Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) (8 page)

“How many empaths have there been?”

“I have no idea, but I think it’s safe to
say that, when they’re discovered, they don’t get to stay
hidden.”

“
So it
’s likely
that I have empaths in my bloodline, but no one knows where I come
from. The last known empath was Nerren, and he caused the wars.
There could be others, but they are hidden. No one knows about
their abilities, and that can only be because they’
re hidden away.
”

“That’s about the short and long of it,
Quinn.”

Quinn shuffled out of her bedroll and sat
up, cross-legged. She stared into the fire. Her face was
unreadable. “
Well
, whether my father was
or wasn’t a maniac, it’s possible I still have family out there.
Like you say, empaths don’t really get to hide away, so all I need
to do is ask the right questions. I find out how many empaths there
have been recently in Sha’sek, and which islands they came from.
Someone, somewhere, will have information I can use to start
tracking down some truths.”

“You make it sound so simple. Aside from the
fact you don’t have a basic requirement to start asking complicated
questions—gold—in which part of that plan are you not going to
die?”

“I thought you said empaths were
valued?”

“
Valuable
, yes. That also means,
something that can be sold for a high price, not just someone who
is highly regarded. I know Sammah was coveting your power, and he
thinks you can be one of the strongest empaths who has ever
lived.

“You definitely can’t let anyone know that.
In fact, I’d play stupid with everything you know about your
powers. Quinn, you haven’t actually been taught anything, and I
don’t know how you’ve got as far as you have without a master, but
I’ve watched you grow up. Sammah was right. Someone more
experienced than me might recognise that.”

“But I can tell them the truth can’t I? I
wouldn’t be here without Maertn. He saved my life. I was already
halfway into the sea on the Beach of Bones before you brought me
back.”

Ross’s shocked eyes shot to Maertn, who
hunched over, trying to make himself look smaller. “You didn’t tell
me that.”

Maertn looked over to Quinn, shuddering at
the memory of that horrible afternoon. When Sammah had forced him
to heal Quinn, he had never expected to end up on the fabled Beach
of Bones, the crossing place between life and death. Quinn had
already been knee-deep in the sea, like she said, but unlike the
waters of their shores, the waters that lapped the Beach of Bones
ran red. If Quinn had fully submerged in those waters, she would
have been lost forever. Instead, with his abilities, Maertn had
been able to bring her back. It had been an exhausting experience
for both of them, and neither of them wanted to relive those
desperate moments when Maertn had saved her.

What seemed odd though, was that every time
Maertn healed her using his abilities, Quinn’s abilities became
stronger. No one could explain this, and so far he hadn’t been able
to find anything in Sammah’s books that reflected what they were
seeing.

“So, where do I need to start?”

“Honestly, I think the best way for you to
not get into trouble, is for us to go straight to Farn, and
Sammah’s own household. They know what he’s like, and you might
find some sympathy there. They probably knew that he was collecting
children with abilities, but they need to know the extent of his
collection. Perhaps they can give us some more advice on what to do
with you, too.”

“That’s not much of a plan, is it?”

Ross clucked disapprovingly. “It’s more than
you had before.”

Quinn already knew what
most emotions felt like. From painful experience, she knew that
lies drained the air of moisture, and left her thirsty and gasping
for water. When she had worked for Sammah, there had been more than
one time that she had passed out whilst listening to lies in
response to her questions. Anger was hot, and blood coursed through
her veins on behalf of those around her feeling that particular
passion.

What she had never done before however, was
dreamt emotions. Where her waking body felt emotions instinctively,
her sleeping mind saw emotion in colour. At first, everything was
black, a normal sleep of depth and rest. In time, however, the
blackness gave way to a mottled grey, as if the moon were rising
over the horizon, giving her sleeping world are deathly pall. It
didn’t really get any brighter than this, but the hues did begin to
change. Slowly the grey changed, turning into an insipid brown,
before giving way to a murky green that belonged only in the depths
of despair. When they reached this colour, the shades began to
intensify. As the colours grew sharper, a hum began to accompany
them. This grew in volume and pitch until it surrounded everything
Quinn could hear.

It was nauseating, she realised, trying to
take in all of that intense colour whilst trying to block out the
unbearable noise. As she realised she couldn’
t
do it,
she was shocked out of her dream that wasn’t a dream.
It was lucky she woke when she did, because the first thing she saw
was the flash of steel in moonlight.

“By the spirits! Eden
graces us with his presence! I never thought I’d see the day.”

Eden resisted the urge to slam the door, and
ignored his brother’s barbs. Rowan was standing in the middle of
the floor with his hands on his hips and an arrogant line to his
posture. River, on the other hand, looked petrified. The boy was
sitting in the corner, looking younger than Eden, and trying to
find anywhere for his gaze but his two brothers. Understandable,
under the circumstances, Eden was a guard captain and had saved the
king’s throne—Rowan was the acting Lord of Sevenspells. What room
was there for River? He might be second in line, but that was a
thankless position with an elder brother as ambitious as Rowan and
a younger brother as revered as Eden had become.

“I didn’t have to report my every move to
father. Is that going to change under your watch?”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, you
little upstart. Whilst you’ve been chasing around your maid, you
haven’t had a single clue what’s really been going on at court.
Baron Sammah is in revolt; our father was going to be pardoned, and
now he’s rotting in the gaol. This is the first time you come to
see me—your brother—
your
lord
?
What by everything good has been so pressing that you haven’t been
able to see your own kin at a time like this?”

“I’ve been attending the king, Rowan.
Remember him? The man our father tried to overthrow? There wouldn’t
be
a problem if he had kept his ambitions in check.”

“That’s enough, Eden! We’re his sons. It’s
not our place to question what our father does.”

Eden didn’t like the treacherous territory
he was pushing the conversation to, and decided to stop it before
he went too far. “We need to rally around him. In that, you’re
right. My apologies, it’s been an exhausting few days.”

Rowan sneered. “Did that monstrosity keep
you awake all night before leaving?”

Eden could deal with accusations when it
came to the company he kept, especially when that company was the
king of Everfell. Quinn, however, was not here to defend herself.
Eden stepped forward, his jaw set and his fist already pulled back
to swing a blow at his oldest brother. Rowan cocked his jaw. “Go
on, Eden, give me an excuse to have you exiled or executed. Strike
your lord and see what lenience you find in me.”

River found his feet then, throwing himself
between his brothers before Eden did something he wouldn’t be able
to regret for long.

“Stop this, both of you. They want us to
fight. Rowan, you might hate Eden but you need to put that to one
side for father.”

River’s reedy voice didn’t have much impact,
but it was enough to make Eden back down. Rowan spat on the floor,
ignoring the carpets and kicking at it with his heels.

“
I don
’t think I
do. All I see is our brother supposedly here gallivanting around
with castle staff and finding himself halfway up at the king’s
backside into the bargain. I’m not even sure his loyal to
Sevenspells anymore, and we can’t afford to have that kind of man
in our court right now.”

Eden squared up to his brother. “I’m as
loyal as either of you; perhaps even more so.”

“Is that right? Then why were you there when
the lies were bandied around about our father? Did you defend him
before he was dragged away to the gaol like a commoner?”

“
Are
they lies Rowan?”

Rowan paled. “How am I to know? I’ve been
thrown into this as suddenly as the rest of you.”

Eden let it settle there. He didn’t want to
get in a drawn-out war of words with his brother when their
situation was so fragile. Rowan wasn’t much older than him. He had
always followed Shiver, but never paid much attention to the people
around him. It was likely that he didn’t know much at all about the
entire situation at court. Even worse, with the circumstances in
Sevenspells so precarious, Rowan would likely be forced to
marry—River, too, in order to secure some heirs for Sevenspells,
and to link Sevenspells with lords like Obrenn or Erran, known to
be loyal to the king.

Eden continued the conversation the only way
he knew how, to avoid it becoming volatile again. “We all know this
was Sammah’
s doing
, anyway,
so let
’s not spend our time bickering. We are
brothers, no matter what we feel about each other, and I am loyal
to Sevenspells, no matter what you might hear around this accursed
place. We need to stick together. River is right—they will try to
pit us against each other, and they know where to hurt us.

“No, I was never going to marry Quinn, but
she was an ally and a strong one; we could have used her against
Sammah. Now Vance has exiled her. Don’t you find that odd? The only
person in this entire place who could have verified our father was
not at fault—that Sammah was the ringleader of this farce—a
dangerous empath, too, and he just let’s her go? I think our father
is being made a scapegoat, and we need to make sure that
doesn’
t happen. We can
’t do that with all
of us out of the king’s good graces. One of us needs to stay close
to Vance. That
was
our father.”

Jerking out of his haughty posture, Rowan
strode to the table and poured himself a glass of wine. Waiting for
a considered second, he poured two more for his brothers and handed
the glasses across. They stood together in a rough triangle briefly
assessing each other. Eden knew that Rowan was evaluating the
weight of his words, and the amount of trust his brother would have
in him would hinge on this moment. Rowan had to believe that Eden
was fully loyal to the Sevenspells cause, and that his need to keep
close to Vance was because he wanted to keep his eye on the king
for their father, not for his own personal gain.

“Just how much does the king trust you,
brother?” Rowan followed this question with a considered sip of the
red wine, letting the liquid linger. Rowan held the glass in front
of his face, obscuring most of his features. His eyes didn’t hide
his emotions, however, and Eden saw the conniving intent there.

Eden set his full glass to one side on the
stone sill and made sure he fully faced his brother before
responding, with a grin. “You’ve already said it. Everyone in this
castle already knows it—I stood up to Sammah and saved the throne.
I may well have saved the king’s life. Does you realise what kind
of stead that puts me in at court?”

“And who did you do that for? You didn’t
save Vance because our father asked you to.”

This was an easy answer, despite the fact
that Eden didn’t want it to be the truth. “I did it for myself. If
I hadn’t exposed Sammah when I did, I’d have been killed, and
likely father would be next under the baron’s blade. Sammah killed
his consort and we have no idea why. How many others did he kill
after he thought they might expose Quinn’s identity? He wouldn’t
have thought twice about executing me like he did Alec. Sammah
outright told me he would kill our father if it meant it would
better secure his future. So, I thought, better this way. This way,
we can fight Sammah without having to hide our intentions.
Sevenspells will stand side-by-side with the king, fighting Sha’sek
once more. Would you have preferred plotting revenge over our
father’s cold corpse?”

Eden saw a grin creep out from either side
of the glass before Rowan swallowed the contents in one long gulp.
He discarded the glass, and it shattered on the stone-flagged floor
of their chamber. Eden tried not to look at it, tried not to
flinch, making sure he held his brother’s gaze. River jumped, and
it was easy to tell he was nervous because of the tension in the
room. Eden was desperate for Rowan to believe him and his lies, at
least for now, and for long enough to protect River. Eden didn’t
want his brother to have to choose a side when war broke out within
Sevenspells’ dynasty.

“You think you’re so close to the king? That
you have influence at court? Have you forgotten that I’m
Lord
of Sevenspells now? Do you have any idea what I’m going
to be doing tomorrow?”

Eden frowned, not sure whether this was a
baited trap. Eden had no idea what the king was planning; he wasn’t
sure whether Rowan already knew about the meeting and wanted to
ratify that Eden had the king’s confidence. Hesitating for only a
moment, Eden gambled on the latter. “You’ll be attending the king’s
council.” He waited to see Rowan’s cautious nod before adding, “and
so will I. As the kings chamberlain.”

Eden was satisfied to see Rowan’s jaw drop.
River’s wine spilled as his hands holding the glass. The wine was
still making its way to Rowan’s stomach, and the acting Lord of
Sevenspells started choking and coughing. River, in a shocked haze,
wandered over to his brother and patted him on the back almost
absentmindedly. Eden suppressed a giggle, though he did allow
himself a smirk.