Thorns of Decision (Dusk Gate Chronicles) (32 page)

Pale sunlight was beginning to stream through the large window at the other end of the room.  “So you didn’t tell me why you were up at the crack of dawn, ready to wait for me to sleep in for hours.”

He chuckled, carrying a steaming mug over to her while he screwed on the lid. “I have a surprise for you. Walk with me?”

“Sure.”

Outside, the morning was beautiful. The air was just cool enough that she was comfortable in the light sweater she’d grabbed, and birds were chattering at each other in the nearby trees. The grassy lawns surrounding the castle glistened with dew, and the gravel of the path they were on crunched under their feet.

“I can see why you’d want to come out here in the mornings,” she said.

William took a deep breath, and was silent for a moment before he answered. “It’s a good way to start the day. I needed it today after the last week.”

She nodded as she followed him down a back path that would eventually lead them through a small gatehouse and into the wooded area at the back corner of the castle wall.

That past several days had been stressful for everyone. The burning of the clinic had been hard on William and Nathaniel in particular; they were both very close to Jacob and Essie, and had always been deeply involved in the now-destroyed Mistle Village clinic.

Nathaniel had still been distraught and there had been long meetings between him and Stephen, and even with Connie Hardridge. One time, Nathaniel had asked if Quinn would like to join them, but she had refused.

On her second day back, some of Stephen’s soldiers, following rumors they’d heard, had found the two assailants, hiding in the woods halfway back to the Philothean border. They’d been arrested, but the last she’d heard, they were refusing to talk. Nathaniel had told her he wasn’t surprised by this, Tolliver’s soldiers had likely threatened to harm the men’s families if they were captured and talked.

Quinn had spent most of the week helping Charlotte, Rebecca, and Linnea with Connie and her children and the funeral preparations. William had been working with Nathaniel, Jacob, and Essie trying to salvage what they could from the burned-out clinic. She hadn’t been able to spend much time with him.. They walked in silence now, enjoying the peaceful moment, the company, and the hot, tangy tea.

Neither one of them spoke until they’d passed the guard at the gatehouse.

“Are you going to go back out to the village today?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am ... with the party the day after tomorrow, I’m sure I won’t be able to go again until after. Do you want to come?”

“I promised Linnea and Thomas I’d help with some things for the party. Everybody’s rushing around since there were so many other things going on.”

He shrugged. “Taking care of the Hardridges was more important than a silly party.”

She wasn’t sure why his words rubbed her the wrong way, but whatever it was, she stopped and looked up at him. “Nobody is saying it isn’t, Will, but you are a prince, and your eighteenth birthday is important to people, too.”

He closed his eyes for a minute before he looked back at her. “I know. It’s just that a party seems so ... inappropriate with everything else going on around us.”

“Except that it’s a tradition, and if you decide something else is more important than one tradition, where do you stop? It’s only by tradition that Simon is heir to the throne – and that Tolliver shouldn’t be.”

William’s eyes widened, and she realized that her voice had taken on an edge that she hadn’t meant to put there. It was just a topic that had been on her mind lately as she’d questioned her own place in the grand scheme of these “traditions.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I just ... it’ll be nice for me to celebrate with you too, you know.”

His expression softened. “I am looking forward to that part.” He leaned into her then, kissing her softly on the lips. She felt herself relax against him.

“Are you doing okay with all of this?” he asked. “We haven’t really had much of a chance to talk.”

She shrugged, torn between wanting to tell him everything, right now, and being afraid to tell him anything. How would he react if she did? And what would happen later, when everyone knew? Was it even safe for anyone to know? “So what’s this surprise you have for me?” she finally asked, deciding on evasion, again.

His eyes lit up. “We’re almost there,” he said.

When the path reached a thick part of the woods, William suddenly led her several yards off of it, into a hidden stand of trees. She had no idea how he knew where he was.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked.

He didn’t answer; he just kept walking. About a hundred yards later, he put his finger to his lips and pointed.

At first, Quinn couldn’t tell what he was pointing at, but as her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light in the thick trees, the shapes became sharper, and a few feet ahead of them, nestled in a tree branch just above William’s head, she could see an enormous nest. She looked at him in surprise, and he smiled.

He made a low chirruping sound, and a second later, a familiar gray-feathered head popped out of the nest, shiny black eyes blinking at the two of them in interest. It was Aelwyn, William’s seeker bird. He made a different low noise, and she rose from her spot, hopped neatly over the edge of the nest, and glided down toward him, landing only about a foot away.

Now it was Aelwyn’s turn to talk, and she made a strange noise, halfway between a squawk and a whistle. William laughed, and reached into his pocket, retrieving a package of beef jerky, which he opened and tore off a piece, holding it out to the bird.

Quinn had to smile at the intricate dance between William and the bird, as Aelwyn first turned her head away from the offering, and then reached to snatch it once he knelt down low to her. As soon as she’d swallowed it, she walked right up to him, butting her head against his pocket where the rest of the treat was hidden.

At that moment, there was a loud call from overhead, and then Thomas’ bird, Sirian swooped down and landed gracefully near his mate. William withdrew the meat from his pocket, and tore it unevenly. Aelwyn eyed him warily until he tossed the larger piece in her direction. Sirian waited until she had hers, and then accepted the smaller piece.

After a few minutes, the birds had warmed up, and were strutting comfortably around the tiny clearing, and both of them even allowed Quinn to stroke their smooth heads. Up close, she was always startled by how gentle they were around people, though they were quite large hunting birds.

Once he was certain that they’d both let their guards down, William stood again and motioned for Quinn to follow as he walked toward the tree that held the nest. They’d almost reached it when Aelwyn and Sirian suddenly simultaneously flew up into the nest. Quinn shrank back, startled, but William shook his head.

“It’s okay,” he said.

Inside the nest, the two birds chattered in voices that seemed somehow amiable, and then a moment later, four smaller heads peeked over the edge, their black eyes shining curiously as they turned to examine the newcomers.

Quinn sucked in a breath. “They’re beautiful,” she said softly.

William nodded. “They’ve all just learned to fly.”

Sure enough, after a moment, Aelwyn and Sirian took turns nudging gently at each of the babies until they’d climbed onto the edge of the nest. Then, one-by-one, almost as if they’d been trained, each baby took off, circling through the trees a couple of times before landing neatly in the center of the clearing.

“Amazing!” Quinn was delighted.

“You can pick one,” he said.

“What?” she turned to him, completely stunned. “Me? Why?”

“You don’t have one, and these fledglings are just the right age now. Aelwyn and Sirian will help you train one of them as a Seeker.”

“But I ... doesn’t it have to be someone who lives here? What will the bird do when I’m at home?”

He shrugged. “It’s not a normal situation, true. But Aidel and Aelwyn cope okay when Nathaniel and I are gone. They’re wild birds at heart.”

“But what if I...” she didn’t finish her sentence, but they both heard the words that hung in the air, the question that neither of them was ready to think about or deal with. The biggest what-if of all.

William looked down at the ground. “You don’t have to,” he said softly.

Her heart sank. Now she’d ruined it.

She swallowed hard. “That’s not what I meant, Will. I’m sorry, I ... of course I would love to have one. It’s so far beyond anything I would ever have expected or even thought … that would be an incredible privilege.”

He was silent for a long moment before he looked back up at her. “Don’t be sorry, Quinn. I should have realized how you might take it...”

“Will ... Really, I was just surprised, that’s all. Is it really okay for someone like me to have one?”

“Yeah, Quinn. It’s really okay.” His eyes were still filled with disappointment, and a lump settled in her throat. Was she ever going to know how to do this, or were her own issues going to hurt every relationship she had?

As soon as he hit the open trail, William nudged Skittles, encouraging her to run as hard as she could. He needed the motion, the pounding hooves under him, the wind rushing past his face, to help him clear his head and collect his thoughts.

What had he been thinking, pushing Quinn like that? He’d promised her that he wouldn’t – that she could have the time and the space she needed to get her own life sorted out first. He couldn’t even imagine how difficult this must all be for her, and so many things had already changed for her lately.

She had apologized several times for her first reaction to his offer of a bird, and he’d done what he could to convince her that he wasn’t mad at her – he was the one who had taken things too far too fast.

He’d just gotten excited – yesterday on his ride back from Mistle Village he’d been startled by the familiar sound of Aelwyn’s call overhead. He’d followed her all the way back into the nest, excited at how proud she’d been to show off her tiny flock to him. It had been clear that it was her way of telling him that it was time to choose one of the babies to be trained as a companion seeker. The rest of the fledglings would soon go off on their own into the wild.

Last night, he’d told Thomas about it, and the two of them had gone to their parents with the idea of allowing Quinn to choose. He’d barely slept all night, as his mind raced further ahead than he should have allowed it to.

By the time he’d gotten up this morning, he had convinced himself that not only was he going to take her to the clearing, but to take it a step further. He’d been going to ask her if he could formally announce their courtship at his birthday celebration.

He was going to have some serious words with Thomas when he got back tonight for suggesting
that
.

If he kept pushing Quinn this hard, he was going to end up forcing her right out of his life, and the idea of losing her made his insides twist in ways he’d never known they could. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somehow that girl had taken over the top spot on his list of priorities.

He didn’t know what he would do if he lost her now – and if he wasn’t careful, that was exactly what was going to happen. And it would be his fault.

 He was surprised when the low outlines of the houses in Mistle Village appeared suddenly on the horizon. He’d been riding harder than he’d realized. The trip had taken him half as long as it usually did.