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 muffled 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.

By the time they heard the footsteps crossing the floor again, followed by a door closing, and then silence, Quinn was holding herself back from flying up the stairs and confronting Tolliver herself.

"What is this?" She demanded as soon as they'd heard Tolliver and Ellen exit. She flew up from the floor, unable to sit still for even a second longer. Well past caution in the dark space, she paced back and forth, attempting to keep her head from exploding.

"Shh, Quinn. You don't know that it's safe."

She knew he was right, but she didn't care. "Ellen is Tolliver's sister? Did you know this?"

"No, I didn't." She hadn't heard him stand, but his voice came from somewhere beside her, not from the floor.

"Does Nathaniel? Marcus? Ben?"

"I don't know what anybody knows. Nathaniel has never brought me here before, ever. Although it seems like he's been here more than once." His voice was hard, strained.

"Why is Tolliver here? What is going on, William? Is this some kind of a trap? We're down in some dark dungeon and they've gone outside so they can set the place on fire?" She knew she was only getting louder, but she couldn't do anything about it.

"Hey, don't start thinking like that." His hand came out of the dark, tentatively feeling. He found the side of her upper arm first, right in the spot that was still a healing pink from her stitches. He paused, one finger gently tracing the new skin, and then lower, down past her elbow, all the way until his hand touched hers, and then he pulled her into his arms.

She stood there, still as a statue, consumed half by a paralyzing mixture of terror and anger, and the other half by another emotion entirely. Though she was rigid and unmoving, his arms still wound around her back, holding her tight. "We can't think like that, Quinn. We don't know what's going on; let's not make this worse by jumping to conclusions. Let's assume, for now, that we're okay. That she's hidden us only for our safety, and we'll find out what this is all about later."

She swallowed, trying to get past the fear and aggravation. Her fingers trembled. It wasn't working, trapped here in the dark and silence.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured against her hair.

She snapped. "Since when are you so Susie Sunshine about everything?"

He was absolutely still for just a second, before his entire body started shaking, in great, heaving motions coming from his chest. She was startled, confused, and then the silence was broken by his snorting, and the laughter overtook her, too.

Once she started laughing, she couldn't stop, and it was clear that neither could he. They both stood there shaking, trying to keep quiet, trying to stop, but every time one of them calmed down enough to take a breath, the other would snicker, and it would start all over again. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her stomach was aching, and she could hardly breathe, but the laughter kept coming.

Finally, finally, she managed to pull in a breath at the same time he did. They clutched each other's arms tightly, trying to regain control. The hysterical giggles kept threatening to break through, but at last they were calm.

William softly cleared his throat. "Only one of us can freak out at a time."

She nodded. "Agreed."

And then, somehow, his lips were against hers. Softly, at first, his bottom lip grazed her top one. She knew, in the part of her brain that was still capable of rational thought, that she should have been surprised by this, but it wasn't thought that drove her now. Her mouth responded on its own, as did her hands, reaching around him, clutching the back of his thin shirt.

He pulled her body closer with one hand, the other finding the back of her neck, under her hair, his fingers gently caressing, twining in her hair...

There was a loud thud directly overhead. They jerked apart, as if shocked by a jolt of electricity. After an eternity, his hand found hers again, squeezing it tight as they listened to the footsteps crossing the floor above.

* 22 *.

Complications

THE FOOTSTEPS OVER THEIR HEADS crossed the floor several times, going back and forth as William and Quinn stood frozen, holding hands while their hearts thudded in unison. After an immeasurable length of time, there was the sound of a door opening and closing, and then it was silent again.

Still barely able to move or to think, Quinn reached out in desperation for the wall again, dragging him with her. As soon as she found it, she slumped down toward the floor, and he went with her.

They sat there as the sounds of their breathing returned to normal, William squeezing her hand while she curled into a ball.

"What was that?" she finally sputtered. She knew he would know that she hadn't meant the noise upstairs.

"I ... I don't know."

"That makes two of us." Suddenly, she was grateful for the complete darkness, which hid her scarlet cheeks.

His deep sigh filled the silence.

She felt like her entire world had suddenly shifted to the left, or flipped completely upside down. She had just kissed William, or he had just kissed her, or ... no ... it had definitely been mutual.

Thomas had kissed her; she knew that for certain now. Even with Zander, aside from a few, shy, tentative attempts on Quinn's part, the actual kissing and other physical affection generally started and ended with him. She was always a willing participant, but ... what had just happened with William was so entirely different that she couldn't wrap her head around it.

What stunned her even more was how they were both reacting now. They sat there, silent, right next to each other in the darkness, his hand wrapped around hers in a way that told her both that nothing had changed, and that everything had.

"Well," she whispered, after an eternity, "if we're going to be stuck here for a while, we should see if there's anything else down here, or if it's just a crazy empty room."

"Okay." He moved beside her, getting onto his hands and knees.

She followed suit, crawling along the wall behind him, feeling around in every direction she could reach, but there was nothing. William finally reached the back wall, and there hadn't been anything but smooth floor and walls the entire way. It was a large, dark, empty prison. They stopped again, in that corner. No sounds came from anywhere.

Quinn curled her legs up under her, resting her head on her knees, trying to think. After a moment, her head snapped up. "The stairs, Will."

"What?"

"We never checked out the area by the stairs. If they keep anything down here, it's probably somewhere by the stairs."

He sighed. "If I had any idea where the stairs are now."

She chuckled, and then started crawling back along the wall. As she crawled the length of the floor, she guessed that the space ran most of the length of the upstairs, at least the entire kitchen and sitting room they'd been spending their time in. She had no idea how wide it was, but the soft sounds they were making disappeared into the darkness, rather than echoing back.

When they reached the corner at the other end of the room, she turned and started edging toward where the stairs had to be. William stayed just barely behind her, breathing in quick gulps. Finally, she reached for the side of the wall, and her hand hit empty space. Stretching a little further, she felt the wood of the bottom step.

"Okay," she whispered, mostly to herself, though William's attention was on her absolutely. "A little further."

And then, just past the stairs, her hand reached into a large open space, then landed on the unmistakable hard shape of a wooden box with a soft clunk. He was next to her instantly, sitting down with her as they worked to find the latch that would allow them to lift the lid.

The box creaked open, and William's arm appeared, blocking her way as she tried to reach in. She understood his protective sentiment, and in a different situation, she might have appreciated it, but her reaction now was to knock it out of the way.

He chuckled softly in the darkness, and then shifted his body so that she could feel inside the box, too. It was heavy and full. The top of the box was filled with folds of heavy cloth in different textures; she couldn't make sense of what it might be. But as they dug further, reaching under the material, she heard a muted metallic clunk. She reached toward the sound, but before she found the source, her fingers closed around something softer something waxy.

"I think I found a candle," she whispered, pulling it out.

William reached for her hand, feeling the object, then he let go and plunged back into the box. She set the candle down next to her, freeing both hands to help dig. The two of them lifted the heavy cloths out, tossing them aside. The bottom of the box was filled with different types of things, most of which she couldn't identify by touch. She pulled out several more candles, laying them in a neat pile beside her next to the first one she had found.

"Yes!" William whispered triumphantly. A second later, she heard a scraping sound against the stone floor, and then a tiny flame flickered to life.

As small as it was, after being in complete darkness for so long, the light nearly blinded her as she fumbled for a candle from the stack beside her. Shielding her eyes with one hand, she stretched the candle toward William with the other, and a new point of light pierced the heavy black surrounding them.

She blinked furiously as she watched him lean over the box with the candle. The dark forms and shapes started to make sense as she wiped the dripping water from her eyes, and she lifted out a metal candlestick. Wiping her sleeve across her eyes one more time, she reached and took the candle from him. His own eyelashes fluttered so rapidly she doubted he could see as well as she could. She set the candle carefully in the candlestick, and then moved the small light away from them, until their eyes could adjust.

He nodded, rubbing his eyes as he blew out the match.

After several minutes, when they were finally comfortable, William reached into the box for another candlestick. He lit another candle with the flame from the first one, and then handed the holder to her.

The soft, orange glow from the flames transformed the space. She could see her own shape, stretched out in a shimmering dark shadow along the wall of the alcove under the stairs, William's form next to hers. She let out a breath.

The small storage area was filled to overflowing with crates and wooden boxes like the one they had just opened. The pile of heavy fabric they had set to the side now revealed itself as several thick blankets.

The bottom of the box they had opened was lined with more candles, candlesticks, and a number of small wooden boxes filled with long matches. There were several other small metal objects in the box, but in the dim light she couldn't tell what they were.

Quinn and William worked together silently over the supplies. He lit several more candles while she folded the blankets neatly and laid them further to the side, creating more space to work.

The next box they opened contained jars and jars of food. She raised her eyebrows, a creepy feeling in her stomach all over again, as she wondered exactly what this place was, and for how long people were intended to stay here.

A nearby crate held several heavy down pillows, and another box was filled with more thick blankets. After they opened a box that was completely filled with more of the white waxy candles, they stopped digging; it appeared that they would keep finding more of the same kinds of supplies.

She grabbed one of the lit candleholders from the floor, and started walking away from the stairs, back into the long room. William stood and grabbed his own candle to follow her.