Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles Book 4) (11 page)

Megan raised an eyebrow.

“He was a prince. Not of Eirentheos – the kingdom we’re in now, Stephen’s kingdom. He was the prince of another kingdom. Philotheum. And he wasn’t just any prince. He was the firstborn. The heir to the throne. He was supposed to be the king.”

There was a long pause.

“And what? So you’re the long-lost princess or something?”

Quinn closed her eyes, pulling a deep breath in through her nose. “Something like that.”

“Did you ever think that maybe the reason your father didn’t ever tell us those things is because that’s not what he wanted for you? Maybe he didn’t want to be the king. Nathaniel’s his brother – that makes him a prince, too, right? Why doesn’t he go be the king?”

“It doesn’t work that way. Look, Mom ... I don’t want to do this right now. It’s been a really horrible couple of days; I’m not feeling that well, and we don’t have to figure this all out tonight. You’re here now, and so we have time. Can we just... I’ve missed you, and it would be nice to spend some time with you and I don’t want us to argue the whole time. And I really, really, want to see Annie and Owen.”

And a nap. More than anything, she wanted a nap. Preferably with her head against William’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. Not questioning her every sentence, just listening, the way he always did.

“Please, Mom?”

Megan took a deep breath, and Quinn could see that she was trying to calm herself. Finally, she nodded. “I’ve missed you too, sweetheart. So much.”

“I know, Mom.”

“You know the other reason I came – I think part of me was just looking for any excuse to come to you – I couldn’t handle the thought of not seeing you on your birthday.”

She frowned. “My birthday’s not for…” But she stopped, because she hadn’t even thought about it, didn’t even know what the date was back in her world.

“Your birthday is tomorrow, Quinn. Or today, or whatever. I don’t know what day it is in our world now.”

“I didn’t even realize that. I had forgotten all about it. I don’t even know how it works here…what day my birthday is on, here.”

Her mom scooted closer and put her arms carefully around Quinn’s shoulders, hugging her gently, and stroking her hair. “Well, I didn’t want to miss it. I wanted you to be home for it. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mom.” She ignored the “home” part of her mother’s words, but she could tell from the tone that this conversation was far from over.

They stayed like that for several moments before Quinn finally pulled back. “Where are Annie and Owen?”

“Last I knew they were in a big playroom with a bunch of little kids. Annie was having the time of her life. That brother of William’s – Thomas? He was in there playing with them – really had them all going. He’s a nice kid.”

Quinn smiled. “Yes, he is.”

“If you were going to date one of them, why didn’t you pick him?”

She rolled her eyes. “William’s a nice guy too, Mom, once you get to know him.”

*          *         *

Walking into the common room was a strange experience. Quinn had only been gone from the castle for one night, but the room fell silent when she appeared in the doorway with William and her mother.

William had his hand under her elbow, helping her walk, which was clearly bugging her mother, but she didn’t really know what to do about it. With half her leg still numb, she kind of needed the support.

Most of the family was in the common room, though many of the youngest children were across the hall in the playroom – Quinn could hear the shrieking. Stephen wasn’t there, and neither were Simon and Maxwell – Quinn suspected they were busy with everything that was going on – but everyone else was. Charlotte sat at the far end of the room, chatting with Rebecca, who was nursing the new baby.

Charlotte looked up immediately when Quinn entered, and she almost stood, but then settled back, restraining herself – probably trying to be respectful of Megan.

Thomas and Linnea were there, and so were William’s next-youngest brothers, Joshua and Daniel.

Everyone looked concerned, and Quinn knew she would have to deal with – and hug – every one of them in turn, but the instant focus of her attention in the room was the little boy who stood up from the low table where he was working a complicated puzzle, and bolted toward her.

“Owen!”

He carefully wrapped himself around her right side, somehow knowing just how to avoid her injury, and she squeezed him as tightly as she could, leaning down and kissing his head.
Oh
... He’d had a bath, and he smelled of the soap the children in the castle used. It was such a strange combination of scents – both of her homes mixed together in the soft brown hair of the little boy she loved.

Blinking back tears, she cleared her throat. “Hey, buddy. How are you doing?”

He looked up at her. “I was worried about you.”

“I know you were. I was worried about you, too. Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’ve never been in a castle before. Did you know they really do have a gate on the front door?”

“They have them on all of the entrances. I’ll take you and show you soon, okay?”

His eyes lit up, and Quinn knew he was all right. “You should sit down,” he said, nodding toward her leg, even though her bandage was hidden by her long skirt. He studied William for a second, and then put her arm over his shoulder, and helped lead her over to one of the overstuffed armchairs.

William chuckled quietly, but didn’t say anything as he helped Quinn ease herself down, and Owen pulled more pillows from the other chairs. A warm feeling filled her chest as she watched William’s careful interaction with her little brother. He showed Owen how to adjust the pillows, somehow making the little boy feel instantly important and included.

Owen noticed, she could tell, even though he hadn’t yet spoken to William – probably wouldn’t for a while, even. It took Owen time to get comfortable with new people. But he allowed William to stand close to him, and in the end, when Quinn was settled in the chair, he gave her a small smile before retreating back to his puzzle.

Charlotte couldn’t wait any longer. As soon as Quinn was sitting down, she hurried across the room.

Several emotions warred in the queen’s eyes as she knelt by the chair, pulling Quinn into her arms. Anger and fear and relief were all there, but the only one she immediately poured onto her was love.

“Thank the Maker,” she whispered into her ear. “I’m so glad you’re here. Are you really all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“Not too itchy or hot?”

She shook her head. “William gave me some medicine and some lotion to help.”

“Okay,” Charlotte said, kissing her on the head before turning her attention to William, and wrapping him in an enormous hug.

For the second time in the few minutes she’d been in the common room, Quinn had to swallow back the lump in her throat. Why couldn’t it have been that easy with her own mother?

THE SUN HAD BARELY dipped below the horizon when William insisted on taking Quinn back to her room. He could see that she was trying to stay awake, but she could barely keep her eyes open, and she’d started wincing just holding baby Hannah on her lap and had to hand her off to Thomas.

“Isn’t it a little early for bed?” she asked, as he opened her door.

“Are you honestly telling me that you could stay awake and keep visiting with everyone?”

“Good point,” she answered, unable to hold back a yawn. Her protest rang hollow anyway, since she hadn’t objected at all when he’d suggested it in front of everyone.

“Besides, you really have been off the IV long enough.” He walked her over to her couch, where they’d left his supplies when he disconnected her earlier so she could go to the common room and have dinner with her family.

“I ate. And drank water, too.”

He smiled – she was so determined not to seem helpless. Was she worried she was bothering him? He hoped not – while he wished, for her sake, that she didn’t need him to, he liked taking care of her. “You’re going to have to keep down more than six bites of vegetable stew and half a cup of water before I take you off this thing for good, love.”

“Were you counting?”

“I am a doctor – it’s kind of my job. Anyway, even if you didn’t need the fluids, you do still need another dose of the anti-viral – and some real pain meds now.”

She sighed, but, thankfully, didn’t object this time.

“Can you get yourself into your pajamas, or do you want me to get Linnea or Mia to help you?”

“I’ll do it. I’m actually kind of glad you dragged me out of the common room. I’m a little peopled out right now.”

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No!” The intensity of her answer surprised him, and made his breath catch in his throat. “Sorry. I mean, no, I don’t want you to leave right now.”

He smiled, reaching to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m not a people?”

“You’re the only person I want right now, that’s all.”

He didn’t have the words to describe how that sentence made him feel, all he could do was pull her into his arms and hold her tight against him, feeling the reassuring weight of her against his chest, and her warm breath on his shoulder.

Her leg brushed against his, and she winced.

He pulled back immediately. “Is your leg hurting again?”

“I’m fine.” She started walking toward her armoire.

He sighed at her stubbornness. “Where are your pajamas?”

“Third drawer, but I’ll get them. I need to go brush my teeth and stuff anyway.”

But he was faster than she was. He was already at the armoire digging in her drawer by the time she had finished her sentence. He pulled out a nightgown, and crossed back to her, putting his arm under hers, and helping her to the bathroom door without putting weight on her leg.

“How long are you going to treat me like an invalid?” she asked, when he was waiting outside the bathroom door to half-carry her to her bed.

“As long as I can get away with having an excuse to touch you more than usual,” he said, grinning as he lifted her onto the sheets.

“You’re in an awfully good mood considering the crappy day we’ve had.”

“It wasn’t all crappy.” He took her hand and started re-connecting the tubing. “And I thought it ended pretty well. I had fun spending time with Owen and Annie.”

“Owen really likes you,” she said.

He liked Owen, too. The little boy had kept to himself in a corner most of the evening, drawing and playing with blocks, but he was watchful. More than once he’d run over to retrieve something for Quinn that she hadn’t even asked for yet.

 He and William’s little sister Alice would probably get along really well – after they’d had a couple of days to work up the courage to actually talk to each other. “He’s a really great kid. You can tell how much he loves you – he notices everything you do, Quinn. Annie’s pretty precious too, though.” That one had fit in with the rest of the boisterous crew immediately.

“She loves your little sisters.”

“I know.” He chuckled. “I heard her asking your mom if she could sleep with Emma tonight.”

“I’m sure
that
thrilled my mom. Now she’s going to be worried that Annie won’t want to go back home with her.”

He finished squeezing the syringe of pain medicine into her IV, and then sat down next to her on the mattress.

“It didn’t go so well with your mom earlier, did it?”

She shrugged. “It probably went as well as it
could
go. But it was hard.”

“I’m sorry.” He kissed her forehead, and then lay down, sliding his arm underneath her.

She rested her head on his chest, moving her ear until it was right over his heart. “This is better,” she said.

“Much,” he agreed, pulling her hair back from her neck and running his fingers softly along the base of her scalp. “Do you want to talk about what happened with your mom?”

“Uh-uh,” she mumbled. “Not right now. I’m starting to get really sleepy.”

“It’s probably the medicine – it works really fast. Want me to go so you can sleep?”

“No.” Her eyes opened wide. “I don’t want to be alone, Will. I need you.” The fear in her voice hurt his heart.

“Okay, love.” His answer was just as quick. “Shh, relax. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” Ever again, if he could help it. He settled further under her, and reached to pull her blanket over both of them.

*          *          *

When William woke in the morning, Quinn was sound asleep, her arm across his chest. It was still dark out, but they’d gone to bed so early that he knew he’d slept enough and wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep.

Her arm was cool to the touch; the fever hadn’t returned. He hoped that meant the anti-viral medication was working. It relieved him to see that the rash hadn’t spread to her arms, either. She was having a hard enough time dealing with her mom’s feelings about her being in Eirentheos; he didn’t blame her for not wanting to share the fact that she’d gotten sick, too.

Afraid of waking her, he laid there for a long time, listening to her breathe in and out, thinking about just how much he liked this. But eventually, he realized he wasn’t going to have a choice. His body wouldn’t allow him to stay there forever.

She didn’t wake when he rose, although even in her sleep she grimaced when the motion of the bed jostled her leg. She seemed completely out; enough that he dared leaning down and kissing her forehead. That didn’t disturb her – he thought maybe he could get away with getting some more meds into her.

For a brief moment, he contemplated putting some more morphine into her drip, but he had a feeling she might object to that if she were awake, and it didn’t feel right, so instead he gave her something gentler and then left a note on her table telling her he was going to take a shower, in case she woke looking for him.

Thomas, who, it seemed, never slept, was sitting on a stool at the counter in the common room, sipping from a mug of tea when William came in.

“The change of clothes was a wise plan,” Thomas said, nodding when he saw William. “It might not be the best idea to be sleeping in her room when her mother is here.”

 William was suddenly mortified. “Nothing happened, Thomas. It wasn’t like that.”

“Well, obviously. I imagine it would be hard to even kiss her without hurting her right now. But still,
really,
Will? Megan wanted to go in and say goodnight to her last night. I had to convince her that Quinn was already asleep and that it wouldn’t be good to accidentally wake her.”

William swallowed guiltily. “I didn’t even think about that.”

“Megan already thinks we’re keeping Quinn from her, trying to sabotage their relationship or something. Can you imagine what she’d think if she walked in and found you in Quinn’s bed? Mother and Father wouldn’t exactly be pleased, either, you know.”

William sat down at the counter and buried his face in his hands. “She just didn’t want me to leave her last night, Thomas. And I couldn’t do it.”

The expression in Thomas’ eyes softened. “I know. But you can’t make a habit of it. Especially not while her mother is here.”

“I know.”

Thomas stood and got another mug, and then scooped tea out of a canister into a tea ball, placed it in the cup, and poured in water from a steaming kettle on the stove. He slid the mug across the counter to William.

“If you want to get away with sleeping with her, you’re going to have to more than just court her.”

“Yeah. I’ve kind of thought about that, Thomas.”

Thomas’ eyebrow arched into a
v
while he took a sip of his tea. “Thought about it how much?”

“I might have sort of asked her to marry me yesterday.”

The mug slammed to the counter, splashing hot drops of the aromatic tea everywhere. “Sort of? Or you did?”

“I did.”

Thomas’ eyes were wide. “Now that is some fantastic timing.”

“I know.” William rolled his eyes. “I keep saying that they’ve pegged my gift all wrong. Mine should be romance, not healing, don’t you think? After all, it takes a special kind of talent to propose to the girl you love while she’s sick and halfway unconscious from pain after an injury sustained during her kidnapping.” His voice broke on the last words.

“Oh, Will.” Thomas came around the counter and sat down on the stool next to him, putting his hand on William’s shoulder. “It’s not as bad as that. I mean, she must not have told you to go fish in a different stream – you just slept in her room. What happened? What did she say?”

“She asked if we could talk about it later.”

Thomas chuckled. “Sounds reasonable.”

“Yeah.” He still couldn’t believe he’d actually done that – what would she think about that today?

“It also sounds distinctly different than a no.”

That was true, he supposed. “It does, doesn’t it?” He couldn’t stop the sides of his mouth from edging into a grin.

“Yeah, it does. But it also sounds like you need to do a better job of it next time.”

*          *          *

The soft sound of her door closing woke Quinn. Feeling disoriented, she lifted her head, scared for a second, until she saw the familiar line of light at the bottom of her curtains, and realized that she was in her room in the castle, and it was morning.

“Sorry,” a familiar voice whispered from across the room. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just coming to check on you.”

“It’s okay, Nathaniel. It’s probably time for me to be getting up, anyway. How long did I sleep?” Asking that question suddenly made her remember
falling
asleep last night, and she looked around, panicked for a second, until a motion from across the room caught her eye.

William stood from the couch and walked over to the window, pulling back the curtains before returning to her bedside. “It’s only just now breakfast-time, love.”

She blinked in the bright light. “Is my mom up?”

“I haven’t seen her yet,” Nathaniel said, coming to stand next to the bed, and reaching for her wrist to check her pulse. “How are you feeling this morning?”

She shrugged, testing herself out. “Not so sick to my stomach anymore, I don’t think. A little groggy, maybe.”

“How’s your leg?”

She thought about downplaying it, but realized she’d give herself away as soon as she tried to walk again. “It hurts.” She pulled the covers off of her leg so he could check her dressing.

“Stephen wants the guard who did this to you arrested.” Nathaniel looked pleased.

“I was trying to get his knife.”

“Which is exactly what you
should
have been doing. You should have had one of your own to begin with. You’ve been practicing enough with them – it was stupid not to make sure you had one with you. Don’t defend him, Quinn. He was kidnapping you.”

“I know; I just wanted to be truthful about it.”

Nathaniel shook his head. “No, you’re feeling
guilty
about it. Stop. You didn’t do anything wrong. He did. Jonathan did. I think Stephen should track
him
down and arrest him.”

“He’s your brother.”

“Yeah, he is. Though he’s made it awfully clear where his loyalties lie.”

“Are you sure about that, Nathaniel? It’s not like he knew who I was.”

“Right. He just snuck into the kingdom and captured a prince and his girlfriend – oh, and the girlfriend’s family. He’s completely innocent.”

“He was here trying to find out about the gate. He saw my family come through the gate. He thought I was some kind of spy or something for Stephen.”

Nathaniel sighed. “You do realize all of this means we have a much bigger problem, right? Tolliver knows about the gate.”

A chill ran down Quinn’s spine, and she strained to remember her conversation with Jonathan yesterday. The memory was a little fuzzy. “I’m not sure he does yet. Or at least not any more than the rumors he’d heard already from the spies he’s had here. He sent Jonathan here to see if he could find out if those rumors were true. But I don’t think Jonathan reported anything back to him.”