Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (44 page)

He frowned, “What do you
mean?”

She crossed her arms and
rested them on his chest, “I heard you’ve become a pain in the ass
Elder.”

“Oh?” he asked,
amused.

“Rumor on the outside has
it that you’ve become a bit harsh and cruel.”

“No more than usual.”

“Not what I heard.”

“From whom?” he asked, smiling
slightly.

She shrugged, “Just
around.”

“So, your field hands were
talking about how mean I am?”

“Maybe”

“I admit I’ve been in a bad
mood.”

“Bad?”

“Fine… maybe I’ve been a bit
callous.”

“How about heartless and
unsympathetic?”

“That’s pushing it… besides… rumor on
the inside has it that you are a bit of an
authoritarian.”

“Me?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“It’s not true,” she said,
and leaned her head back on his chest. She shut her eyes and
listened to the sound of his heart.

“Stay,” he whispered.

She sighed, “Alexis wants to
stay.”

“I told her she could.”

“Dain is getting harder to
handle.”

“No, Em,” Chevalier said,
and she looked up at him. “I want you to stay with me. I don’t want
you to stay for the kids… I want you to stay for you.”

“It’s been a long year,”
she said, and he saw tears filling her eyes.

“Yes, it has.”

“I’m so tired,” she
whispered.

“I know.”

“Dain is just… he’s big.”

“Yes, he is.”

“I can’t stay here.”

“We’ll help you adjust.”

“I don’t want to leave
you.”

He lifted her chin up so she faced
him, “Then don’t.”

“If I don’t leave, the Encala will
attack you.”

Chevalier grinned, “They
can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There aren’t enough of them
left.”

“Now… give them 100 years.”

“We’ll still always be
stronger. We grow as they do.”

“Things will never be the
same.”

“Give it time.”

“Can I take a shower?”

He sighed, “Of course you
can.”

Emily sat up and pulled
one of the blankets up with her when she stood. She wrapped it
around herself and headed into the bathroom.

Chevalier ordered her some
lunch and heard a knock on the door. He slipped his pants on and
opened the door. A servant was cowering in front of him.

“El… Elder…”

“What?” he asked, frowning.

“There’s… no… there’s no food…
here…”

“Stop shaking. I’m not
going to kill you,” Chevalier growled, and it infuriated him when
the heku began to panic more.

“Pp…pp… p… pizza… the Chief Enforcer
ordered… pizza,” he stammered out.

“For hell’s sake, calm
down and go grocery shopping,” the Elder told him, and shut the
door, shaking his head.

Chevalier waited for her
to shower and thought about ways to keep her in the palace. He knew
now was the time to talk her into it. She was close to caving, but
her stubbornness kept her from committing.

He was brought out of his
meditative thoughts when he heard the shower turn off. He could
hear Emily getting dressed and wondered how long it would take her
to feel comfortable around him again, and how long it would take
her to fall in love with the heku and the palace like she once
was.

Emily stepped out of the bathroom as
she braided her hair and wound a rubber band around the
end.

“There’s pizza on the way
up,” he told her, and stood up slowly.

“I’m not hungry,” she
said, and began to dig through her bag.

Chevalier gently pushed
her against the wall and pressed his body against hers, with his
hands behind her on the wall. He looked into her eyes, “You need
taken care of.”

She frowned, “I’m…”

He cut off her words with a soft kiss
and then whispered, “I’m going to take care of you.”

“Ser…” she started, but
his lips again cut her off.

“Stop talking, and listen,” he
whispered.

“There…”

“Stop”

“But…”

“Stop,” he said again, and
then kissed her softly before looking into her eyes. “You’re not
alone anymore… You’re going to stay here and let me take care of
you.”

“Cheval…”

“Stop arguing”

“But…”

“No, I’m not going to hear
it. You need taken care of, badly, and I’m going to do it. You’re
going to do what I say… you’re going to listen to me, and we’re
going to take the advice of the doctor.”

“But…” He pressed his lips
to hers, and then looked down at her.

“You’re going to eat, and sleep, and
enjoy being here… you’re not going to worry about money… or the
kids…”

She frowned and he kissed her before
she could talk.

“For once in your life, you’re going
to let go and let me take over… you’re going to let me take care of
you like I’ve always tried to.”

“Ch…” His soft kiss broke
off her words and then he looked at her.

“I’m going to take care of you, and
you’re going to allow it.”

She couldn’t breathe. His
closeness to her and the words he spoke were consuming her and she
fought against how right it felt, and how perfect his promises
sounded. The weight of the last year, of Dain’s attacks, his
feeding schedule, running a ranch, attacks from the mortals, and
the fear of the heku all flooded away and she felt the strong
protection of his body and the loving way he looked at
her.

“Right?” he whispered, and
kissed her softly.

She nodded, unable to
speak.

“You’re going to let me take care of
you?”

She nodded again.

“And protect you?”

Emily blinked back the tears and
nodded.

Chevalier smiled and kissed her again,
“Good… now it’s time for pizza.”

She wrapped her arms
around his neck and pressed her lips to his again as her legs
wrapped around his waist.

He pulled away from her
and smiled, “As much fun as this sounds… you need to
eat.”

“Ok,” she whispered, and
bit lightly at his neck as her hand wound through his
hair.

“Or…”

“Hmm?” she sighed, as she
ran her lips along his jaw and up to his mouth.

***

Chevalier laid Emily
gently on the rug in front of the fireplace and smiled down at her,
“That wasn’t on my agenda of how to take care of you.”

She smiled, “Oh, it took care of
me.”

He reached down and kissed
her softly before sitting beside her, “Yes, well, the poor heku at
the door is still holding your pizza, and for some reason, seems to
think I’m going to kill him.”

Emily frowned, “You’ve been really
mean, haven’t you?”

“I don’t think so. Not any
more than normal,” he told her, and then stood up. He went to the
bed and pulled off a blanket to cover her with before slipping on
some pants and going to the door to get the pizza.

The heku servant was
shaking with fear and held the box out to his Elder, not meeting
his eye. Chevalier glared at him and tore the box from his hands,
hissing slightly when the heku blurred away. He was angry at how an
Equites dared to cower.

Chevalier calmed quickly
when he saw Emily leaned up on her elbow, watching the fire. He sat
down and opened the pizza box, “Dinner is served.”

She looked over at the pizza, “I’m
really not hungry.”

“Are we going to go through that all
again?” he asked.

She reached over and grabbed a slice,
then rolled onto her back and started to eat.

“We’re going to have some
problems with Dain,” Chevalier said, and sat down beside
her.

“Like what?” she asked, still
eating.

“He… well… heard… things…
and thought I was hurting you. Kyle actually has him restrained in
the game room.”

Emily gasped, “He heard?”

Chevalier shrugged
slightly, “Some.”

She sat up, “Oh my God, do
the heku hear when… we…”

He grinned and then lied,
“No, calm down and eat… He was trying to hear what was going on,
that’s all.”

She watched him for a few seconds and
then laid back down after grabbing another slice of
pizza.

“I’m just saying that, for
a while, I’m going to have to watch him. His instincts will be to
keep heku away from you… all heku, but he’s going to have to learn
that some are ok.”

“He’s a good kid,” she told
him.

“I know it, and I’m pretty damned
proud of how protective he’s been of you… however, he can’t pull
that on me.”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“It won’t work. He’s a
predator, we protect our own.”

She sighed, “I hate when
you talk about him like he’s a wolf. He’s still a little
boy.”

Chevalier pulled the
blanket off of her and ran his hand along the bruises on her
abdomen, “Was this all Dain?”

“No,” she whispered, and
set down what was left of the pizza.

“What happened?”

“I had problems with a field
hand.”

“Tell me.”

Emily looked over at him, “He kept
asking me out and got madder when I kept refusing… so… he… decided
to stop waiting, I guess.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t really know.
Tucker interrupted and hauled him away. I haven’t seen him since…
but he liked to stomach punch, apparently,” she said, and
cringed.

Chevalier fought for
control, pulling from thousands of years to contain the anger that
threatened to erupt. It was only a few seconds before he was able
to speak calmly, “And your arm?”

“He broke my wrist when he
grabbed me.”

“How much longer in a
cast?”

“I can take it off at any
time.”

Chevalier grinned, “Stop
lying. You’re not the only one that can learn from an
Interrogator.”

She sighed, “4 more weeks.”

He suddenly grew serious, “Were you
pregnant?”

“No”

“Just late?”

“The stress caused all of
that to stop.”

He frowned, “What?”

“Not permanently, though I
wouldn’t have minded. Once I got the job on the ranch and settled
down into a routine, things returned to normal.”

“And the pills?”

“They help when the pain
starts.”

“So they’re pain pills.”

“No, it’s a PPI.”

“What’s that?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, but it
makes the pain go away.”

“Fine… then let’s talk about how much
you weigh.”

She gasped and sat up,
“Why?”

“You’re too thin.”

“I’m fine.”

“How much?”

“I’m not going to tell you how much I
weigh.”

“I thought you were going to let me
take care of you,” he reminded her.

“There’s no reason for you to know how
much I weigh.”

“Yes there is. That way we
know how far away from normal you are.”

She blushed and turned back to the
fire, “Stop talking about my weight.”

He reached out and took
her hand and then ran his thumb softly along the puncture wounds,
“How often did you feed him?”

“Every Monday.”

“You fed him once a week?”

“Yes”

“Why?”

She shrugged, “I don’t
know… I asked on Mondays if he was hungry, and he always said
yes.”

Chevalier sighed, “Em…
heku are always thirsty… always. We never turn down an offer to
feed. It’s experience that teaches us that we don’t need to eat
constantly.”

“Now you tell me,” she
grumbled, and looked back over at the fire.

He smiled, “We’ll teach him
together.”

“I don’t want guards.”

“I don’t really care.”

She looked at him with wide eyes,
“What?”

“You heard what Frederick
said. I’m not letting you off without guards… and I’m going to be
handling the schedule myself.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, no more city or
palace guards, and there’s to be one ranking with you.”

Her eyes narrowed, “I’m already being
confined?”

“Nope, you can go wherever
you want. They’re just there for attacks.”