Well of Tears (Empath Book 3) (19 page)

He danced to one side as a pair of men, one
scarred and scary-looking, the other with dark eyes and a clenched
jaw, strode past.

“Eden’s really crossed the line this time. I
don’t know what father is going to do to him, but it’s probably
going to be painful.”

“The king would be well within his rights to
execute the traitorous little rat, but he won’t. Shiver wouldn’t be
able to kill one of his own, even if it costs him the war. He’s not
as strong as he thinks, your highness. The men sense this. You are
gaining a loyal following.”

“Thank you, Harn. We of course need to be
careful about this. I am behind my father in everything he
does.”

“Until he makes another mistake?”

“Especially if that mistake could cost us
everything we’ve been working towards.”

The men walked off. Maskell felt like
following them. That had sounded like an important conversation. It
wasn’t what he was here to do, though. He had to deliver the
parchment, and if Quinn’s instructions were correct, then the
throne room was right ahead.

Maskell opened the door an edge, sliding into
the room. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with a thought; what if he
killed Shiver, now, in this room? The king had a couple of guards
dotted around, though a few men were no threat to Maskell when he
didn’t want to be seen. There was no mistaking Shiver. Even if he
hadn’t been sat on a throne, his bleached hair stood out in stark
contrast to the dull browns and blacks more common to the men of
the region. What should he do? Throw the parchment down and hope
the king read it? No, that wouldn’t do. Maskell took a deep breath
and sprinted up to the king.

As Maskell dropped his concentration, Shiver
yelled out in shock. Of course, seeing a boy appear supposedly out
of nowhere and running at you full-tilt would give anyone pause.
Maskell was on the dais before Shiver could respond. Men were
running towards him, but they wouldn’t reach him before he was gone
again.

“A message for you, from Quinn.”

Maskell threw the parchment in Shiver’s lap
and ran. He shrouded himself again. They could lock the gates, but
it wouldn’t hold him. Maskell could wait, and wait, and no one
would know who he was or where he was, until they got bored and
opened the gates again. He had done his part. Now, it was Quinn’s
turn.

* * *

“Here boy, read this.”

Eden held his hands over his face as Shiver
strode through his doorway unannounced and flung something at him.
It could have been a dagger—Eden was not Shiver’s favourite person,
and his natural instinct was to protect himself. A flap of
parchment drifted to the floor halfway between them. Shiver pointed
at it. “Go on. Pick it up. Read it.”

Rowan slunk into the room, his face puffed
still with the trauma of his encounter with Quinn. Rowan hadn’t
visited Eden yet on his own; Eden wasn’t looking forward to when
that happened. Wary, thinking this a trick so his father might be
able to lash out at him unawares, Eden scooted across the room. He
grabbed the parchment between his thumb and forefinger, darting
back to his bed before Shiver could kick out. His father snorted at
him. “Stop behaving like a child. If I want to strike you I will,
and you will take that blow like a man. Now, read that.”

Eden turned over the paper. He didn’t
recognise the hand, and there was no seal. “Who is this from?”

Shiver waved at him. “Read it.”

Shiver,

You wanted me to kill Sammah. You want me to
use my ability to do this for you. The gifted of Sha’sek are the
very reason why you want to kill us in the first place.

I do not understand how in one breath you
need me, and in another you order my death.

You should not fear the gifted. All the
people of Sha’sek want to do is survive. It is not much to ask.

I am going to kill Sammah. Not because you’ve
asked me to, but because it is the right thing to do. He is a
parasite, and he won’t stop until he rules over all Sha’sek and
Everfell. He is nothing like the rest of us.

When I kill him, I will disappear. You will
not be able to fight Vance, and Pax will not be able to fight you,
because you will have too many men. Your war will be over, and you
will be king. You will have to thank a gifted of Sha’sek for your
throne, Shiver.

An empath may have caused the last war. I
intend to prevent one.

Quinn.

Eden shot his father a triumphant grin. “I
told you! I told you she could do it.”

Shiver pulled back his fist. Eden recoiled,
but the blow did not come. “Read it again. She thinks I’m going to
owe
her? As if it’s going to make a difference, in the end.
She couldn’
t kill my son. I don
’t think
she’s capable of killing Sammah.

“I’m going to Everfell with our men, Eden.
Obrenn and Erran do not want to help him. They’re conflicted. They
have no defence. I can take the city from Sammah with force. All of
the lords will see that it was me that won this—defeated the baron.
Then when I ask our lords to go to war against Sha’sek they won’t
hesitate to follow me.”

“She can stop this! She can end the war
without anyone else dying.”

“I don’t want her to end the war! I will not
let her steal my glory.”

“How can you say that! No one else has to
die, father.”

“That is not the Sevenspells way! We will
fight, and we will win.”

“She’s doing exactly what you asked her to do
in the first place.”

“Yes—I would have been there, directing her.
She was a weapon being wielded by my hand. Not this time. She’s
admitted it, in that letter.

“You’ll come with me. I need a son by my
side. Rowan is not well enough, and River…River is the same as he’s
always been. Your precious Quinn will be in Everfell and I will
kill her. I will not be deceived, and I will not lose.”

“
You can
’t do
this.”

“She can’t defeat Sammah on her own, Eden. We
have to strike, whilst he’s distracted. You are the only man in my
court that disagrees with this.”

“That’s because I’m the only man in your
court with the courage to speak up against you.”

“You like to think that. Have you ever
stopped to consider that you might be the only man in my court that
isn’t loyal to what Sevenspells want to achieve? You think you’re
being loyal, and you believe that you’re with our cause, but every
single step along the way you’ve fought what we wanted to do.

“I disagreed with Rowan. I stood by you. When
you became chamberlain I said it was for our good, that you had a
plan. When you went to Sha’sek I still managed to convince myself
that was true. You brought Quinn to me—how could I be wrong? Then
you help her leave, to run around the provinces, potentially
causing spirits-know what havoc, hiding her whereabouts from all of
us. You manage to spin a story that this, too, is for the good of
the kingdom. Is it, Eden? Really? Or are you doing what you
want—what you think is right? Are you thinking of everyone else,
like I do, or are you thinking about yourself?”

Rowan leaned back smirking, as Shiver leaned
forward, intent on his youngest son.

“I’ve always acted for the good of
Sevenspells, father.”

“You’ve managed to convince yourself of that.
You need to persuade me, and just telling me isn’t going to be
enough. You need to explain yourself to me Eden, in words that I
can understand and believe.”

“You’ve already said yourself, father, the
reasons I acted in the way I did. Of course in parts I had my own
agenda. When I exposed Sammah, I was trying to save Quinn’s life,
too. I was only in that position though, because I’d volunteered to
find the Satori—an act that was for the benefit and reputation of
the men of Sevenspells.”

Shiver grunted. “I’d overlooked that. Go
on.”

“I left for Sha’sek because, in truth, Vance
was becoming unbearable. Rowan will tell you the same. He was
broody, his moods were erratic, and he was completely
unpredictable. I wanted to be in his service to give us leverage in
the court at a time when all the other kingdoms seemed to be
against us, but I couldn’t bear it. As soon as I saw an opportunity
to leave his side, I took it. I’m sorry father, but that’s the
truth.”

“And coincidentally it was to go and retrieve
this empath from Farn?”

“That was the only reason I
had
to
leave the court, father. Of course I took it. I came back here
didn’t I, without protest?”

“Yes. Then you betrayed me by helping Quinn
escape. She’s not yours to be concerned about any more, Eden. You
are betrothed to marry. You should be worrying about the favour of
your wife, and your political position.”

“And what about what I wanted, father? Don’t
I ever get to be concerned about that?”

“No. You haven’t been born into a noble house
to spend your life concerned with yourself. We have the position
and the privilege to make a change Eden, and we will. The threat of
Sha’sek has sat across our shores for too long, now! We have the
chance to finally obliterate it, starting with the festering sore
sitting behind the throne in Everfell. What do you do? Send the
empath back to him! He controlled her once. He can do it
again!”

“Quinn can do this! I believe in her. She can
defeat Sammah, father. She’s stronger than she used to be. She can
use her ability on him. What you wanted her to do…that would have
killed her!”

“
Then we
’d have had
one less Sha’
sekian scum tainting our lands, and
I
’d still send my men to attack Everfell anyway. Sammah’s
allies are toothless now, and he’s at our mercy. All we need to do
is lay a siege. His brother couldn’t bring enough troops inland to
relieve the siege if he wanted to.”

“You care that little for their lives? Have
you actually
seen
what it’s like in Sha’sek?”

“See father, I told you! She’s bewitched him.
The Eden I knew, who you made captain of the guard, would never
have said something like that. What
was
it like over there,
little brother?”

Eden shook his head in bewilderment at
Rowan’s ignorance of the world. “What do
you
think it’s like
there, Rowan?”

Rowan shrugged. “
I
don
’t need to know, Eden. Our father has told us they’re a
danger to us, and they need to be killed.
I
should know more
than most, how vulnerable we are to them. What more do we need to
know?”

“That they’re not all a danger. The only time
I was attacked, was by men sent by Sammah. His brother has already
withdrawn interest in our war with Vance.”

“With Sammah, actually. Vance has been
bewitched, just like you, little brother.”

“We’re still turning swords on our own. It
doesn’t matter who’s behind it—you’ll be killing Vance’s people if
you lay siege to that city.”

Shiver bit into an apple, spitting juice and
flesh on his chin with his reply. “I’ll let out anyone loyal to us,
commoners as well as nobles.
I won
’t hold
them in there against their will. It’s Sammah and his cursed
orphans that I want to get my hands on.”

“They’re children, Shiver. They’re as
innocent as anyone else in Everfell. They’re not acting of their
own free will.”

Shiver ignored
Eden
’s pleas. “And as for Baron Pax, you told me yourself
that he was only waiting for us to expend ourselves fighting each
other, before moving in for the kill. When I break Everfell and
kill Sammah, without spilling a single drop of blood, he’s going to
be sorely disappointed.”

Eden growled in frustration. “That’s what
Quinn had gone in there to do! What’s wrong with you? Are you
really that aggrieved that a girl from Sha’sek is going to win this
war for you?”

“She won’t win this war, Eden, because even
if she does defeat Sammah, she will still be alive! How are you not
understanding this? They will not rest until they have left their
islands and taken our lands. Because of that, I will not rest until
every single one of them is
dead
.”

“There’s space for everyone, father! We have
empty lands everywhere, space to make new holdings, and house more
people. We used to coexist. Farn is made of stone from Daggerdale.
We speak the same language! There used to be peace, and enough
space for everyone. Why can’t it be like that again?”

“They are a threat to everything we stand
for, Eden.”

“Why? Because they can sing well? Can dance?
Can speak quickly, or hold their breath for longer underwater?”

“Or change the way we think, and the things
we believe in? Are born to swing a sword better than any of our men
can hope to learn?”

“They’re the minority!”

“But they still exist!”

“They don’t want to hurt us, father! They
just want to survive.”

“Enough!” Shiver slammed both of his fists
down on the table, sending cups flying. Petrified servants rushed
forward to right them, trying to refill them and clean up the mess
at the same time. Shiver swatted them away. “I’ve had enough of
your words, Eden. Rowan was right. You talk like one of them; you
have no understanding of what we’re trying to do here. War is
unavoidable. We have to prepare in the best way we can.”

“For all you hate them, father, you sound a
great deal like the Baron Pax. He believes war is inevitable, too,
and as long as you are both rulers, then everyone is doomed.”

“I’ve heard enough. We’re attacking Everfell,
Eden, and you will deliver it alongside me, as a present to your
new wife. I’ve spoken to Augyr. Your marriage is delayed until this
is done.”

“I’m the only one making sense,
your
highness
. If you think about it without the poisonous words of
the men around you—men telling you what you want to hear, just to
improve their own position—then you’ll realise that I’m right.
Believe in Quinn. She can win this.”