Canes of Divergence (22 page)

He studied h
er for a long moment. “It isn’t just about William, is it?”

“
No, it’s not. It’s not
about
him at all. It’s about me. I mean, I love him, Zander. More than I ever imagined loving someone. I’m so grateful that he could even exist – that there could actually be someone who’s so willing to accept exactly who I am, and what I have to do, and who understands both parts of my life, because he’s shared them with me. He is my best friend and my partner in every way. And I just spent the past few days thinking I might lose him.”

He could see it
so clearly now – how she’d changed. Not just physically, but in other, more subtle ways, too. She carried herself differently – she was more confident, wiser. She’d been through things he would probably never be able to understand.

“And I thought about it – what it would be like if I did lose him. How my hea
rt would be broken forever, knowing this part of me that
is
his wife would die, too, but … it wouldn’t have changed my mind about what I have to do – to go back home to Philotheum, rule my kingdom, raise my child as the next heir to the throne.”

He looked down at his hands. This was not what he had expected. Seeing her like this, so honest and vulnerable, and yet, so … he couldn’t even define it … it just made his earlier anger and irritation seem so trivial.

“Zander, I have you to thank for the fact that I’m probably not going to lose him right now, and … I know this is hard for you. I know the last thing you probably want to be hearing is my gushing over someone else, but for the rest of my life, you’re going to be the man who brought that medicine for him.”

“I didn’t do anything, Quinn. I didn’t even know what Owen had in that cooler.”

“It doesn’t matter. He couldn’t have done it on his own. You were there for him when he needed you, and for us.”

“He’s a pretty irresistible kid,” he said, smiling.

She chuckled, but then her expression grew serious again. “I know you’d never admit it – the real reason why Owen was able to talk you into it. And I’m so sorry about the shock it must have been to come here and find things this way. I wish it hadn’t happened like that – that there had been a better way for you to find out.”

He looked down at the ground again.

“It makes me wish I’d never said yes to dating you. Not because I didn’t want to – I did. I cared about you that way. If I was really the girl I thought I was, it wouldn’t have been a mistake. I just wish I’d found all of this out before I put you through that, because I feel like it’s cost me something I valued even more – your friendship. I never wanted to lose that.”

He sighed. “You’re making it awfully hard for me to stay mad at you and hate William, you know.”

“I’m sorry. I could be horrible and snotty about it if it would be easier on you to be mad.”

“Evil plans don’t work as well if you tell people about them in advance, you know.”

“I know.” She stretched her hand tentatively toward him – an offering. He knew he didn’t have to take it, but he did, squeezing her fingers gently.

“I’m sorry I was such a jerk,” he said.

“I deserved it.”

“No you didn’t.
I might have had a right to be angry about the lying…”

“You did. I never wanted to lie to you.”

“I know that now. I’m going to find myself lying when I get home.”

She shrugged. “It’s not like you can just tell people the truth.”

“No. But either way, Quinn, yes, you lied, but you were never as awful to me as I’ve been to you about the whole thing. I really am sorry.”

She looked up then, over his shoulder. “William’s back. Is it okay if he comes back over?”

Zander glanced behind him. William was standing there with a covered silver tray, just far enough that he couldn’t overhear their conversation. He looked more like a servant than a king, and far too much like someone it would be impossible to hate. Sighing, he waved William over.

The toast and eggs were delicious – just like home, only Quinn was right, the bread was better. The thick sausage links on a plate of their own were somewhat different than the ones
at home, but Zander thought he could get used to them quickly.

A small glass bowl of really weird-looking green berries was also on the tray.
Just the sight of them made him wary – there was no way he was ready for something like that – but William handed the bowl to Quinn, along with a second glass of milk.

“There is someone around to insist on taking care of me twenty-four hours a day,” Quinn grumbled, rolling her eyes, but the way she looked at William as he sat down next to her told Zander that her annoyance was feigned.

“You do have a newborn prince to take care of,” Zander said around a mouthful of eggs, earning him a scowl.

William chuckled.

“I wouldn’t mind actually meeting him.” It sort of surprised him that this was true. If he was going to have to deal with the fact that Quinn had a son, it would be nice to see him up close.

“Well,” William said, “either Mia or my sister is supposed to be bringing him down in a few minutes. It’s another nice day. We were thinking about a crumple match.”

“A what?”

Quinn grinned. “It’s a lot more fun than bar drop.”

“But I’ll probably suck at it just as badly as I do at that game.”

“Maybe,” William said. “But your football skills might come in handy.”

Rosewood Castle, Eirentheos

T
WENTY MINUTES LATER
, Quinn climbed up into the bleachers at the crumple field, cradling the baby, who was still making quiet fussing noises.

He’d been screaming when Linnea carried him outside.

“I swear, he hates me,” Linnea said, sitting down on the cushion beside her, watching as he pushed his face against Quinn’s shirt, hungry again.

“He’s a baby,” Owen said, climbing onto the bench one row down from them. “He can’t hate anyone. He just likes his mom best.”

“Sometimes,” Quinn said, laying the baby on a pillow Linnea set on her lap and getting him settled in to nurse. “Other times, I think he likes Mia better than me.”

“He doesn’t like her better. He’s just trying to help you know you’re supposed to ask her to go back to Philotheum with you to be his nanny.”

Linnea’s mouth fell open, and Quinn very nearly dropped the baby. He fussed at the interruption to his meal.

“What, Owen?”

“Mia is supposed to be his nanny. She knows that, and she wants to, but she’s afraid to ask anyone. She thinks Queen Charlotte will be mad at her for wanting to leave, and she’s really afraid she’ll ask you and you’ll say no, and then Charlotte will be mad and she won’t have a job, and Thomas will be mad because she really loves him, but she thinks this is the job she’s supposed to do.”

Linnea stared at him. “Owen, you haven’t even
talked
to Mia since you’ve been here.”

Owen frowned, blinking several times before
his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Was it a dream?”

Quinn’s eyes met Linnea’s, and she knew that they both wore the same expression of shock. Linnea’s hands were trembling; Quinn looked down to make sure her own hands weren’t shaking the baby.

“Yes, Owen. I think it must have been a dream,” she said, trying to hold her voice steady.

“Oh.”
He shrugged, unperturbed, turning back around to watch as everyone else trickled onto the field and bleachers for the game.

Simon’s wife, Evelyn, and
William’s sister Rebecca had just arrived together, both of them with their sons. They sat together in the bottom row, chatting animatedly with each other and the infants. Charlotte would probably come out to join them, to let little Hannah be with her nephews.

Linnea was watc
hing them too. “That will be us in Philotheum soon,” she said. “You with Samuel, and me with someone a tiny bit smaller.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow.

“Not yet,” Linnea said. “At least, as far as I know.”

“Well, I hope it’s soon,” she said, sighing. “It’s hard to know that I’ll be raising Samuel so far away from his cousins and his family.”

“You’re stuck with me. I’m excited, actually, about going. I’ll miss it here, but … I’m ready for a new adventure in a different kingdom.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Even if I hadn’t married Ben, I think I would have tried to find a way to go with you guys. I love Rebecca, but you’ve become my sister just as much as she is – and she has Evelyn now. I missed you and William when you were gone more than I think I’ll miss everyone here.”

“What about Thomas?”

A shadow passed over Linnea’s face, but then she nodded toward Owen. “It sounds like
that
problem might find a way to solve itself.”

“Maybe so.” Quinn had no idea what to make of it.

“If he’s right,
I
can find a way to make it happen,” Linnea whispered.

“
If
he’s right?” Quinn was speaking under her breath, though Owen didn’t seem to be paying any attention to them at all. “He was right when he dreamed that William needed that medicine. He brought it.”

“Well, then, he’s probably right, and we’ll all be together in Philotheum, and you won’t have to worry about dealing with a baby nurse hand-picked by Sophia. Which she is busily trying to do, you know.”

“What?”

“Oh, yeah. William got a message last week from Ruth about how Sophia was driving her nuts, making people come in and practice putting sheets on the cradle and
listing out their daily baby care schedules to the minute.”

Quinn had to take a deep breath in through her nose and let it out slowly.
Ruth was the head of housekeeping at the castle in Philotheum – and Quinn’s biggest ally in the daily struggle for control she had with Sophia.

“There’s a reason William didn’t tell you about the message. He wants to try to get it sorted out before you have to deal with it, but I think you should know how serious it is, if there’s any chance we could come up with a much happier solution.”

“How long am I required to allow the old queen to stay in the castle? Forever, since she’s my grandmother?”

“My parents built a really nice estate by the sea for my grandmother less than a cycle after my grandfather died and my father was crowned. And I don’t think she was as bad as Sophia is.”

“She wants to take over my child.”

“Yes, she does. She wants to have a say in every detail of everything you ever do with him.
What she really wants is to raise him herself.”

“Well, that is not going to happen. Whether she’s my grandmother or not.
I’m tired of hearing people say ‘but she means well’ – I don’t think she does. I think what she says is exactly what she means. She’s the woman who raised Tolliver.”

“I know. But relax, Quinn. You’ve got a couple more weeks here in Eirentheos with him, and then I’ll be going back with you.
”

“Thank the Maker for that, Nay. Really. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too, Quinn,” Linnea said, putting an arm around her and squeezing her shoulder. “I love you – even if your baby hates me.”

Quinn shrugged. “Nobody can h
ate you forever, Nay. You won’t let them.”

“That’s true.” She bent down and kissed the top of the baby’s head. “You’re not going to have a choice but to
love
your Auntie Linnea, little man. You’re stuck with me, too.”

“Zander!” Owen called from the bench below them. “Up here!”

Zander, Ben, William, Mia, and Thomas had all just arrived at the field, after going upstairs and getting changed for the game.

It was still j
ust so weird to see Zander here; she wondered whether their tenuous peace would hold.

He was smiling as he climbed up into the bleachers to sit by Owen, though, which was a good sign. She had meant what she’d said earlier – there was no part of her that wanted to fight with him. She’d always cared about him, even when she’d broken up with him, and now that he had saved William’s life, and brought Owen to her – she would hate it if he was miserable and angry the whole time he was here.

“What do you think?” Zander asked, holding his arms out to display one of Ben’s green-and-white-striped crumple shirts. “Do I look like I belong here yet?”

“Next thing you know, you’ll be eating
our vegetables – and liking them,” Linnea teased.

He rolled his eyes, turning his attention to Linnea.
“I wouldn’t go that far. Are you playing too?” he asked her, sounding a little surprised.

She was just finishing pulling her long, dark brown hair into a ponytail. Her eyes narrowed at his tone. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t knock you into the ground at crumple.”

“Oh?” Zander’s eyes twinkled at the challenge. “It’s hardly fair when you have a husband who would slice open my throat if I touched you.”

Linnea shrugged as she stood. “I never said I’d play fair.”

“Girls,” Zander said, shaking his head.

“I know, right? Always one step ahead of us, no matter how hard we try.” Thomas had his hand on Mia’s shoulder as he spoke. It made Quinn happy to see that. Maybe things were looking up between the two of them.
She wondered if they’d talked.

A moment later, though, one of the babies started crying, an
d Mia ducked away from him to see if she could help. It was a normal enough thing, but the look on Thomas’ face as he watched her go told Quinn that no, they hadn’t talked, and that things weren’t going so well.

And considering what Owen had just told her about Mia…this was getting complicated.

“Are you going to play, too, Quinn?” Zander asked, taking Linnea’s place on one side of her as Linnea climbed down toward the field to help Ben and her other brothers finish setting up the goals. William took the seat on the other side of her.

“Hopefully I’ll get to take a few turns as an alternate, if this little guy will let me.”

“You’re playing, right, William?” Zander asked.

“I wish I was. My ordeal with this isn’t over yet, though,” he said, tapping gingerly on the bandage wrapped around his
arm. “This is killing me today; I don’t think I could throw a ball if I tried. And I have to be careful with it anyway. There’s at least one of the bite marks that needs stitches when Nathaniel gets back. If I get tackled, I’m going to make it bleed everywhere.”

“Where is Doctor Rose, anyway?” Zander asked.

“He went to stay for a couple of nights at a clinic in a village a few hours from here,” William answered. “He’s getting married in a couple of moons and his fiancée lives in the village. He’s been helping her get her farm ready to sell. He was going to come back later today, but I sent him a message last night about you bringing the medicine, and now he’s going to take another day or two.”

“Doctor Rose … finally getting married. That would shock some people at home.”

“Not nearly as much as they’d be shocked to find out about me and William.” Quinn said.

“That’s true.” Zander actually chuckled.

The baby had finished, and she lifted him up to her shoulder to burp him.

“So this is him,” Zander said. “Your … son.”

“This is him.” She turned him so that he was facing Zander.

“He really doesn’t have a name yet?”

“Not officially. We’re going to name him after my father, though – my real father, who died when I was little. Samuel.”

“Samuel Owen!” Owen piped up. The look of pride on his face sent shivers through Quinn’s body, and she had to blink a few times.

“Wow. I never… Wow, Quinn. He’s beautiful.”

“Thank you. I kind of think so.”

At that moment, the baby let out an enormous belch.

“And a real prince already, I see,” Zander teased, as they all laughed.

“I’m going to go and find Alice, okay?” Owen asked. Stephen and Charlotte had just arrived with the rest of the younger children.

“Of course,” Quinn answered
.

They all watched Owen run down the bleachers to join them. Although, in theory, they were preparing for a game of crumple, everyone was kind of milling around, chatting more than anything.
Two large tables had been set up along the side of the field, and they were covered with food – bread and toppings for sandwiches, many different kinds of fruit, and fixings for salad.

“
Is this what you usually do in a castle?” Zander wondered.

“Sort of,” Quinn said. “Today is Sixth Day – the first day of what we would think of as the weekend, so it’s a bit more relaxed.
Almost all of the servants are off either today or tomorrow, or both, so there’s not a lot of hot food. The family usually tries to spend more time together. And the weather’s really nice. We’ve had a lot of days where there’s either been rain or snow, or the ground’s been too wet to play, so we’ve kind of missed crumple. Or they have. I don’t think I’ve played since before I got pregnant.”

William put his hand on her knee.
“You really want to play, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I kind of do.”

“You’re sure you’re up for it?”

“
I had a baby, Will, not a traumatic injury.”

“Sorry, I was just asking.”

She put her hand over his. “You do take good care of me. Sorry if I’m ungrateful about it sometimes.”

Zander coughed and stared intently down at the field.
“They look like they might finally be getting ready to start.”

Quinn followed his
gaze. William’s two oldest brothers, Maxwell and Simon were standing on the sidelines, trying to gather up teams.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Zander said.
“But I’m going to go figure it out.”

“Let me hold Samuel,” William said, as Quinn watched Zander walk away.

She looked at him in surprise. “It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet.”

“I know, but it’s been more than half that, and I figure it’s time for me to compromise a little, too. Besides, I miss him. I need some father-son time. If I don’t stop being an idiot, he’s going to forget how much he likes to snuggle with me, and then he’ll cry like he does when Linnea holds him.”