by Dawn Peers
“As far as I—and, might I add, the rest of the lords—are concerned, Vance forfeited his right to rule when he let a Sha’sekian take over the court. I am the rightful king now, Eden. You’d do well to keep that in mind when you’re talking around my allies and my friends.”
Shiver was hosting the dinner in his own suites. Eden didn’t need to be repeatedly told how important this was. His father hated hosting dinners, and private meals were even worse. Lady Isabella was an unknown quantity for him, but with enough of a reputation around court of being a viper to make Eden wary. Lord Augyr was a tiresome bore and Eden, for once, hoped that his father would be doing all of the talking.
Augyr and Isabella were already waiting. When Eden saw the ridiculously pompous outfit Augyr was wearing, he could see why his father had made him truss up. Eden had seen fewer feathers on farmyard hens, and anyone getting too close to this man would be liable to spend their entire night sneezing. Was this fashion? Was this night going to form the basis for the rest of his court life? Eden sincerely hoped his prospective father in law would not be making him dress like that for the wedding.
Where her father looked like an accident in a poultry house, Isabella looked positively radiant. A woman hadn’t turned Eden’s head as much since he had seen Quinn in her finery at the ball in Farn, though that particular set of circumstances had been less than ideal. She was standing politely behind her chair, and when Shiver walked in the room, she performed a delicate curtsey. “Your highness, thank you for receiving us. My father and I are honoured to be your guests.”
Shiver was in his element in this kind of company. “Nonsense my dear, the honour is with myself and my son. May I present to you Prince Eden.”
I’m a prince now, am I? Eden thought bitterly. He plastered a foolish grin on his face, which he supposed looked representative of most men at court, and bowed for Isabella and her father. She put out her hand, and Eden supposed he had to round the table and kiss it. This was Isabella’s opportunity to show off her body to the newly-titled prince, and Eden was ashamed when he couldn’t draw his eyes away. Isabella’s breeding was obvious. The way she held herself in the dress, from her straight posture to the arch of her neck, screamed power. Eden felt blood rushing to his cheeks and quickly ducked his head, laying a soft kiss on her pale hand.
“Charmed, your highness.”
Eden muttered a response, fleeing around the table to sit at his father’s side. Isabella gave him a knowing smile, and Eden cursed himself. He had just unwittingly given her the upper hand in every single encounter they would now have. She had attempted, very weakly, to fluster him. Eden had responded.
“Well isn’t this a fine occasion. A toast! To our children.”
Augyr stood, and Shiver gladly raised a glass. Eden was more reluctant. Isabella’s glass came up last, and as she took a demure sip, her eyes did not move from Eden’s. He felt like a mouse, trapped by a cat and caught in its transfixing gaze.
14
The scenery of the Beach of Bones was depressingly familiar.
Quinn had now been on these shores three times. Each time before, she had left the beach with more strength and more power, but those times she had been guided to safety by Maertn’s skilled hand.
Maertn had been kept in Sha’sek by Pax’s order and the ultimate reason for Quinn’s reluctance had been realised. Her abilities had been overstretched, and now she had found herself once more on the beach.
The Beach of Bones was the mythical realm where the dead went to wait for their crossing. Under her feet Quinn could feel the sharp snap of the bones of people who had passed through the beach long before her time. She looked out to the sea, which ebbed and flowed with the deep red of blood. There was no smell here, which was a relief, given the coppery stench the sea would have given off. Quinn tried to recall her previous times here. The worst time, she had already been knee-deep in the sea. She knew that if she had found herself submerged in those waters, she would have been dead. Maertn had not been allowed to traverse the waters, but he had managed to haul her back all the same.
All around her were the empty shadows of people passing through the beach at the same time. Quinn wasn’t a fool to think that, across all of the lands, she was the only person near death. Some of the forms were tall, and some were tiny, crawling along the ground and heading straight for the sea. Quinn didn’t want to think about those little bodies being swept away, and the pain being left behind back in the waking world.
Quinn was expecting to be pulled closer to the sea, but she felt no desire to head that way. Did that mean that she was ill but could recover? Could she find her own way out of the beach? As she looked up and down the pale coast, it didn’t seem possible. The bones stretched for as far as the eye could see in any direction but out to sea. Forms bobbed up and down in the blood, but Quinn tried to ignore them. She couldn’t help them in life, and she definitely couldn’t help them here. Farther up, though, one form seemed more solid than the rest. It was perhaps only ankle deep in the sea, and its back was to her, so Quinn didn’t know whether it was male or female, old or young. As the only other corporeal being around, Quinn felt naturally drawn to this being. This is it she told herself. This is how they coax me out into the sea. This is how I finally die. What had Rowan done to her? Even worse, what had she done to him? Quinn hesitated. Was the form out to sea the dying prince?
What a delightful thing that would be to know before she died—that she’d managed to bring that vile creature along to the beach with her.
With nothing else to focus on, and nowhere else to go, Quinn picked her way along the beach to where the figure stood in the shallows. Unlike everything else around, this figure was static. Quinn was going to shout out, when she stopped herself. What if this was an evil being—something there with the sole intention of dragging her into the sea? No, Quinn shook herself if it was there for that purpose, then she would be dead already. Still, with all the silence around, shouting out seemed like a blasphemous thing to do. Ignoring the feel of the bones against the soles of her feet—which, oddly, did not pain her—she made her way farther along the beach so the figure would be able to see her without Quinn making a racket.
In this place of calm serenity, Quinn wasn’t aware of things like breathing, or heartbeat. Maertn was standing in the shallows. Silence be damned. Quinn screamed.
* * *
Maertn didn’t acknowledge Quinn until her voice ripped through the shallows to his ears. He’d been in his own world, taking in the beauty of the bones. He was here voluntarily. That’s what he’d told himself, anyway. It wasn’t the first time he’d visited the beach without the intention of saving Quinn. His studies in Farn were brining him back here time and time again. Maertn knew that he was pushing himself far, though he didn’t really care. No one around him was interested in testing the far edges of their abilities, even though they were all surrounded by people with the ability to heal. Maertn pushed himself all the way to the beach because he’d brought Quinn back before. Every time, he’d been on the shoreline. He’d never been in the waters without the intention of saving someone else, so the feeling for him had been fascinating. He’d been trying to figure out the best way back to his own body, when Quinn had torn into his awareness.
“Quinn? What are you doing here?”
Quinn, for once, was on the shoreline. Apparently, of the two of them, he was in more danger. That’s not true though, is it? Because you know how to get out of here, and Quinn isn’t capable. Something’s happened to her.
“I was hurt.”
“Hurt how?”
If her body was damaged then getting her out of here would be difficult; she was a huge distance from Farn, and therefore from Maertn. If she was here because of her ability again, which seemed unlikely based on her experience in the Sighs, then he could help her. What was left for Quinn though, after she’d managed to live through sending another man to his death?
“I was in the gaols at Sevenspells. I tried to…I tried to kill P
rince Rowan.”
Maertn couldn’t hide his smile, despite where they were. “It’s a shame we haven’t seen him here. How? What did you do?”
“I’d hoped you were him. He was trying to make me force emotions on people. I was being swamped. He wouldn’t let me close myself off.”
“You didn’t have to do what he said.”
“He’d have killed me otherwise.”
“And yet, here you still are.”
“I’m only here because I turned my ability on him, Maertn. I was trying to kill him with my mind.”
“What were you doing?”
“Everything I could. I have no idea… I was just so angry. I hate that man so much Maertn, and I was forcing that into his mind. I passed out. His eyes were bleeding. I hurt him. I know that. I don’t feel… I don’t feel like I did the other times I was here. I’m not panicking. Neither are you. What are you…what are you doing in there?”
“I’m dying, Quinn.”
“You don’t seem very worried about it.”
Maertn shrugged. “I’ve been on the edge for a while. You were there in the meeting with Pax. I’ve been pushing myself hard, Quinn, and this is my reward.”
“You’re killing yourself! You need to stop this.”
“You don’t understand, Quinn, the amount I’m learning is immense, and I’m not in any danger. Don’t you remember the times I saved you? I can leave the beach when I want Quinn, and even if I have trouble, I’m surrounded by other healers. They won’t take the risks to learn like this, because they don’t trust in their abilities enough to bring them back. Every healer should know the way out of the beach. I have the confidence Quinn, because I’d already been here before. Not even Rall likes to negotiate the beach, but it’s easy.”
Quinn didn’t like the maniacally confident edge to Maertn’s voice. He reminded her of Pax, ranting at his evangelical worst. “You’re pushing it too hard, Maertn. If they’re not confident in coming to the beach, they might not be able to save you. You’re not on the shore—you’re in the water. If that tide pulls you, you might not be able to resist.”
“Nothing is pulling me, Quinn. I’m a powerful healer. I am good at this. The beach won’t take me, because right now, I don’t want it to.”
Right now. Quinn didn’t like the way Maertn used the phrase. “I don’t want to be here, Maertn. I don’t want you here, either.”
Without thinking about it, Maertn walked out of the shallows. His ankles and feet were stained red, but there was no resistance. The last time Quinn had stood in those waters, it had been mental agony to leave. It had exhausted her. Maertn didn’t even look concerned. That kind of power and confidence was extremely intimidating, but Quinn couldn’t retreat. This was Maertn. He was her best friend and her brother, and they had grown up together. He was still the same man, wasn’t he?
“I can save you, Quinn.”
Maertn placed his hands on her shoulders, before placing his hands around her neck. He started to squeeze. Quinn’s eyes bulged. This wasn’t right. Maertn squeezed tighter. His face was absent of emotion. Like a true son of Sammah, he didn’t show the slightest hint of remorse as he squeezed the breath from Quinn’s throat. She tried to breathe, and couldn’t. Quinn’s vision started to black, again. Maertn smiled at her.
“This is the only way you can leave this time. I’m sorry.”
15
Eden and his father walked together through the halls. Eden had asked to check on Quinn, and because his courtship of Isabella was going well, Shiver had agreed. Eden wasn’t allowed anywhere on his own. He was a prisoner in his own rooms and Shiver was taking every spare opportunity to coach his son on the necessity of his loyalty as a Sevenspells son. Shiver wasn’t telling Eden anything he didn’t already know. The conversations were almost as tedious as the visits from Rowan, who continued to lord his position over Eden. River was on his way to Kahnel to meet his new brother-in-law and help oversee the port whilst Calvin attended Sevenspells.
Eden had checked in on Tarik and Quinn many times in the past week. Despite his father’s desire for Quinn to be out of his mind and a distant memory, Eden couldn’t just leave her to die alone in a healer’s room. Rowan had been released from the care of the healers a scant day after being scooped up from the floors of the gaol, and had been forbidden from visiting since. He had been intent on killing Quinn, even though the woman lay unconscious and helpless on a cot.
Eden had pointed out that Rowan had brought it upon himself, and that he had goaded Quinn into it, getting precisely the reaction he’d asked for. Rowan had retorted by saying the woman shouldn’t have been in the castle in the first place, and their father was insane in letting her stay there. He was going to eradicate her, and Tarik, and it would be doing Shiver a favour.
Quinn had been under armed guard since. Shiver was still very hopeful that he’d be able to use Quinn in his fight against Sammah.
Shiver picked up his pace, his voice rising to a yell as he started a sprint down the hall. His father never sprinted anywhere, so Eden automatically picked up speed to match him. It didn’t take long to see why. Down the bottom of the hallway, the guards for Quinn’s rooms were slumped on the floor. Eden was on the heels of his father, and both men barrelled through the unlocked door.
Shiver slid in the blood already saturating the floor. He lost his footing, skidding into the second bed, which held Quinn. Tarik lay still and pale, a sword jutting out of his chest. Eden held his breath, not stopping as his eyes swept to Quinn. Rowan straddled her, both of his hands around her neck.
“Rowan! Stop!”
Rowan’s eyes snapped across to his father, before settling on Eden with a snarl. “You’re both mad! She can’t be allowed to live! She tried to kill me!”
“You were killing her! She acted in self defence!”
“I don’t care! She’s an abomination! She can’t be allowed to live.”
Shiver grabbed at Rowan, trying to rip him off Quinn. Her body rose as Rowan refused to loosen his grip on her neck. Both men yelled, and Eden joined his father, trying to prise loose Rowan’s hands before twisting helplessly at his wrists. Rowan was stronger than him and fuelled by rage; he had a death grip on Quinn and he wasn’t letting go.
Quinn gasped, coughing, and all eyes turned to her. Quinn’s eyes flew open, taking in without panic the scene in front of her. Eden dropped his grip on Rowan, slipping to the ground, dumbstruck at the numb fury he saw in Quinn then. She was back from the cusp of death. That had happened before, and she always came back stronger.
She didn’t need the Sighs any more to wield her power.
Eden dropped all the way to the floor and covered his ears. He saw his father drop, too. Eden covered his ears as Rowan began to shriek.
* * *
“I didn’t think you were coming back that time.”
Rall’s voice was edgy and nervous. Maertn sat up on his elbows, shaking the blurriness from his eyes. “It’s okay. I always come back, master. You should try it. It’s beautiful.”
Rall pandered to his newest student’s fascination with the afterlife, but Maertn’s offhand attitude towards the place most people saw when they died was deeply unsettling. “What did you see this time?”
Every time Maertn’s answer had been the same. He’d seen shifting shapes, the sea of blood and the Beach of Bones itself. There were rarely people there, because he’d not travelled with the purpose of healing. That’s the way Maertn had explained it to him, and Rall hadn’t questioned it. Maertn was the first healer he’d ever heard of that travelled voluntarily to the beach to…well…explore. Rall was keeping the knowledge of these excursions limited to the highest echelons of their order. Not even Pax had been informed. Rall didn’t know what Pax might order done to the boy if he found out, and Rall didn’t want to lose such a talented healer so young just because of his curiosity.
Maertn had confided in Rall that he’d been to the beach before, retrieving the empath Quinn from there more than onc
e. Maertn seemed to think that each time she’d come back she’d been more powerful, too, in control of a more significant portion of her ability. This wasn’t in opposition to some scholarly texts Rall had read, but many of them were old. If what Maertn was telling him was true, both about him and about Quinn, then the future of their people was either going to be glorious, or incredibly brief.
“Quinn was there.”
Rall stuttered. He knew that he should be confident around his students, that he was the master in this room and was capable of killing this boy in any manner of undetectable ways. Quinn. The empath had returned to the beach. Why?
“What happened?”
“She’s in Sevenspells. Something has gone wrong. They were sending her back to Everfell, weren’t they? They were trying to make her use her ability. She did, and it went wrong. She’d overstretched herself and ended up on the beach.”
“Like before?”
“Just like before.”
“And did you save her?”
Maertn nodded slowly, but knotted his brow in confusion.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“I didn’t get her out of there, the same way as before. The other times it’s just been an effort to help her help herself. As if she could get out of there by just using me as a path. This time…this time I was strangling her.”
“Strangling? Killing her?”
“We were already on the beach. I couldn’t have…killed her more, could I? Her eyes went wide, and I woke up. I want to go back and see if she’s there…” Maertn looked up at Rall and could see the immediate denial in his master’s eyes.
“Do you think she’s still there?”
Maertn shook his head. “What I did was instinctive, like every other time. I think that it was just different. Her reasons for being there, perhaps, or something happening to her where she is. I think she left the beach.”