Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) Read Online Free

outside the
city walls of Everfell. Sure, Sammah had come for her when she had
been a child, orphaned and alone. She hadn’t lived in Everfell
then, though she had no memory of living in any other place. These
were just more burdens added to the questions already burning
through her mind. The power of the empath was one that only passed
by heredity. Whilst that didn’t mean that either of her natural
parents had the ability, it was likely. It was also very likely
that, if not her parents, at least one of her grandparents was
empathically talented. Quinn knew that an empath had started the
last war.
    She didn’t want to be related by blood to a
warmonger; she’d already rid herself of one despot parent. Quinn
had to find out about her heredity, though. She had to know where
she came from, and whose family she was a part of. She could still
have relatives out there that she didn’t know about, and she didn’t
want to take the risk of going through her entire life without
finding if there was anyone else out there that might understand exactly what she had been going through. With such morose
thoughts rampaging around her head, Quinn settled into a depressed
silence.
     
    * * *
     
    Maertn let her mull over whatever was going
through her mind. He knew that Quinn wasn’t one to be roused into a
false good mood, and trying to joke around with her when she was
sad or serious would only make her temper worse. Maertn didn’t need
to be an empath to know that Quinn was nervous, and rightly so.
Maertn therefore was trying to restrain his glee at finally getting
to leave Everfell, and to get the chance of using his powers in a
wider world, seeing new places and people like him.
    He had turned down the chance of being
Vance’s master at healing to leave with Quinn. Maertn knew the
gravity of turning down that request. Not only was he leaving
Everfell without its most skilled healer at a time when the city
was likely to go to war, but he was likely also never going to be
able to return. Vance had only let him go when he found out that
Maertn was not a natural healer, like Torran had been. Natural . If he’d been talking out loud, Maertn was sure that
Vance would have spat the word.
    Who was anyone else to judge what was
natural, and what was not? He didn’ t feel unnatural . He’d never hurt anyone. Quite the opposite,
actually. He’d lost count of the number of lives he’d saved in his
short time as a healer, from the smallest infant, breached from its
mother and covered in blood, to the old and the infirm.
    Maertn shook his head, trying to dispel his
dismal thoughts. It was bad enough that Quinn was already in a
malaise; he couldn’t let himself descend into one, as well. One of
them had to at least stay, if not cheerful, then with a clear mind.
They had a long journey ahead of them, and it was going to be
difficult. Maertn was glad that Quinn had chosen to leave Eden
behind. He felt no ill will towards the lord, but Maertn didn’t
feel that his company was welcome on this trip. Eden would have
held Quinn back, tried to make her stay in Everfell, when that
would’ve been a death sentence for her. Either that, or Eden would
have come across to Sha’sek with them both, and that would have
meant the entirety of Sevenspells chasing them down across the Sea
of Sighs. Maertn wasn’t sure which one was worse.
    Maertn glanced across at Quinn. Her head was
down and her shoulders hunched. He wished then that he had the
empath’s ability, so he could at least share some of her burden.
Instead, he let them continue in silence. They would ride until
sundown, when they would be far enough away from the city that they
needn’t worry about their backs in the dead of night. Maertn didn’t
think Vance would betray them like that, but he wasn’t too sure
what to believe any more. It was all too easy, Vance letting them
just leave the city, when he knew what threat Quinn could actually
pose. Sure, Quinn wasn’t actually a threatening