Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

surprised if messengers had been
despatched to fetch their mother to court. She wouldn’t help
matters one jot. How much of Shiver’s plans had she known?
    With Maertn’s rooms empty, there was no
point in looking for Quinn. Eden needed to take his frustrations
out on someone though, so he stalked down the corridor looking for
Ross. He’d be astonished if Quinn had snuck out of the city without
speaking to him first. Eden found Ross in his quarters. The old
mercenary-turned-chamberlain still looked battered from his fights
with Sammah’s bodyguards the day before, and was avoiding the
public eye in the hall for the formal dinnertimes, it seemed. Eden
would be doing the same, more through shame than anything else,
though he would need to find out where his brothers were, and what
they were doing whilst their father stewed in the city gaols.
    Ross didn’t look up from his breakfast as
Eden took the only other seat in his sparse quarters. “Would you
like something to eat?” Ross asked around a mouthful of food. Eden
actually thought about it for a second, his empty rumbling stomach
overriding his usual stubbornness. Instead of answering, he grabbed
a bread roll and tore it apart, popping shredded pieces into his
mouth and chewing on them miserably. On the way, his mind had been
full of angry things to say. With Ross’s mute reception, they had
all dissipated. “Don’t be so angry, lad. She didn’t say goodbye to
me, either.”
    Eden glanced up. Ross was studying him
carefully. He swallowed the bread dry, and struggled to get it down
his parched throat. “I was meant to be going with her.”
    “You didn’t think that would actually
happen, did you?”
    Eden’s ire rose at Ross's sarcastic
response, but he quelled it. Ross was right, and Eden had worked
that much out for himself now. “She’s not safe out there on her
own.”
    “She’s not safe here,” Ross took a sip of
water, “and she’s not on her own.” The facts didn’t help to calm
Eden’ s mood.
    “If I had to bet on one of them in a fist
fight, Quinn would be the winner, and that’s not saying much.
Maertn’s not going to be able to protect her,” Eden replied
bitterly.
    “She’s spent enough years doing Sammah’s
dirty work to know when someone is trying to hurt her. Don’t
forget, she’s better prepared than most, to find out others’ ill intent. ”
    “I’m not worried about ill-will killing her.
It’s the daggers in her back in the middle of the night that she
needs to worry about.”
    Ross kept on chewing for a few moments of
silence, considering Eden’ s words. “You’ve given her a route through Sevenspells? A seal?
Letters?”
    “Of course. I suspected I might not go with
her, but I would never let her go without any support.”
    Ross grunted. “Good. The journey through
Sevenspells is the only part of the journey through Everfell that
Quinn and Maertn need to worry about. The lands are still peaceful,
for now, and having consent from a lord to roam freely through his
family’s lands is going to make their passage that much
easier.”
    “And what about when they get to Sha’sek?
Aren’t those lands dangerous? ”
    Ross smirked. “What do you know about Sha’sek lad, beyond what your father and
teachers have told you?”
    Eden opened and closed his mouth a few
times, trying to form a response that didn’t sound like it had come
straight from his father’s mouth.
    “ Well, ” Eden stalled to give himself time to search for
appropriate answer before clearing his throat. “It’s simple, isn’t
it? I mean, they’re just barbarians, aren’t they?”
    Ross chuckled, a deep rumble that came from
the very pit of his chest. Eden had the decency to blush, before
remembering that the huge chamberlain had been a mercenary in the
last war, and had fought on the side of Sha’sek. He was speaking to
the only man in the castle with the exception of Sammah, who would
be able to properly educate him on the islands.
    “You