"It's okay." Pulling the little cloth right out of her hands, he tucked it into one of the outside pockets of his backpack. "I have more if you need another one."

They followed the path all the way around the back of the castle, where they could enter the grounds through a small private gatehouse, generally used only by the family and household servants. Quinn recognized Paul, the guard who was on duty.

"Master William! Miss Quinn! I wasn't told I would be expecting you this evening."

"I didn't tell anyone we would be coming. Has Thomas returned yet?"

Quinn knew, by the heavy expression in the man's eyes, what the answer would be. "No, Master William. We've not heard a word."

William nodded. "Thank you, Paul."

It was dinnertime; they could smell the aromas of the meal before they reached the dining room. Both of them paused outside the entrance, unsure how this was going to go.

"Let me go in first," William whispered.

She nodded. From where she stood she could hear the uproar when William entered the room. The younger children squealed in surprise and ran to surround him. Charlotte ran to her son and embraced him.

Suddenly, Quinn was aware of someone standing very close behind her, and she spun around rapidly, nearly falling over in the process.

Alvin caught her under the elbow and steadied her. "Careful there, Lady Quinn. It wouldn't do to have you injuring yourself at the beginning of your journey."

She looked up at him in surprise, not knowing how to respond. He still had a gentle hold on her arm.

"What are you waiting out here for? It smells like dinner has already been served." Keeping hold of her elbow, Alvin guided her into the dining room.

Everyone in the room who had still been seated stood as Alvin and Quinn entered. Stephen and Charlotte looked up at them in surprise; William had not yet had the chance to tell them that Quinn had come with him. Nathaniel was there, too. Charlotte rushed over to her.

"Quinn! Sweetheart, what are you doing here?"

"I ... I had to come."

"William and Quinn need to speak to you in private, Your Majesties," Alvin said, eyeing the throng of younger children surrounding them.

"Of course." Stephen nodded. "Maxwell and Linnea, please help the children finish dinner and then get them upstairs."

Linnea's whole face was chalky, and her eyes had probably been tinged with that red for days. It was clear she wanted to rush over to her and William to find out what was going on, but she obeyed her father and began to guide the younger children back to their seats.

"Let's go to my office," Stephen said, as he began walking out of the room. Charlotte, William, Quinn, Nathaniel, and Alvin followed him silently.

Quinn had never been in Stephen's office before. She was a little surprised by how ordinary it seemed it could have been the office of any successful man.

It was a beautiful room, as all of the rooms in the castle were. The floor was laid in a deep, reddish wood that matched the paneling and the big, polished desk. Enormous bookcases filled with books and papers lined two walls of the room, but the other two walls held vast numbers of painted family portraits.

One of the paintings caught her eye right away. It was of six very young children, recognizable at once. Thomas and Linnea were chubby-cheeked, smiling babies. William, a more serious-looking toddler, was holding his baby brother's hand protectively. Noticing this detail put a hot lump in her throat.

"All right," Stephen said, closing the door once everyone was inside. "What is going on? William, what are you doing here? And why did you bring Quinn?"

She swallowed back the lump, trying to keep herself composed. "He didn't bring me, Your Majesty, I just came."

"Why?" He frowned, looking both confused, and ... something else she couldn't quite decipher.

"She knows where Thomas went."

Every eye turned to her. Stephen's expression went from concerned to aghast. He took a deep breath, and Charlotte, standing by his side, gripped his hand tightly. "Tell us what you know."

Quinn relayed the story for them, just as she had for William, although she left out the part about Thomas kissing her.

Stephen's gray eyes looked almost black with his distress. Charlotte had to sit down. Nathaniel sat next to her, one hand on her shoulder.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Charlotte asked. "Why would he risk going into Philotheum now?"

"He doesn't even know how dangerous it is," Stephen said, his voice catching in his throat. "He came to me, just after the wedding, asking if I knew why Lily and Graeme hadn't been there."

"He said he felt like you were hiding something from him; it worried him more." Quinn felt like she might throw up just saying the words, but instinct told her that keeping back any information right now, regardless of how trivial, would not help Thomas.

"I was." Stephen sank into an armchair. He rested his head in his hands.

"Things have changed in Philotheum." Nathaniel spoke now. "Tolliver's father has turned over control of the Philothean army to him."

"So, what does that mean? What difference does that make?"

The king sighed. "Both Tolliver and his father have a very different idea of ruling a kingdom than what has been traditional in both Eirentheos and Philotheum for a long time. They believe we are weak when it comes to handling our people, that ordinary citizens have far too much power and decision-making in our policies. He can't change that in our kingdom, obviously, but he has begun to take more control over the people of Philotheum or he's trying to, anyway." His voice took on a dark tone.

"Trying to how?" Quinn asked.

"It's very complicated. There are many new laws, regulations, and taxes, but many of the towns and villages have begun to resist Tolliver's increasing intrusion into their lives. In an attempt to subdue them, Tolliver has greatly increased the size of his army, and many of the villages are living under the occupation of soldiers."

"Including the village where Lily and Graeme live." It wasn't a question; she could see immediately where he was going with this.

"Harber Village, where they live, was one of the first," Nathaniel said quietly. "Graeme sits on the council, and with their connection to Eirentheos, and the fact that they have established a clinic there with our particular beliefs about healing ... they were labeled as troublemakers immediately."

"So they didn't come to the wedding because..."

"Yes, because they are not allowed to leave their village, or at least it would be quite dangerous for them to try." Nathaniel answered her question before she could finish. "We haven't been able to get communication in or out of there in quite some time."

"Why didn't we know anything about this?" William sat down in a chair across from his father, eyeing him warily.

"We've been keeping the situation monitored and quiet as best we can," Stephen answered. He sat up straight now, making eye contact, and looking decisive, royal. "We have reason to believe that Tolliver has infiltrated Eirentheos and there are spies. The poisonings you discovered among the children, using the schoolbooks we provide to them, seem to have been a direct attack on our political structure, attempting to undermine the confidence of our people, to make them vulnerable, and cause them to distrust us."

"Tolliver was behind that?" Quinn felt sick.

"Yes. He has been quietly doing a number of things to undermine Eirentheos. Presumably, it has to do with our opposition to his legitimately taking the throne. He is attempting to put us in a position where we have no power to oppose him."

Quinn thought about that, turning all of the information over in her mind. "That seems rather extreme. Why doesn't he just take the throne? Why does he care so much about Eirentheos?"

Stephen glanced over at Nathaniel; the two of them exchanging a wordless conversation. "Tolliver's father has always held beliefs which are ... dissimilar to those we hold here, and, until now, have been held in Philotheum." He looked at Nathaniel again, and Quinn was suddenly sure that while he wasn't lying to her, she was getting an edited version of the truth. "I'm told that Tolliver's father keeps an oracle as an advisor, a man who attempts to divine the future through riddles and so-called prophecies."

"And this oracle is telling him to poison children in Eirentheos?"

"We have no idea what the oracle is telling him, Quinn," said Nathaniel. "Other than some kind of nonsense to fuel his already over-inflated ego. We do know that, based on whatever he's been told, Tolliver and his father both believe that it's necessary for Tolliver to marry into the Eirenthean royal line."

Quinn was speechless.

"He seems to be under rather a misapprehension that if he causes us enough trouble, then we'll hand over Linnea to keep the peace."

"Over my..." Charlotte didn't continue her sentence.

Stephen stood and walked over to sit down next to his wife, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Which, of course, is never going to happen."

Quinn thought she might be sick. "Have you told him no?"

"In no uncertain terms. Tolliver is many things, but he is not entirely stupid. At this point, I don't think he cares whether he bullies us into joining his version of a political alliance, or goads us into war."

Quinn's stomach turned again. "Are you going to war?"

"The time is not yet right for decisions such as that, Lady Quinn." She turned around, a bit startled. She had forgotten Alvin was in the room, standing behind her. "It is not yet time for Eirentheos to act."

"We need to go there. We need to rescue Thomas."

"We can send soldiers to find him," Charlotte said.

"No, love. Sending soldiers over the border would be construed as an act of war." Stephen stood again and began pacing back and forth across the long end of the room.

"I will go." Nathaniel's voice was strong and determined; every eye in the room turned to him.

Stephen stared at the ceiling for a long moment, looking as if he were making a decision.

"I know your objections, Stephen. But it is time. This one is mine."

The king nodded.

"I'm going with you, Nathaniel." William stood and walked over to his uncle.

"No!" Charlotte flew out of the chair. "We don't know how dangerous it's going to be... I can't have two of my sons gone."

Nathaniel, though, nodded at William and turned to face Charlotte and Stephen. "You have asked much of your son, and placed much trust in him, sending him to live in another world. Time and again, he has proven himself. Will you deny the need he has now to find his brother who is only in another kingdom?"

There was a long silence before Stephen finally spoke again; this time his voice couldn't be mistaken for anything but the voice of a king. "We will spend tomorrow planning and preparing for your trip and you can leave the following day. We'll send the two of you with some trustworthy guards." He eyed his wife with this second sentence.

"The three of us," Quinn said, looking Stephen in the eye.

He looked distressed. "You don't know what could happen, Quinn. We don't have any idea how dangerous it might be..."

"I'm going. It's why I came here."

Stephen eyed her critically. "You cannot put yourself at risk over a misplaced sense of guilt. It isn't your fault Thomas decided to go."

She cleared her throat and tried to steady her hands, which had begun trembling slightly. "I know. It isn't guilt. This is just something I have to do. I can't explain why, but I do."

"It is her decision, Stephen." Alvin's calm, quiet voice was suddenly right next to her.

The king closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I know it is." There was a long pause before he looked at her again. "Quinn, it is your choice to make. You should know, before you make it, that the journey to Harber Village is four days one way. It is certain that you will not make it back before the next time the gate opens, and it could be longer. You don't know what situations you will be facing."

This gave her pause. Disappearing from her world without notice for twenty-four hours was one thing. But longer? Her mother would be panicked. Her second thoughts were genuine, but another feeling pushed them away. She couldn't name it, and she didn't understand where it was coming from, but from somewhere deep inside of her rose a conviction that she had to go. It was as much a part of her as the fact that she had to breathe in and out She nodded. "I understand. But I'm going."

The expression in his eyes told her that he had known what her answer would be, though it didn't stop his last, almost desperate remark. "You still have tomorrow to consider your decision. There is nothing shameful about changing your mind."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." She felt as if she should bow, or shake his hand, or something, but the half-formed impulses disappeared when suddenly he embraced her, squeezing her tightly.

Charlotte was there the instant he released her, ready to wrap her own arms around Quinn. "You are as beloved a daughter of ours as those of our blood. Please return to us safely."

*18*.

The Journey Begins

"ARE YOU REALLY SURE about doing this?"

"Not you, too, Linnea. I already walked out of my world without telling anyone. I'm here. I'm not going to just sit around the castle and wait for news."

"Must be nice to have that choice." Linnea's voice was sulky. She had made several unsuccessful attempts to convince her parents she should be allowed to go with William and Quinn on the trip.

After listening to the debacle for most of the day, though, Quinn was beginning to feel grateful that they weren't going to stop her and William from going. Truthfully, after listening to all of the points that Stephen and Charlotte made about the danger, she was beginning to wonder why they'd given in so easily about the two of them. Though she didn't at all understand why, she'd become convinced that it had to do with Alvin's presence at the meeting the night before.

"Sorry, Nay. I know it isn't going to be easy."

"What's not going to be easy?" William stepped into Quinn's room through the open doorway.

"Staying here while you two run off to go find Thomas."

Quinn watched as conflicting emotions crossed William's face before he settled on sympathy. "Yeah, it's going to be hard on you, I know. I'll send word as soon as we find out anything I promise."

"You'd better. What are you doing in here, anyway?" Linnea asked, staring at the medical bag he was carrying.

"What? I'm not welcome to spend time with the two of you?" His expression was teasing, which surprised Quinn. He'd been so serious lately, and everyone's stress level was so high right now that she had figured she'd mostly be seeing his solemn, sulky side. Ever since they'd come through the gate together last night, though, he'd been downright friendly. She had always sort of thought that his serious side was his dominant one; now she wasn't so sure.