Thorns of Decision (Dusk Gate Chronicles) (44 page)

“What has he told Tolliver?”

“I don’t know. The message he was trying to send this morning was about the two of you making your courtship public last night. I don’t know what else he knows, or what kinds of things he and Tolliver have been looking for. That’s what I’ll be trying to find out.”

“So why are you in here telling us all of this now?” Quinn wondered.

Stephen’s expression was pained. “I hadn’t intended on it, not until I had at least gotten a handle on the situation myself, but then a little while ago I heard some of the children chattering, saying you’d decided to go on your trip after all, William.”

“I ... I
had
decided that, yes.”

“It’s far too dangerous,” Nathaniel said. “We don’t know everything that Tolliver knows, but if he has any suspicions about who Quinn really is – or about the connection that’s now public between the two of you ...”

“I am going to be making a decision today about whether the time has come to close the border,” Stephen said. “Regardless, for now – and for the foreseeable future –
all
of you will be staying close to home.”

“I think a walk might be good,” Thomas said.

Quinn nodded slowly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw William and Linnea do the same. They’d all been sitting in stunned silence in Quinn’s room ever since Stephen had left to go discuss the situation with Simon and Nathaniel had gone to check on Clara Halpern. The pendants still sat in the middle of the low table. They all avoided looking directly at them, although their very presence was a force that hung thick in the room.

“We should go see the birds – let Quinn and Raeyan get to know each other, and start training.” Linnea was already up and halfway to the door. The rest of them were slower. For the first time, Quinn thought the fact that Linnea had been kept back from being directly involved in some of the things that had happened might be to her advantage.

Although she knew that it hadn’t been easy on Thomas’ twin, Linnea’s scars didn’t run quite as deep as the rest of theirs. Ever since last night, Quinn had been unable to shake the image of the first time she’d met James and Dorian Blackwelder, when they’d shown up at Ellen’s doorstep in Philotheum, first scaring her, William, and Nathaniel half to death in their uniforms, and then taking them to Thomas, who’d been so broken ...

The memory had replayed itself even in her dreams last night – not her usual strange dreams, but a nightmare that hadn’t ended when she’d awakened this morning. Dark shadows underneath William’s eyes told her that his night might have been similar. And Thomas ... she couldn’t imagine what this news must be doing to him.

Outside, the sun was shining, and there was a hint of a breeze, making the temperature perfect. In almost any other circumstances, the weather would have brightened her mood immediately. Trying to compose herself, she took several deep breaths, inhaling the sweet scents that drifted from the gardens. As they stepped onto the gravel path that would lead them around to the south side of the castle and then the woods, William ran his finger down the inside of her arm before taking her hand in his. She shivered at the sensation, and suddenly an entirely different memory from last night flashed across her mind.

Heat flooded her cheeks – not the nervous, uncertain kind she was so used to, but something more. She looked up at William, meeting his half-smile with one of her own. He glanced at Thomas and Linnea, who were both ahead of them, neither one paying attention, and then he leaned down, touching his lips to hers.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly against her ear.

She nodded. “It was a good idea to come out here. I’m actually excited to see Raeyan again.” The mixed feelings she’d had about accepting the gift of the bird had disappeared. She didn’t know when it had happened, but sometime in the last couple of days she’d come to terms with the fact that this world belonged to her every bit as much as the one she’d grown up in.

She still had no idea what she was going to do, what part either world was going to play in her life going forward. There were still huge decisions to make, and plenty of outside forces that would try to make those decisions for her. But she’d accepted that it was true – what she’d told William last night – that she was never going to be able to just walk away from this world, or deny the part of herself that belonged here.

It was too deep now – her feelings about everything, the anger that resounded in her chest over Tolliver’s actions, her worry over the Blackwelders; she had the first stirrings of understanding about who she really was, and what that might mean.

Whatever else she was, she was a Philothean princess. And she could have a bird. She thought about the fledgling as they walked, remembering his bright, black eyes. Raeyan –
trusted guardian
. Well, she could use one of those.

They were just rounding the corner to the southwestern gatehouse when, up ahead of them, Thomas slowed, looking around and then turning to the rest of them.

Quinn frowned; something was wrong. “What’s going on?”

“There’s no guard,” Thomas said.

Even before they reached him, she could see that he was right. The gatehouse was empty, the door closed. Nobody was anywhere around.

“That’s not supposed to happen, is it?” She frowned. This entrance to the castle wasn’t used much by anyone outside of the family; it wasn’t convenient to much of anything besides the woods and a trail that eventually connected to the one they took to the gate.

“No. Not ever.”

“Could whoever’s supposed to be here maybe just taking a break?”

“No.” William shook his head. “Someone – an apprentice, usually – comes around every two hours to give each guard a short break, and a longer one every four. If there was an emergency in the meantime, they’re all equipped with really loud whistles. We’d have heard something like that.”

“So what do we do?”

Thomas sighed. “I guess we go back and tell someone that nobody is here.”

“Not all of us,” Quinn said, an ominous feeling building inside her. “We can’t just leave it open.”

“Nobody ever comes back here, Quinn,” Linnea said. “I’m sure it’s just something small, and it will be fine for a few minutes.”

“Is it worth taking that chance, Linnea? On the same morning they found Gavin sending messages to Tolliver?”

Linnea swallowed hard; the seriousness of the situation suddenly registering in her expression. “Are we really at that point?” she asked. “Where someone would do that?”

William nodded toward the splint that still dominated Thomas’ leg, a dark look in his eyes. “I don’t think we can ignore that possibility. What if there’s already someone inside the wall who doesn’t belong? Or just outside?”

“Then we can’t just stand here talking about it,” Quinn said. “Linnea, let’s go.”

The two girls took the gravel path at a run, although as soon as she’d turned her back on Thomas and William, dread overtook her, and she was terrified about leaving them alone there. What if there was someone inside the walls of the castle? She couldn’t imagine any reason for an empty gatehouse that was
good
.

They didn’t waste any time, running straight to Stephen’s office. With everything that was going on, surely someone was in there. The door was closed. Quinn knocked loudly three times, and then tried the knob without waiting for a response.

Stephen was just standing up from behind his desk. Nathaniel and Simon looked up at them in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Stephen asked.

“Simon,” he said when they’d told him, “get Marcus to get out there and get Thomas and William in here
now
. I want the gates closed and the entire grounds searched. The entire family needs to be in our wing and accounted for. Quinn and Linnea, stay right here. I’ll send someone to walk you upstairs.”

Linnea’s face had gone pale by the time the door closed behind the three men. “We can’t even walk ourselves upstairs? What’s going on here?”

“You’re asking
me?
” Quinn was stunned by what had just happened, and Stephen’s over-the-top response had turned her worry about leaving Thomas and William alone outside into full-blown panic. Her heart pounded out of control and she couldn’t draw in a deep breath.

“Hey, Quinn, I’m sure he’s just being cautious. My Father gets a little zealous sometimes about us.” She could tell by the change in Linnea’s tone that her friend had seen how close to the edge she was getting, and in a different circumstance, she might have been impressed at how quickly Linnea had pulled herself together.

“I know,” she said, but it didn’t sound right. Her voice came out in ragged gasps. How long would it take for someone to come and get them in here?

The two of them stood in silence. Linnea kept sending calming glances Quinn’s way, but it wasn’t helping. For the second time that day, Quinn thought about just how lucky Linnea was not to have lived through the details of Thomas’ rescue. Right now, she was battling the memory of the last time she’d been this worried about William, the night she had traveled with Ben to Ellen’s house, and William and Nathaniel had been so delayed in meeting up with them.

Although she hadn’t admitted it to herself before, that was probably the night she’d first realized how her feelings toward William had changed. She would never forget the way she had felt when he had finally come through that door, taken her in his arms...

A quiet knock on the door a few minutes later nearly made Quinn jump out of her skin. The doorknob rattled after a second, and she realized the door was locked.

“Who is it?” Linnea called through the door.

The door was heavy and thick; they had to strain to hear the voice on the other side, but after asking twice, Linnea said, “I think it’s Ben.”

Quinn nodded, even though her heart beat even more erratically as Linnea unlocked the door. She was still too worked up to feel any relief when it was Ben who entered, dressed in his full, flowing purple uniform, the silver crest of Eirentheos huge in the center of his chest. It couldn’t possibly be that easy for an on-duty guard to just disappear.

“I’m supposed to take you upstairs,” he said.

“Are Thomas and William back inside yet?” Linnea asked.

“I don’t know. All I was told is to come and get the two of you and take you upstairs and then see who’s there and who’s not.”

Upstairs, Ben escorted them to the door of the family’s wing, and then he disappeared. The hallway was busy as the Rose children filed in from various lessons and activities they’d been attending. Quinn’s panic grew when she didn’t see either William or Thomas, and all she wanted was the quiet of her room.

Linnea was just closing the bedroom door behind them when it was pushed open again from the other side, and Thomas and William both came into the room. At the sight of them, Quinn fell apart. Her knees went weak, and tears started dribbling from the corners of her eyes.

Thomas and Linnea both looked at her in alarm, but William just walked straight over and pulled her into his arms.

Nobody said anything for several minutes while he held her tightly, stroking her back, though she was aware that Thomas and Linnea were watching her closely. Finally, when she was breathing normally again, she looked up at him. “Sorry,” she said.

He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t be sorry. We are fine, though. So far, nobody has found anything wrong, besides the fact that Paul, the guard who is supposed to be on duty there, is missing. You were right to act so quickly, but everything is okay.”

William led her over to the couch and sat down next to her. “That was a pretty minor freak-out,” he said, smiling. “I’ve been waiting for a big one for a while now.”