Encala (12 page)

Chevalier stood up and stepped toward Kyle,
his voice now furious, “What did you do?”

“
I love her,” Kyle finally
admitted.

“
I already knew that, but
it doesn’t tell me what you did,” Chevalier said, now only a foot
from Kyle.

“
She was so sick for a
while, a fever and the sun burns. I took care of her,” he said,
watching Emily.

“
And?”

“
She was lonely and frail
on the island. She just had on that shirt and when she slept… she’s
so beautiful,” he continued. Emily blushed and looked away from
him.

“
Who tore her
shirt?”

“
I did.”

“
Off of her?”

He flinched at the anger in Chevalier’s
voice, “Yes.”

“
Keep going.”

Emily sat still while Kyle told Chevalier
everything that happened. He explained how his troops stood up to
him for her, and she suddenly felt guilty for having run off with
Allen. She risked a glance up at Chevalier and saw his body in a
crouch, his hands balled into tight fists.

“
Mark,” Chevalier
called.

“
Yes, Sir,” Mark said,
looking at Kyle.

“
Take him… I’ll deal with
him when we get back to the palace’s interrogation chamber,” he
said, seething.

Mark took Kyle’s arm, but Chevalier stopped
him.

“
What did you see?” he
asked.

Mark looked at Kyle, who nodded, “We saw
Lady Emily come back from a walk. She didn’t have a shirt on, she
was just holding it against herself. There were… bite marks on her
neck that were still bleeding. She wouldn’t talk to us. She just
put on a shirt and took Allen, threatening to turn us to ash if we
followed.”

“
Nothing else?” Chevalier
hissed.

“
No, Sir,” Mark said, and
when Chevalier moved out of the way, Mark took Kyle out roughly and
shut the door behind them.

Emily felt his eyes on her, and though she
knew it hadn’t been her fault, she felt ashamed.

“
I’m sorry,” she
whispered.

“
Do not apologize for his
actions,” Chevalier growled, making Emily flinch.

“
He’s kissed me before,”
she said, still watching the covers.

“
When? How many times?”
Chevalier was suddenly standing beside her.

“
I told him to stop, and he
did… until…”

“
Until he had you alone on
a deserted island.”

Emily nodded, she was too ashamed to even
look up at him.

Chevalier growled deeply and blurred from
the room, slamming the door hard behind him. Emily buried her face
in her hands and took some time to calm her nerves. She heard a
loud crash coming from the bow of the ship and she flinched. She
stood up slowly and walked up the stairs onto the deck.

The deck chairs were strewn about, some of
them shattered into small pieces. The heku guards were standing
along the railings, unmoving. Emily turned to see what they were
watching, and she gasped. Chevalier was tearing the boat apart,
ripping doors from the hinges and smashing things against the
walls.

Emily ran to stop him, but a hand reached
out and grabbed her around the waist.

“
It’s not safe,” Mark said
to her.

“
Let me go, I caused this,”
she said, pulling against his hand.

“
Stay with us, trust
me.”

“
You didn’t cause this,”
Kralen whispered.

“
Where is Kyle?” she asked,
afraid he was already dead.

“
He’s in the cargo hold.
The Elder wants him tried before the Council,” Kralen
answered.

Emily looked around the boat and into the
empty helm’s room, “Where’s the Captain?”

Mark shook his head, “It was fast.”

She gasped, “Chevalier killed him?”

“
Yes”

“
Why?”

“
He tried to calm the Elder
down. Right now we all need to just stay away from him,” Mark said,
watching the destruction.

Emily pulled at Mark’s fingers, “Let me
go.”

“
Don’t do it,” he warned
her, and let go.

Emily walked slowly up the stairs to the top
deck where Chevalier was. He had just torn a door from the hinges
and thrown it overboard when she touched him lightly on the
shoulder. He spun towards her, his face furious.

“
Chev?” she asked, looking
into his eyes.

His posture changed, it softened slightly,
“Get back downstairs.”

“
Please, come with me,” she
said, taking his hands. She smoothed his fingers out of the tight
fist.

“
He’s going to pay for
this,” Chevalier hissed.

“
I know,” she said, pulling
him toward the stairs.

His entire body was shaking furiously.

“
You’re scaring me,” she
told him, watching him carefully.

“
I trusted him with you,
implicitly.”

Emily took his other hand and walked down
the stairs past the terrified guards. She sat down on the bed and
watched him lean the door against the door frame.

“
Did he hurt you?”
Chevalier asked, sitting beside her as his eyes scanned her body
again.

“
No, when he bit me I...
you know.”

“
No I don’t know, what?” he
asked.

“
I ashed him, but I didn’t
want to kill him. I just knocked him unconscious so I could get
away,” she said, rubbing his arm lightly.

“
That’s a lot of control.
Why didn’t you do it when he… tried to… when he…” He shut his eyes
against the image.

“
I didn’t think he would do
that,” she whispered. “I trusted him, too.”

“
Even though he’s kissed
you before?”

“
Yes, because when I told
him to stop, he always did.” She stifled a yawn and looked over at
the clock, it was 4am.

“
Sleep, you look tired,” he
said, kissing her forehead.

“
Stay with me,” she asked,
and slipped under the covers.

He nodded and shut out the light.

It’d been a month since they got back from
the deserted island, and Emily waited patiently for them to try
Kyle. The date was finally set and it was rumored that she would
testify, even though she refused at first.

The Council gathered in their seats with a
gloom, and the lights were dimmed. It was troubled times when they
had to bring one of their highest ranking guards into a trial. The
seats down below them were filled with heku from the guard staff
and the town. There were three empty chairs sitting out in front of
the rest, facing the Council.

“
Derrick, bring in the
accused,” Leonid said to the door guard.

The door opened and Kyle stepped in, still
wearing his Captain’s uniform. His hands were bound in front of
him, and he walked over to the chairs and sat down on the left-hand
seat.

“
The guards present on the
island will be represented by Mark, bring him in,” Leonid said,
watching Kyle closely.

Mark walked in wearing his official uniform,
with his head held high. He sat in the middle chair.

Leonid turned to Elder Chevalier, “Do you
wish for Lady Emily to be present for this?”

Chevalier nodded.

“
Bring in Lady Emily,”
Leonid said, and watched the guard open the door. Emily walked in
and looked around. She didn’t realize how many were going to be
present for this. She didn’t want this many heku to know what
happened. She was wearing the blue slip dress Margaret had made for
her, and it suddenly felt cold in the room.

“
Please, take a seat,” the
guard at the door whispered to her.

Emily looked one more time at the crowd, and
then walked in to sit down by Mark. She crossed her ankles and laid
her hands in her lap.

“
We will proceed if there
are no objections,” Maleth said, and looked at Emily when she
raised her hand. “Yes, Emily?”

Emily stood up, blushing, and walked to
Maleth. He leaned down and she whispered into his ear, softly
enough that the rest of the heku couldn’t make out her words.

He stood back up and waited until she sat
down again, “This is now a closed trial. If you have no part of
this, you will leave immediately.”

Emily watched her hands in her lap as the
heku from the audience filed out of the council chambers. When the
last of the audience was gone, Maleth stood up again.

“
Are there any other
requests?” he asked the three of them left.

“
I call for a conflict of
interest,” Kyle said to Maleth.

“
On what
grounds?”

“
On the grounds that Elder
Chevalier’s wife is involved. I ask that he not be
present.”

Emily tensed and looked up nervously at
Chevalier. He was glaring coldly at Kyle.

The council members nodded in succession and
Chevalier got up angrily, slamming his chair against the back wall
as he left the room.

Emily watched him go and then looked at the
Council fearfully.

Maleth smiled at her reassuringly, “He won’t
be far, Dear.”

She nodded.

“
Shall we proceed?” Maleth
asked again, and this time, no one said anything.

“
These proceedings will
cover the two charges filed against Kyle. The first is attempted
rape.” He hesitated as Emily winced, “The other is feeding without
permission of the donor. How do you plead?”

Kyle stood, “Not guilty to the first charge
and guilty to the second.”

Mark looked up at him, shocked.

“
Very well,” Maleth said.
“Let’s take the first offense. Lady Emily, please tell us in her
own words what happened.”

Emily shook her head. She could feel tears
welling up in her eyes as she stared at her hands.

Leonid grinned slightly. It wasn’t often
that someone told an elder no.

Maleth frowned, “Emily, we need an account
so we can decide.”

“
Don’t make her testify,”
Kyle said angrily.

“
You will not speak until
spoken to. Lady Emily, please approach the Council,” Maleth said,
sitting down.

Emily stood up and walked toward the
Council.

“
Child, you are safe here,”
he said to her, and she nodded.

“
Are you afraid with Kyle
in the room?” Leonid asked her softly, and she shook her
head.

“
Are you embarrassed? We
are all friends here,” one of the council members asked.

Emily shook her head.

Maleth thought for a moment and then gasped,
“Are you ashamed?”

Emily nodded and fought back the tears in
her eyes.

“
Come up here, Child,”
Leonid said, and then watched her as she walked up to the Elder’s
seat.

He took her hand as she knelt down beside
him, “There is nothing to be ashamed of. We just need to know what
happened so we can correctly judge him.”

A tear streamed down Emily’s cheek.

“
Tell me, Child, just me,”
Leonid smiled at her.

She finally nodded and looked down at Kyle.
He looked away from her gaze.

“
I was sitting
alone.”

“
No guards
around?”

“
No, I needed to be alone,”
she said, and looked back at Kyle.

“
Go ahead.”

“
Kyle came and he… he
started to kiss me. He wouldn’t stop.” Leonid could tell by her
eyes that she was picturing it all in her mind, “He laid me down.
He was so heavy, I couldn’t get up and my hands… he had them
trapped above my head.”

Leonid brushed a tear from her cheek with
his soft finger. She looked into his eyes and saw that he truly
cared. She could see that he wasn’t judging her.

“
He tore… my shirt off.”
She slowly wrapped her arms around herself, “He was still kissing
me… then he… he took off my bikini top, too. He was… just kissing
my neck and then, I could feel his teeth.”

“
That’s enough, Child. We
know the rest,” he said, and touched her shoulder lightly. “Thank
you.”

Emily stood up on shaky legs and walked back
down to her chair and sat down. Leonid took a moment to regain his
composure and stood up.

“
I have heard the testimony
of the victim. Now you will have time to appeal your case,” he
said, looking down at Kyle.

Kyle stood up, glanced at Emily, and then at
the Council, “It’s not how it sounds. I love her.”

Damon spoke up, “You love the Elder’s
wife?”

“
Yes,” Kyle said, standing
tall.

“
For how long?”

“
Since I met her on the
ranch in Montana.”

Leonid held a hand up to stop Damon, “So
love was it? Did she ask you to stop?”

He nodded, “Yes, but it was because she is
afraid of Chevalier, not because the feelings aren’t mutual.”

Emily gasped and looked at Leonid, who
smiled at her, “The reasons don’t matter. Did she say to stop?”

“
Yes,” Kyle said to
Emily.

“
Did you forcibly remove
her clothing?” Leonid asked him.

Kyle simply nodded.

“
That was out of love
also?”

“
No, by that time things
had gotten out of control,” Kyle said, softly.