Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (65 page)

“Gotcha,” Emily said, and
then looked over when Sotomar entered.

“How is it going?”

“Peachy, I can now eat air with my
left hand,” she said, and grinned slightly.

“Did Chevalier say when he would be
visiting again?”

“He’s hoping for
tonight.”

The Physical Therapist
cleared his throat and looked up at the Elder.

“Oh… right… carry on,” Sotomar said,
and left the room.

After an hour of
fine-motor work with her left hand, the Physical Therapist moved
his chair beside her and took her left arm in his hands.

Dain growled deeply when the Valle
touched her and Emily looked up at him, “Stop it.”

“He doesn’t need to touch you!” Dain
growled.

“Let him do his job.”

“I’m watching you,” Dain said to the
Valle.

The Physical Therapist
began to massage her impaired arm, alternating between
range-of-motion exercises and sensory stimulation to her left
arm.

“All fixed?” Emily asked when he was
done.

“Not yet, your TENS unit
came in,” he told her, and took a small black box out of a desk.
The black box had long wires coming off of it and he attached them
to her arm with tiny white discs.

“So what’s this do again?” she asked,
and then her eyes grew wide when small electrical impulses were
sent through her arm.

“We’re trying to,
essentially, wake up your arm.”

“What would this do to
you?”

The Physical Therapist chuckled, “I’m
imagining a lot… we leave this on for thirty minutes and then we go
back into the water.”

Emily looked over at the large water
tank, “Seriously?”

“Yes, your limp is improving and I’m
certain that we can get rid of it all together.”

She read her book and
ignored the minor face-off between Dain and the Valle while her
TENS unit sent electrical stimulation into her arm. It wasn’t until
it turned off that she noticed the two heku staring at each
other.

“Will you two stop?” she asked, and
the Physical Therapist turned back to her.

“Sorry… I cannot back down to him
though,” he explained while unhooking her from the
device.

“Dain, that’s enough,” Emily told
him.

“Mom…”

“No! He’s helping me… so leave him
alone.”

Dain’s eyes narrowed, but
he nodded slightly.

Within a few minutes,
Emily was in a one-piece swimsuit and was walking slowly across the
water tank with the Physical Therapist watching.

“You are progressing
well,” he commented. “Make sure and lift your left leg equal to
your right when walking though… you’re still babying your left
side.”

“I’m not babying it… it doesn’t
work.”

“It does, but you’re avoiding using it
when at all possible.”

By the time Emily was done
with the water tank, she was exhausted and ready for a nap. Dain
helped her out of the tank and she wrapped in a towel.

“We done then?” she asked, drying off
in the dressing room.

“Yes, though, I’m going to help
encourage you to use your left side more,” the Therapist said to
her.

She stepped out fully dressed, “What
do you mean?”

He held up a thick belt, “I’m tying
down your right arm.”

Her eyes grew wide, “What?”

“Restraining your right arm will force
you to use your left side.”

“No”

“Yes,” he said, raising his
eyebrows.

“No, I don’t mean it won’t work… I
mean I won’t do it.”

“I know what you mean… and yes, you
will do it.”

“I will not d…” she
stopped talking when the Physical Therapist suddenly appeared in
front of her and her right arm was already restrained at her side.
“Damn that was fast.”

“Let’s see how it goes… I do believe
your husband has arrived.”

She nodded, “I’ll get out of this
thing.”

“Not without help,” he said, and then
grinned when she walked out, struggling against the strap holding
her arm to her side.

“Undo this for me,” Emily asked one of
the Imperial Guards that was following her to the council
chambers.

“Sorry, Ma’am. Elder’s
orders that we cannot release you,” the closest one said to
her.

“Dain…”

There was a small scuffle behind her
when Dain started for her and two of the Imperial Guards restrained
him.

“Stop!” Emily yelled and
went to Dain. “It’s ok, Baby. I’ll get it off myself… don’t risk a
war for it.”

Dain growled at the guards and they
let him go and fell in behind Emily when she continued to the
council chambers, still struggling to get her arm free.

Emily was so busy
concentrating to free her right arm, that she hadn’t noticed that
she passed into the council chambers.

“Having problems?” Chevalier asked,
amused.

She looked up and smiled,
and then quickly moved into his arms. He lightly kissed the top of
her head.

Emily pulled away from him and turned
her back to him, “Let this thing loose.”

Chevalier chuckled, “I’m sure it’s
there for a reason.”

“It’s not… the Valle are
restraining me.”

“I would say not,” Elder Ryan said,
hoping Chevalier wouldn’t believe her.

Chevalier leaned his head back and
laughed, “It’s good to have you back, Em.”

“No seriously, take it off,” she said,
pulling against the binds.

“Em… whatever it is
they’re doing is working. Your limp is better, your speech is
almost perfectly clear. I’m not going to take that off if it’s
helping you.”

“It hurts though.”

Dain growled and Chevalier glared at
him before turning back to Emily, “It’s not hurting you, so leave
it alone.”

Emily turned when the door opened and
Alexis ran to her and threw her arms around her Mom.

“Oh I missed you, Alex,” she said, and
hugged her with her left arm.

“Are you ok?” Alexis asked, and looked
over her Mom.

“I’m fine.”

“Good, then I came here to talk to the
Valle Council,” Alexis said, then turned to look at the
Council.

“You did?” Chevalier asked,
frowning.

Alexis looked over at Sotomar, “I want
to stay here.”

“You may stay with your Mom if you’d
like.”

“No, permanently. I want
to join the Valle.”

Chevalier gasped, eyes wide, “You
what?”

The Valle Elders looked nervously at
Chevalier.

“I’m done with the Equites… and I want
to stay here with you,” Alexis repeated.

“That’s… we… is there a problem,
Child?” Sotomar finally managed to ask.

“Yes, I hate them.”

“Alexis…” Chevalier
growled.

“If you say no… then I know the Encala
will take me.”

“It’s not… quite that easy to change
factions,” Elder Ryan said, quickly glancing at
Chevalier.

“Then start the process or I go to the
Encala.”

“You are out of line, Alex,” Chevalier
said, and grabbed her arm roughly.

Alexis tried to pull free
of her Dad’s grasp, but was unable to, “Yes or no? I need to know
now.”

“Alex, now is not the time for this,”
Emily told her.

“I hate them, Mom,” Alexis
told Emily, her eyes full of tears. “They killed Gabe.”

Emily wrapped her one arm
around her daughter and let her cry it out on her shoulder. She
could tell by how Chevalier was watching Sotomar that they were
having a conversation, but they were speaking too quietly for her
to hear and she suspected too quietly for even Alexis to
hear.

Finally, Emily pulled back
from Alexis and looked into her eyes, “I’ll go home, ok? We’ll talk
there.”

Alexis nodded and then glared at her
Dad before stepping back by Dain.

“We’ll be sad to see you go,” Elder
Ryan told her.

“I appreciate all you’ve done, but it
seems I’m needed at home.

“You’ve not had fainting spells here
though, maybe it’s something in the Equites palace.”

“I doubt it. I’ve been
there long enough it would have shown up before now.”

“Very well,” Sotomar said,
and then smiled. “You are more than welcome to return if the need
arises.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Alexis said to
him, and then took Dain’s hand and they walked out of the council
chambers.

Emily watched them go and then smiled
at Chevalier, “We could always leave both of them.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he said, and they
walked out together.

***

“How is she?” Quinn asked when
Chevalier sat down.

“She’s improved quite a
bit. Their Physical Therapist did wonders for her.”

Zohn smiled, “Good to
know.”

“Alexis, however, asked Sotomar if she
could join the Valle.”

Quinn gasped, “She did?”

“Yes, Emily and I are going to talk
about that tonight after she gets some time in the
pool.”

“Any other Equites would be instantly
banished,” Dustin mumbled.

Chevalier glared at him, “She’s not
officially an Equites.”

“So what, exactly, did Emily have to
do to become one then?”

“She pretty much declared herself to
be an Equites and then showed loyalty to the faction.”

“So we’re just going to
let Alexis go off and join the Valle on a whim?”

“Shut up, Dustin,” Chevalier growled,
and then turned back to Quinn.

Zohn looked up when he heard Emily
come down the stairs, “Derrick, send Emily in please.”

Only a few minutes later,
Derrick came into the council chambers, “Sorry, Sir. She said
no.”

Zohn turned to Chevalier, “Is she
still avoiding the Council?”

“Last I heard, yes.”

“Well I, for one, would like to see
her progress,” Quinn said, then stood up to leave.

Kyle stood also, “I’ll go with
you.”

“As will I,” Richard, the Chief
Interrogator, said.

“Limit it to three at a time or it
could be construed as ganging up on her,” Chevalier told
them.

“Send in Dain, then,” Zohn
called out. The others left to visit with Emily while the rest of
the Council waited for Dain.

He walked in, eyeing the Council
suspiciously, then walked forward and stood before them, “You
called?”

“Yes, we are curious how things went
with the Valle,” Zohn said.

“Fine”

“That’s it?”

“It went fine.”

Chevalier grinned, “What
exactly did Emily tell you in regards to informing the Council
about her stay?”

Dain chuckled and in that moment,
looked exactly like Chevalier, “I’m just not supposed to say
anything.”

“You do realize that as your Dad, I
can override that.”

“Mom outranks you.”

“Interesting,” Dustin said.

Chevalier turned his chair toward the
Coven Liaison Officer, “Leave.”

“Yes, Elder,” Dustin said, and blurred
angrily from the room.

“Does anyone outrank your Mom?” the
Chief of Staff asked the boy.

“No”

“What has she told you?” Zohn asked,
turning to Chevalier.

“Not much. She spent most
of the trip trying to get out of a restraint the Physical Therapist
put her in. The rest of the time she slept.”

“Restraint?”

“Yes, it’s a belt that
holds her right arm at her side so she’s forced to use her left
arm. It’s fastened where she can’t get out of it without
assistance.”

Zohn grinned, “Oh I bet she loves
that.”

“It was actually good to see her
fighting to get out of it, more her old self.”

“Shall we call in a Physical Therapist
then? Someone to continue her treatment?” the Chief of Defense
asked.

“I already have,”
Chevalier assured him, and then turned back to Dain. “Were you
aware that your sister was going to try to join the
Valle?”

Dain shrugged, “I suspected she
might.”

“All because of
Gabe?”

“She claims to love him.”

“And he?”

“He was an ass,” Dain said
bluntly.

“Do you think he loved her?” Chevalier
chuckled.

“No, I do not.”

“Did you talk to her more about
joining the guard staff?”

“No, I don’t think she’s well
enough.”