Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles - Book Four) Read online

  “Yes…” He sat down beside her, taking her hand in his. “I was actually going to send a regiment from here…with Luke Willoughby.”

  “Oh?”

  “She’s our daughter. I want her brought back by someone I trust.”

  Charlotte nodded, studying him with her too-observant eyes. She noticed everything. “You’re thinking of going as well, aren’t you, Stephen?”

  “I was going to speak to you about it first.”

  “It’s a little dangerous.”

  “Yes, it is…but I can’t ask my men to take a risk for my child that I’m not willing to.”

  “No. And it makes more sense anyway. Nobody will stop you at the border, and everyone will be safer with you there.”

  “I’ll be fine, Charlotte.”

  “I know. But we have a deal, Stephen – I allow you do what you need to do without complaining, and you allow me to worry about you until you’re back safe with me.”

  “Yes, that was our deal.” He pulled her closer to him, kissing her on the cheek. “Not that I’d deny such a beautiful queen much of anything.”

  “All this time later, and you still think you can get your way with flattery.”

  “Can’t I?” he asked with mock chagrin.

  “I am helpless in the wake of your charm, Stephen.”

  He smiled, burying his face in her neck, and holding her tight. “Are you holding up okay with all of this?” he asked, after a few minutes.

  She shrugged. “As well as possible. At least we know she’s probably safe.”

  “Yes. She’s no good to him if she’s injured.”

  Charlotte nodded, but her lower lip trembled just a little. Stephen pulled her closer to him again. “I know.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not even just that…it’s…this whole thing with Linnea has really made me realize what we just did to Quinn’s mother. It’s nearly the same, isn’t it? We stole her daughter to marry our son, for political gain. We couldn’t promise Megan she would be safe, either.”

  Stephen swallowed hard. “William isn’t Tolliver.”

  “And Linnea isn’t in another world that we can’t even always travel to.”

  “I know, Charlotte. We’ve discussed this so often, but it doesn’t get any easier. We’re all going to be paying for Samuel’s choices for the rest of our lives. But Megan more than anyone.”

  “And Quinn, and her siblings, and the man who raised her as his daughter.”

  “That’s why it had to be her choice. And we did let her make it. We didn’t force her hand.”

  “No, we just made sure we helped her along, made sure we influenced her enough that she wanted to.”

  “Do you really believe that, Charlotte? Do you really believe she’s a lovesick girl who is only here because of William?”

  She looked down at the floor. “No. That doesn’t sound right.”

  “That’s because it isn’t, sweetheart. It’s true we might have crossed a line, sending William to her world to go to school with her – but I don’t think that’s the only thing that brought her here. And I don’t believe it was truly our influence that brought her here – that brought her home.”

  “We’re not that good, are we?” she said, smirking up at him.

  “No.” He brought her hand up to his lips, and kissed her gently on the palm. “We can accomplish many things together, you and I – but we’re still not that powerful. Quinn is here because she was supposed to be, and because she made the choice to be. It’s just very difficult for those who have to live with the consequences.”

  She must have heard the catch in his voice, because she looked up at him in concern. “Have you still been having the same dreams?”

  He closed his eyes, unable to look her in the eyes as he nodded. “I don’t understand why, or what it means, but I keep seeing the same thing.”

  “Quinn being unable to get back through the gate.”

  “Yes. Nobody being able to go through.”

  “If that really happened…”

  “I know, sweetheart. I don’t want to think about it, either. We’ve always known that using the gate was dangerous, but for Quinn not to be able to use it now would be devastating. Let’s hope this is one of those times that the dream is a symbol, and not really the way things are going to happen.”

  * * *

  “You know,” Will whispered, “I never spent much time imagining my honeymoon, but if I had, I don’t think it would have been like this.”

  Quinn giggled and snuggled closer to him. No, sleeping outside for the second chilly night in a row, with very little privacy, wasn’t how she would have imagined her honeymoon, either. “Tonight is a little better than last night,” she said.

  “That’s true.” Tonight, at least, they had a couple of small fires and a tarp shielding them from the light breeze, courtesy of the supplies Jonathan had been carrying. They were even sharing a blanket, which at the moment was wrapped around both of them as he leaned against a fallen tree, and she leaned on his chest, both of their legs stretched out toward the little fire Ben had built just for them.

  Quinn’s hands had twitched as Ben had carefully cleared the area under the tarp for them, carefully sweeping away every last rock and twig, and then carefully using the tarp and some large sticks to build a neat little shelter.

  Finally, she’d gone to help Nathaniel and William help set up the rest of the camp – a short distance away from the shelter for her and William. Everyone was still very serious about the idea of giving the two of them whatever privacy they could. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get over being embarrassed by that.

  Marcus had gone with Jonathan to scope out the perimeter of the Miller Estate, half an hour away from their campsite. They’d all been wary of sending Jonathan off alone with one of their guards, but Quinn had decided that it was time to put it on the line. If they were going to trust Jonathan, then they needed to really trust him.

  And they’d both returned safely, less than three hours later, with the news that they were fairly certain Tolliver hadn’t yet arrived at the estate, but that the area was quite heavily guarded, and they’d had to be careful even getting close to the property.

  Over a warm dinner of fresh roasted vegetables, also thanks to Jonathan, they’d discussed their plans. Quinn thought they should just go ahead and try to get her and Nathaniel into the estate to see Queen Sophia. Jonathan was wary. He was afraid of doing it with no military backup, in case things went badly with the soldiers outside, or Tolliver arrived too soon.

  For now, they’d compromised. They’d sent birds off with messages to both Stephen and Charles, telling them as much as they could about the situation without giving themselves away. And now, they waited. Camped out in one of the most rural parts of Philotheum, away from any village, a place where smoke likely wouldn’t be investigated, so long as they kept it to a minimum. Nobody would expect anyone to be out here.

  “Are you warm enough?” William asked, wrapping the blanket more securely around the front of her.

  She nodded, still staring into the flickering flames of the fire. “I’m rather comfortable at the moment, actually.”

  “Me too,” he agreed, kissing her just behind her ear. His hand found the bottom of her shirt and slid inside, soft and warm as it rested against her belly, making her shiver from something very different than the cold.

  “You know,” she said, finding his hand with hers, and twisting her fingers with his. “I could probably imagine worse honeymoons than this one.”

  “Really? You can imagine something worse than sleeping on the ground, and other people being around constantly, and worrying about being attacked by an army at any moment?”

  “Sure. I can imagine having to face any one of those things without you. Anywhere I am with you is going to be our honeymoon, Will. Forever.”

  “Forever sounds good to me, love.”

  * * *

  She didn’t understand how she’d gotten there, but she
knew exactly where she was. The stone bridge stretched across the river in front of her. The shadows from the surrounding trees were long and wide; it was nearly dusk.

  Suddenly, she realized she wasn’t alone. There was a man on the bottom step of the bridge. His hair was an unusual shade of gray, almost true silver, though there were light brown strands that snaked through at odd intervals. His neatly trimmed beard and mustache were the same strange color.

  She’d never seen him before; nothing was familiar about him at all, and yet she knew who he was.

  She sucked in a breath as Hector made his way up the steps of the bridge, just as the sun began to sink below the horizon.

  Her blood ran cold when he disappeared, taking the sun with him and plunging the whole world into darkness.

  In the next instant, it was light again, but the scene was different. Although it was dusk, just as it had been before, the grass under her feet was newly covered with frost. As she looked down, uncomprehending, she realized there was no grass at all. The entire ground was covered with dandelions, mostly withered and frozen under the frost, except for one.

  A perfect dandelion bloomed at the foot of the bridge, the largest one she’d ever seen. As she watched, its pristine yellow petals changed, in slow motion, to the familiar white seed-bearing tufts.

  She wanted to run, to pull it, to throw her body over it to prevent what she knew was about to happen, but her feet wouldn’t move. It was as if she, too, were frozen to the ground.

  She could do nothing when the wind began to blow, to lift the seed heads up and off the plant, diffusing them everywhere, until the air was filled with thousands of them, blowing in every direction.

  Still frozen, she stared in shock as Hector reappeared, but this time, his hands weren’t empty, and he wasn’t alone.

  Right behind Hector were three police officers. She couldn’t see all of their faces, but she recognized instantly the one she could. Louis Chavez, her best friend Abigail’s older brother was just behind Hector, his gun drawn.

  For a moment, she thought the weapon was pointed at her, but then she realized it was aimed just over her left shoulder, and as she turned, she saw Stephen standing there, reaching toward her. And then the gun went off.

  “Quinn! Quinn! Wake up, love, please, Quinn!”

  She struggled in William’s arms as she slowly came to consciousness. Her heart was racing, and tears streamed down her face. She heard herself yelling, but she couldn’t understand the words, or what was going on.

  “Quinn, love, I’ve got you, I’m right here. Shh…” William pulled her tight to his chest and held her there, rocking her and smoothing her hair back until finally, finally, she stopped struggling and opened her eyes.

  He held her for several more minutes, while her breathing calmed and she fully woke.

  “You scared me, baby. What was that?” he asked, pressing his lips against her temple.

  For a moment, she didn’t even know, but as she opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t remember what the dream had been about, it all came rushing back, slamming into her with the force of a freight train. “It’s Hector, Will. He knows about the gate. He knows, and he’s going to use it.”

  * * *

  “How would it be possible?” Nathaniel said; both anger and fear were thick in his voice – William had never actually seen him this angry. “I thought you said you didn’t tell Hector or Tolliver what you learned about the gate.”

  “I didn’t. I didn’t tell anyone, least of all either of them.”

  “Then how Jonathan? Because I am about to seriously regret trusting you at all.” He’d already taken Jonathan’s weapons again.

  “It was only a dream, Nathaniel. It might not mean anything.”

  William shook his head. Quinn’s hands were still trembling, and she’d been awake for a good half hour now. He still had her wrapped in a blanket in his lap, with his arms around her – the fact that she was allowing him to do that in front of people told him this was more than one of her ordinary nightmares. “This is serious,” he said.

  “Does she have these kinds of dreams often or something?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yes. It’s a trait of royal firstborns,” Nathaniel said.

  “Well, you’ll have to forgive me,” Jonathan said pointedly. “I haven’t grown up with the privilege of knowing any.” He shot Nathaniel a look that almost made William feel guilty. “Are the dreams always an accurate portrayal of the future?”

  “No.” Quinn sat up now, finally shrugging the blanket off, and pulling away from him. “I never know what they are, exactly. Sometimes they do show something that’s going to happen, but other times, they’re just to warn me about something, or to help me decide something.”

  “So this could still mean nothing,” Jonathan said. “I know my step-father has some idea that a gate between worlds might exist, but there isn’t any way he knows exactly where one is, or when it opens. I don’t even know how it works; I couldn’t have told him.”

  “I don’t think it means nothing,” Quinn said. “Something about this…it was more powerful than it usually is. Obviously it’s not a literal interpretation of the future, but it isn’t nothing. I think we need to consider the possibility that Hector really does know about the gate, and that he intends on using it – possibly the next time it opens.”

  “That would be very, very bad,” William said. A shudder ran through Quinn’s entire body, and he leaned up to put his arms around her again.

  Jonathan frowned. “Do you think he would really be able to find the support there to accomplish his goals here?”

  “No,” Nathaniel said. “Hector is not in any way prepared for what he would encounter on the other side of that gate. If he went there with the intention of finding someone to assist him in his miserable excuse for a war…”

  “He’d probably find himself on a seventy-two hour mental health hold,” William finished.

  “The problem isn’t that Hector would find something there that would help him,” Nathaniel said. “Although, if he did somehow manage to bring back a gun…” He sighed. “There is no easy way for me to explain the differences between the two worlds, but the risk of the people of that world discovering this one – it’s worse than anything you could possibly imagine, Jonathan. They have weapons you’ve never dreamed of. The smallest army from there could destroy all of us, both of our kingdoms, all of the kingdoms in Deusterros, before we even knew what was happening.”

  Jonathan’s jaw dropped. “Why would they do that? Nobody here has threatened or harmed anyone from that world.”

  “It wouldn’t be about that,” Quinn said quietly. “It would be about discovering a world where people live ten times as long – yes, that’s true, Jonathan. Ten days here in Deusterros equals only one day on Earth, in the world where I was born. And compared to that world, this is a world that’s clean and beautiful and probably full of resources that are valuable to the governments of that world.”

  “But it isn’t theirs!” Jonathan was aghast. Marcus’ and Ben’s eyes were as wide as William had ever seen them. Though they were two of the very few guards who knew about the world he and Nathaniel had been visiting, they’d been told very little about it.

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s so unprotected here. We wouldn’t stand a chance.” William heard something in Quinn’s voice now that he’d never heard before. Although she had decided to stay here and claim her throne, this was the first time he’d ever heard the note of ownership in her voice –the loyalty to this world over the one where she’d been born.

  “Is it really so terrible there that they would want to come and steal what we have?”

  Quinn shrugged. “It would take me a hundred cycles to explain it, unless you’ve experienced it. It just – isn’t about that.”

  Nathaniel shook his head. “It’s not actually that different than Hector trying to take a kingdom that doesn’t belong to him. It’s enough to understand that there are people in that worl
d who are the same. Only they have much better weapons, and resources that we don’t have. And they would win.”

  “We can’t let that happen,” Marcus said.

  Nathaniel’s complexion had gone gray. “No. We can’t even risk the possibility of it happening.”

  “Can we stop Hector?”

  Jonathan shrugged. “I don’t know where he is, or how he’s planning on getting to the gate in Eirentheos, if he even is. I can say with certainty that he is capable of it. Worse, I can tell you that if Hector really does know about it, he is not the only one. He’ll have shared the information with his oracle, and possibly the king of Dovelnia as well.”

  Quinn’s whole body started trembling. William reached to take her hand, praying that the motion would steady her, reassure her, although he, too, was feeling pretty hopeless.

  When Quinn spoke, her voice was so quiet they had to strain to hear her. “We have to close the gate,” she said. “We have to disable it so that nobody can use it.”

  Everyone was silent as they absorbed the impact of that statement. A sick heaviness filled William’s stomach, and he could feel that Quinn’s hand had grown cold and clammy.

  This was a decision that would affect her more than anyone. Sure, he and Nathaniel had enjoyed the access they’d had to the other world, and his kingdom had benefitted in many ways from the things they’d learned there. And there had been many more things they’d hoped to learn, supplies they’d wanted to bring back, even a few personal possessions that had been left at the house he and Nathaniel had shared.

  But his family was here. Quinn was here. He would get to keep everything that truly meant anything to him. But Quinn … he couldn’t even think about what she would have to sacrifice to make this decision. Couldn’t think about Megan, Annie … Owen.

  She’d never even had the chance to say good-bye to her friends, or to Jeff, the man she’d always known as her father.

  He wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her tight, but he was afraid she wouldn’t like how that appeared – that it might make her feel weak when she needed most to be strong. So he just held her hand and stood there beside her.