Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (51 page)

“
I’ll be in meetings most
of the morning.” He brushed his lips softly against hers, “Try to
stay out of trouble.”

Emily frowned, “Take the day
off.”

“
I can’t, we have to try to
figure out where Sam is.”

She ran her nails lightly down his
chest, “I can make you stay.”

Chevalier grinned and took her hands
in his and kissed them lightly, “Yes, you could.”

He crawled out of bed and slipped on
some clothes.

“
How about I just lie here
naked all day and give you something to think about during the
meeting?” Emily asked, rolling onto her back so she could watch
him.

Chevalier ran his eyes down the length
of the bed, admiring the way the light sheet clung to the curves of
her body, “That’s not fair.”

“
I never said I would play
fair.”

Chevalier growled, “Damn, I have to
go.” He looked once more at her and blurred from the
room.

Emily sat up and looked around the
bedroom. Both fires were roaring, and there was a tray of food for
her on the table. She knew that Allen would already be in lessons,
and Silas had come to take Alexis down for breakfast
earlier.

She sighed and slid out of bed,
disappearing into the large closet. She came out and looked into
the mirror and grinned. The dark blue, floor-length baby-doll dress
had a long flowing hem and layers of soft material. She saw it in
her closet a long time ago, but hadn’t really seen a need to wear
it until today. She threw her hair into a loose French braid and
grabbed a piece of bacon before leaving the room.

“
Mornin’, Em,” Mark said,
looking at her, surprised. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her in a
dress before except for formal occasions.

“
Ma’am,” an unfamiliar
guard said to her.

“
Morning”

She walked past them and lifted the
hem on her dress slightly as she padded barefoot, down the stairs
to the fourth floor. She could hear the heavy boots from the guards
behind her as she opened the back door to the council chambers and
stepped inside.

The Council all turned to look at her
when she walked in, and she felt a blush rising, wondering if her
plan wasn’t the best idea. Damon was the first to turn away from
her, but the shocked looks on the faces of the Council made her
blush grow stronger.

“
Hello, Emily.” Maleth
smiled, and couldn’t help noticing how the dress fit her and turned
away suddenly.

Chevalier eyed her, “What are you up
to?”

The rest of the council members turned
around when Chevalier glared at them.

“
I just have a message for
you,” Emily said, and walked up the stairs to Chevalier’s chair.
She hiked her dress up to her knees and straddled him, sitting on
his lap to face him.

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed
suspiciously.

Emily glanced once at the council
members, who were again watching them, and then bent over to
whisper in Chevalier’s ear, “I’m not wearing anything under this
dress.”

Chevalier chuckled as Emily crawled
off his lap and disappeared out the back door. He turned his chair
toward the rest of the council members, and they turned away
suddenly, pretending they hadn’t heard what she just
whispered.

Emily met up with Silas as they were
coming back up the stairs. Silas was assigned as Alexis’ personal
bodyguard and loved the assignment.

Emily kissed Alexis and brushed her
hair back away from her face, “Anyone up for some
games?”

The guards nodded, and Alexis held her
hands out for her Mother. Emily took her and called for
Allen.

“
Yes, Mother?” he asked,
coming to her side. Allen couldn’t blur like the heku, but he was
much faster than a mortal.

“
I’m calling it a game
day,” Emily told him, and then sighed when he grimaced.

“
I was in the middle of
World Studies,” Allen told her.

“
You’d honestly rather
study than spend a day with us?”

Emily didn’t notice when Mark hit
Allen in the back of the head quickly.

Allen shrugged, “Game day it is, let’s
go.”

Emily smiled and they all headed to
the game room.

“
Don’t leave!” Emily said
sternly when the three heku playing pool started to put their
things away.

They glanced at Mark, and he nodded
for them to stay, so they resumed their game.

Emily sat Alexis down and started
going through the available games. The game room was now fitted
with all of the major game consoles and almost any game available.
She picked out a sports game and forced a remote into Allen’s
hand.

Emily turned and looked around the
room as the others played games. One thing that had always bothered
her about this room, was the mirror on the wall behind the poker
table. It was always hanging crooked and she decided it was about
time to fix it. She heard the click the second she straightened the
mirror, and felt a rush of wind as the wall spun
quickly.

She lost her balance and fell onto a
cold, dusty floor. She turned just in time to see the wall finish
its rotation.

Getting to her feet, Emily brushed the
dust from her dress and looked around the room. There were windows
high up on the wall, and the small amount of light that shone
through them was enough that she could see everything.

“
It’s a bar…” Emily
whispered, and turned to study the room. One wall had a bar, and
stools lined the outside of it. The rest of the large room was full
of octagon shaped tables with chairs around each of them.
Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

“
Heku and their damned
secret rooms,” Emily grumbled, and walked behind the bar. She
coughed when her long dress stirred up dust from the
floor.

Emily pulled a bottle off the shelf
and blew the dust from the label. It was an ancient bottle of
Canadian whiskey that was almost completely full. She set it down
and ran her hands along the rows of shot glasses that hung from a
rack above the bottles of alcohol.

“
Hey Mark?” Emily called
toward the spinning door.

When no one answered, she went over
and felt along the crack, trying to figure out how to turn the wall
again.

“
Damnit, this one’s not my
fault,” Emily growled, and knocked at the wall.

“
Your turn, Em,” Mark said,
and turned to hand her the remote. He looked around the room and
frowned.

“
When did Emily leave?”
Mark asked one of the guards playing games by the door.

“
Didn’t see her leave,” he
said, and went back to the video poker game.

Silas checked behind the poker table
and shrugged at Mark, “I have no idea.”

“
She slipped us!” Mark
growled angrily.

Silas disappeared out into the hallway
and came back in, “Her scent is stronger in here.”

“
Emily?” Mark called to the
room.

“
Yup, she slipped us,”
Silas sighed.

“
Damnit, I don’t want to go
tell them,” Mark said nervously.

“
Tell who, what?” Chevalier
asked, stepping into the game room with Kyle.

Silas sighed and looked at
Mark.

“
She slipped us,” Mark
said, cringing.

Kyle shook his head, “That doesn’t
make sense.”

Chevalier agreed, “No it doesn’t. She
only slips out when we’re tightening the hold.”

“
Ma go?” Alexis asked,
shrugging.

The heku all turned suddenly when a
soft swishing noise sounded. They watched with wide eyes as the
back wall spun quickly. Chevalier caught Emily just before she hit
the floor, and by the time he looked up, the wall had returned to
the clean mirror behind the poker table.

“
Wow, come look,” Emily
said, and took Chevalier’s hand. She pulled him over to the mirror
and adjusted it. He grabbed her waist and stepped out as the
revolving door passed the room behind the game room.

Emily walked over and picked up a
dusty bottle of bourbon while Chevalier looked around.

“
Hrm, interesting,”
Chevalier said, raising his eyebrows. He heard Kyle and Mark come
through the spinning wall and walked over to Emily as she read
through the bottles.

“
How do you find these
places?” Kyle asked, looking around the room.

“
Just lucky I guess. I
thought you all weren’t supposed to drink,” Emily said, and turned
around with a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels.

“
Those are fairly new
rules, only in the last hundred years or so.” Chevalier picked up a
bottle and threw it to Kyle.

Kyle looked at the label and gasped,
“1787 Chateau Lafitte… damn, it’s not even opened.”

Chevalier and Kyle turned around when
they heard the sound of glasses. Emily was wiping out some shot
glasses and setting them out on the bar.

“
We can’t drink this,” Kyle
reminded her.

“
Why not?” She turned and
started going through the bottles, wiping off the
labels.

“
Elder’s orders,
remember?”

“
There’s an Elder right
here, and I’m sure he can make an exception.”

Chevalier chuckled, “No, he
can’t.”

“
There’s a reason these
marks are on the walls,” Kyle said. Emily looked over as he pointed
to holes and scratches on the wall.

“
So what if things get a
little violent, maybe that’s why it’s hidden. Heku can come here
and get a drink, if they decide to fight… then it’s contained,”
Emily suggested. “I could clean this place up…”

Chevalier cut her off, “We aren’t
going to have an open bar in the palace.”

“
Come on, it would be fun,”
Emily told him, and hopped up onto the bar to watch the
others.

“
You are looking for
trouble,” Chevalier said, and pulled her off of the bar. “Everyone
out.”

They all stepped into the game room
and then watched the wall finish its rotation.

Emily turned to Chevalier, “Just bring
it up to the Council. Maybe we can sponsor a party or two and
then…”

Emily’s words were cut off by
Chevalier’s lips as he wrapped his arms around her and blurred up
to the bedroom.

***

“
That wasn’t nice,”
Chevalier chuckled. He pulled the hair off of her neck and ran his
lips along the warm artery.

Emily shivered, “What wasn’t
nice?”

“
I couldn’t even
concentrate during the meeting.”

Emily laughed, “Oh yeah, that. That
was payback.”

“
For what?”

“
For setting Damon and I up
for a fight.”

Chevalier grinned, “Fine, then we’re
even.”

Emily nodded, “Even… Hey!”

Emily grabbed onto Chevalier’s arm
when he started out of bed. He turned around and kissed her again
and then stood up.

“
Get up and get dressed,”
Chevalier said, and started getting dressed.

“
Why? It’s late
already.”

“
We are going out to
dinner.”

Emily’s eyes grew wide,
“Seriously?”

“
If you get dressed,
otherwise they may not let us in.” Chevalier chuckled and tossed
the blue slip dress to her.

Emily looked at it, “Fancy,
eh?”

Chevalier leaned against the wall and
nodded, “Of course, we can’t go on a date to the local Barn ‘n
Burger.”

Emily climbed out of bed and pulled on
the slip dress and then went to run a brush through her
hair.

“
Missing something?”
Chevalier laughed and ran his hands from her thighs to her
waist.

“
Complaining?”

He kissed her neck softly,
“Nope.”

“
Saves on unwanted lines,”
Emily said, and smiled.

Chevalier pulled a necklace from his
pants pocket and slipped it around Emily’s neck. He fastened it for
her while she ran her fingers long the inlaid diamonds and
sapphires.

“
That’s beautiful,” she
said, turning toward him.

Chevalier pulled her close to him and
kissed her as he wrapped his arms round her. He finally pulled away
and looked into her eyes, “Maybe we should stay in.”

“
Oh no, we’re going out,”
Emily said, and slipped on the dark blue stilettos.

“
Ok, if you say so.” He
handed her a fur stole.

“
What is this?” she asked,
running her fingers through the soft fur.

“
It’s fake is what it is,
ready to go?”

Emily nodded and headed for the door
as Chevalier put on a dinner jacket. Mark and Kyle met them outside
of her door, also dressed for dinner.

Emily turned to Chevalier,
“Seriously?”

“
Don’t worry, they have
their own reservations.” Chevalier put his hand on the small of her
back and led her down the stairs.