Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles Book 4) (21 page)

She’d heard the wedding vows a hundred times before, but was surprised to discover how much it meant to say them to William, to hear them from him. There were even two rings on Owen’s little pillow. William carefully untied the white satin strings and whispered a thank you to the ring bearer before taking Quinn’s hand and slipping the band up next to the first one, while Owen beamed up at them proudly. Then she took the second ring, a band of silver inlaid with a gold stripe, and pushed it onto his ring finger.

William’s smile took her breath away.

“You may kiss the bride.”

There was a low chuckle in the audience at the unfamiliar line, but Quinn didn’t care. For a moment, everything disappeared except William, who pulled her into his arms and kissed her – softly, but with an edge of something more, a promise to be fulfilled later.

“Beloved family and friends, may I present to you the eminent couple, Princess Quinn and Prince William Rose.” William pulled her hand to his lips as they waved at their families, who were standing now, clapping and cheering.

Thomas and Linnea headed down the aisle first, and then Quinn and William followed, though they didn’t make it far before they were swallowed in a sea of hugs, kisses, well-wishes, and even a few tears.

*          *          *

Quinn was dancing with Owen when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “The two of you look like you’re having a grand time. Might I join you?”

“Uh, sure,” Quinn said, opening their little circle to admit Alvin.

“I’ve noticed people often use that word, ‘sure’, when they’re anything but. Are you unsure about me, Princess Quinn?”

She didn’t know how to begin answering that question, but he didn’t wait for an answer, anyway. Instead, he turned his bright gaze on Owen. “What about you, Sir Owen? Are you having a good time at your sister’s wedding?”

Owen was staring up at Alvin with the widest eyes she had ever seen, like he was looking at a ghost. After several long seconds, he finally blinked. “I didn’t think you were real,” he said.

A cold, creeping sensation crawled down Quinn’s spine.

Alvin smiled indulgently. “Of course I’m real. I’ve always been real.”

“You were in my dreams.”

As the first wave of the creeping cold settled at the base of Quinn’s back, a second one began at her neck. She stared up at Alvin.

“Close your mouth, Princess. You’ll have half the people in this room intruding on our conversation if you keep looking at me like Owen said I’d tried to
eat
him in his sleep, rather than merely visiting him, the way I have with you. Surely you didn’t think you were the only one.”

“But Owen is not even from this world!”

“Neither are you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I understand your words, yes, but I don’t see what it has to do with anything. You must have realized by now that I am not tied to one world or the other.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that.”

“It’s not necessary for you to say anything, dear one. I was merely stating a fact I assumed you already knew. But perhaps you didn’t. I have been wrong before.”

Quinn wasn’t so sure he had. There was a part of her, in the back of her mind, that knew he was right – she had realized that. She had just never thought he would have communicated with Owen in
his
dreams as well. Or maybe she had... This was too much to think about right now.

“Well, then, since you seem to know so much about traveling between the worlds, perhaps you can tell me if my family will be able to cross back over tonight. Or did Jonathan really manage to destroy the bridge with his fire?” Her tone wasn’t exactly polite, but she didn’t care.

The issue of whether her Mom and Owen and Annie would even be able to return home had been haunting all of them, though they’d avoided speaking about it. Stephen had said there was no sense worrying about it until they went to see it and try it for themselves. The gate was scheduled to open again at sunset.

There was a small part of Quinn that knew she hadn’t allowed herself to think about it because she was
hoping
the gate wouldn’t be open, or that they would still be unable to access it because of the fire. She wasn’t ready for her family to leave tonight.

Megan hadn’t been sure she wanted to try the bridge on this opening, but with the heightened danger, and the fact that Quinn and William would be leaving for Philotheum anyway, they’d all agreed that if her family
could
get home today, then they should.

“The bridge still stands, Princess. As the guards King Stephen has sent to check on it will tell you later this afternoon. In any case, the operation of the gate is not terribly dependent on whether the bridge is intact, as the gate in your world would tend to indicate.”

“What
is
it dependent on, then?”

“Magnetism, mostly.”

“Excuse me?”

“Magnets. Now, I know you’ve heard of those.”

“I don’t know what they have to do with the gate.”

“Did you think the gate was magic?”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. Truthfully, she sort of had thought that.

“Well, it isn’t magic. Simple science, really. At certain times, these two worlds are lined up in just such a way that two powerful magnets, one on each side, can weaken the magnetic field between them, and allow someone to pass through.”

“And someone just figured that out?” William had come to stand with them. He put his arm around Quinn’s waist, and then his other hand on Owen’s shoulder.

Quinn looked around the room. Everyone else was engaged in conversations. Nobody looked the least bit interested in their little group – or if they were, they were politely ignoring them.

“Yes, of course someone ‘just figured it out’. The difficulty level is somewhere below using magnets in electrical currents. Finding a location where it would work was another story. The first passage had to be in a place where there was both a place where the fields aligned and there was already a naturally occurring magnet on the other side. Humans are inventive, though. They managed it. Some by accident, even.” Alvin chuckled, his eyes lighting up.

“The
first
passage? So there is more than one?”

“Yes. Most of them are now long forgotten. And several of those who discovered this world by accident never realized what they’d done. Or that it would even have been possible to go back. After a while, this was simply where their lives were. They settled in, had children, lived, died, and that was it.”

“So Quinn’s world existed first.”

“Was inhabited by humans first, yes. This world has only had people for a thousand cycles or so – perhaps a bit longer; it’s been awhile since I did the math – but it’s quite young in that way compared to the world where Quinn was raised.”

William nodded. “But the gate we use – that one wasn’t an accident, was it?”

“No. That one was built on purpose. Not everyone traveled here by accident, and not everyone forgot. The gate you’ve been using was built by a young man who was very curious and scientific-minded – rather like you, Prince William. He studied how a naturally occurring gate worked, and thought he had it figured out. He dug up a piece of the magnetic rock under one of the gates, and then traveled to a place where he predicted another weak spot – a place in the Colorado mountains that is now known as Bristlecone, and he buried the rock there. Planted it might be a more appropriate term. Planted two pinecones with it; I never learned why.

“He was right, though. It worked.”

“Why have you never told anyone this?”

Alvin smiled kindly. “I’m not much in the habit of telling people things they don’t need to know. What you figure out on your own is yours to do with as you wish, but most of the hidden knowledge in this – in any – world is only meant to be understood by those who do the work to discover it.”

“Then why are you telling us this now?” Quinn asked. “What difference does it make – why do we ‘need to know’?”

“Now, the answer to
that
question, should you truly desire it, is for you to obtain, Princess.”

“There must be a reason, Alvin. Something you want me to do with this information.”

“All I’ve done is told you a story, Princess. As for what you do with it – that choice is yours. In any case, I believe I’ve shared with you enough that you can set aside your fears that your family will be unable to return home, and you can enjoy your wedding day. My heart is overflowing with joy that the two of you have found each other, and I am looking forward to many, many cycles of watching your relationship bloom. Thank you, Prince and Princess, for allowing me to share your precious day.

“Now, Sir Owen, it has truly been a pleasure meeting you in person. I can only hope we have the opportunity to do it again sometime.”

Owen nodded, blinking up at Alvin with a rather serious expression. “Then what are the bridges for?”

Alvin smiled. “Keeping your feet out of the water.” He winked as he squeezed Owen’s shoulder, then took Quinn’s hand in his and kissed the back of it before turning and walking away. When she looked for him again, only a few minutes later, he was nowhere to be found.

*          *          *

The wedding celebration lasted much of the afternoon, though the dancing tapered off as the crowd grew smaller. Charles and his family were the first to drift back to their quarters, followed by Ellen and Henry. Quinn noticed that Maxwell and his girlfriend, Catherine, disappeared early on, too.

 Eventually it was mostly only Quinn’s and William’s immediate families sitting around small tables and chatting, nibbling at the buffet, and playing games. Jacob and Essie, the only cousins who had traveled in for the ceremony, had settled in for the duration. Essie, newly pregnant, had discovered a new camaraderie with new moms Rebecca and Natalie. The three of them were huddled around a table, babies Quinn and Aiden asleep in arms.

As she watched, Simon’s wife, Evelyn, drifted by and was immediately pulled in to the group. She had been suspecting that Evelyn was already expecting as well.

Simon had already found Jacob, Andrew, and Howard in another corner, talking and laughing. Simon had his little sister Hannah in his arms, and kept blowing bubbles on her tummy. Quinn imagined that these young families would be spending a lot of time together in the future.

The dance floor had been confiscated by the children, who were running back and forth, sliding around on the smooth marble, and making up their own dances. Thomas and Mia had spent a lot of time over there with them, and William had snuck in a dance or two with Annie and his little sisters, but most of the “grownups” were more interested in quieter activities.

There was an unspoken feeling in the atmosphere of the ballroom, a sense that they were all trying to soak up as much of this time together as they could, savoring the way things were right this minute, before everything changed.

The feeling in the room was bittersweet, full of love and celebration, but also a little melancholy.   Quinn wasn’t the only one about to permanently leave her home. Even the weather seemed to understand their mood. Shortly after the ceremony, dark gray clouds had filled the skies outside. Soon, enormous raindrops had begun splattering against the floor-to-ceiling windows and the glass doors that led to the patio, creating a symphony that overpowered the music inside.

Now, great puddles had formed on the stones outside, and the giant fountain in the middle of the patio was overflowing, each tier pouring down a bigger waterfall than the last. Every few minutes, distant thunder would rumble through the sky, but the lightning remained high in the clouds.

When Emma came and tugged on William’s arm for “just
one
more round of Hokey Pokey” Quinn, who had already reached her limit on the game, drifted to the door and stood there watching the rain for several minutes.

It struck her then, as she watched both the rain, and the people behind her from their reflections in the glass, that someday, when she discovered that she was carrying William’s child, they’d be far away in Philotheum, away from both of their families. No Rebecca or Evelyn to turn to for advice. No Linnea to giggle with at night.

“How can something so beautiful be so gloomy at the same time?”

She turned to see Thomas standing right behind her.

“I was just thinking that. It looks so sad out there right now, but it’s such good news that it’s finally raining.”

“Hopefully it will rain long enough to finally put the fire all the way out,” he said. “We need the water. Sorry that it had to be on your wedding day, though.”

“I don’t know. It seems kind of ... fitting somehow. We’re inside, anyway. Hopefully it will let up later – when it’s time for Marcus and Ben to take my family to the bridge.”

He reached for her shoulder, squeezing it gently, and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “I don’t think I’ve had the chance yet to tell you how beautiful you look today. Nearly brought tears to my eyes when I saw you. And the look on William’s face…”

“Where would I be without your flattery, Thomas?”