“What’s wrong?” William asked.
Her hands were shaking, and she felt cold; all of her strength seemed to have drained away. She didn’t know how to answer, so she just shook her head.
Nathaniel came around the couch and knelt down in front of her. “Quinn, what is it? Are you okay? What’s going on?”
She swallowed and blinked furiously, trying to see through the strange tears that threatened to spill over. Nathaniel took her hands in his and looked up at William.
“Hey, come here,” William said, adjusting her so that her head rested on his arm. Nathaniel sat down, close on her other side. She didn’t speak, just stared ahead, still blinking against the tears.
* * *
William couldn’t remember ever feeling so helpless before. He’d wondered when all of this was going to get to her, and now he felt like he should have seen it coming when he and Nathaniel had left her alone with people she didn’t really know. It had bothered him, this morning, watching her ride off with Ben, all by herself.
Earlier tonight, when it had gotten dark and they still had a long distance to ride – he had known, then, that she would be worried. He’d had vivid flashes of what it would have been like if the situation were reversed, if she had been out on the road with Nathaniel and Marcus, and he’d been trapped somewhere, not knowing if they were safe – if she were safe.
He understood the panicked look in her eyes now, almost like a rabbit caught in a trap, and he was overcome by an urge to fix it for her – to take her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay, that there was nothing to worry about, that he would take care of everything.
He couldn’t do that, of course. For one thing, he didn’t know if it was true. Right now, everything was such a mess; he needed someone to tell him it was going to be okay, because he really wasn’t so sure.
So he did the only thing he could do – he sat there next to her, her head against him. After a few minutes, he took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently, without saying anything. He felt her nod slightly, and she raised her hand to her eyes briefly, wiping away a tear that must have slipped.
Ellen came into the room – he hadn’t even noticed that she’d left – carrying a tray of sandwiches and mugs of steaming tea.
“Quinn never ate dinner,” she said. “And I’m sure you might be hungry again by now. I meant to feed all of you before Marcus went to bed.”
Nathaniel nodded. “Thank you so much, Ellen. We appreciate your hospitality more than you know.”
William was suddenly embarrassed. “I’m so sorry; I’ve been so rude. You’ve been gracious enough to offer us your home, and I haven’t even introduced myself.”
Ellen chuckled. “I think we may be a little past all of the formalities, William, Prince of Eirentheos. We’re all in this together. It’s lovely to meet you, and please don’t hesitate to make yourself at home here.”
He nodded. “Thank you so much, for everything.”
“The pleasure is ours,” Henry said, standing and putting an arm around his wife’s waist. “I only wish that we’d first been able to get to know one another in more pleasant circumstances. Please make yourselves at home here. Feel free to use anything you need, or ask if there’s something you can’t find.”
“Thank you both,” Nathaniel said, rising from the couch and walking over to them. Henry let go of Ellen long enough for Nathaniel to give her a long, fierce hug.
William was perplexed. Nathaniel was obviously quite close to Ellen and her husband, but today was the first time William had heard either of their names. After many years of living and traveling with his uncle in two worlds, he’d thought he knew everyone Nathaniel spent time with. This whole journey so far had been filled with surprises.
“Of course,” Henry answered. “We’re going to go to bed in a few minutes. There is plenty of food in the kitchen, if you need anything else.”
Nathaniel nodded. He watched Ellen and Henry disappear down a long hallway, and then he turned back around and reached toward the tray Ellen had brought out. “Would you like a sandwich, William?”
“Sure. Quinn?” he asked, looking down at the top of her head. Nathaniel, still standing over them, shook his head. “She’s asleep.”
“Oh,” William mouthed silently. He frowned. What did he do now? He looked up to his uncle for help.
Nathaniel smiled, and then adjusted one of the cushions at the end of the long couch to act as a pillow. He helped William gently move the girl so that her head lay against it. Though her eyes never opened, she stirred slightly, her body grew stiff, and she mumbled, her voice so sad that he thought it might break his heart. “Not alone again … not alone.”
William pulled her feet into his lap, reaching up to softly stroke the back of her hand. She seemed to relax, her head sinking into the cushion, and her arms curling into her chest.
When he looked up, he saw his uncle watching him, an intense look in his eyes that held a meaning William couldn’t decipher. Once William’s eyes met his, Nathaniel shrugged, then handed him one of the sandwiches. He walked over to the hallway, and opened the door to a small closet there, which made William raise his eyebrows again. When he returned, he carried a pillow and two blankets, which he set next to William on the couch.
~ 21 ~
Shocking
PALE SUNLIGHT WAS STREAMING across her face when Quinn woke up. She remembered where she was, but she was confused about what she was doing in the sitting room. Just then, a motion on the couch across from her caught her eye. She sat up to investigate.
“You’re really awake,” William said. He was sitting there, leaning against a cushion on the end of the other couch.
“Yeah,” she said, kicking off the blanket and pulling herself up so she could stretch. “Why am I out here?”
He shrugged. “You fell asleep out here. You were so tired … it didn’t seem like a good idea to wake you.”
“Oh … Did you sleep out here, too?” she asked, noticing the neatly folded blanket and the pillow on the other end of his couch.
“Yeah … Would you like some tea?” He nodded toward the low table between them; two steaming mugs sat in the middle.
“When did you make this?” She picked up the mug closest to her. It warmed her hands, and she sniffed at the steam, inhaling the scent of the tea she was starting to love. It had a taste that was somehow both sweet and a little spicy. She settled back against the cushions, pulling her knees up into her chest, and setting the cup on top of them.
“I just brought it in here a few minutes ago. You’ve been kind of stirring for a while. Were you dreaming again?”
“Um …” she closed her eyes, searching, and then shook her head. “If I was, I don’t remember. Was I talking? Sometimes I talk when I have really vivid dreams.”
“Not this morning, no.”
His voice sounded a little too careful. Her cheeks flushed and she narrowed her eyes. “What did I say last night?”
He looked down, staring into his own mug of tea. “Nothing really … just that … you didn’t want to be alone.”
“Oh.” Her face turned a furious shade of red now.
He looked up, watching her. “Hey, Quinn. It’s okay – totally understandable, given the circumstances. We should have realized that would be hard for you.”
“So you stayed out here with me?”
“Yeah.”
Warmth filled her chest – and it wasn’t from the hot beverage she was drinking. “Thank you.”
They both sat there and sipped intently at their tea, neither really knowing what to say. She was relieved when Ellen came into the room.
“Good morning,” she said. “Are you two hungry for breakfast?”
“Sure,” she answered quickly. Her stomach rumbled – she realized she hadn’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday. “Can we help you?”
She followed Ellen into the kitchen without waiting for a response; she needed something to do with her hands.
Quinn didn’t know what the day was going to hold. After breakfast, Nathaniel, Henry, and Marcus announced that they were going to speak to some other Friends of Philip at another safe house on the other side of Estora. She was desperate to go, to be a part of things, get out and see for herself what was going on, but Nathaniel was adamant that she stay right where she was.
“There are things about this you don’t understand, Quinn. We cannot risk having you out on the roads, among the people when we don’t even know what’s going on,” he’d said.
“Then tell me! What don’t I understand? How am I ever going to help here if you keep telling me that I don’t understand? Make me understand.”
Nathaniel’s eyes had been set, more firmly that she had ever seen them before. “You’re not going, and neither is William. We cannot risk another prince of Eirentheos when we have no idea what Tolliver is doing with Thomas. We simply do not know everything we need to know. I promise, Quinn, that I will tell you what I can – when I can.”
The situation was starting to feel hopeless, an endless time of waiting, wondering, and not doing anything, which made her feel a little crazy. If she could be out, riding, heading somewhere, on their way to get Thomas, or find something, she would have felt better. Instead, they were stuck.
As she worked around Ellen and Henry’s home that morning, she wished that something – anything – would happen. Just before lunch, she regretted her wish.
She and William were in the kitchen, helping Ellen chop vegetables when there was a frantic knocking at the door. Ellen dropped the knife she had been holding and ran to pull it open, Quinn and William on her heels.
Ryan was standing there with Ben, who had gone outside to assist him with some things in the grounds. He looked panicked. “My Lady, it’s Tolliver. He’s just down the road, on his way here.”
Quinn looked at William in shock. His terrified eyes matched hers.
Ellen’s voice, however, was steady enough to surprise her. “How many guards has he brought with him, Ryan?”
“It appears to be only one, Lady.”
She nodded and glanced over at Ben. “Have you ever met Tolliver?”
Ben shook his head. “I’ve seen him at a distance, but no.”
“Good. Stay with Ryan. The two of you can take care of the horses and keep his … friend … entertained. When you have a chance to slip away, Ryan, you must go and find Henry, let him know what’s going on, and get him back here, without Nathaniel and Marcus. You, and you,” she turned her steel eyes on William and Quinn. “Come with me. Now.”
Shocked and frightened beyond speaking, they followed Ellen back through the kitchen, and into a large pantry behind it. The woman moved with quick, deliberate movements, though her manner remained calm. Once inside the pantry, she closed the door behind them. Quinn looked over at William, confused, then watched, amazed as Ellen reached into a concealed handle and pulled open a large section of the floor, revealing stairs.
“Wha...?” she started to ask, but Ellen shot her a look that silenced her instantly. Ellen pointed down into the opening, and Quinn obeyed immediately, walking quickly down the stairs. William followed closely behind. As soon as his head dipped below the floor, the heavy door dropped silently closed. They heard the pantry door open and close again, and then the sound of Ellen’s light footsteps crossing back across the kitchen floor.
Once the door had closed, the space they were in was completely black. Quinn had to edge her foot carefully forward to find the next step before she stepped down. William caught up to her in the darkness, and, after a second, she felt his hand on her shoulder, steadying her.
Somehow, her panic grew stronger in this space. Her heart was hammering so loudly in her ears that she couldn’t hear either of their footsteps as they cautiously made their way to the bottom of the staircase. The bottom was farther away than she imagined it possibly could be, but finally she felt the surface under her feet change from the wooden stairs that gave and threatened to creak with each step to solid stone.
Still unable to see, she set both feet carefully on the floor and felt around, stretching one foot in every direction, trying to ensure there were no more hidden steps. William placed both his hands on her shoulders, moving with her, their motions in sync with one another.
“Are you okay?” he whispered after a minute.
She nodded, afraid to speak, but knowing that he would feel her gesture in the close proximity. Her heart was slowing enough for her to hear around her now, but there was nothing to hear, no sounds drifting down through the floor above them. The only thing she could hear was William breathing next to her.
When several more minutes passed without a sound, some of her muscles relaxed. Both of them began slowly making their way across the floor. Whatever kind of room they were in felt long and wide. The floor was smooth and open under their feet. No light trickled in from anywhere. Even when plenty of time had passed for her eyes to have adjusted, she couldn’t see anything. William stayed right beside her, at least one hand always on her shoulder or elbow.
After what seemed far too many tiny, shuffling steps for the enclosed space, William stopped. He lifted her hand with his and stretched it out so that she, too, could feel the stone wall. She was surprised at the relief she felt, touching the wall. The tangible boundary gave her a sense of place, and she was able to take a deep breath and calm herself a bit. He didn’t drop his hand, still keeping it under her elbow as she slid carefully to the floor, leaning up against the wall. Then he sat down next to her, close enough that they stayed touching.
She wondered how long it had been. The dark, and the fear were so oppressive around her that she had lost all perception of time. Their journey from the middle of the stairs to the wall where they now sat might have taken less than a minute or more than half an hour. She had no way of knowing.
Suddenly, from right above them came the sound of heavy footsteps, moving across the ceiling. Then something being dragged across the wooden floor, just before the footsteps stopped.
“Have I interrupted you in the middle of preparing a meal?”
Quinn’s stomach clenched – she would have recognized that voice anywhere; she often heard it in her nightmares. Beside her, William’s body grew rigid.
“It is midday, Tolliver. Isn’t this what people do?” Even through the floor, Ellen’s voice still sounded calm, though with a slightly irritated edge.
“I wouldn’t know, Sister. I’ve never felt the need to live away from the castle and from those whose job it is to worry about such mundane matters for those of royal blood.”
Her jaw slammed down so far toward her chest that she was a little surprised when it didn’t break. She felt William’s head snap toward hers, and she had to work to keep her heart rate from distorting her hearing again.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t.”
“Are you preparing all of this for yourself? Where’s that husband of yours that likes to keep you out here in the weeds?”
She sucked in a breath, thinking of the extra knives and things she and William had just left lying on the counter. It wouldn’t look much like Ellen was alone up there.
“He’s gone to visit with some friends in town. I do have servants, and they eat here, too. Much of this is for dinner – he will have returned by then.”
“I trust you won’t mind if your little brother joins you for that?”
“You’re welcome to join us, Tolliver. You know there will always be room at my table for family.”
She took deep breaths; her attempts to calm her thudding heart were mostly unsuccessful. William took his hand in hers and squeezed it. Though his touch was gentle, she could feel his shock and stress radiating through the motion. She squeezed back, and then he allowed her hand to rest back on her lap, but his hand stayed where it was, intertwined with hers.
“So where are all of these illustrious servants of yours? I’m rather thirsty after my ride.”
The sound was muffl
ed by the floor between them, but the noise Ellen made next sounded to Quinn like something between a cough and a choke. Her stomach twisted, and William gave her hand another gentle squeeze.
“Tolliver, do you really think, after everything you’ve been doing lately, that I would expose my servants to you? They’re free to do as they feel they need to in my home, and if that includes making themselves scarce when someone they have reason to fear decides to just drop by, that option is available to them here.”
“And what reason would they have to fear me?” Scorn was thick in Tolliver’s voice. “Anyone privileged enough to have a place in a royal home in this country should be honored by a visit from the heir to the throne.”
William’s hand in hers was growing clammy and cold. This time it was Quinn who rubbed the back of his hand reassuringly.
“Don’t start with me, Tolliver.” The tone in Ellen’s voice right then convinced Quinn that none of this was a charade – they had somehow found themselves in the home of Tolliver’s older sister. “I’ve made my feelings on this situation clear enough. It’s not up for discussion. You will keep your distance from anyone here in my home. Let me finish putting these vegetables in for broth, and we can go for a walk. How is Mother?”
The next moments – it felt like hours, but in reality was probably only ten minutes or so – were excruciating for Quinn. She could tell, by the short heavy breaths coming from next to her, and the sweat on the hand clutched in hers, that William was having just as difficult a time as she was, if not more so.
The conversation between Tolliver and Ellen that came through the floor became banal, his voice condescending, and hers clipped and serious. Quinn felt her empty hand clench into a fist over and over, while her foot tapped of its own accord. Every time one of them spoke, she wished that one of them would say something, anything that would be helpful, or useful, or give her an idea of what in the hell was going on here. Her fear of being discovered was dissolving as her irritation grew.
Roots of Insight (Dusk Gate Chronicles -- Book Two) Page 20
