Well of Tears (Empath Book 3) (13 page)

“
Care
?”

“He eats with us. He gets water. Both are
more than he is guaranteed in his life on the streets.”

“And what am I doing with Jason?”

Rowan addressed the boy, who was sitting
cross-legged now, and still studiously focusing on the ground.
“Jason, can you tell Quinn why you steal?”

“Because I have nothing, sir.”

“Why don’t you get a job, Jason?”

“Because no one will employ me, sir.”

“There are always jobs, Jason, if you put
your pride to one side and look for them. We always need boys on
the dung trucks. Why won’t you work on the dung trucks, Jason?”

Jason didn’t answer. Quinn could give a few
reasons why she wouldn’t want to work on the accursed slurry
wagons, and the chance of contracting a revolting skin disease
would be top of the list. That job was usually assigned as a
punishment, not filled voluntarily. If Rowan was trying to force
this boy into employment, he could simply order him into that most
vile of positions.

Rowan’s intentions for this experiment were
clear enough. “You want me to convince him to work?”

“Yes, please. Jason’s reputation is for
avoiding an honest day’s work. My father would like you to try and
change that opinion.”

“Change it…how?”

Jason’s voice shook. Quinn couldn’t reassure
him even if she’d wanted to, and not just because Rowan was looming
over the both of them. She didn’t know if she was capable of
forcing this child into suddenly having a work ethic. Was that even
an emotion?

“Why don’t you want to work on the slurry
trucks, Jason?”

Quinn repeated Rowan’s question, trying to
get a response with her kinder tone, rather than the brusque
attitude Rowan usually adopted. Jason still didn’t answer her.
Quinn opened up to him, and was almost rolled backwards by his
fear. Was it her that he was scared of? Not likely. They were
sitting at the same level, and with Rowan standing armed by them
both, he was the clear aggressor in the situation.

“Prince Rowan, could you leave us please?
Just for a few minutes? I think it might help both of us.”

Rowan paused, opening his mouth to answer
before reconsidering. “I will be in the corner. I won’t be letting
you out of my sight.”

Where he stood didn’t matter, so long as his
shadow wasn’t over the two of them sitting on the grass. Quinn kept
herself open as Rowan left, and Jason calmed down almost
immediately. He was still scared, but not nearly as much. “He’s not
going to hurt us,” Quinn whispered to the petrified boy. “He just
wants you to answer some questions.”

“He’s asked me before. It doesn’t matter what
I say. They beat me.”

“Why don’t you just work?”

Jason whispered, not looking at Quinn. “I’ll
die if I work on those trucks. I had friends…they used to work on
the wagons. They died so quickly. I don’t want that to happen to
me.”

“You’ll die anyway. Look at yourself. Do you
ever eat?”

“I…sometimes. It’s better this way. At least
it’s my choice.”

“Taking a job can be your choice, too. Then
the guards would at least leave you alone?”

Angry tears sprang to Jason’s eyes. “You
don’
t understand. You
’re just like
everyone else. You sound like one of
them
. Do you know what
it’s even like to have a job?”

“I was
forced
to have a job. I didn’t
have a choice.” Quinn didn’t tell Jason that she had been a maid;
by comparison that job was a joy. Quinn didn’t want to agree with
Rowan, but she understood the prince’s point of view. This boy
wasn’t helping himself. His mood had turned from fear to obstinate
anger, and his own attack on Quinn had riled her.

Quinn couldn’t identify which part was making
the boy act the way he was. He wasn’t scared of work. It had been
the prince that Jason was wary of. And why was it important to
Rowan that the boy worked voluntarily?

Quinn thought back to the ship, and her first
crossing over the Sighs. She hadn’t shared emotions directly with
the mercenary. His actions had made her hate every facet of him,
and with every fibre of her being, Quinn had wanted the man to die.
On the crossing back, above and beyond all things, she had desired
Eden, in that moment. It seemed important, even essential, that for
this new element of her ability to work, Quinn had to strongly
desire a result.

As she stared at this boy, Quinn quickly
realised that she resented his attitude, even with his emaciated
state, she couldn’t care less whether or not he worked. Even if she
did care, she didn’t know what part of him she should change to
make him change his mind.

Quinn got to her feet, wiping at her trousers
and ignoring Jason’s protest. She didn’t want to help someone that
would not help themselves, but she felt like she’d discovered
something important about herself that Shiver needed to know. It
would be useless if they kept sitting her in front of
criminals
like Jason. Quinn couldn’t affect him. She didn’t
want to
.

Rowan dashed over to her when he saw her
move. “Yes? Are you done, already?”

“I’ve not done anything to him. I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I understand what the king wants me to do,
but with him,” Quinn waved back at Jason, “it’s not going to
work.”

“Why not? The task is simple. He will not
work. You must make him work.”

“But…that’s not an emotion. That’s just the
way he
is
. I don
’t think that’s
something I can change, and I don’t believe my abilities work like
that.”

“You don’t know how they work.”

“But I am starting to see how they
can’t
. The only times I’ve been able to do this before, I
really wanted something to happen. I was desperate to change the
other person. I couldn’t care less about that boy. His attitude
frustrates me, but it doesn’t affect me enough to want to change
his mind.”

Rowan sucked at his lower lip as he mulled
over Quinn’
s words.
“That makes a modicum
of sense. What do you suggest?”

“I need someone I can react to.”

“In what way?”

“The first time I was able to do this, it was
someone I hated.”

Rowan clicked his fingers. “Perfect. I can
see why an idle boy perhaps wasn’t the best choice, then. I have a
much better idea. Come with me.”

"Come with me. If you think you need have a
strong reaction to be able to affect these people, and let’s give
you a reason to have a strong reaction.”

Rowan grabbed Quinn by the fabric at the
shoulder of her shirt, throwing her in the direction of the
corridor. Quinn stumbled, putting her hands out to break her fall.
The heels of her palms scraped along the ground and she cried out
in pain. Rowan hauled her back to her feet.

“Where are you taking me?”

“What were the rumours about you, when you
worked for father back in Everfell?”

“He built a persona for me. He called it the
Satori, and he used that as a decoy to keep people guessing I
really was.”

“And what did the Satori do”

“I questioned people for my father. Anyone he
asked me to. There were so many different ones that I couldn’t
really tell you.”

“Did they have anything in common?”

“Only that most of them were unpleasant.”

“Indeed. And I should imagine that, after a
childhood full of being pressed into service questioning men like
that, you have quite a distaste for men of ill repute. Can I go so
far to say that you’re scared of criminals? Especially
mercenaries?”

“I’m not afraid of many people these days
your highness, but I do question the way they lead their
lives.”

“What a
very
polite way to phrase it.
I have a theory Quinn, and I think you’re going to react very well
where I’m taking you. Something else my brother mentioned as well,
though it wasn’t exactly a secret, that you passed out in groups.
When you were younger you couldn’t control your ability, didn’t you
say? Well, you can’t control your new ability now, so let’s try and
bombard you with that."

“Your highness, you don’t know what
you’
re doing
. I nearly died before, so
many times."

“Then why aren’t you dead?"

“Because there was a Sha’sekian healer there,
skilled enough to bring me back from the Beach of B
ones.
”

“Well as you can guess, we don’t have any
more of you freaks lying around, so you’d better get a handle on
that power as quickly as you possibly can.”

“You think it’s that easy? You threaten me
and I respond? It’s not like that, your highness. I can’t just be
exposed to these men and instantly be able to do what you need me
to do. You could kill me!”

“To be honest, I think really if my father
would admit it to himself, he’d rather you were dead. So, I do this
to you, and you either become in full-control of your abilities or
you die. Either way, in my father’s eyes, I think I win. I’m
willing to take that risk.”

Quinn shook her head in disbelief. “You’re
just as insane as your father!”

“We’re not mad, Quinn, we’re the only
rational minds in a sea of chaos.”

Rowan directed her through various corridors
as she was taken through the bowels of Sevenspells. The
architecture here was no different than Everfell, and Quinn found
herself despondently reminded of the time she was guided to empty
rooms by Elias, with usually another mercenary the side of her,
waiting to question some beleaguered stranger. She was back here,
and she’d always be brought back in this kind of place. What did
she need to do to take control of her own life finally? Why
couldn’t she just be normal; no one wanted to use a maid like this.
She could have just gone with her life, been a nobody, and done
nothing. How delightful that would have been.

“Wait out here, I’m going to have a word with
the captain.”

Quinn didn’t know whether Rowan meant Harn or
some other man in charge of the prison specifically, but she stood
stiffly near a wall and didn’t dare to move. The desperate part of
her brain wished Eden would walk past then, somehow saving her from
this horrible situation. Quinn had a sinking feeling that Rowan had
edged over to the further side of madness, and Quinn would be lucky
if she got out of this situation alive. Perhaps death would be the
better way out. No one could control her if she was buried six feet
under the ground.

Quinn was looking down the corridor that
Rowan had come from, so she jumped out of her skin when she saw him
emerge from some steps just to the right of her. His face was
unreadable, but given Quinn’s level of trust of this man, she
looked further. Rowan was almost joyous, and given there were very
few reasons why men man like him would feel emotions like that,
Quinn did begin to fear for her life.

“Come with me Quinn. We’re going
downstairs.”

“What’s down there?”

“I think you can guess what’s down here
Quinn. That wasn’t a request, it was an order. You going to have to
do this, whether you like it or not, so you might as well make
things easier for yourself. I won’t think twice about throwing you
down the stairs if I have to.”

Quinn did believe him. She pushed herself off
the wall, the propulsion the only way she could make herself move
more than a few steps without stopping. Rowan stood to one side,
expecting her to go downstairs first. It was dark, and the damp
corridor smelt of decades of moss and a lifetime of neglect. Quinn
put her arms out on the walls, but recoiled when she felt something
moist and squishy. She didn’t want to know what it was. Rowan’s
hand brushed on the back of her neck. Quinn shuddered.

“Keep moving. You can go quicker than this.
The stairs aren’t shallow. Hurry up, otherwise I’ll push you the
rest of the way.”

Gulping, Quinn tried to take more confident
steps. It was difficult, but the farther down she got the more she
could see a shallow light laying across the bottom of the stairs.
At least they didn’t keep their prisoners in pitch black, although
Quinn wouldn’t have been surprised if that had been the case. Quinn
hesitated at the bottom step, and this time Rowan overtook her
without any aggression.

“Come on, this way.”

Quinn felt like grabbing on the prince for
safety and guidance, but pulled back from that foolish action at
the last moment. Rowan was not Eden. It wasn’t completely pitch
black down here, though the corridors were narrow. She wondered how
it felt to be a miserable prisoner taken down here. What kind of
life did Jason have in the city of Sevenspells, that this would be
a preferable option for him?

“Are you using your ability yet?"

“No, why?”

“You need to start."

“But there’s no one here.”

“That’s not the point, and that’s not what
you’ve been told. I told you I want you to start using your
ability, so do it.”

Quinn did as she was asked, and all she could
sense was Rowan’s ire. He carried on walking forwards, and Quinn
assumed that she needed to keep herself open to all comers. They
came to another door, and Rowan thumped at the solid wood. The door
rattled in its hinges, and a frightened yelp came from within.
Quinn felt a sharp stab of fear then, from more than one
direction.

“You in there, approach the bars.”

Quinn dropped her eyes as she waited for the
face to reveal itself. She partially expected it to be someone she
recognised, perhaps someone she had seen once upon a time in her
role as the Satori. It was just a man though, and even by the
standards of castle prisons, it was a filthy one. A greasy
bedraggled beard hid the majority of a face that was otherwise
caked in grime. The man shot a grin at Rowan, showing two uneven
rows of stumpy, black and yellow teeth.

“What can I do for you, my lord?”