Sleeping had felt even better. He could have stayed there all night if Ben hadn’t knocked on his door. When he did, Zander limped over to answer it, bleary eyed. His legs did not feel better after the nap – he was paying the full price of his time in the saddle and on the wooden seat of the wagon. “I think I’ll skip the dinner tonight.”
“Oh, no, not a chance,” Ben said, holding out two hangers full of clothes. “You’ve been invited by the king himself.”
Zander groaned. It was not entirely amusing that William was a king.
“Besides, you’ll need to stretch and move some more tonight or you’ll be really sorry tomorrow.”
Now here he was, decked out in black dress pants and a nice, white button-down shirt that was only a little too big for him, standing next to a prince.
“Where’s your girlfriend tonight?” he asked Thomas.
“She’s tending the baby upstairs during the meal, so that Quinn can do the whole queen thing.”
“So you have to go it alone?”
Thomas shrugged. “It’s her job. It’s an honor, you know, to care for the heir to the throne. Not too many people will even have the privilege of meeting him while he’s still so young.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No. She has to put up with me attending boring functions or traveling around the kingdom or any number of things, really.”
And then, there they were. William and Ben were dressed similarly to Zander and Thomas. Slacks and nice shirts. Both William and Thomas were wearing some kind of silver chains around their necks, with silver pendants hanging from them. They looked a little dressy, he supposed, but mostly they looked pretty normal.
But the girls… For a moment, Zander felt like he was in a movie again. He’d been assured that the dinner was only “semi-formal”, and wasn’t a particularly fancy occasion, but the dresses Quinn and Linnea wore would have put anything at prom in his world to shame.
Linnea was in a long, flowing purple dress that gathered just at her waist. Her long, dark curls fell down her back, framing her pale face, and those gray eyes … well, it would be better for everyone if he just avoided looking at Ben’s wife altogether.
And Quinn – he’d never seen her look anything close to this. Someone had done her hair, sweeping the auburn curls up off her neck, but leaving perfectly formed ringlets framing her face. She wore a necklace much like William’s and Thomas’, only hers was gold.
She came down the hall with William, smiling as she approached.
It hurt to watch – hurt to even think about – but as the two of them came closer, he could really see it.
They walked with their hands linked, his steps keeping perfect time with hers, even in her heels. Had she stumbled, he would have caught her before she even knew she’d lost her balance. But of course she didn’t stumble. Somehow, in the short time since she’d been in Bristlecone, she’d transformed. Whatever her physical age, she wasn’t a young girl anymore.
For the first time, he almost believed she was a queen.
When they came to a stop, she let go of William, but his hand slipped around to rest at the small of her back.
He wasn’t showing off for Zander. The two of them were so comfortable together that the motion was automatic; no thought went into it at all. When she talked, his whole body responded, turning toward her just a little, giving his full attention to her, and when he talked, hers did the same.
Despite Quinn’s smile and her relaxed conversation with everyone, though, something was off.
She wasn’t wearing makeup, so it would have been impossible to hide the paleness in her face. Her hands moved too much when she spoke – far more than they usually did, even in an animated discussion. Enough so, that when William caught Zander watching her, he took one of her hands in his, holding it close to him, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.
The gesture made her look up at him, and she nodded after some sort of wordless communication between the two of them.
She turned to Zander then. “So who talked you into attending the excitement that is dinner with the king and queen?”
“That would be your husband. And your … uh … bodyguard.”
She giggled.
William grinned and held up his free hand. “I figured why not. It’ll be a fun story he can … well, never tell anyone.”
“Yeah. Everybody needs at least ten of those,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“I suppose I can always talk to Owen. He might just be my new best friend after all of this.”
“Well, at least he’ll make a good one,” William said. The affection in his voice was obvious, and it pained Zander again to realize how very far Owen would be from these people who loved him so much once this little adventure was over.
“Where is he, anyway? I thought he’d be glued to your side right now.”
“He’s glued to Alice’s right now, I think,” Quinn said. “The children are going down to dinner together, and Owen’s going to hang with them for a while.”
“She’s so much littler than him,” Zander said. “I’d think he’d spend more time with Emma and Alex.” He was impressed with himself that he was finally starting to get at least some of William’s siblings straight.
“He plays with them a lot,” William said. “He’s been sleeping in Alex’s room instead of his own, but he and Alice are just … they’re each other’s speed, I think. Her arm is still bothering her quite a bit, and he’s protective.”
“Right.” Owen always kind of had been that way – he took care of his own sisters like that, too – even Quinn who was so much older than him. “How’s your arm?” It was an awkward change of subject, but thinking about taking Owen away from here was suddenly just too hard.
“It’s healing. It would be better if I learned to keep it out of the path of the baby’s feet, and I will definitely have some scars, but I’ll be fine, because of you. Thanks for asking.”
“Uh, sure.” He was glad that it looked like they were getting ready to head downstairs.
* * *
Dinner wasn’t as awful as Zander had imagined it would be. Maybe a “formal” one would have been worse than semi-formal.
There were all kinds of weird formalities in the beginning – he and Thomas, Linnea, and Ben were escorted into the dining room by a servant before Quinn and William and then King Stephen and Queen Charlotte were announced – yes, announced, at dinner in their own home – and then seated.
Zander sat next to Thomas, across from Linnea and Ben, and close to a couple of William’s younger brothers – Josh and Daniel – and he actually enjoyed the conversation. Linnea was still clearly unsure how she felt about him, but she was friendlier tonight than she had been, and Thomas and Ben both made an effort to include him and ask him questions. There was a lot of talking about crumple and horses, and he was surprised when he actually had some things to contribute.
He was getting braver about the food in this world, as well, and that bravery was rewarded with an extraordinary meal of some kind of succulent, juicy meat with gravy and roasted vegetables that he was surprised to discover were delicious. Maybe it was only because he was starving after the exertion of the day, but he actually took a second helping of the vegetables.
The honored guest, Quinn’s uncle, wasn’t sitting close enough for Zander to really hear, but from what he could see, he wasn’t sure what the fuss had been about. The man seemed friendly and funny – and considerate, too. More than once, he refilled someone’s glass before a servant could get to it, and he was especially attentive to Quinn and Queen Charlotte.
After the meal was finished, the atmosphere was much more relaxed.
The dishes were cleared, and the servants pulled away all of the smaller tables that had been pushed together to make one very long one. Zander was close enough to overhear Jonathan.
“I didn’t come all this way to have to still wait to meet the prince, milady.”
Mia was summoned immediately
and she brought in the baby. It was clear the introduction to Jonathan had actually been planned – the infant was dressed in a long green gown, embroidered with a gold design that looked sort of like William’s tattoo.
Once Quinn had taken him in her arms, Jonathan actually knelt down in front of them, bowing his head in respect.
The baby, for his grand entrance, remained soundly asleep.
After that, the atmosphere grew much more relaxed. Everyone wandered around talking and chatting. Joshua and Maxwell invited Zander to join them in a card game at one of the new, smaller tables. It was interesting for a while, and he actually won a hand, but then he had to get up and walk around – too much sitting was not going well for him.
Thinking that the chocolate cake he’d just seen someone eating looked too good to pass up, he headed over to the buffet table that had been set out with desserts and drinks.
Once he got there, he was a little stymied by the choices. The table was beautiful, draped in a dark purple cloth, everything on silver dishes surrounded by glowing candles. It was every bit as fancy as the dinner table itself had been. And the desserts… cookies and pies and several kinds of cake, as well as some other foods he didn’t recognize, but looked like they might be worth the risk.
“Just take one of everything,” a voice beside him said.
He turned to face Quinn a little too quickly – his sore legs were not getting better as the evening progressed – and he winced.
Quinn giggled. “Monkey butt?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, spending a couple of hours in the saddle when you’re not at all used to it? Makes your butt look like a baboon’s?”
He stared at her. “I haven’t actually looked, but considering how it feels right now…” and then he couldn’t help but start laughing. His laughter made her laugh – hysterically – and neither one of them could stop until tears were rolling down her cheeks, and his stomach hurt. “If we keep this up, I’m barely going to be able to make it back up the stairs,” he finally choked out.
“William could give you something to help, you know.”
He snorted. “Yeah, Quinn, I’m going to ask your husband for something to put on my sore butt.”
“Your choice.”
“Where is he, anyway?”
She pointed to the other side of the room. William was holding the baby, and surrounded by several members of his family, many of whom were carrying other babies.
“How come you’re not over there with them?”
“There’s glasberry pie.” She nodded toward the table as she picked up a shiny silver plate.
He rolled his eyes. “There aren’t ten people falling all over themselves to get it for you, Queen Quinn?”
She shot him a dirty look. “There probably would be, if I’d asked anyone. However, I think I’m still capable of dishing myself up a slice of pie.” With that, she unceremoniously scooped up a piece of the pie and dumped it on her plate – upside down – the green filling oozing everywhere.
“You were saying?”
“I like it this way.”
Maybe the friendship thing wouldn’t be so hard if they could still laugh. “It gets to you, doesn’t it?” he asked, finally deciding on the chocolate cake he’d come over for in the first place, and grabbing his own plate. “The whole servants and guards and ‘Your Majesty’ and all of that.”
“Sometimes,” she agreed. “I’m honored, of course, and extremely grateful for most of the people I do have. But it makes me feel … I don’t know … like why should someone else have to stop their conversation or get up from what they’re doing to get me something I can get for myself?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “From what I can see, they like doing it – I think it makes some of them feel uncomfortable, like they’re not doing their job if you have to do it.”
“Now you sound like William.”
He shrugged. “Nobody can be wrong all the time.”
“You’re managing it all right.”
“Hey, now! What did I do to deserve that?”
She grinned. “Nothing. Sorry, that was mean of me. You’ve gotten plenty right lately – starting with saving my husband’s life. I don’t know how to repay you for that.”
“You’re a queen. Maybe you should make me a knight or something.”
She giggled. “We have guards here. You could be Sir Zander, honorary guard of Philotheum, if you’d like.”
He grinned. “Is that a real title?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I’m the queen. I suppose if I say it is, it is.” She stuck her fork in the pie and ate the bite with a flourish that made him smile.
“Is it weird that actually sounds better than, “Zander Cunningham, college dropout?”
“No. Most things sound better than ‘dropout.’ What are you talking about?”
He swallowed hard. Saying that had been a mistake. He didn’t want to talk about that right now. Not here, not with her. He took a bite of cake to buy himself a little time. “Wow,” he said, even with half the bite still in his mouth, “this is amazing. What’s in this? Fairy dust?”
“I’ve never convinced anyone to tell me, but yeah, there’s nothing like that on Earth, is there?”
“I’d say it almost makes up for the lack of tomatoes.”
“Almost.” She was concentrating on her pie now, chasing a small glasberry around with her fork – and not pursuing the question she’d asked him. He knew her well enough to know that she never just dropped something that made her curious. She was distracted.
“What’s going on, Quinn?”
She looked up at him – but she didn’t meet his eyes all the way. “What do you mean?”
“You’re upset about something. Is everything all right?”
“Do you mean aside from the fact that there’s a man dying of rabies out there in the clinic right now, and you and William both suspect that he might have been infecting animals on purpose?”
It was a good point – that was enough to upset anyone. He watched her as she talked, though – noticed when she had to stop and re-balance her plate twice before she sent glasberry filling dribbling down to the floor. Finally, she set it on the table. “Yeah. I do mean besides that. There’s something else. Is it that guy – your uncle?”
He glanced across the room to Jonathan, who was now engaged in an enthusiastic discussion with Doctor Rose. For the first time, he noticed that Doctor Rose had a companion with him – a nice-looking woman with very light brown hair pulled into an intricate braid; she was also dressed up for the occasion. He wondered if this was Doctor Rose’s fiancée.
“You don’t need to be so observant right now, Zander. It’s a very complicated situation, and you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Is he – safe?”
“Jonathan? Yes. He’s not the problem. He brought some news that’s pretty concerning, but … let’s just enjoy the evening, okay? You can go home in a few days and forget any of this ever happened.”
She was shutting him down – she’d actually picked up her plate and taken two steps back from him, and that would have been the end of it – if Thomas hadn’t chosen that moment to approach her.
He came up fast; he was determined, on a mission. He didn’t even appear to see Zander standing right there. And the look on his face told Zander that whatever was going on was much more serious than Quinn was trying to make it sound.
“Is it true?” he asked, speaking low, through his teeth.
“Probably.”
“Come here.” Motioning for Quinn to follow him, Thomas took off across the floor, heading toward a door at the back corner.
Zander didn’t even think about following.
But he did look around the room to see if anyone had reacted to that little scene.
Ben had. He was standing near one of the tables, his eyes flicking over toward that door in the corner every few seconds, even as his hand rested on Linnea’s arm, and the two
of them chatted amiably with another couple he’d seen before – one of William’s siblings, perhaps.
Marcus, too, was keeping an eye on things from his position near Nathaniel and Jonathan.
William, however, hadn’t seen anything, but he was looking around in a sort of confused way. He wasn’t holding the baby now – someone else must have asked for a turn. When William’s spotted Zander, he walked over to him.
“Where did Quinn go? I thought she was talking with you.”
“What is she so upset about?”
“What happened, Zander? Where is she?”
“Nothing happened. Your brother came and got her and ran off with her. He’s just as upset as she is. What’s going on? Is she okay?”
William sighed. “None of us is doing particularly well right now. We’ve had some very upsetting news today, and I think Thomas just now caught wind of it.”
“What was the news?”
Maybe it was the long day, maybe his guard was down, maybe William just needed someone to talk to who was outside the situation, but whatever the reason, he didn’t push Zander away the way Quinn and Thomas had – the way Zander had been bracing himself for.
Instead, he stepped away from the dessert table, into an empty space far from everyone, and allowed Zander to follow him. “You remember the other day when I was telling you about Tolliver?” he asked.
“Is that the guy that tried to kill Linnea?”
William nodded. “He held her at knifepoint, anyway. He also kidnapped Thomas, and tried to assault Quinn the first time she was here.”
“He what?”
“Yeah, the temperature of my blood tends to raise about a hundred degrees whenever I hear his name. Trust me.”
Zander had to work at prying his jaws open far enough to get words out. “What about him?”
“Jonathan just traveled here to tell us that Tolliver has escaped from prison.”
About that blood temperature thing… “What do you mean he’s escaped? How is that even possible?”
Canes of Divergence (Dusk Gate Chronicles) Page 27
