A Christmas Rose: A Dusk Gate Chronicles Novella (Book 4 1/2) (2 page)
Read A Christmas Rose: A Dusk Gate Chronicles Novella (Book 4 1/2) Online
Authors: Breeana Puttroff
Marriage, on the other hand, was a lifestyle he was finding more to his liking with every passing day. He looked over at Quinn, sitting in front of the fire, their child rounding the blanket that covered her. Yes, he liked this very much.
“Are you sure you don’t want some of this vegetable stew?” he asked, lifting the lid of the silver tureen. “It smells amazing. I have a feeling Ruth made it herself. I’m going to have a bowl.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
He grinned, ladling two bowls full of the thick stew, and carrying one of them over to Quinn. “There’re rolls and milk, too, love. You
could
look at it as being deservedly spoiled, by me, while you’re carrying our baby.”
She raised an eyebrow, but her mood was much more playful now. “Is this that chivalry thing again?”
“Yes. Get used to it.”
“I’m getting there,” she said, taking a deep sniff of the steam coming from the bowl he handed her. “Thank you.”
He kissed her on the head before sitting down next to her with his own bowl.
“Did you find anything interesting in the books today?” she asked between bites.
“There’s a lot of good stuff there. But nothing yet about the gate.”
“I still say there has to be something. He had to have learned about it somewhere.” The discovery that Hector had known about the gate between his world and Quinn’s had been shocking. Especially when they’d learned that Hector had known about it for a long time and that he had traveled through it at least once, fourteen cycles ago, when he’d somehow murdered Quinn’s real father, Samuel.
“I’m sure there is. We’ll keep looking.” In a way, finding Hector’s information wouldn’t have mattered. He was dead now, too, and they were unlikely to ever really learn the full truth of what happened. And the gate between the worlds was closed. It no longer opened at dusk every ten days. Even if Hector had told someone else about the gate, they wouldn’t be able to use it.
Even if he found something, it was highly likely that the information wouldn’t help them at all. But he couldn’t stop. Because, answers about Hector aside, there was still a chance that they would find something that would lead them to another gate.
They knew other gates existed – or that at some point they had – but they didn’t even know where to begin looking for one. But if they could … if they could find a gate nobody else knew about, one that could remain secret and hidden, known only to them, and maybe a couple of trusted others – then maybe Quinn would be able to see her family again.
He was still finishing his stew when he glanced over and saw Quinn’s head starting to nod. He smiled, placing his bowl on the table behind the couch and reaching for hers before she spilled what was left.
“Oh, gosh, sorry,” she said, when he took the bowl from her hands.
“Shh…love.” He shifted, setting a pillow on his lap and then reaching for her. Surprising him, she acquiesced without an argument, and snuggled down against him. He kissed her forehead, and then stroked her hair back while she stared into the fire until her eyelids started to flutter again, and then finally closed.
Of course, it didn’t last. Within ten minutes of her falling asleep, there was a knock at the door. For a few seconds, William contemplated just not answering it, letting her sleep. But then her eyes popped open and she sat up.
Marcus Westbrook’s eyes dropped to the floor when he took in Quinn’s mussed-up hair and half-awake expression. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Your Majesty.”
“It’s fine, Marcus. What’s going on?”
“We’ve just gotten in reports of some hostilities in Calderum. Charles thought we should meet and decide whether to send some troops out to investigate.”
“Okay. I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”
When Marcus was gone, William looked at Quinn in sympathy as he handed her the hairbrush, but she’d already changed modes. “Nathaniel will be back before dinner tonight,” she said. “And …
crap.
Ellen and Henry are coming in this evening as well. I was supposed to make sure everything is under control for dinner and that the staff will have their rooms ready for them.”
“I am sure Ruth has it all in hand, but I’ll check and make sure everything’s been done, okay?”
“It’s not your job, Will.”
“What’s not my job? Our kingdom? Our home? Our staff?”
“You’re not my wife.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering her. “No, Quinn. You’re mine. Don’t tell me it’s okay for a woman to rule a kingdom, but then there’s something wrong with a man who wants to help run his household.”
“You have a job, too.”
“I do. And I’m going to go out and check on Maylie Newson in a little while, and work some more on the clinic, too. But I have time to ask Ruth about dinner, and hear the status of the rooms from the housekeeping staff first, and you don’t. Yes, we both have jobs – busy, crazy, important ones, even. But here, our home, our family…” he eyed her belly, “this is ours together.”
She looked down at the floor. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you.”
“Anytime, love.” He took her hands in his, twining their fingers together. “We’re a team, okay? And I know you’d help me with anything if I needed you to and you could.”
“Okay, you’re right.” She looked up at him. “I really love you, you know.”
“I love you, too.” He had time to give her one more kiss before she disappeared out the door.
Quinn thought the three days left before they left on their trip to Eirentheos were going to end with her strangling somebody – namely Sophia – but somehow the day arrived without too much incident.
There had been a final showdown upstairs a little while ago, with Sophia flat-out telling her what a terrible idea it was to go, and how she was risking her life and the baby’s, but then Ruth had managed to divert Sophia to an “emergency” involving one of the undercooks in the kitchen, and Quinn had made it safely outside, where she was now standing on the steps, watching the final loading of the elaborate carriage.
If this baby was a girl, Quinn was beginning to seriously consider Ruth as a middle name.
In truth, though she wasn’t going to tell anyone, she was nervous about spending five long days in a carriage. The trip here six moons ago hadn’t exactly been easy. Less than two days into the trip, she’d had her first bout with morning sickness – though hers hadn’t been restricted only to mornings. By the third day, William had started giving her shots of the anti-nausea medication he’d invented.
When she’d felt well enough on that trip – and they hadn’t been going through towns where she was being presented as the incoming queen of Philotheum – she’d actually spent most of her time outside of the carriage. Riding Dusk in the open air made the time pass much more quickly, and was more comfortable, too.
This time, that wouldn’t be an option. Whether riding was safe didn’t matter – the topic wasn’t open for discussion; Dusk and Skittles – both of whom were built for riding, not pulling a carriage, were staying in Philotheum.
The only riders would be Marcus and Ben and the other guards who were making the journey with them – all members of the Friends of Philip. She felt badly that Ben would be working on the journey to his own wedding, but he’d told her that he wouldn’t be happy any other way, and she knew him well enough by now to believe him.
The colder weather meant she’d be spending all of her time in the carriage. In an ideal world, it would mean they would stop less often and travel as quickly as possible, but given the advanced state of her pregnancy, they’d be stopping often. And out in the wilderness, those stops would be
cold
.
“Are you ready, love?” William asked, walking up the steps toward her.
She nodded, shivering as a gust of wind blew the flap of her cloak open, pulling the hood off.
He tucked the material back around her, securing it with the gold hooks at the top this time. “Do you want to go back inside, and use the bathroom one more time before we go?” he asked with a grin.
“Yeah, funny, Will. Why don’t you try being the one who does this part next time?”
“I would if I could, Quinn. But since I can’t, I’ll stick with trying to remember and keep things as easy as possible for you. Like asking if you want to go one more time while we still have a nice, indoor place.” He kissed her nose and she smiled.
“No … I went before I came outside. Besides, Sophia’s in there.”
He chuckled, but then his expression grew serious. “You did tell her good-bye, right?”
“Yes, I did. I even told her I would be careful, and that we’d send the birds with messages every night when we stop. She isn’t happy, but she’s okay. But if she sees me going in there to use the bathroom, she’s going to be reminded of one more thing she can worry about, or use to try to talk me out of this.”
“All right.”
Charles appeared just as William and Nathaniel were helping Quinn into the carriage. “I just wanted to let you know that I have everything under control, Quinn, and that I appreciate your trusting me. Relax and enjoy your trip. I’ll send a bird if anything comes up, but otherwise it will all be waiting here for you when you come back.”
She smiled. They’d discussed this many times already over the past weeks, and she did trust Charles now, even though they were still ironing out how their relationship was going to work. But the fact that he’d taken the time to come out here to confirm things and send her off made her even more confident that asking him to be in charge while she was gone had been the right thing to do.
“Thank you, Charles,” she said. “That means a lot to me.”
“Take care of her,” she heard him say in low tones to William, as he gave him a hand up into the carriage. “And that baby, too. She’ll need a little extra love when her time starts to get close.” He glanced up at her, and she pretended she hadn’t heard, though her glowing cheeks might have betrayed her.
Nathaniel was the last to climb in, and then Marcus closed the door firmly behind him, checking twice to make sure it was secured.
A minute later, they were rolling down the long driveway of the castle, toward the gates.
“Is it strange to be leaving Philotheum now?” Nathaniel asked, once they were outside the gates.
“I think it feels stranger to still have
that
,” she said, pointing out the window at the guards who surrounded the carriage, all dressed in the full green-and-gold regalia of Philotheum. Even worse were the people who lined the streets, still overly curious about their new queen.
“And this.” She touched the richly upholstered seat she was sharing with William. “This is lovely, but I really do miss cars, with heaters and radios … and the ability to go more than ten miles an hour. If we were on Earth, we could make this trip in less than a day.”
William took her hand. “And you’d have had your cell phone.”
“Oh my gosh, do I miss my cell phone. I love Raeyan to pieces, but I would much rather send Linnea a text message than wait for a
bird
to carry a note to her.”
“Well, she’ll be coming with us on the trip back. You won’t have to send birds to her anymore. You’ll just be able to go downstairs and talk to her.”
“That will be very nice. I love both of you, but not having a girlfriend to talk to… It is always the small things, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know if not really having a friend yet in Philotheum is a small thing, love,” William said, wrapping his arm around her.
“You didn’t have any friends in Bristlecone.”
“That’s different. I could have, if I’d wanted to – there were plenty of people my age who weren’t intimidated by the fact that I was royalty.”
She chuckled. “They didn’t even know that.”
“No. But everyone in Philotheum knows who you are, and I know that’s made it harder for you to get to know ‘regular’ people. You might not have been a social butterfly in your world, but you always had friends. And I was never in Bristlecone for six straight months without going home…the more I think about it, love, the more glad I am we’re making this trip, and I’m even happier that Linnea’s coming back with us. I’ve missed her, too.”
“It will be good for all of us to have Linnea, I think,” Nathaniel said. “Hard for Stephen and Charlotte, I think, to lose three of their children to Philotheum – yes, Quinn, they consider you their daughter, too – but good for us, and especially for Ben.”
Quinn glanced out the window. The other guards rode in front of and behind them, but Marcus and Ben flanked the carriage itself, keeping pace exactly. It surprised her sometimes still, to see them in the green and gold of Philotheum, instead of the purple and silver of Eirentheos. Ben, the guard, was so strong and serious; just looking at him made her feel safe.
But she’d seen the other side of him, too – how tender and shy he could be around Linnea – the gentle way he’d held her hand when she was hurt, and the way he’d blushed when they’d announced their betrothal – right in the castle in Philotheum during a family dinner, when everyone had been there for Quinn’s coronation.
She couldn’t have been happier for him and her new sister.
“And what about you, Nathaniel – will Cammie be joining us for Linnea’s wedding?”
Her uncle’s face turned a deep red as he nodded.
Quinn was immediately suspicious. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“Well … I was going to tell you both … I’m planning on asking her to marry me – after Linnea’s wedding, of course.”
She’d wondered as much, but still, she thought her face might crack in two from her grin.
“It’s about time,” William said, his eyes twinkling.
The heat coming from Nathaniel’s face was nearly enough to raise the temperature in the carriage. “Well, there were a lot of things we had to discuss – the children, her home…”
“Nathaniel, I was teasing you. I don’t care how long it took you. I’m happy for you.”
“Right…” Nathaniel smiled, relaxing a little. “It’s going to take me more than a few moons to get used to
you
being so happy, William – you were never much for joking or teasing before now.”
William kissed the top of Quinn’s head. “Marriage can do that for a person, I guess. I’m looking forward to seeing the effect it has on you.”
“And you’re going to be a father,” Quinn said.
Nathaniel’s smile grew wide at that. “I am. Can you believe that? Three children – I’m not sure what I’m going to do with myself.”
“They’re great kids,” Quinn said. “I think David adores you already – the way he was following you around the last time he was in Philotheum was awfully sweet. And Tallie…”
“Tallie loves
you
Quinn – she still can’t stop talking about being allowed to ride in the flower carriage with the princesses and sing with them at your coronation.”
“Well, now she’s really going to be a princess. And it will be wonderful to have them all in the castle with us.” She stopped, a sudden thought occurring to her. “You
are
going to bring them to the castle in Philotheum to live with us, aren’t you?”
Nathaniel looked embarrassed again. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be all right with that.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged. “It’s not exactly typical for a prince to remain at the castle after he’s married. It’s yours now, Quinn.”
“Nothing is very typical about me anyway, is it? Not here in Philotheum. It’s a big castle, and it’s too empty. I don’t want you to go anywhere else.”
Nathaniel shifted in his seat. “Then I won’t go anywhere else, Quinn. I feel like I just got you back … I wouldn’t mind keeping you for a while this time.”
A warm glow filled her chest, spreading upward to her cheeks as she smiled at her uncle. If there was any consolation to be had for losing contact with her family, it was the relationship she’d found now with Nathaniel.
She thought now of the photo album her mother had given her for her birthday; of the snapshot in it of Nathaniel, watching her take some of her first steps across her living room in Bristlecone. He was her one solid connection to both her past and her future. Yes, she definitely wanted to keep him around.
