Read Online Well of Tears (Empath Book 3) by Dawn Peers - Free Book Online Page B

bristling with confidence, strutting around like his
older brother, demonstrating to the ladies of the court how much of
a prize he was. Instead, he seemed like stammering, simpering
half-idiot, barely able to finish sentences most of the time.
Sandwiched in between his two brothers, River looked positively
incapable of rule. Quinn was certain, if anything befell Rowan,
that Shiver would disinherit River in a heartbeat to make sure Eden
would be the one that would take his seat next. What she found
inside River wasn’t surprising. He was a maelstrom of emotions. The
overriding one was fear, which was odd, considering he was sitting
with his own brother. Embarrassment was there, and so was
nervousness. Did he not want to go back to Sevenspells?
    “What was Kahnel like? Did you have to stay
there long waiting for us?”
    Eden filled a wineglass for his brother,
passing it over. He kept the ale for himself—evidently River
didn’ t favour pale drinks. “It was
eventful enough. I hate Kahnel. It stinks of fish, and all of the
men are loud. If I’m being honest, I would have rather stayed in
Sevenspells."
    “With you, that’s saying something. You hate
it here.”
    River didn’ t enjoy living
in Sevenspells —to say he hated port Kahnel more was not
complimentary to the place. Quinn couldn’t agree with him—she’d
loved the feel of the port. If she ever managed to settle anywhere,
she was sure she’d pick there.
    “And Harn? Has he been okay with you?”
    “He’s being ridiculously pleasant to all of
us since he was made captain of the guard. It’s amazing how
something as simple as a title changes a man.”
    “And who else has is it changed? How was our
father behaving now that he thinks he is king?”
    “He’s not acting any differently. As
intolerable as usual. Rowan’ s gotten
worse. ”
    “Worse? What do you mean?”
    “When you were made chamberlain, and you were
spending all your time with Vance, he was convinced you were going
to betray us. He kept on talking to me, telling me how you weren’t
one of us anymore and you couldn’t be trusted. He told me to stop
speaking to you, so I did, like a fool. Then mother arrived, and
she agreed with everything Rowan said. She told us she had seen
father down in the cells, that he’d spoken to you. He was on your
side, which Rowan couldn’t believe. Rowan decided for all of us,
since he was the Lord of Sevenspells at the time, that none of us
could talk to you. We were effectively told to excommunicate you
from the family—because he knew that you’d turned against
us. Then he found out you were going to Sha’sek…” River glanced at
Quinn, and he seemed to hold back out of fear.
    “It’s okay,” she said. “Carry on, none of the
rumours about me are true.”
    Eden placed a gentle hand on Quinn’s. “River,
you can trust her. I trust her.”
    This affirmation seemed to give the boy
courage. “When you went to Sha’sek, Rowan took that as a sign.
That, he said, was the final straw. He was convinced that you’d
never come back from the islands. He was preparing a writ to remove
you from the line of succession. Then, thank the spirits, father
escaped."
    “He was going to do that! How? That wouldn’t
be allowed!"
    “He was the rightful Lord of Sevenspells, he
could have done what he wanted."
    “But someone else would have had to agree
with him—corroborate. Are you saying mother agreed to that?”
    “I think he was forcing her into it. She
didn’t want to."
    “I’ve never known anyone to force our mother
to do anything she didn’t want to do—never mind Rowan.”
    “ Well , it didn’t
happen, and then father escaped, and he tore the document up. He
told Rowan that he was being a fool, and everything you were doing
was for the good of Sevenspells. After that, everything in Everfell
went terribly wrong. We got out of there so quickly, and we were
lucky that we lost so few men. I don’t think Daggerdale or Kahnel
were so lucky with