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

Quinn went to him, despite the anger that
rode straight over the pain that had been blossoming in her chest.
He wasn’t the one being exiled; what right did he have to be so
upset?

“Say that you’re glad I’m still alive? Say
that you’
re glad I won
’t be standing
trial!”

“Am I meant to tell you I’m glad you’re
leaving, too?”

“You can be glad that I’m not going to be
sentenced to death, because that’s my only alternative!”

Eden ran his hands through his hair. It was
matted against his head and he pulled away his palms,
absentmindedly rubbing them against his trousers. Quinn could see
how exhausted he looked; he hadn’t rested—hadn’t even bathed for
days. He was tired and understandably frustrated. Eden bit his lip,
taking a deep breath, “I’m sorry, Quinn. I’m not thinking. It’s
been unbearable these last few days. I can’t believe it’s over, but
now it is…” His voice trailed away, sounding broken and
defeated.

Quinn looked around. Vance’s entourage had
left them. A few curious onlookers still lingered around the edges
of the court, nudging each other and pointing at them, keeping
their voices down to hushed whispers. How cowardly they all were.
They had all simply stood by and watched as she, Eden and Maertn
had risked their lives to save Vance. She didn’t want to be there,
then. She wanted to be alone in the calm quiet, with Eden. They
needed to talk. Quinn glanced at Maertn and Ross. Both men looked
awkward to be there, at the start of Quinn and Eden’s blossoming
argument. They were too polite to excuse themselves, so Eden spared
them the trouble.

“Come on, Quinn. I’ll draw you a bath. You
need the rest more than anyone else. I can’t begin to imagine what
you’ve been through.”

Quinn eyed Eden warily, suspicious at his
sudden change of tone and attitude. “This conversation
isn’
t over, Eden.
”

“I know it isn’t. You’re not leaving this
city without protection, Quinn. I’m coming with you, too.”

Quinn let it rest. She wouldn’t convince
Eden of anything, now. Later, when he had calmed down, when she’d
had time and space to think, she’d let him know that she had no
intention of letting him come with her.

Quinn leaned out of the
window, palms against the sill to keep herself from falling out,
and stretched her torso out as far as she safely could. The air
this high was almost soft against her face, and clear of the reek
she knew roiled through parts of the castle. Down in the courtyard,
even with the Queen’s attempts at sumptuous planted gardens,
Quinn’s senses would still be assaulted with the stenches from the
kitchens, the stables, and when the wind was blowing the wrong way,
the cesspits outside the city.

Dawn had not long broken, but Quinn had
barely slept, keeping to her old working hours and making sure the
things she needed were packed, and that her route out of Everfell;
through Sevenspells and down to the coast was carefully planned. In
the bed behind her, Eden stirred, but didn’t wake. Their argument
had been heated, and that had boiled over into frustrated passion.
Afterwards, he had agreed to stay up with her to plan her journey
through Sevenspells. Eden wanted to come with her at least that
far. That did make sense to Quinn, but she didn’t know if the king
would let any of Shiver’s sons out of the city under the current
circumstances. She didn’t turn him down. He had been far too
hopeful, and ultimately, the decision wasn’t Quinn’s. Vance would
turn Eden down, and Quinn would have actually been grateful for his
company negotiating the difficult roads of Sevenspells.

Quinn knew that the journey could be awkward
with Maertn and Eden all in tow together, however getting lost so
early in her journey was not a luxury she could afford. Quinn was
torn, however. Whilst she knew she wanted Eden’s help, she also
knew that it would be torture for the young lord, for him to
accompany her, knowing that at the end she would still have to
leave him. Should she just leave him behind? Would that be a
cleaner way to break his heart? These questions kept Quinn up the
rest of the night, and now, with the sun cresting the horizon, she
still didn’t have an answer. She would do just as well by throwing
dice out of the window and hoping for them to land on the decision
she did not want to make. Quinn started to pace in frustration, but
hesitated when she saw Eden store again. Making her decision then,
realising she was frightened to write the young man, she left the
room. Heading to Maertn’s room across the hallway, Quinn knocked
timidly on his door. Maertn snapped the door open almost instantly,
making Quinn jump back in surprise. Maertn, it appeared, hadn’t
slept at all either. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair, usually
a dry straw mess at the best of times, resembled an open barn in a
storm.

“It looks like you got a great night’s sleep
too, hey?” Maertn said with a smirk.

Quinn grinned at him sardonically. “Just as
much as you, from the looks of things. May I come in?”

Instead of responding, Maertn stepped back,
sweeping his arm out in a grand bowing gesture for her to enter.
Quinn sauntered past, trying to look like a lady, but failing
miserably, breaking down into a fit of giggles. She scolded
herself, putting it down to her nerves. Spirits knew, she needed a
laugh. It had felt like so long since she’d felt the touch of
friendship, even with Maertn, her own brother. Quinn scanned the
room, and wasn’t surprised to see that the efficient healer had
already packed. She perched herself on the end of his bed, and
waited for him to sit down. Maertn took a seat on the edge of his
desk and stared at her, waiting for her to start speaking. When the
silence awkwardly stretched out between them for too long, Maertn
gave in.

“What do you need?”

Quinn scrunched up her face forlornly. “What
do you think I need? What do I do with Eden?” It wasn’t a question,
and she knew it wasn’t. She also knew that she shouldn’t ask Maertn
to make this decision for her. Alone in this castle though, Quinn
had no one else to talk to. She had to let her thoughts out,
otherwise she thought she might explode, and Maertn was the best
person. “I think I should just leave him, but I’ve already done so
much damage. Will he just hate me now?”

“
I don
’t think
Eden could ever hate you Quinn, even if you did leave him behind.
But what you need to do right now, is think of yourself, not him.
If you don’t get out of this place soon, King Vance will have you
killed. And they won’t spare your life. You’re too dangerous to be
left alone, and I’m surprised Vance has let you live.”

Quinn’s blood ran cold at Maertn’s
unforgiving words. It was, however, the truth, whether she liked it
or not. Perhaps Maertn was right after all. She did need to start
being selfish, though the doing was a lot harder than the saying,
when she had spent her entire life serving others.

“Do I even say goodbye?” Quinn’s eyes sprang
tears at the thought of leaving Eden behind without speaking to him
again. Maertn stood up from the desk, coming across to her and
smothering her in a hug. Quinn returned it, hiding her head again
in his neck, glad that she didn’t have to do any more talking for
the time being. After spending so much of her life virtually mute,
all of these conversations were becoming exhausting. Quinn needed
to get out of Everfell, and she craved some peace and quiet. She
realised then, that she wouldn’t get the latter if she brought Eden
with her. Despite the fact that he would be indispensable through
Sevenspells, he would likely spend the entire journey trying to
convince her to stay. She was already so drained from the trial of
facing Sammah, and the exhaustion of using her power to bring him
to justice. She didn’t think she had anything left in her to be
able to emotionally endure Eden through days of riding through
Sevenspells and down to the coast. In her heart of hearts, she had
always known this, but had been unwilling to admit it, not wanting
to do any more damage than she already had. But these were terrible
times, and if Quinn didn’t start being selfish, she would stop
living.

With this realisation, Quinn began to calm
down. She relaxed her grip on Maertn’s waist, and pulled back out
from the safety of his embrace. She stood up from the bed, and
Maertn stood to face her.

“It didn’t take long to you to make up your
mind,” Maertn said, not nastily.

Quinn shrugged. “I suppose I always knew
what I had to do. I just needed to say some things out loud to be
able to make myself understand that.”

“Is that how your power works?” Maertn asked
with a playful grin, “Have you managed to trick yourself into
believing what you think you should do?”

Quinn shook her head, both confused and
amused. “
I don
’t think I’ll ever be able
to control anyone’s emotions, Maertn.” Quinn shivered at the
thought of actually being able to tell people how to feel. It
petrified her, beyond anything she’d ever been able to do with her
ability so far. This was something Quinn told herself despite what
she had done to Sammah; what she had done had been impossible. Her
father was an apath and fundamentally resistant to Quinn’s empath
strengths. Quinn had managed to convince herself of that. Quinn
shuddered, remembering once again Sammah’s intentions for her.

So many people in court had thought that the
baron was a benevolent soul, searching the kingdom of Everfell for
orphans, giving them all trades, homes, and a purpose in life.
Quinn and Maertn had been two of those orphans, and were two of
only three living in the crown city. Quinn had been a maid for her
entire life, and Maertn had been brought up as a healer. What only
Sammah had first known, however, was that Maertn had been born to
be a healer. He was of Sha’sek descent, and had been born with a
natural gift for healing. He could sense the illnesses in people’s
bodies, even in their minds, and had on more than one occasion
saved Quinn’s life with his talents.

Such abilities were easy to hide, however,
and with his position in the castle’s apothecary, many had simply
believed Maertn to be talented and studious. The young man hadn’t
been devastated when the truth came out, although he had been
disturbed to find that what he had thought was ability and
enthusiasm, was a gift that he had no fundamental choice in. Maertn
did love being a healer, though, so the end result was the same for
him. The same wasn’t true for Quinn, though.

Her job as a maid
had been Sammahs’ way of keeping Quinn’s power both close to him
and a secret. Quinn was an empath, able to sense the emotions of
everybody around her, with the exception of her adoptive father.
Sammah had sought to take over the throne of Everfell, and he had
come agonisingly close to achieving his goals.

During their struggles, Quinn had finally
found out the reason why she couldn’t sense her adoptive father’s
emotions. Sammah was an apath. He had spent his entire life hunting
down gifted orphans like Quinn and Maertn, stealing them away from
their homes and herding them together so he could cultivate their
gifts. Quinn and Maertn had been brought together on purpose,
because the survival of a young empath, was dependent on the skills
of talented healer.

What Sammah had ultimately wanted, however,
was to mate with Quinn. He had wanted to create the ultimate gifted
child, able to sense the emotions of everybody without having the
burden of emotions. Sammah had been carrying on the work of one of
his ancestors. This book was in Maertn’s room now, and it seemed
the young healer was going to bring it with him on their journey.
Quinn arched an eyebrow, pointing out the leather bound volume.

“Are you really going to bring that with
you?”

Maertn looked down, appearing a bit coy.
“I’ll only bring it if you’re happy for me to have it. I know that
the contents aren’t exactly what you want to be reading or hearing
right now.”

Quinn wilted inside. No, she didn’t want to
read how her father had planned to rape her, but she knew that
Maertn needed to know more about himself. No one in Everfell,
except
perhaps
Ross, understood the way
they were feeling. Ross himself, though,
wasn
’t gifted. He was simply a mercenary with a keen
eye for politics.

“As long as you promise to help find out
some more about my abilities, too?” Quinn asked Maertn
hopefully

Maertn grinned. “Of course I will Quinn, you
know I will. We only have each other, and that’s always been truth.
You need to know more than I do, because all I do is heal people.
What you have is dangerous, and I think we need to be careful about
it, even when we get the islands. Sammah said that there were never
many empaths, and I think you’ll either be a sought-after
commodity, or even more of a target than you were here.”

“Should we speak to Ross about that?” Quinn
asked, suddenly nervous about their journey. She was already
leaving one death sentence behind, and she didn’t want to walk
straight into another.

“
We don
’t really
have the time Quinn. We need to leave, and soon, if you want to get
out of the city without causing a stir. So, the only choice you
have left now, is whether or not you’re going to wake up Eden.”

Quinn bit her lower lip, and started to pace
around the room. She clenched her fists, scrunching them tight and
feeling her fingernails bite into the palms of her hands. The pain
felt good; it always managed to centre her thoughts. Within that
clarity, she resolved that she wouldn’t wake Eden. He had drawn up
a map for them, and he had already given them his seal, so that
they could pass through Sevenspells if challenged. She didn’t need
him, not as a companion on their journey. She knew that she
couldn’t live the rest of her life without seeing again, but now
was not the time for romance and fancy tales. Eden had to be here
to support his father, and his brothers. The king would not let him
leave, and he would not let Quinn live if she stayed.