Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (100 page)

Emily sighed, “Should be any day
now.”

Emily turned and looked at
the door when Kyle was pushed into the cell. He rolled his eyes
when the door shut.

“
So?” Chevalier asked
him.

“
He wanted me to tell them
the top three covens in Equites with locations, troop counts, and
defensive capabilities,” Kyle said, and sat down.

Chevalier chuckled,
“Ok.”

“
So when I refused, they
said I would pay and then brought me back here,” Kyle
shrugged.

Chevalier looked from Emily to Kyle,
“Kyle, Emily hurt her back.”

“
This damned cement floor,”
Kyle said.

“
Em, go show him your bad
back,” Chevalier said.

Kyle looked suspiciously at Emily when
she crawled out of Chevalier’s lap and sat on his, straddling his
legs and facing him. She glanced at Chevalier and then leaned her
head against Kyle, who tensed nervously and looked at
Chevalier.

“
Smell my neck,” Emily
whispered.

Kyle, his eyes locked on
Chevalier, inhaled slight, “Ok.”

Emily sighed, “Put your damn nosed
against my neck.”

Chevalier nodded and Kyle
did as he was told. He pulled back with wide eyes, and looked at
Emily.

“
Bad back,” she said to
him.

Kyle nodded, and Emily
returned to Chevalier’s lap. It was a lot more comfortable than the
ground.

“
Did you… know your back
was hurt?”

“
Not for sure. I was
waiting until I knew before I complained,” Emily said, and leaned
back against Chevalier’s chest.

“
Zohn knows,” Chevalier
said.

Kyle nodded, “Had you
planned on hurting your back?”

Emily frowned,
“No.”

“
Well, the Equites Council
won’t want her to stay here with a bad back, so they are bound to
step into action quickly.”

“
We have two days, three at
most,” Chevalier said, mostly to himself. He was staring at the
cement wall, trying to think of a way out of this.

“
I could wait until the
door is opened and then… erm… take care of them all,” Emily
suggested, but felt Chevalier tense.

“
No, we’ll think of another
way,” Chevalier whispered.

“
Well we have two days to
think of something, and then it’ll get much harder,” Kyle
said.

Emily leaned her head back
against Chevalier’s neck and shut her eyes. His arms wrapped around
her and she slowly slid off to sleep.

“
At least she sleeps better
on your lap than on the floor,” Kyle whispered.

Chevalier nodded, “If we weren’t in a
Valle prison, I would be ecstatic.”

Kyle chuckled, “Congratulations again.
I thought she was done.”

“
Not sure this one was
planned.”

“
If the faction doesn’t
come in two days, are you going to let her do it?”

“
I haven’t decided. We need
to before they find out though.”

Kyle sighed, “She was smart to let
Zohn know.”

“
I’m worried about Exavior,
if he tries to…” Chevalier took a deep breath to calm his anger.
“If he tries to kiss her, he’ll know.”

“
Has he kissed her?” Kyle
frowned.

Chevalier shrugged, “I
don’t know. You’re the only other heku I know that she’s
kissed.”

Kyle shifted uncomfortably and looked
at the door.

“
This is bad to say,”
Chevalier said, and grinned slightly. “I’d like to see her ash the
entire palace. I have yet to see her do that.”

“
I saw her at the one
reception, it’s pretty amazing.”

“
The doctor though, he was
worried that one of these times she might have a
stroke.”

Kyle nodded, “I don’t doubt it. I
wonder if Alexis will be as strong as Emily.”

“
She has a reoccurring
dream.” Chevalier glanced to make sure she was still asleep, “Where
Allen, Alexis, and another child, sometimes it’s male and sometimes
female, they come to the Council, but they are all grown up. Allen
is seeking the Equites help to control Alexis. In the dream, Emily
is always dead, sometimes Alexis has killed her, sometimes it’s a
disease, or car wreck. Anyway, in these dreams, Alexis is always
completely out of control and powerful. She has Emily’s abilities,
heku traits, and the Ancient’s strengths.”

“
Wow, that would be great
to see though,” Kyle said.

“
Yes, well, except she
feeds and kills anyone she wants. Pretty much breaks all heku
rules, but no one can stop her. She can ash any heku who crosses
her, but she’s gone rogue.” Chevalier smiled slightly, “It’s an
interesting dream.”

Kyle nodded, “I bet.”

“
Do you remember what you
promised me the night I left to banish Selest?”

“
Yes.” Kyle remembered it
vividly, and often thought of taking Emily off to the island and
living there together.

“
I wondered if you would
consider that now that you are Chief Enforcer, if anything ever
happened to me.”

“
I’m sure I would still
take her away. You hold the mortal haters at bay, and she wouldn’t
be safe any longer,” Kyle said.

Chevalier nodded, “Thank
you.”

“
What about you? What are
you going to do when she dies?”

“
I used to think I would
retire for a thousand years, but with Allen and Alexis, it’s all
changed. I would need to stay here for them.”

Emily jerked in her sleep and sat up
suddenly, looking around.

“
It’s ok, bad dream,”
Chevalier said, and kissed the top of her head.

“
Couldn’t have been a bad
dream,” Emily whispered, and leaned back against his chest again.
“I’m still here.”

Everyone glanced up when the door
opened. Exavior stepped in and a sudden jealousy flashed across his
eyes, “Come, Emily.”

Emily held onto Chevalier’s arms,
“Why?”

“
Because I told you to,”
Exavior said, and held his hand out for her.

Emily turned and kissed
Chevalier, placing her hands on the sides of his face. His arms
wrapped tighter around her.

Exavior grabbed Emily’s arm
and tore her away from Chevalier. Chevalier jumped to his feet and
lunged at Exavior, but he dodged and shut the door
quickly.

Chevalier growled and sat down, his
body still tense and ready to attack, “He’s going to hurt
her.”

“
I don’t think he will,”
Kyle said. “Did you see the look on his face? He loves her. He was
just jealous, but at least that means he probably won’t hurt
her.”

Chevalier glared at the door, “If he
does…”

“
He won’t, trust me. He’s
just mad because Emily saw the jealous look on his face and decided
to show him who she belongs to,” Kyle said, smirking.

Chevalier relaxed some and chuckled,
“I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes if he tries anything with
her.”

“
You’re hurting me,” Emily
said to Exavior as he hauled her down the hallway toward the
stateroom.

“
Just come with me,” he
growled.

“
I’ll walk with you. Let
go, you’re hurting my arm,” Emily said, and looked up when someone
walked in front of them.

“
Let her go,” Sotomar said.
“There’s no reason to hurt her.”

Exavior obeyed his Elder
and let Emily’s arm go. She rubbed where the hand-shaped bruise was
forming. Sotomar smiled at Emily as they walked past, and Exavior
opened the door to the stateroom and shut the door when they were
inside.

Emily turned to look at him, “More
food?”

“
No, I’m offering you a
shower,” he said, and pointed to the bathroom door.

“
A private one?”

“
Of course.”

Emily glanced at the
bathroom door. She remembered the look on Exavior’s face when he’d
seen her in Chevalier’s arms, and decided the shower wasn’t a good
idea, “No thanks.”

“
Don’t be difficult, just
go shower,” Exavior said, and sat down.

“
No”

“
Fine, be dirty if you
want.”

“
Please, let me go,” Emily
asked him, and sat down across from him. “If you care about me at
all, you’ll let me go.”

“
I can’t, I won’t break the
Council’s decision.”

“
What exactly do you want?
Just tell me. You didn’t take on my care just for your health,”
Emily asked, watching him carefully.

“
Maybe I just want to be
around you.”

“
Something you could have
done without kidnapping me.”

“
I didn’t kidnap you, that
was a council decision. I just took it upon myself to make sure you
were taken care of.”

“
I find it hard to believe
that I was kidnapped for killing 20 Valle that obviously, I
didn’t,” Emily said, glancing at the window.

Emily gasped when Exavior
fell to his knees in front of her and took her hands, “Please, let
me care for you. Let me treat you like you should be. I know you
miss your Equites, but they haven’t come close to treating you like
you should be. Just let me have this.”

Emily pulled her hands out
of his, “You have no idea how well the Equites treat me, and what
they’ve put up with from me.”

“
I love you. I’ve loved you
since I saw you walk down the aisle in New Mexico,” he said, and
took her hand again to kiss it softly.

“
Exavior, I’m sorry… but I
don’t love you,” Emily said. She was so shocked, she didn’t realize
how quickly she had said that.

“
You will,” Exavior told
her angrily, and left the bedroom. She heard the door lock from the
outside.

Emily got up and walked
around the bedroom. There wasn’t a fireplace, but it was warm and
cozy. The bed was soft, but she refused to lie down. She looked out
the window, studying the side of the building. She couldn’t see any
way to get out of the bedroom through there. She was six floors up
and there were no hand-holds or pipes to crawl down.

She went through the
closets and drawers, but all she found were frilly dresses and high
heeled shoes. She pulled them all out of the closet and tossed them
out the window, watching as they floated to the grass below. She
saw an overhang above the front doors of the palace and tossed all
of the shoes onto it.

***

Chevalier and Kyle looked
up when Exavior walked in, obviously angry, “She’s not coming back.
Emily has decided to stay in the stateroom.”

Exavior slammed the door and walked
out.

Kyle grinned, “And so it
begins.”

“
I wonder what he did to
make her mad,” Chevalier said, and shrugged.

The door opened again and
six heku came in, “You two, come.”

Kyle and Chevalier stood
up, and each was guarded by three Valle as they walked down the
corridor. The guards backed off when the Equites walked into the
trial area. Zohn turned to them and nodded as they stepped up to
stand by the other Equites.

“
Where is Emily? We asked
for all three of them,” Zohn asked angrily.

“
Well you get two, Emily is
busy,” Sotomar said. “So tell us why we are here.”

“
We’ve decided to give in
and exchange Ingram and Selhman for the three Equites that you
have,” Zohn told them.

“
We accept,” Sotomar
said.

“
Good, bring Emily here and
we will arrange the exchange.”

“
Oh, Emily isn’t an
Equites, but we will exchange your Elder and Chief Enforcer for
Ingram and Selhman.”

“
Emily is too an Equites,”
Chevalier growled. “Just ask her.”

“
Mortals can’t claim a
faction.”

“
She’s more than a mortal,
and you know it.”

“
Yes, we agree she has
special abilities, but is still a mortal, therefore, not
factionable,” Sotomar said, and glanced to the Valle
Elders.

“
We aren’t leaving here
without Emily,” Kyle said, and Chevalier’s eyes narrowed at the
Valle Elders.

Sotomar chuckled, “If you ask her, she
no longer wishes to be with you.”

Chevalier nodded, “Fine, but I want to
hear it from her.”

“
She doesn’t want to see
you,” Exavior said, stepping into the council chambers and taking
his seat with the Valle Council.

“
Then no deal. Unless we
hear it directly from her that she doesn’t want to return,” Zohn
said.

“
Take them,” Sotomar said.
Chevalier and Kyle were forcibly dragged from the room.

***

Emily turned when the door opened.
Exavior looked around the room and shut the door, “Do you feel
better now?”

“
Maybe,” Emily said,
looking at the destroyed room.