Seeds of Discovery (12 page)

“She is, isn’t she?” Thomas said, looking down at her. “Quite lovely in that dress, don’t you think, William?”

William glanced across the table at Thomas, looking more irritated than anything. “Very much so,” he answered before returning his attention to his plate.

Emma looked back and forth between Thomas and Quinn. “I’m going to marry Thomas when I grow up,” she announced.

Quinn smiled, “Sounds like a good plan.”

“But you can marry him for now, if you want.”

The table erupted in laughter as Quinn flushed bright scarlet.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Miss Emma,” Thomas chortled.

After the plates had been cleared, Thomas stood and extended his hand to Quinn. “Shall we?” he asked.

Quinn looked at him questioningly, “Where are we going?”

“It’s time for the dancing!” Linnea told her, pulling her up and handing her over to Thomas.

Quinn’s heart rat accelerated. “Dancing? I don’t dance.”

“Everybody dances,” Linnea exclaimed, following along as Thomas pulled Quinn from the room.

The idea of dancing, here in a castle, with Thomas and William watching was a thousand times more nerve-wracking than the thought of dancing with Zander at the Valentine dance in Bristlecone.

She’d known Zander her whole life; she knew he was telling the truth when he said he couldn’t dance either and that dancing with him would involve little more than swaying in time to the music and chatting with friends.  

She was quite certain that ballroom dancing with princes and princesses would entail a bit more than that. The thought of Zander and the Valentine dance sent an unfamiliar throb of emotion through her chest, and she was suddenly glad that she would be home before she was missed by anyone.

Quinn followed Thomas and Linnea into an enormous ballroom. It was beautiful, lit by soft light coming from a crystal chandelier in the center of the high ceiling and hundreds of tiny, twinkling candles everywhere. Small tables dotted the edges of the room, subdued light emanating from even more candles in their centers. Several sets of large, glass double doors were open to the evening air at one end of the room. In a far corner, a group of musicians had begun to play a lively tune. Quinn couldn’t identify all of the instruments.

“I suppose this is just a typical evening for you?” she questioned Linnea. She wondered if she were going to spend the next ten days having to dress up every night like this, and another little thrill of fear ran through her as she thought again about being stuck here for that long.

“No, actually, this is quite formal for us.” Linnea smiled. “The baby’s Naming Ceremony is the day after tomorrow, which is kind of a big deal for us. Our extended family members and many other guests have been traveling in from all over the place. We do like to entertain when we have guests.”

The conversation was interrupted then, by the approach of another girl. She was older than Quinn was by a couple of years. Quinn was so instantly reminded of William that she immediately had no doubt that this must be another of the Rose siblings. Linnea had told her earlier today that there were thirteen altogether, counting the newest baby.  The girl’s long, dark hair fell in a straight curtain down her back; the sides were pinned up by delicate silver combs. The violet accents on her long, lavender gown matched Linnea’s.

“Rebecca!” Linnea called out. “Come and meet Quinn!”

Rebecca smiled warmly at her, her gray eyes twinkling with the same kind of friendliness Thomas and Linnea had extended toward her. “Hello, Quinn … you’re William’s friend, aren’t you?”

“Uh... yes.” Quinn wasn’t sure how to elaborate.

“Well, it’s nice meeting you. I’m Rebecca. Where is William anyway?”

Quinn looked around, searching the unfamiliar faces in the room; she had no idea when William had disappeared again. “It’s nice to meet you too, Rebecca,” she replied politely.

“Has my little brother been behaving around you?” Rebecca asked, raising her eyebrows toward Thomas.

“Of course I have! Have you no faith in me, dear sister?” Thomas interrupted.

Rebecca directed a teasing grin at Thomas before she turned to Linnea, a darker expression on her face. “Did you see that Tolliver’s just arrived?”

Quinn saw Linnea’s eyes widen. “No, where is he?”

“Over there,” Rebecca gestured, “talking to Gavin, already.”

Quinn followed Linnea’s gaze to the side of the room, where two men stood talking. One of them was dressed only in a formal-looking suit, but the other, the shorter one, wore a flowing green cape in the same style as the princes were wearing, though the shimmer at his neck was gold, not silver. A thin gold circle sat atop his head.

“Which one is Tolliver?” Quinn wondered. The name had sounded significant when Rebecca had spoken.

“The one in the crown,” Linnea
answered,
an odd expression in her eyes. “Awfully confident he’ll be next on that throne, isn’t he? Already wearing that around.”

“Have you ever known Tolliver to be anything but confident?” William had suddenly returned from wherever he’d gone, coming from behind Quinn.

“I suppose not,” Linnea sighed.

“Sometimes a sense of humor gets you further than confidence, though, doesn’t it darling?” Another man had walked up behind Rebecca, putting his arms around her waist. Rebecca smiled and turned, planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Quinn, this is Howard, Rebecca’s husband. Howard, this is Quinn, a friend of William’s.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Quinn,” Howard smiled warmly, his green eyes twinkling in the candlelight.

“Nice to meet you, too … Howard,” Quinn replied, still a bit awkward in this formal setting.

“Will the rest of you excuse me while I take my lovely bride for a turn on the dance floor?” Howard asked.

“Of course,” Linnea returned his grin, and they watched as Rebecca and Howard walked hand-in-hand to the dance floor. He held her close, one arm around her waist, and the other hand holding hers. In the few, short moments that Quinn watched them, she saw Howard lean in to kiss Rebecca three different times; Rebecca’s pink, flushed cheeks were visible from where Quinn was standing.

“Dance with me, William?” Linnea then asked, taking her brother by the hand and leading him over toward the band. Quinn watched in awe as the usually-reserved William twirled his sister effortlessly across the floor, both of them smiling and laughing.

“Shall we?” Thomas asked from
beside
her, holding out his hand.

“What, and fall flat on my face in these heels?”

“You won’t fall. Not with me leading,” as he spoke, he took her arm and led her toward the dancing, giving her no choice but to follow.

Quinn was still nervous, but Thomas was right; she wasn’t going to fall with him leading her. His arms were strong and sure; she only had to allow herself to follow him, and suddenly she was dancing! It wasn’t the elaborate sweeping and twirling that she saw the other couples around the floor doing, but it was certainly more than she’d thought possible. She actually found herself smiling. Thomas grinned in return.

When the song ended, Linnea found her, “Having fun yet, Quinn?”

“Surprisingly, yes.”

A new song
started,
this one with a much faster tempo. Linnea grinned excitedly, “Come on, Quinn; time to learn how to dance Eirentheos-style!”

William and Thomas followed as Linnea led Quinn to a spot near the center of the dance floor, and she soon found herself trying to follow them along in some kind of complicated group dance. It reminded Quinn of learning to square-dance in elementary school gym class as the four of them weaved around each other, and Quinn was passed back and forth between William and Thomas. She struggled to keep up with the siblings, but none of them seemed to mind; even William reached to steady
her a
couple of times, and to show her where to stand. By the end of the dance, all of them were flushed and laughing. Quinn was almost disappointed when the music changed to a mellower tune.

Linnea was just reaching to take Thomas’ arm for the next dance when a man’s voice interrupted them.

“Lady Linnea, how delightful it is to watch to you dancing out there. You put the rest of these poor girls to shame.” Quinn spun around to see that the words came from the man in the green cape - Tolliver, she thought they had said. “Would you grant me the honor of a dance with a lovely princess?”

Quinn watched as Linnea shot an undecipherable look at Thomas before answering, “Of course, my lord,” and allowing Tolliver to lead her away.

She was left standing there, in the middle of the dance floor, with Thomas and William. Noting Quinn’s sudden discomfort, Thomas ushered them quickly off to the side of the crowd.

“Who was that?” she wondered.

“Tolliver Bowden,” Thomas answered. “His father, Hector, is the prince regent of Philotheum.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

This time, it was William who smiled. “His father is the current ruler of a kingdom about two days’ travel from here.”

“But he’s not the king?” Quinn was puzzled.

“No. King Jonathan died many years ago, and the queen remarried. Tolliver is the firstborn son from Queen Sophia’s second marriage.”

“So Tolliver will be the next king?”

“He thinks he will,” Thomas jumped back in to the conversation, his eyebrows furrowed, and his expression dark. “It’s a little bit trickier than that, but he’s so certain it will happen that he’s wearing that heir’s crown.”

“Huh?”

“See, on his head? The small crown that’s just a ring?”

Quinn nodded.

“Those are worn by the next direct heir to the throne of a kingdom.”

“Okay.”

“Look over there,” Thomas said, pointing across the room.

Quinn followed his gesture. On the other side of the room was a tall, young-looking man. It was hard to tell exactly what he looked like from this distance, but he was dressed in the same cape as Thomas and William, but instead of a beret, she could see a thin, silver circle atop his head.

“That’s our oldest brother, Simon. He is the heir to our father’s throne, so he wears the heir’s crown of our kingdom.”

“Oh,” Quinn was interested in what she was learning, and she could tell by William and Thomas’ carefully-worded answers that there was more going on here than they were telling her. Further talk was clearly going to have to wait until later, though, because the dance had ended, and Linnea was walking toward them, with Tolliver.

“Evening, William, Thomas,” Tolliver greeted them. “Nice party.”

“Good evening, Tolliver, thank you,” William’s response was formal.

“No. Thank you, for allowing me the privilege of borrowing your enchanting sister.”

“Certainly, Tolliver. Our family appreciates your traveling so far to celebrate with us.”

“Of course. And who is your pretty, young ... companion?” Tolliver
asked,
his eyes on Quinn. He was smiling, but there was something in his expression that made Quinn uneasy. She felt Thomas bristle beside her.

“This is Quinn, a dear family friend,” Thomas answered him.

“Is she, indeed? Well, she’s looking charming on your arm tonight, Thomas. Dance with me again, Linnea?”

Quinn watched as Tolliver escorted Linnea back to the dance floor, a renewed sense of exactly how far outside of her own world she was running through her.

“Would you like a turn, William?” Thomas asked.

“At?” William’s look was quizzical.

“Dancing with Quinn, of course.”

“Oh, ah … certainly. Quinn?”

“Um, sure.” Quinn was flabbergasted by the difference in William’s behavior tonight. He had always been so distant, uninvolved in anything in Bristlecone. Last night, when she had first crossed the bridge and entered his world, he had been so... annoyed with her. This was something entirely new.

Dancing with William was different than dancing with Thomas. He was just as good at leading; his arms directed her body in all the right ways, sure and strong. Unlike Thomas, though, he would stop, showing Quinn how to do a particular step, or where to put her hands. By the time the song ended, Quinn was beginning to understand some of the moves.

The next song began, and Quinn’s eyes widened in familiarity. She looked up at William, and was surprised to see him grinning sheepishly at her.

“This is a song Will brought back from your world when he was younger,” Thomas said, coming up behind them and taking Quinn’s hand as the crowd thinned into a circle.

“Yeah, well, I liked the Hokey Pokey when I learned it at school,” William shrugged.

Quinn laughed. “Me too,” she said … “When I was younger. Now my little brother and sister love it.”

A moment later, they were joined by Linnea, with Emma and Alice in tow. Quinn noticed that Tolliver was not on the dance floor; she caught a glimpse of him far to the side of the room, accepting a glass of wine from one of the servants. For a moment, she was curious about this, but then she got lost in the music and laughter of dancing.