Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (92 page)

“
He’s hungry,” Emily said,
and put her hand out for the knife.

“
No,” Chevalier said, and
sat up. “We aren’t dying, not anymore at least.”

“
How do you know? How do I
know you aren’t about to keel over?” Emily asked him
angrily.

“
We just know,” Chevalier
said, and nodded for Kyle to take the knife back to the
kitchen.

Zohn sighed, “We need to
get back to Council City, are you all ready to fly?”

“
We can take the jet back,
it’s faster. We’ll send someone after the other helicopter,” Kyle
told them, and started up the stairs.

“
They can’t travel, they’re
sick,” Emily said sternly.

“
We aren’t sick anymore,
just weak, it’ll be ok,” Chevalier said, and stood up. The cooler
air felt good after the heat from the blankets.

Zohn started to put out the
fire and Allen stood up and wrapped himself in a blanket. Quinn
took Alexis’ hand and headed up the stairs to the helicopter,
followed by Zohn and Allen. Emily watched them all and stood
silently in the living room, unable to accept that this was over
and that Maleth was dead.

“
Come on, let’s go,”
Chevalier said, and held his hand out for Emily.

“
I’m not going,” she
whispered, and took a step away from him.

Chevalier stepped to her
and took her hand, “We have to go. The Council is waiting for our
return.”

“
To hell with the Council,
if you are so dead set on leaving, then by all means… but I’m not
going,” Emily said, and sat down by the now dead fire.

“
Sitting here, freezing to
death by yourself isn’t going to bring him back.”

Emily turned her head away
from him as the tears started to pour. She was tired, and angry,
and felt like she killed Maleth. Her mind ran over everything that
happened, and she searched for something that had gone
wrong.

“
I can’t pick you up right
now, Em. You’re going to have to walk,” Chevalier said, and headed
up the stairs.

Emily stayed in the chair and shut her
eyes as the tears came faster. She felt someone kneel down beside
her and looked over at Zohn.

Several minutes later, Zohn
came out of the house with Emily cradled in his arms. He easily
jumped into the helicopter and handed her to Kyle.

“
Do I want to know?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Probably not,” Zohn said,
and crawled into the pilot seat as the door shut.

Kyle spent the entire trip
to the airport on the phone with the Council, and watched Emily
uncomfortably. She wasn’t moving and was sleeping peacefully in his
arms, something uncommon for her. When they reached the airport,
the jet was just starting to warm up and the Equites pilot came to
help them.

Chevalier was glad that
Emily was still asleep when they transferred Maleth’s body into the
jet. He picked Alexis up while Kyle carried Emily, still asleep.
Quinn was the last to leave and followed Allen into the jet. The
door shut behind them and soon, they were flying over Canada toward
Council City.

When the helicopter landed
on the palace roof, the door opened and the Cavalry came out, led
by Mark. Chevalier noticed the guards had black arm bands and he
glanced approvingly to Kyle. Zohn picked up Emily on his way out of
the helicopter and shrugged when Chevalier glanced at
him.

“
She must have been tired.
I just told her to sleep, that’s all,” Zohn said when Mark looked
at Emily, worried.

The shades were all drawn
in the palace and everyone had on a black arm band. The Equites
banner was lowered and there was an abnormal silence among the
guards and servants.

Zohn laid Emily down in bed and then
bowed as he left, shutting the door behind him. Silas came and took
Alexis and Chevalier laid down beside Emily and wrapped his arms
around her. Her dreams were hectic and sporadic and lacked the
softly flowing emotions that they normally did. He shut his eyes
and rested as she slept.

“
Yes, we have chosen,”
Quinn said to the Council. They had been through three weeks of
mourning as a faction, and it was now time to announce the new
Elder. Maleth was buried in a richly adorned tomb by the resting
place of Leonid, and Emily visited them several times a
day.

“
We’ll get ready for the
coronation,” Zohn said.

“
Not you though, you and
Kyle are to be medaled,” Chevalier reminded him.

Kyle cringed, “Really, that’s not
necessary.”

“
You saved the life of the
Elders,” the Court Reporter said with admiration.

“
No, we didn’t. Emily did
that. We just lied and gave orders,” Zohn said. He wasn’t
comfortable getting medaled for this.

“
All the same, you are,”
Quinn said, and his tone let them know the subject was
closed.

“
And the Lady?” the Court
Reporter said.

Chevalier sighed, “She
wouldn’t take a medal if we offered it. She’s still blaming herself
for the loss of Maleth.”

“
Will she be in
attendance?” the Chief Investigator asked.

Chevalier shrugged, “I don’t
know.”

Never before had any of the
Council worried about Emily, but her feat of saving 3 out of 4 with
the illness was now well known and respected throughout all three
factions. Rumors started that Emily had a healing ability, but was
quickly stopped by the Council. They didn’t need more reasons for
her to be wanted by the Encala or Valle.

“
Let’s end today then, and
tomorrow we’ll not meet so we can prepare,” Quinn said.

Chevalier nodded,
“Agreed.”

Most of the Council left
the chambers immediately, leaving Quinn, Chevalier, Zohn, and Kyle
behind.

“
Is she out there again?”
Chevalier asked.

Kyle nodded,
“Yes.”

“
I could go and talk to
her,” Quinn said. He’d become a lot closer to Emily since their
return from Alaska, and seemed to have a deeper understanding of
how she thought.

Chevalier nodded, “Ok, you
try.”

Quinn smiled and blurred from the
room.

“
Hmm,” Zohn
sighed.

“
What?” Kyle asked
him.

“
Do I have to almost die to
get on Emily’s good side?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chevalier chuckled, “Never hurts
apparently.”

Quinn appeared out in the cemetery and
dismissed Emily’s guards before walking over and sitting down
beside her.

“
Hi,” Emily said, and
looked at him. She had been rearranging the flowers she put on the
two Elder’s graves.

“
Fancy meeting you here…
again,” Quinn said.

“
Did you choose a new
Elder?”

Quinn nodded, “Yes, the coronation is
tomorrow.”

Emily picked up a flower and turned it
over, laying it back down exactly where it had been.

Quinn touched her hand lightly, “What
are you looking for out here?”

Emily shrugged,
“Forgiveness.”

“
There’s nothing to
forgive, you should be praised, not punished.”

Emily turned her face when a tear fell
down her cheek, “That’s easy for you to say, you lived.”

“
I can assure you, Maleth
wouldn’t punish you for his death,” Quinn told her, and wiped the
tear from her cheek.

“
I’ll be in in a second,”
Emily said, and watched as Quinn nodded and left. She turned back
to the tomb and rearranged the flowers again. For the hundredth
time, she ran through her trip to Alaska in her mind and tried to
find something that would explain why Maleth didn’t survive when
the others had.

Emily finally stood up and
walked back toward the palace. Her guards had returned when Quinn
left, and they fell in behind her. She caught sight of Patra out in
the corral and decided against going into the palace.

She grabbed a bridle and
went out to Patra.

“
Wait, we’ll get our
horses,” one of her guards said.

“
No, go back inside. I am
going out alone,” she said, and slipped the bridle on the
mare.

“
I don’t know, Lady
Emily.”

Emily jumped up onto Patra,
bareback and smiled, “Go, I’ll take the heat if anyone gets
mad.”

The guard nodded and Emily
ran Patra through the city and up onto the hills to the west. She
didn’t look at the city for long, then turned and headed back
toward the trees. She was able to let go and run Patra at a full
gallop. She pulled her hair out of a ponytail and let the wind blow
it behind her as she ran. The sun was beating down on her face, and
it felt good to feel the freedom being on horseback
brought.

Emily headed deeper into
the trees, letting Patra lead the way for a while. The deeper she
got into the trees, the more secluded it felt and the more she felt
at ease. Maleth’s death suddenly seemed less traumatic, and the
stress from the last few months began to melt away. Her mind was
far away when hands grabbed her off of the horse.

Emily screamed and then hit Chevalier
on the chest, “That was stupid! I could have ashed you.”

Chevalier chuckled, “You aren’t that
trigger happy.”

Emily went over and tied
Patra to a tree by Chevalier’s ornery stallion. When she turned
around, Chevalier was only inches from her and picked her up,
kissing her softly.

“
You haven’t gone riding in
a long time,” Emily said as Chevalier ran his lips lightly along
her neck.

“
Mmhmmm,” he said, and bit
softly at her neck.

Emily shivered and grinned,
“I take it you are feeling better?”

Chevalier nodded and
dropped to his knees, and then laid Emily down on the mossy
ground.

***

Chevalier and Emily walked
hand in hand out of the trees, leading their horses behind
them.

“
Are you going to the
coronation tomorrow night?” Chevalier asked.

“
I haven’t decided,” she
said, and glanced back at the horses.

“
Everyone’s been asking
about you.”

“
Who is the new Elder?”
Emily asked.

“
Does it matter, you won’t
like him,” Chevalier chuckled.

Emily frowned at him, “That’s not
fair.”

Chevalier smiled softly, “I was
joking.”

“
So who is it?”

“
It’s James.”

Emily looked at Chevalier, “Who is
James?”

Chevalier laughed, “Blond heku, sits
to the right of Zohn.”

“
I figured you’d give it to
Zohn,” Emily said.

“
We thought about it, but
James will be a better fit.”

Emily sighed, “I don’t like
him.”

“
I figured.”

“
He always looks at me like
I’m in the way.”

“
No he doesn’t. You’re just
paranoid about what the Council thinks of you.”

“
He was one of Damon’s
followers,” Emily reminded him.

Chevalier nodded, amused.
Emily divided the Council into Damon followers, and non-Damon
followers. He wondered how long she would make that
distinction.

“
I have all day tomorrow
off, what would you like to do?” he asked as they put the horses
into their stalls.

“
All day?”

“
Well, until I have to get
ready for the coronation.”

Emily filled Patra’s trough
with fresh water and then shut the door to her stall, “So we can
stay in if I want?”

“
If that’s what you want,
yes.”

“
Maybe… start off with a
hot bubble bath,” Emily said, and pulled Chevalier against her and
into the corner.

“
Sure,” Chevalier said, and
kissed her softly.

“
Then maybe...” Chevalier
cut off her words with his lips and his hand wrapped around the
back of her neck.

Mark cleared his throat behind
them.

Chevalier started to turn
around, but Emily pulled him back towards her and pressed her lips
against his.

“
Don’t mind me,” Mark
chuckled. “It’s shift change though, so there are about to be five
more of us in here.”

“
That’d put a whole new
meaning to the term mounted Cavalry,” Emily laughed.

Chevalier shook his head, “Come on
inside, your dinner’s almost ready anyway.”

Mark grinned and got onto
his horse.

***

Emily woke up the next
morning and sat up in bed, looking around. The room was empty and a
note by her bed said that they had let her sleep late, and that
Alexis was already out with Silas.

She yawned, stretched, and
then called out for breakfast. Within a few minutes, Mark came in
with the tray.