Free Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) by Dawn Peers

father.”
    River’s reedy voice didn’t have much impact,
but it was enough to make Eden back down. Rowan spat on the floor,
ignoring the carpets and kicking at it with his heels.
    “ I don ’t think I
do. All I see is our brother supposedly here gallivanting around
with castle staff and finding himself halfway up at the king’s
backside into the bargain. I’m not even sure his loyal to
Sevenspells anymore, and we can’t afford to have that kind of man
in our court right now.”
    Eden squared up to his brother. “I’m as
loyal as either of you; perhaps even more so.”
    “Is that right? Then why were you there when
the lies were bandied around about our father? Did you defend him
before he was dragged away to the gaol like a commoner?”
    “ Are they lies Rowan?”
    Rowan paled. “How am I to know? I’ve been
thrown into this as suddenly as the rest of you.”
    Eden let it settle there. He didn’t want to
get in a drawn-out war of words with his brother when their
situation was so fragile. Rowan wasn’t much older than him. He had
always followed Shiver, but never paid much attention to the people
around him. It was likely that he didn’t know much at all about the
entire situation at court. Even worse, with the circumstances in
Sevenspells so precarious, Rowan would likely be forced to
marry—River, too, in order to secure some heirs for Sevenspells,
and to link Sevenspells with lords like Obrenn or Erran, known to
be loyal to the king.
    Eden continued the conversation the only way
he knew how, to avoid it becoming volatile again. “We all know this
was Sammah’ s doing , anyway, so let ’s not spend our time bickering. We are
brothers, no matter what we feel about each other, and I am loyal
to Sevenspells, no matter what you might hear around this accursed
place. We need to stick together. River is right—they will try to
pit us against each other, and they know where to hurt us.
    “No, I was never going to marry Quinn, but
she was an ally and a strong one; we could have used her against
Sammah. Now Vance has exiled her. Don’t you find that odd? The only
person in this entire place who could have verified our father was
not at fault—that Sammah was the ringleader of this farce—a
dangerous empath, too, and he just let’s her go? I think our father
is being made a scapegoat, and we need to make sure that
doesn’ t happen. We can ’t do that with all
of us out of the king’s good graces. One of us needs to stay close
to Vance. That was our father.”
    Jerking out of his haughty posture, Rowan
strode to the table and poured himself a glass of wine. Waiting for
a considered second, he poured two more for his brothers and handed
the glasses across. They stood together in a rough triangle briefly
assessing each other. Eden knew that Rowan was evaluating the
weight of his words, and the amount of trust his brother would have
in him would hinge on this moment. Rowan had to believe that Eden
was fully loyal to the Sevenspells cause, and that his need to keep
close to Vance was because he wanted to keep his eye on the king
for their father, not for his own personal gain.
    “Just how much does the king trust you,
brother?” Rowan followed this question with a considered sip of the
red wine, letting the liquid linger. Rowan held the glass in front
of his face, obscuring most of his features. His eyes didn’t hide
his emotions, however, and Eden saw the conniving intent there.
    Eden set his full glass to one side on the
stone sill and made sure he fully faced his brother before
responding, with a grin. “You’ve already said it. Everyone in this
castle already knows it—I stood up to Sammah and saved the throne.
I may well have saved the king’s life. Does you realise what kind
of stead that puts me in at court?”
    “And who did you do that for? You didn’t
save Vance because our father asked you to.”
    This was an easy answer, despite the fact
that Eden didn’t want it to be the truth. “I