Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) (30 page)

Quinn was avoiding thinking about the
future, and she knew it. Eden had so far dodged conversations about
what had been going on in the court prior to his leaving for
Sha’sek and Quinn was fearful that matches were being made to forge
new alliances across the provinces. Quinn swallowed. She had to
keep being honest, and keep facing the difficult truths. “He’ll be
married off to a woman of appropriate political standing.”

“And you’re not that?”

Quinn laughed, a bitter noise that brought
Eden’s attention. She waved at him, and he continued weaving with
his sword, trying to match his movements to the swaying of the
ship. “No. An exiled empath from a backwater town and of uncertain
Sha’sekian origins, is no match for a noble from the house of
Sevenspells.”

“Does Eden have a say in this, do you
think?”

“I’ve met his father. I doubt it.”

“Is this the same father who is in the gaols
awaiting trial?”

“
He was. If
Sammah
’s escaped, then I’ve got no idea what’s happened to
Shiver.”

“King Vance wouldn’t let him free, would
he?”

“No, but Shiver was allied with Sammah. If
one has escaped, then the other could have escaped as well.”

“How do you both feel about that?”

Quinn hadn’t asked Eden how he felt about
his father’s allegiances; he hadn’t asked her about how she felt
about Sammah. They had both been silent about most things to each
other. Their reunion had been almost inevitable. Since then, they
just seemed to be silently going through the motions. What were
they both avoiding?

“Very good, Eden. You might even be good
enough to fight in a Sha’sekian formation one day.”

Eden lowered his sword and laughed. His skin
was dampened with a sheen of sweat and sea spray. Quinn couldn’t
take her eyes off him. On the horizon, a thick fog was forming. Sea
birds had abandoned the ship. No one had noticed, yet. “
I don
’t think my father would take that very well.
Still, I take the compliment.”

“You think that was praise?”

Eden grinned. “It certainly didn’t sound
like criticism.”

“Time for a change. Quinn, take up your
sword. Let’s see what you remember of these basic drills.”

“Me? Against him?”

“You don’t see anyone else around here, do
you?”

Quinn tried to stop her hand from shaking as
she picked up the training sword Tarik proffered. She wasn’t a
fighter; she had barely started learning. And Tarik wanted her to
spar with Eden?

“Come on, Quinn?” Eden swung his sword
around in a loose circle. “I’ll go easy on you.”

He was teasing her, trying to be playful,
but his sarcastic works sparked a fire that Quinn couldn’t
suppress. She gripped the hilt tighter. Of all the men in her life,
she knew that he would not want to hurt her. But there was
something about the way he’d said it—that he’d go easy on her—that
made her want to show him that she didn’t need his
condescension
.

“Okay,
my
lord
.
”
Quinn sketched him a
mocking bow. “You’re well versed at slow drills. You didn’t tell
Tarik that, did you?”

Quinn looked over her shoulder and Tarik
shrugged, “I’m not surprised by his form. There are many traveling
fighters. I’ll probably have heard of him.”

“Under?”

Tarik grinned. “Maybe I’ll spar with him
next.”

Quinn and Eden started circling each other.
She paid attention to his feet and his torso, like Tarik had taught
her. The movements of the body would tell you, if you paid
attention, where the sword would be swinging next. The drills were
deliberately slow so that you had to keep your attention constant.
Quinn found herself absorbed in the dance. Despite their past, she
had never concentrated on Eden’s body so closely, and it was a
fascinating study. He moved with precision, and she found herself
sweating to make sure she kept her own dance in time to keep his
sword away from her body.

She managed to get through a full set of
drills with Eden only landing four blows on her. Quinn was proud of
this, and she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. Eden was
infected, and smiled by return. “You’re actually quite good!”

“Actually? You were surprised?”

“
I don
’t get to
spar against many women; I don’t have a basis for comparison.”

“Then why don’t you compare me to the boys
you spar against?”

“That would be unfair; the men I usually
train with have done this for years.”

“I said
boys
.”

Eden laughed.
“You’d beat the hides of all the boys. You’d be training with our
men soon enough. You’re a good teacher, Tarik.”

The master was looking at them both keenly,
and the cry of the captain rolled out over deck. “Fog’s rolling in!
The Sighs want another piece of us. Tie down and get yourselves
below deck!”

Quinn turned as Tarik moved towards Eden.
She anticipated too late what was happening. Ross, too, was moving
across the deck with long and purposeful strides, but he’d get to
them all too late. None of the men on the ship were close enough to
stop Tarik from raising his sword and engaging with Eden. It might
have only been a test blade, but in hands as skilled as Tarik’s,
Eden was in danger. The lord knew it, and Eden cried out as he
started moving backwards, his feet slipping on the sheen of the
decking. Tarik raised his blade and struck again and again, lost
within his abilities as the power of the Sighs took hold.

Quinn screamed out, wanting to stop them,
but not wanting to lose her grip on her own powers. She was furious
at Tarik and petrified for Eden, but the blademaster wasn’t
responsible for this. Quinn couldn’t use her power on him—couldn’t
kill him—just because he was a victim to the obscene power of the
Sighs.

“Stop! Both of you, stop!”

The thick accent of the captain rose out
over the clatter of the blade-play, but neither men paid him any
heed. Ross reached them, and skittered around as the men danced
around either other, Tarik looking for a killing blow and Eden
desperately and barely holding him at bay.

“Hold! Both of you, hold!”

Ross was ignored, too. “Help me!” Eden cried
desperately, as one of Tarik’s blows caused his blade to crack.
Splinters flew into his face and he dropped, covering his eyes
involuntarily with his arm as he struggled to see. Tarik saw his
opening, and started sweeping the blunt wooden sword around in an
arc that would bring it sickeningly against Eden’s skull. Quinn saw
all this in her mind, and, as the fog of the Sighs now wrapped
around her, she screamed at Tarik. The noise was a bestial cry of
fear and fury, and all the men around her covered their ears and
dropped to their knees. Tarik released his sword mid-swing, and it
went flying across the deck without hitting anyone.

Quinn didn’t have control any more, either.
Tarik was the only man in her way. All she knew, was that she
didn’t want Tarik to hurt Eden. It wasn’t the same as the
mercenary; there was no malice here. Tarik had been lost in the
grip of his own madness, and that,
perhaps
, saved his life.

Quinn’s scream stopped, but the channel of
power that she’d released did not cease. She was pushing Tarik
back; forcing him to the ground and preventing him from bearing
arms against Eden. The men that had initially been shocked prone
were starting to rise, but Tarik was sinking lower, hands over his
ears and eyes squeezed shut. His nose was bleeding, and his own
yell was rising to match the noise Quinn had made. Eden looked up
at Quinn, still dazed from the onslaught he’d faced.

Ross recovered quicker than everyone else
around him. “Quinn… Quinn! You need to snap out of this.
Quinn?”

Quinn heard him, but as if from a distance,
as if the thick fog of the Sighs were a barrier blocking noise. She
had an inextricable link to Tarik now, and like before, she didn’t
know how to stop the flow of power.

“Help me.” Quinn squeezed out the words as
the edges of her vision started turning black.

Ross heard her. Without thinking, he slapped
her backhanded across her cheek. Hard.

Quinn reeled back, but the link to Tarik was
still there. It wasn’t enough. Ross was going to have to knock her
out.

“Again.”

Ross shook his head, horror already
registering on his face at what he’
d
done.

“Again!”

This time, without realising, Quinn had
screamed. The sailors that were panicking around them had stepped
back, and Eden vomited. Ross hesitated, and Quinn screamed it
again. This time, her throat tore, and Tarik’s own screams started
reaching shrill heights. Ross glanced at the blademaster again, and
this time he didn’t hesitate. He pulled back his arm, and fist
tight, he hit Quinn square in the jaw. Quinn felt a blissful
release as her link to Tarik dropped, before pain bloomed in her
face, and she fell to the deck, finally unconscious.

“How are you
feeling?”

Quinn groaned, not wanting to open her eyes
as she rolled her jaw around. She knew without touching it that it
was swollen. She tongued her teeth, and recoiled as she felt yet
more pain. There was at least one loose. She hadn’t deserved it,
but she’d asked for it. She didn’t hold it against Ross.

“Like I’ve been knocked out by a war
veteran.”

“You’ve been out for almost a day.”

Quinn didn’t feel like it. Her head was
thick, and not just because of the blow from Ross. The last time
this had happened, she’d needed Maertn’s healing. It was
miraculous, she knew, that she was even awake. What did that mean
for her empathic abilities now? Was it like the time she had left
the Beach of Bones? Did she have full control now, over the control
of others? Her mind shot to Tarik, and she went cold. “Tarik—how is
he?”

Quinn opened her eyes and met Eden’s gaze.
He was propped up on an elbow beside her, his head resting in his
hand. Light poked in through the porthole window, and Quinn was
relieved to see clear skies. They were through the Sea of Sighs,
but had there been a sacrifice this time?

“He’s sleeping. He hasn’t woken up yet.”

Quinn closed her eyes again. Sleeping wasn’t
dead. She hadn’t killed him. “Will he live?”

“
We don
’t know. We
don’t have a skilled healer on board. We’re going to send messages
back to the islands and ask for someone to be sent over. Tarik will
stay in
Port Kahnel
when we land. What
did you do to him, Quinn?”

“He was going to kill you, Eden.”

“I know that. I don’t understand it. I’ve
heard about what the Sea of Sighs can do. I thought it was all
tales to scare small children, especially after I made the first
crossing myself without a problem. And so many Everfell men have
crossed before without anything happening.”

“That’s because Everfell men aren’t born
with gifts, Eden.”

“That’s what I’ve been told. So, it’s true?
The Sighs made Tarik lose control of his ability? Like you lost
control of yours?”

“That’s not entirely what happens,
Eden.”

“It seemed pretty clear to me from where I
was standing.”

“It’s a little more complicated than
that.”

Pain lanced through Quinn’s jaw up to her
temple, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She felt Eden’s hand gently
stroke her other jaw, and she leaned into that touch. “You don’t
have to tell me anything yet. You need to rest more, Quinn. We’ll
be in
Port Kahnel
by the end of tomorrow.
You should spend it down here, sleeping. It’s not going to get any
easier when we get to Everfell.”

“You need to know, Eden. Before we go any
further, you need to know what the Sighs can do.”

“Why?”

“Because it changes me. And that’s important
for us.”

“Here. Drink this before you tell me
anything else.”

He reached behind him, and handed her a cold
noxious mug. She sniffed it and handed it back. “Have you been
taking lessons from Maertn, too?”

“Ross made it, and said you’d need it. He
says he’s sorry.”

Eden handed her the drink back, and Quinn
took it. She drank half the mug, but retched before she could drink
more. She swallowed and made a face. “He doesn’t need to apologise
I asked him to do it.”

“We all heard. The crew are all petrified of
you, by the way. And Tarik. He’s been locked in his cabin, in case
he wakes up again. No one is willing to risk themselves against an
insane blademaster.”

“Except for you?”

“I wasn’t exactly given a choice in the
matter.”

Quinn finished off the mug and handed it
back to Eden. She felt lightheaded, and was reasonably sure that,
on top of the usual disgusting herbs, that Maertn laced water with
to kill pain, Ross had also just got her drunk.

“I’m sorry you had to experience that, Eden.
You shouldn’t be involved in any of this.”

“Hear, don’t talk like that, Quinn. I
wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else.”

“Choose? You think any of us have a choice
in this?”

She felt tears spring to her eyes and she
dashed them away, ashamed. Eden stroked her cheek again.
“You’
re an empath, Quinn. You
’re not from
Everfell, I know that. Do you think I care? I love you. That’s all
that matters.”

“It doesn’
t matter at
all
how much you love me, or how much I love you. We can
never be together, Eden. You do realise that, don’t you?”

“I will make sure we’re together. I don’t
want anyone else,
Quinn. I won
’t let them
marry me off. I know that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You’re worried about it, too. I know you
are. They’ve been talking about a wife for you, haven’t they?”