Sir Zander Cunningham.”
“Ah. So this is the man who killed Rahas, then.”
Zander took a deep breath, the way he always had to when the … incident … was mentioned. A second later, he was surprised to feel Linnea’s hand on his elbow.
“Yes,” Quinn said. “We owe much to him that the outcome of that battle wasn’t much, much worse.”
“By worse you mean Tolliver gaining access to a portal that would allow him to travel to another world, yes?”
“I think we’ve shared enough about ourselves for the moment, Mister Sheppard. I would like to hear about you.”
“Was I wrong in assuming that everyone in your party here knows that you were born in a different world than this one?”
Quinn looked around. “The guards outside don’t know.”
“I didn’t speak of it in front of them.” The way he frowned made Zander wonder what else the man knew that they didn’t. “Surely all of King Stephen’s children are aware, and I know Marcus and Nathaniel both are.”
“I’m more interested in how you know.”
“Your uncle has done well at keeping his relationship with me secret,” he said, nodding at Nathaniel. “I hope that’s a sign you’ll be safe with me, the way he and your father were many cycles ago.”
“You knew my father?”
Given the man’s obvious age, Zander wasn’t surprised that he’d at least known of the crown prince of Philotheum, but it sounded as if he was implying more than a passing acquaintance.
“Yes.” The man’s eyes went again to Nathaniel, the two of them exchanging a silent conversation. “Samuel was my nephew.”
A deep crease appeared in Quinn’s forehead. “How is that even possible? My grandfather didn’t have any siblings.”
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