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

woman, but her
ability was. Lesser threats had given less dangerous men than the
king more pause in the past. Ross had thought of this, and in his
saddlebags Maertn did carry two swords. Whilst he was in no way
confident about using a weapon, he would do what it took to keep
them both safe; to give them both a chance of life in Sha’sek,
where they both belonged.
     
    * * *
     
     
    “Quinn?”
    Quinn was jolted out of her dour reverie by
Maertn’s call. She became immediately paranoid that she had not
heard most of a conversation, and that she had been accidentally
ignoring him through most of the journey. Her face flushed with
guilt and shame. He was sacrificing a lot to be with her, and she
had spent the first few hours of their new life together being a
self-centred dolt.
    “What’s wrong Maertn?” She answered
softly.
    Maertn sidled his horse closer to her,
irrationally paranoid at being overhead. “I think we’re being
followed.”
    Maertn leaned towards her in the saddle,
hissing across the small gap between them. “I think I’ve seen
someone on the horizon, for almost as long as we left
Everfell.”
    Quinn furrowed her brow and tilted her head
at him. “Followed? What makes you think that? Are you sure it’s not
just a trick of the light? A tree on the horizon?”
    Maertn shrugged. “ I
don ’t know. But something doesn’t seem right. Think about
it? Why would the king just let you leave? Wouldn’t it make sense
that he’d send someone after us? Or even Sammah, with his bloody
silent bodyguards? What’s happened to them? Elias was caught for
what he did, but what about the rest of them? Do we even know if
Vance is trying to have them caught? And besides, what’s he going
to arrest them all for? They can’t really conspire much what with
not being able to talk and everything, and who knows how much they
really knew about what Sammah was going to do? They were just there
to protect his back. What if Sammah sends them after us? What if he
gets out of the gaol?”
    “Well studied there. I think you’re getting
a bit hysterical Maertn. No one is going to come to kill us. If the
bodyguards wanted us dead, we would have been dead long ago. They
didn’t mind killing within Vance’s walls. I don’t think Vance would
mourn my death, though yours might give him a couple of sleepless
nights. No, I don’t think Vance is sending anyone after us.”
    Quinn thought for a moment about the rest of
Sammah’s personal guard. She was confident that Elias would still
be in prison, though it was feasible that Sammah would send someone
to murder her. They didn’t know how far through Sha’sek Sammah’s
influence spread, but Quinn wouldn’t be surprised if the council in
Sha’sek claimed that Sammah acted on his own in order to avoid
all-out war. They were caught in a political crosswind, and neither
of the youngsters were sure what the right choices were. It was a
case of trial and error, where an error would cost their lives.
    Maertn hesitated a little, his eyes turning
guilty before asking Quinn, “Can you…use your powers to sense if
anyone is there?”
    Quinn’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Perhaps
she could, though she was surprised that Maertn would ask her to do
it. She had been looking forward to a life where only she would
dictate how and when she would use her abilities. Maertn was the
only person she really knew that she felt comfortable not needing her abilities. That
she should already be called to use them so soon was unfortunate,
and not a little upsetting. “On the horizon, you say?” Maertn
nodded. “I’m not sure how far my senses can go. I know that I can
feel things a few rooms away, but not something over at such a
distance. I’ll give it a try though.”
    “How do you know you won’t be sensing
me?”
    Quinn grinned genuinely, “I always know when
it’s you, Maertn, no matter what you’ re feeling.
I ’ve felt your mind for so long, whether I wanted to or
not,” Quinn added