Sea of Sighs (Empath Book 2) by Dawn Peers Page B

even started, and he’d made his first enemy. It
was going to be a long day.
    Eden waited, standing awkwardly whilst the
king and Venn continued their small talk. Venn was trying to paint
other lords into corners with what might have been knowledge or
gossip, and Eden was given a sore reminder of how experienced he
was in this deadly dance of words at court.
    He listened carefully to their words, trying
to keep up with the gist of their stories, their opinions and
stances, and the way their eyes told the truth behind the words
that came out of their mouths. Venn’s eyes always gave him away;
Eden could see that clearly. The king could see it too, with the
way his body reacted, twisting away sometimes, facing Venn fully at
others, depending on what lie the lord was crafting. So many people
spoke about the king like he was a headless buffoon, and whilst it
took a blend of luck and malice for Vance both get to stay on the
throne, to keep it for so long with wolves like his father
circling, had to take some level of character.
    They were posturing now about taxes, and
Eden found it hard to concentrate on something so boring. He would
have preferred if they carried on talking about his father, but
understood why they wouldn’t, under the circumstances. That kind of
talk would be left to their meeting. Eden was glad, therefore, when
the remaining lords started arriving.
    Eden greeted all of them in turn, bowing
where necessary and treating them with all of the decorum of their
posts. At the moment, he was still just Sevenspells’ captain of the
guard, but to their credit, all of the men who saw him tried not to
look too surprised at his presence. Disappointingly, Rowan was the
last man to enter the room. Eden realised, when he thought of the
other lords, that his brother really didn’t stand alongside them.
Rowan was already past marrying age, and Eden was sure that would
be brought up in the meeting. Rowan looked pale, and a patina of
grease coated his face. Rowan’s long black hair, usually
free-flowing like Eden’s, had been smoothed back with pig’s fat,
giving him an altogether unsullied look. Eden was mildly disgusted
with his brother’s attempt at showing himself as a lord, but he was
also slightly smug. He had arrived early, and had already settled
himself with the king and Lord Venn. The wine, half of the glass
already down his throat, hadn’t exactly hindered proceedings, and
he was glad the king at suggested it, after all. Rowan made a
beeline straight for Eden, barely acknowledging the lords around
him. Another mistake , Eden thought.
    “Hello, brother, does today find you
well?”
    “It does, my lord; and yourself?”
    Eden used the noble form of address on
purpose, acknowledging out loud that his brother was his superior,
and that he was not here to supplant anyone in the Sevenspells
succession. It was also a move to keep Rowan comfortable, as his
brother had shown before that he felt easily threatened.
    “We are very well today, thank you, little
brother,” Rowan had already started using the plural first person,
and he sounded like a fool. He’d fit in well with Venn and Shiver.
He’d also disregarded Eden’s rank, which made Rowan sound uncaring.
So far, Rowan was not doing well. “Any sign of the meeting
starting, yes?”
    “ Soon ,
Sevenspells, we were waiting for all of the lords to attend.
I’m glad you could grace us with your presence.”
    Vance had a sarcastic edge to his voice, and
neither of the Sevenspells men missed it. Eden only just managed to
suppress his smirk as Rowan scrambled for an apology.
    “Ah, my apologies, your highness.” Rowan
sketched a bow to the king, and it was slow, mocking both in
descent and ascent. Vance gave Rowan a bland smile, but didn’t miss
a beat.
    “Thank you Rowan. It’s been a long time
since your father dealt me the courtesy of a decent bow. It’s good
to see the heirs of Sevenspells know their place.”
    Rowan smiled thinly, and didn’t