Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (68 page)

“
That was mean,” Margaret
said, grinning at Chevalier.

Chevalier chuckled, “She
needs to do it. Please tell me you did behave, if that dress is
revealing, I’ll never get her to go.”

“
Yes, I behaved. She’ll be
completely covered.”

“
Hmm, I almost like this,”
Emily said, and Chevalier smiled, finally something went her
way.

“
Almost?” Margaret asked,
frowning.

“
It’s a little…
fitted.”

“
That’s the style, Child,”
Margaret said, laughing, and walked out.

Emily finally emerged in a
floor-length, green satin Asian style dress with a high collar and
short sleeves. The brooch at her neck was an emerald and diamond
Equites symbol. The dress was fitted perfectly and hugged every
curve in her body. There was a split on one side of the dress up to
her thigh so she could walk.

Chevalier raised his
eyebrows, “Nice.”

Emily nodded and looked down, “As far
as I can tell, I’m not showing anything but my leg.”

“
Let’s go then.” Chevalier
took her hand and handed her the briefcase.

Emily sighed and took the briefcase,
“You owe me for this.”

“
I know,” he
chuckled.

Anna brought Alexis in and
handed her to Chevalier along with a bag, “Hurry back,
Child.”

Emily nodded and headed for
the helicopter to Council City.

When they landed on the
roof of the palace, Emily cringed. She swore she wouldn’t come back
there, yet a week later she found herself once again in Council
City.

A guard helped Emily down
from the helicopter, and Chevalier ran off to take his spot as
Emily got Alexis out.

The toddler grinned broadly
when she saw Silas appear on the roof. She held her hands out for
him and Emily handed her over.

“
It’s good to have you
back,” Silas said, smiling at Emily.

“
I’m not staying. I just
need to hand over this damned book,” she said, and followed the
guards into the palace.

Emily felt more like an
outsider than ever as she made her way down the palace stairs to
the great hall. She felt the eyes of the heku on her, and she felt
as though they were all judging her and waiting for her to panic
and ash all of them. She was well aware of what Damon told her
about their thoughts, and as she thought about it, it made it hard
to breathe.

When they rounded the
corner to the entrance, Emily froze. Standing before the door were
all thirteen of the Cavalry, Mark at the head.

“
I don’t need guards,” she
said sternly.

“
We’re not here to guard
you. We’re here to guard the book,” Mark said to her,
officially.

“
Great, then you take it,”
Emily said, and removed the book from the briefcase.

Mark stifled a grin, “We can’t, you
have to take it to Quinn.”

“
No, I’ll give it to
Chevalier.”

“
Orders say Quinn,” Mark
said.

Emily frowned and walked
through the doors when they opened, and then turned suddenly to
Mark.

“
If all I have to do is
hand this stupid book to the Elders, why are so many
here?”

Mark grinned, “Everyone wants to see
the book.”

She started down the long
aisle, her eyes fixed on the three Elders, who sat with serious
expressions in the three center chairs.

“
Not everyone can find a delicious little mortal to marry so
we can fuck any time we want,”
Damon’s
words echoed through her head.

The thought made it harder to breathe,
and she could feel herself starting to hyperventilate as her heart
began pound in her chest. Chevalier watched her,
concerned.

“
Sweet piece of ass in the
palace,”
Damon’s voice sent new swells of
panic through her and she stopped moving. She looked to the side of
her at the heku gathered.

“
Emily?” Mark asked from
behind her.

“
We are going to replace
Chevalier… They are a liability because of you.”

Emily turned around and looked past
the Cavalry to the doors. She was trapped. There were heku to the
sides of her, Cavalry in back of her, and the Council in front of
her. Her hands began to shake as she looked quickly for a way
out.

“
Lady Emily, are you
alright?” a member of the Cavalry asked her.

“
To prove to me that you
are going to do as I ask without a fight…”

Damon’s words seemed to come from all
around her. She wondered briefly if everyone in the room could hear
them. She took one step forward, and then stopped again, gripping
the briefcase tightly.

Maleth stood up and reached a hand out
to her, “Come here, Child.”

“
The Council feels it is
time for another baby.”

The control Damon demanded in the name
of the Council, and the way they watched it happen, all flooded
back to her. Emily pulled her skirt up a few inches and ran through
the Cavalry toward the door.

Mark caught up with her and put a hand
on her shoulder, “Emily?”

“
No, Damon, I won’t do it,”
she yelled, and pulled away from him. A murmur ran through the
crowd.

Chevalier appeared at her side and
took her hand, “Look at me, Em.”

She looked up at him
hesitantly.

“
Breathe”

Emily took a short, shallow
breath.

“
I’ll walk with you,” he
said, and stepped down the aisle.

Emily’s eyes fixed on Quinn and Zohn,
who was sitting next to him. They shifted uncomfortably in their
seats at her confused gaze. To them it looked like she was walking
to her death at their hands.

Maleth and Quinn stood when Emily and
Chevalier got closer.

“
Lady Emily, do you possess
the book of the Valle Covens?” Quinn asked. His voice was loud and
demanding.

Emily nodded and looked up at Quinn,
terrified.

Quinn glanced at Chevalier and he
nodded.

Quinn’s voice boomed, “Do you, Lady
Emily, wish to transfer the rights of this book to the Equites
Council?”

Emily put the book out for Quinn
quickly.

Quinn looked at Chevalier.

“
Em, say yes,” Chevalier
whispered.

Emily nodded.

Quinn reached out and took the book
from her. Before he could complete the dialogue, Emily was once
again running back up the aisle. She looked forward, ignoring how
the heku watched her curiously as she ran out into the foyer. When
she got to the stairs, she took them up, two at a time, all the way
to the roof.

Once she climbed up onto the wall of
the roof, she could finally breathe. She looked down over Council
City as she had dozens of times while under Damon’s
control.

Once silence fell over the great hall,
Quinn spoke again, “It is… with great honor that we accept this
book. For over three hundred years, heku from all around the
Equites family have tried to take it from the Valle, and we are
pleased that it has now been done.”

The Equites broke into
applause.

Quinn silenced them, “As the finder of
the book has… well… left… then we will have to cut this ceremony
short?”

Quinn glanced at Maleth and he
shrugged, and then nodded.

“
Very well then, as we
can’t continue, you may go,” Quinn said, and the Council watched as
the heku all moved out of the great hall.

Chevalier sighed, “I better head back
to the island.”

“
No, please,” Quinn said.
“I think Zohn and I need to talk to her.”

“
After the Damon comment…
I’m not sure if she’s ready to talk to you,” Maleth said. The
comment by Emily had proven to the Council how badly Emily was
afraid of the palace.

“
Still, I want to just talk
to her, and I think Zohn should be with me,” Quinn said
again.

Chevalier nodded, “You can
try.”

Quinn and Zohn walked up to the roof.
They had heard her move to the spot from which Damon once banned
her. Zohn knew that she had contemplated suicide from that same
spot during Damon’s control over her.

They made it to the roof and backed
the guards into the hallway. As the two heku approached her, they
both wondered if she might jump. She was leaning dangerously over
the side of the palace, looking straight down toward the
ground.

Quinn cleared his throat.

Emily spun and her eyes grew wide. She
clung to the turret wall and watched the heku approach.

“
We came to see if you are
alright,” Zohn said.

“
I’m fine,” Emily told
him.

“
It’s come to our attention
that we may not be your favorite heku in the palace,” Quinn said,
and Zohn cringed at the bluntness.

“
I’ve not made that a
secret.”

“
True,” Quinn said, raising
an eyebrow. “Might we ask why?”

Emily shook her head.

Zohn smiled, “Then can we ask how to
remedy that?”

Emily shook her head again.

“
You’re not helping us at
all, Dear,” Zohn said.

Emily glared at Quinn, “You put me in
prison.”

Quinn sighed, “Yes I did. I thought it
would keep you safe until Chevalier arrived.”

“
It was cold.”

“
I am sorry.”

“
Everyone was whispering
about me and hissing at me.”

“
Again, I am
sorry.”

“
It was too dark, they
turned the lights off,” Emily said scathingly.

“
A lapse in judgment, and I
am sorry.”

“
I hate you,” she whispered
and tried to blink away the tears.

“
I am aware of that… I am
also aware that you didn’t like me before that.”

“
No, I didn’t.”

“
Why is that?”

“
You questioned me in Paris
like a suspect, and accused me of lying,” Emily said to
Zohn.

“
You were though,” Zohn
said, and then Quinn elbowed him. “I mean… I just knew you were
hiding something.”

“
What did your instincts
tell you?” she asked, suddenly wanting to know.

Zohn studied her for a moment, “I felt
that Damon may have lost his temper with you.”

“
Hmm, I told Chris you were
smarter than he was,” Emily said, and shrugged.

“
Did you, now?” Zohn
smiled.

“
Leonid was my friend,”
Emily said to Quinn.

Quinn nodded, “Yes, I know that you
were quite upset at his retirement.”

“
Retirement? They buried
him alive.”

“
At his
request.”

“
So? Who does that? Who
buries someone alive when they ask?”

“
We do,” Zohn said,
confused.

Emily turned around and looked over
the city so the heku wouldn’t see the tears.

“
The Council is worried
about you, and truly wish you would return to the palace,” Quinn
said after a few minutes of silence.

“
The Council is worried my
abilities will go elsewhere. They aren’t worried about
me.”

“
I beg to
differ.”

“
I’m a weapon in their
hands, a liability in others. That’s all they care about,” Emily
said, and sat down on the edge of the roof, dangling her feet over
the grass, 9 stories below.

“
There’s more to it than
that,” Quinn said.

“
Oh, sorry, I forgot about
the baby maker part.”

Quinn cringed.

“
The palace isn’t the same
without you… it’s… boring,” Zohn said honestly.

“
I bet, and I also bet the
guards love that,” Emily told him.

“
We want you to come back
and live in the palace,” Quinn said.

Emily turned toward them, “Do I have a
choice?”

Quinn nodded, “You do.”

“
Then I want to go back to
the island,” Emily whispered.

“
As you wish,” Quinn said,
and then he and Zohn headed back down to the reception.

With some difficulty, Emily crawled
into the silent helicopter and curled up on the seat. She listened
to the music and voices from the palace for a while before deciding
she would go check on Patra, after she heard an odd whinny come up
from the stables. Her foal was due soon, and she’d been worried
about her alone in Council City, but she was too far along to move
to the island. She’d only had a foal 18 months ago, but one of the
Cavalry let her out into the corral when she was in heat. Now her
third foal was due.

Emily hesitated outside of the bedroom
and then stepped inside. She slipped off the dress and put on the
more comfortable jeans and t-shirt. She tied her hair up and then
snuck down the back servant’s entrance. The cool grass felt good on
her bare feet and she walked quickly to the stables.