Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (28 page)

“
Why are you
here?”

“
I told you
why.”

“
If it’s not about me, then
why would Maleth send you up here to irritate me?”

“
Is that what I’m doing?”
Damon asked.

“
Yes”

“
Hmm,” he said, and sat
back against the chair.

“
Why don’t you sit outside
the door?”

“
I can’t irritate you from
out there.”

Emily’s eyes rolled back and she
collapsed on the bed. Damon stood up and shook her softly,
“Emily?”

When she didn’t respond, he blurred
from the room.

She sat up and grinned,
“Amateur.”

Emily was sitting up cross-legged on
the bed reading when Dr. Alona, Chevalier, Kyle, and Damon blurred
into the room.

She looked up as they stopped by her
bed, “Can I help you?”

“
She… she…” Damon said,
shocked.

“
Got you,” Kyle said,
laughing, and walked out of the room. Damon yelled in frustration
and followed him out.

Dr. Alona looked at her carefully, and
Emily sighed when she realized she was getting checked
over.

“
What?” she asked, looking
up from her book.

“
Just one blood pressure?”
he asked, rocking nervously on his feet.

“
Whatever,” Emily said, and
stuck out her arm, still reading.

Dr. Alona moved quickly, afraid she
would change her mind. He took the blood pressure and smiled,
“Thank you.”

“
Sure… go away,” she said,
irritated.

“
It’s still too high,” he
said to her.

“
I figured… go
away.”

Dr. Alona left the room and Chevalier
sat on the bed beside her, “You really scared Damon.”

“
Yes, well he’s an idiot,”
Emily said, and sat the book on her lap.

“
He was doing Maleth a
favor,” Chevalier said, in a tone very close to
patronizing.

“
I want to go back to the
island,” Emily told him.

Chevalier nodded, “Sure, after the
baby…”

Emily cut him off, “Today.”

Chevalier frowned, “We can’t go
today.”

“
Why not? I don’t want to
be here,” she said, watching him.

“
The heku in this building
have grown accustomed to your scent over time. It doesn’t affect
them because the scent grew gradually. The servants at the castle
aren’t used to you. It’d be too dangerous,” he
explained.

“
I’ll stay in the bedroom.
They don’t have to come near me,” Emily said.

“
There will be too much
blood when you have the baby, they won’t be able to resist it,”
Chevalier told her, and touched her cheek softly.

“
I don’t want to have the
baby here.”

“
I’m hoping you’ll be at
the hospital, far away from any heku.”

“
I don’t want to have the
baby at a hospital either.”

“
Where exactly were you
hoping to have it then?”

Emily shrugged, “I told you, alone
somewhere.”

“
It’s too dangerous. Your
family has a history of dying during childbirth. I’d rather have
you around,” Chevalier said softly.

Emily looked down at her hands, “I’m
afraid of killing everyone in this building.”

“
I don’t think that will
happen. If you’ll feel better, we can send Damon away, just in
case,” Chevalier said matter-of-factly.

“
They already think I’m the
spoiled Elder’s wife. See how badly they hate me after I’ve ashed
the lot of them,” Emily said, fighting back more tears.

“
They don’t hate you. If
they did, they wouldn’t be in the palace,” Chevalier told
her.

“
They will if I ash them
all.”

“
That didn’t happen with
Allen, so I’m sure it’ll be ok.”

“
Why were the Valle and
Encala here?” Emily asked after a brief silence.

“
They want Exavior and
Sotomar back,” Chevalier told her, and leaned back against the
headboard on the bed.

“
Did you let them
go?”

“
We were discussing it when
we were rudely interrupted by a frantic Damon,” Chevalier
chuckled.

“
So you’re still supposed
to be down there?”

Chevalier nodded.

“
So go. I’m ok, I just want
to read.”

Chevalier kissed her on the forehead
and left quickly.

***

Emily sat up in bed and looked at the
clock, it was 3am. She looked around the room and saw she was
alone. The two fireplaces were roaring enough she could see all
around the room. She stepped out of bed and pulled on a robe, then
headed out into the hallway. She saw the guard chairs were also
empty.

Yawning, Emily headed down toward the
kitchen, still mostly asleep. The halls seemed extremely quiet, and
if she didn’t know better, she would think she was alone in the
palace. The kitchen was dark and quiet, so she turned on the light
and started making herself a sandwich. She grabbed a bag of chips
in one hand, and her sandwich in the other, and headed back up the
stairs. When she got to the fourth floor, she heard loud
shouting.

“
The domination of the
Equites is ending,” an angry voice yelled.

“
No one said the Equites
are trying to dominate anything,” Maleth said sternly.

“
By laying claim to more
than one Winchester, you are obviously trying to build an army that
no other faction is capable of defeating,” another angry voice
yelled.

“
No one is saying we have
more than one Winchester. You know as well as I do that her son,
Allen, is mortal and has no abilities at all,” Maleth
replied.

“
She is with child, is she
not?”

“
Yes, she is,” Maleth
said.

“
Then if it is a female,
will the infant be given to another faction?”

“
No, she would not be,”
Quinn said.

Emily sighed. She was tired of the
factions fighting over her and her baby. She would rather die than
go to the Valle or the Encala. The Equites seemed to spend a lot of
their time trying to keep her safe and under their protection, and
it was getting old. She was tired of hearing the Equites argue with
the others about any claims to her. She did what she pleased, and
that never included the Encala or the Valle. They acted like the
Equites were holding her against her will.

Emily walked around to the hallway
behind the council chambers and opened the door as she took a bite
of her sandwich. The Council turned around, shocked to see her at
this hour.

“
Em? What’s wrong?”
Chevalier whispered, as he stood up and moved to her.

“
Nothing,” she said, and
handed him the bag of chips to open.

“
Then what are you doing?”
he asked, opening them and handing the bag back to her.

Emily peeked around him as the
shouting started again. They didn’t know she was in the room
because the fans were keeping her scent away from them.

“
Just looking,” she said,
and took another bite of her sandwich.

Chevalier shook his head and grinned,
then returned to his seat. Emily listened for a bit while the enemy
heku couldn’t see her.

“
This discussion is tiring.
We demand the factions become equal again, and the only way to do
that, is to share the Winchester blood,” an angry voice
said.

“
Yes, this discussion is
tiring, you’re not getting any of my children,” Chevalier said
coldly. Emily was sure he was holding back his anger because she
was in the room.

“
That they are your
children is irrelevant. All we care about is the
mother.”

“
Ha! Like you care at all
about Emily,” Damon said angrily.

“
And you claim to? That’s a
joke. You’re using her to reproduce and to extend the Winchester
line, don’t kid yourselves,” the strange heku said.

“
She’s nothing more than a
breeder, and you know it,” another voice yelled.

“
Oh you’ve done it now,”
Emily heard Damon say with amusement. She could feel her temper
rising at the stranger’s comment.

“
What do you…” the voice
was cut off when Emily appeared with the Council.

“
What did you call me?”
Emily asked angrily.

A murmur ran through the twelve
gathered enemy heku at the appearance of the Winchester.

“
I apologize. That came out
wrong,” the heku said to her.

“
Nothing more than a
breeder? What, like a purebred bitch? Oooh she’s in heat again,
best get some more puppies,” Emily said, glaring at him.

“
No, Child, we do not think
of you like that,” he said quickly.

“
Yeah right. Here’s the
deal… now that I’m here, you’ll keep a civil tongue in your mouths,
and address this Council with the respect they are due. You won’t
talk about me like a piece of property, or a baby factory, either.
Get out of hand and I’ll ash you, simple enough,” Emily said, and
got some joy at the way they stepped back from her as she
spoke.

Emily glanced quickly at Damon when he
turned his chair, and she could tell he was laughing.

Emily sat down on Chevalier’s lap.
Something she never did around others, but she was through caring
at the moment. She leaned back against his chest and took another
bite of her sandwich. She felt Chevalier chuckle, and he wrapped
his arms around her.

“
It’s… it’s hard to discuss
this while she’s here,” one of the Valle said.

Emily ignored his comment and finished
her sandwich.

“
She stays,” Damon said. He
was enjoying the discomfort of the enemy.

“
It’s just that… she’s
watching us,” he said to Maleth.

“
Do go on,” Maleth said.
“We have a busy night ahead of us.”

“
We feel it only fair that
each of the factions be given some of the blood from the
Winchester,” the Valle said nervously.

“
Come get it,” Emily said,
and held her wrist out.

Chevalier grabbed her hand and put it
into her lap, laughing “That’s not what they mean.”

“
Oh… they want a baby,”
Emily said, nodding.

“
Yes, that’s what we want,”
one of the Encala members said.

“
Sure, why not,” Emily
said, and dug for a chip.

“
You… you agree?” the Valle
asked.

“
Sure… why not just pop out
a kid every year, and then you can each have a few. Is it ok if the
baby is Chevalier’s, or were you planning on doing that yourself?”
Emily asked, eating another chip.

Emily felt Chevalier chuckle, and then
his lips as he kissed the back of her head.

“
We… we aren’t picky about
the father,” the Valle said.

“
Are you having fun?”
Chevalier whispered softly into Emily’s ear.

Emily nodded.

“
You would allow us to
father our own Winchester?” the Encala asked.

“
Of course… I’m already
getting it on with the entire Equites Council, why not throw you in
too,” Emily said, looking over at Damon. He was still facing away
from the enemy.

The Valle and Encala looked at one
another, and then turned around, whispering.

“
Hey, Quinn,” Emily said to
the Elder. “Tonight’s your night, Big Boy.”

Quinn looked at Chevalier with wide
eyes.

Emily stood up, “I wonder if we have
any strawberry ice cream.”

“
Yes, I believe we do,”
Chevalier said, chuckling.

“
Hmm,” she sighed, and left
the council chambers.

The Valle and Encala turned around and
faced the Council, and then looked around, “Where did she
go?”

“
I think she heard some ice
cream calling,” Chevalier said, raising an eyebrow.

“
Will she be back?” one of
the Encala asked.

Chevalier shrugged, “Honestly, I have
no idea what she’ll do next.”

Damon finally composed himself and
turned around, “These talks are getting us nowhere. We’ve offered
to return Sotomar and Exavior back to you, but you aren’t getting
any of Emily’s children.”

Emily walked back into the council
chambers with a bowl of ice cream. They watched her closely as she
sat back on Chevalier’s lap and leaned against him.

“
Did I miss anything?”
Emily asked.

“
We… we have discussed it,
and want to take you up on your offer,” the Valle leader said to
Emily.

“
Which offer? I forget,”
Emily said, taking a bite of ice cream.

“
To father our own
Winchester,” he said softly.

Emily looked at Damon, “Did I offer
that?”