Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) (12 page)

As the lords took their seats, Eden was put
on edge again by the fact didn’t know where he was meant to sit. As
the lords took their traditionally-designated seats, only he and
Rowan were left standing. They were the only ones there who had
never attended such a meeting before.

“Our apologies, both,” Vance called out. “I
forgot that I don’t have my chamberlain here to direct you, and
neither of you have been here before. Rowan, your father usually
sits over there.” Vance pointed to a seat between Venn and Obrenn.
Rowan gratefully rushed to his chair so that he was back the same
level as his peers. Vance pointing to a seat in his right hand
side, and Eden coloured when he realised that that was where he was
meant to sit. “Eden, you sit here. Any man who saves the throne
deserves a seat of honour.”

A demure ripple of applause broke out, and
Eden was glad for the cover as he took his seat. The perfect
excuse—the hero of the day sitting at the right hand side of the
king. He didn’t feel like a hero, and he doubted that he ever
would. He hadn’t been trying to save the king, he been trying to
save Quinn from Sammah. Vance just happened to be a beneficiary of
that.

As Eden sat, the applause died out, and
Vance took that signal to declare the meeting started. He took what
look like a large wooden pommel in his hand, and slammed it down on
the table three times. Eden hadn’t been expecting it to make such a
loud noise, but the wooden pommel against the solid stone
reverberated around the chamber. To his horror, Eden jumped out of
his skin. Rowan jumped too, and the lords all had a little laugh at
their expense. Let them, Eden didn’t mind. He wasn’t the ruling
Lord of Sevenspells in this room, and Rowan was making himself look
bad, too. The main scrutiny was on his brother; Eden didn’t
consider that to be a bad thing at all.

“
I
don
’t need to go into great detail as to why were seated
here today. The Sha’sek emissary,
Baron
Sammah
, is currently stewing in one of my gaols. The Lord
Shiver of Sevenspells has now joined him. I hope no one else here
is considering high treason, because I don’t have any luxurious
cells left.” A nervous wave of laughter came in response to those
words, though Eden read the truth behind that thinly-veiled threat.
Of course Vance feared for his throne, and it made sense that more
lords would be in alliance with Shiver. For Vance, it was now just
a matter of finding out who they were.

Eden suddenly realised Vance shouldn’t have
sent Quinn away; she would have been so useful in this meeting.
But, Vance didn’t like the gifted of Sha’sek, and he would been
hypocritical if he’d taken advantage of her abilities and yet
sentenced Sammah for the same actions.

“So, we need to examine why the baron Sammah
felt compelled bring our people back to the brink of war, and
perhaps more importantly, why one of our own lords felt it
necessary to move in alliance with a Sha’
sekian
baron. Any questions?
”

Obrenn spoke up. “You sent away the Sha’sek
girl—Sammah’s daughter—the one who was helping him. Surely she was
your most important witness? Why did you do that?”

“She isn’t needed. Sammah has already
confessed to his crimes, therefore no witnesses are necessary. What
we have to assess, is
why
he wanted to commit those crimes,
not what crimes he committed. High treason has already been
confirmed, I just need to know who else helped him, and why.
That
is also the reason I decided to take Lord Shiver into
my custody.”

“Surely though this girl can just tell us
who he’s allied with? Can’t she read minds?”

“No.” Eden surprised himself by speaking out
of turn, and now he had the scrutiny of all of the eyes in the room
on him. “No,” he repeated more calmly. “She can’t read minds, she
can only sense emotions. And she only did what Sammah told her to
do. He didn’t let her meet anyone important, and he didn’t let
anyone of worth know who she was. I’m sure that included my
father.” Eden added as an afterthought. He thought he caught the
slightest glimpse of a nod from his brother. Approval, there, which
was good. A defence of both Quinn, his father, and the king, all in
one go. Not a bad start, even if he hadn’t meant to meant make a
start at all.

“As Captain Eden says,” Vance began, “the
empath known as Quinn, who was Shiver’s
adoptive
daughter, and employed here as a maid, was
not able to read people’s minds, and I’m grateful for it. She was
under blackmail by her father, and while she was guilty of some
crimes, treason was not one of them. She, along with Eden, worked
to root out Sammah’s evil, and expose it to the rest of us. I
couldn’t, therefore, put her on the execution block along with him.
But, she was too dangerous to leave here, and not just to me, but
to all of us. She’s already been used by one noble against me, and
I can’t trust that it wouldn’t happen again. She is better off with
her own kind.”

“She’s more dangerous with her own kind
isn’t she? It was an empath that started the last war.” This was
Rowan, and Eden didn’t doubt that he’d echoed words that had likely
come from their father’s mouth.

“If I thought she was a danger to me
directly, I wouldn’t have let her go, I would have had her killed.”
Eden didn’t believe that Vance would have had the gall, but it
sounded like something he
had
to say. “She saved my life;
she is loyal to Everfell. She did what she did before, because she
knew no better; she was a child, and she had no control. I’ve given
her that control, and I’ve spared her life. I expect her to be
grateful for that and remember my gesture. I do not expect her to
come back here in the future bearing arms and leading a war.”

“Your actions are honourable, my liege, but
what if she does come back here at the head of an army?” Calvin
asked, his tone nasal and condescending
.

“The empath
Nerren
was a warmonger,”
Eden declared, “Quinn is not.”

“I remember seeing her in court when that
mercenary was convicted,” Calvin replied. “She was frightened; a
timid thing. She grew up in Everfell amongst our kind. She
won’
t bring war to our doorstep. If
anyone
would, it’s the baron Sammah in his actions against
our king.” Lord Calvin’
s words echoed
Eden
’s own thoughts, and he glad that at least one of the
lord would be, if not on his side, then at least in the same way of
thinking.

“Indeed, thank you for your thoughts.” Vance
acknowledged the lord of Port Kahnel. “The matter of the empath is
not why we’re here. We’re here to talk about her father and Shiver.
But, if all you have something to get off your chest in regards to
this matter, now is the time to do it. I won’t have this meeting
constantly interrupted by side stories and fairy tales. Her legend
is dead; she is not. There is no one else like her left in the
city, because my healer has left with her. Does anyone have any
other questions or problems with the way I have dealt with my
subjects?”

Silence met this, and Eden whispered thanks.
He wouldn’t have been able to bear it if the entire meeting had
centred around Quinn and her fate. He was glad that Vance had had
the sense to spare Quinn from the block, but she’d carry the burden
of her father’s actions for entire life, as well as the stigma of
her ancestry.

“So, onto the Sha’sek themselves, now the
orphans are out of the way of the conversation. I’ve already sent
messengers to Lynton asking for a new emissary, but I don’t know if
we’ll get one. We may get a message that this may have been the
start of actions at war gentleman, and I need to know that you have
the men and the resources to come to Everfell’s aid if needed.”

All of the lords bellowed in support of the
king, and Rowan’s voice was the loudest amongst them.

Vance let the mob rule, leaving the lords to
roar out their allegiances to him. Eventually, when the noise was
too much for even him to bear, he waved them down and got to his
feet.

“These are good words to hear, from
Sevenspells especially, Lord Rowan. We couldn’t do without your
men. Or women,” he added to a smattering of laughter. Sevenspells
was the only land that still allowed its women to fight, and had
therefore been the most capable when the Sha’sekians—their own
women wielding weapons and screaming ferociously—had stormed the
Everfell lines. Again and again, Shiver had reminded everyone of
this, trying to point out how futile is was to hold back decent
fighters just because of what was between their legs. Rowan would
likely pick up that mantle as well.

“Now, hear me. I don’t want this to come to
war, but it might. I need every one of you to prepare for the
worst. Call musters; get all of your able-bodied soldiers ready.
All of your noble houses and guilds eligible to provide you with
men-at-arms need to submit them. Make your cities ready for siege,
especially those on the coast. Lord Calvin—make sure Port Kahnel’s
fleet is out and scouting our shores. Whether war is declared or
not, I will be sending Everfell reinforcements to our vulnerable
borders. My own men will be ready to go as and where needed. The
city of Everfell is the last place they’ll come if they invade, so
we need to be ready to defend where we are most needed. We can
learn from the mistakes we learned last time. This time, there will
be no limp declaration of peace.

“I’m not withdrawing my cousin from Sha’sek.
It’s imperative we ask the council to hold a similar meeting, so we
can gauge whether or not they were invested in Sammah’s plans. I
have received a pigeon from Lynton already; he is not in any
danger. The council is aware of what has happened to Sammah in
Everfell, and Lynton advises that we mustn’t overreact. We have to
keep our movements hidden until we know what Sha’sekian intentions
are.”

“Have you asked the baron yet? Would he
admit to any plans, if they intended to invade?”

“There’s been no confession of that, but I
doubt Sammah would tell us, even if we placed him under hot irons.
The man’s been here since the end of the war, and I trusted him
almost with my life. That trust almost cost us everything, and I’m
not making that mistake again. Torturing the man would almost
certainly bring about war, So if the baron isn’t going to volunteer
the information, I can’t force it out of him.”

“What about Shiver? You can force it out of
him.”

Eden stood involuntarily at this, anger
coursing through his chest. His brother did the same, and Vance
waved them both back down to their seats.

“No, Erran! I will not lay weapons on my
lords. I can do what is necessary, if it comes to the noose or the
executioner
’s block, but in Shiver’s
case, I can’t see it getting that far. We all know what foul means
Sammah used to get what he wanted. Shiver will give me the
information, because treasonous or not, he is an honourable
man.”

Erran snorted. “If your highness doesn’t
want to befoul himself with
Lord
Shiver’s blood, then I
humbly volunteer. If he was an honourable man, he wouldn’t stand
accused of treason. I personally believe that he gave up all rights
to lands and titles the second he allied with a Sha’sekian Baron,
and yet two of his heirs are sitting at this very table. And one of
them is the captain of his city guard—capable of ordering his men
to strike at the heart of Everfell. You need to deal with these
threats, your highness!”

“You’re out of line, Erran! Take your seat
and shut your mouth. Rowan is here because he is loyal, and not a
suspect, and he is the regent to Sevenspells whilst his father
takes my hospitality. Rowan knows who his king is. Eden is here
because he saved my life. I don’t think all of the men of
Sevenspells follow in the footsteps of their lord and father. Are
you yet again openly doubting my judgement? Perhaps you are more in
league with Shiver than they are, seeing as you’re so eager to
point out how I can’t perform my royal duties?”

Erran’s cheeks, which had become flushed
with anger, paled. At Vance’s threat, he shrank back in his seat.
He had managed to talk himself into a very dangerous corner, and
could easily be accused of treason, there and then. Erran might not
have the largest of the lands of the men around the table, but he
valued them, and his neck. “I didn’t mean that at all, your
highness, I am just concerned for your safety. You need to surround
yourself with allies and friends, not your enemies.”

“I’m not sure how the saying goes, but thank
you for your opinion. It is duly noted.”

It sounded like a dismissal, and perhaps it
was, but Erran couldn’t leave until the meeting was done. Eden
doubted they’d hear from his sour mouth again for the rest of the
day. “Despite all of the wind coming from Erran’s throat, he does
make a measure of sense. Yes, I need to ensure I only have allies
in this court. But, given the events of the past few days, how can
I know which of you are loyal, and which are not? I always knew
that Shiver coveted this throne. I’ve always treated him carefully,
and he’s never been in my close confidence; you all know that. When
his son succeeds him, which will happen one day, whether Shiver
rots in my gaols or not, Rowan won’t be high in my favours, either.
No offence, my lord, but you are more like your father than your
brothers, and I know you have a taste for war just as much as he. I
hope to use this in the coming months, if it comes to it, but
you’ll never sit at my right hand.”

The phrasing wasn’t lost on anyone there as
they turned to Eden. Vance followed their gaze and continued, “Yes,
my right hand. I have need of a new chamberlain.”

“What? Where’s Ross?”

Calvin had spat the name, convincing Eden
that the lord coveted that position for his own household. Port
Kahnel was affluent, though it was a miserable place. Perhaps
Calvin was trying to secure a good place at court for a brother or
cousin.