Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (99 page)

“
Great”

“
I wish you would trust me
again. I’m not going to turn you against your will.”

“
You have a funny way of
showing that.”

Exavior smiled, “I’ll show
you that we can be friends again. I miss that
friendship.”

Emily shrugged and followed
Exavior into a bedroom. Her eyes grew wide and she turned to run,
but slammed into one of the heku guards.

Exavior laughed, “Don’t panic, it’s
not what it looks like.”

Emily turned slowly and looked at
Exavior, “Then what is it?”

“
Your room, Dear, nothing
more.”

“
Mine?”

“
Yes, you don’t have to
stay in that cement cell. You can stay here where you will be
comfortable.”

“
Chevalier and Kyle?” Emily
asked, looking around the room.

“
They are heku. They will
be as comfortable there as they would be here,” Exavior said, and
pulled a dome off of a tray of hot pancakes.

“
I want to stay with
them.”

“
Pancakes, your favorite,”
Exavior told her, and poured steaming syrup over them.

“
No, take me
back.”

Exavior sat down, “You have
got to be hungry. Now sit and eat, and then I promise that you can
go back.”

Emily hesitated, and then
sat down, watching Exavior closely.

“
Good, now eat. I know your
history of starving yourself, but I don’t wish for that to happen
here, in my care.”

“
Your care?”

“
Yes, I have taken your
care upon myself.”

Emily took a small bite of
pancake, “If you let me go, I can take care of myself.”

“
I know you can, but here I
get to do those honors.”

“
Honors? I fully plan on
making your life a living hell,” Emily told him, and took another
bite.

Exavior leaned his head back and
laughed, “I would expect no different.”

“
Why are they doing this?
They know I can ash the entire Valle palace,” Emily asked, and
started to eat again.

“
Don’t think that hasn’t
crossed our minds. However, you won’t do it unless you can save the
two heku also. As long as we have them where you can’t let them
free, we are safe.”

“
Not necessarily. I could
ash the Valle palace and call in the Equites, they can get to Chev
and Kyle,” Emily said, and sat back in the chair.

“
Maybe”

Emily’s eyes narrowed at him, “Why
can’t you all just leave me alone?”

“
We want you to join us,
simple enough. The Encala wish the same, and if you were ours, the
Equites would do this also.”

“
So it’s faction crap… who
has the weapon? Like a demented game of keep-away.”

Exavior nodded,
“Precisely.”

“
I would expect more than
playground games from a species older than dirt.”

“
One might expect more,
yes.”

“
Ok, I ate, now take me
back,” Emily said, and stood up.

“
Is there anything I can
get you?”

“
No”

Exavior stood and nodded,
“Very well, as promised, I will return you.”

Emily followed him back to the cells
and stepped inside once the current was turned off and the door was
opened.

Exavior followed her in, “She turned
down a warm stateroom for this, just so you know.”

“
Exavior, get lost,” Emily
said, when Chevalier looked at her, irritated.

Exavior laughed and shut the
door.

“
Are you ok?” Chevalier
asked her.

“
Yes, he forced me to eat
is all,” Emily said, and sat down on the cold cement.

“
Was he telling the truth
about the stateroom?”

“
Yes”

“
Then call him back and
take it,” Chevalier said.

“
No.” Emily frowned, “I’m
not going to sit in luxury while you two are in this
cell.”

“
Just do it, stop arguing
and for once… just do it,” Kyle yelled.

“
Don’t yell at me!” Emily
screamed back. “I’m not going to lap it up while you two are in
prison.”

“
We can take the cold
cement, you, however, need something softer,” Kyle said.

“
Why didn’t you tell me you
let Exavior go?”

“
It was none of your
concern.”

“
Oh? You don’t think
freeing the heku who tried to turn me is any of my business?” Emily
glared at him.

“
No, I don’t. It is none of
your concern what we as a Council decide to do.”

“
Calm down you two, this
isn’t helping,” Chevalier said calmly.

“
You could have told me,
Chev.”

“
I agree with Kyle. It was
a political move, and I didn’t want you seeking Exavior
out.”

“
You’re a hypocrite,” Emily
growled at him.

Chevalier frowned, “How
so?”

“
You’re so hell bent on
keeping me from trying to protect the heku, yet all you ever do is
keep things away from me for some misguided attempt at protection,”
Emily yelled at both of them.

The door opened again and a
Valle guard stepped in, “The Council wants to see you
again.”

Emily nodded and left with
him, still scowling at the Equites. She followed the guard to the
trial door of the Valle Council Room and stepped inside. She
immediately saw Zohn and four members of the Equites guard staff
looking at her.

Thinking quickly, Emily ran
to Zohn and wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered as
softly as she could, “Smell my neck.”

Zohn wrapped his arms around her and
she felt his nose against her neck.

“
Do it again, try harder,”
Emily whispered again.

“
Enough hugs, we have
business,” Sotomar fumed.

Zohn inhaled again, and
Emily felt his body tense. She pulled away from him and turned to
Sotomar.

“
What now?”

“
The Equites have come to
check on your welfare,” Sotomar said.

“
Well, we’re fine,” Emily
told Zohn.

Zohn had a feral look in
his eyes which passed quickly, and he turned to the Valle
Council.

“
I see she is well, but
part of this was to also set the terms for her release,” Zohn told
them.

“
There will be no terms.
She is a war criminal that has been tried and found guilty of the
murder of 20 Valle. She was sentenced to 50 years with us, and has
since added an additional 20 years for turning guards to ash,”
Sotomar said, amused.

Zohn turned toward her,
“Would you stop, please? Let us handle this. You don’t need more
years than you already have.”

Emily shrugged, “More years
won’t matter. I’d never make it 70 more years anyway… so what’s
another 200?”

Zohn sighed, “Just stop and leave this
to us.”

“
Sure,” Emily said, and saw
the understanding glance from him.

“
Good, so we’ll have no
more revivals during your stay?” Sotomar asked.

“
Sure,” Emily said again.
“Unless I get a chance to ash the entire palace and city, then
there may be some revivals required.”

“
Emily!” Zohn
yelled.

“
You won’t get the chance,
Child, not if you want to save your mate and the Equites Chief
Enforcer also,” Sotomar told her with a smile.

“
Just… let us do this,”
Zohn said to her again.

Emily nodded.

“
She may be returned,” one
of the Valle Elders said, and Emily was grabbed roughly on the arm
by two heku.

“
Stop it,” Zohn growled.
“There’s no reason to injure her.”

“
I’m perfectly capable of
walking on my own. I can’t kill you with my hands, so I won’t even
try to fight back manually,” Emily told them.

Sotomar nodded at the
guard, and he let go of Emily’s arm and walked out of the trial
area behind her.

Emily was taken back to the
cell with Chevalier and Kyle, and the doors were shut.

“
What did they want now?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Zohn is here. He was
checking on our welfare.”

“
See, they will get us out
soon.” He smiled.

“
I doubt it,” Emily
mumbled, and leaned against the wall, facing away from the others.
She pulled her arms into the thick robe and curled up against the
wall so she could nap. She was already feeling tired, and her
outlook on the weeks to come had grown dim.

Kyle sat next to Chevalier and
whispered so Emily couldn’t hear, “She needs to take the
stateroom.”

“
Yeah, she does, but I
don’t see how we can get her to,” Chevalier said, and glanced at
Emily.

“
She’s just going to get
sorer and sorer the more she sits and sleeps on this
cement.”

“
You know… maybe we should
let this go. If she gets too sore to handle, she’ll take the
stateroom if we haven’t harped on it.”

Kyle grinned, “You’re
right.”

“
Now, how to get out of
here.”

“
You don’t think the
Equites can get us out?” Kyle asked.

Chevalier glanced toward
the door, and then back to Kyle, “I think they can get you and me
out, but the Valle aren’t going to give Emily up now that they have
her. Look how many times they’ve asked for her and we said
no.”

“
Yes, well… she wanted to
be with us. She’s going to retaliate and cause problems
here.”

“
True, but I’m not sure
there’s anything she could do to get released,” Chevalier
said.

“
So we just sit back and
see then? I hate doing that.”

“
Join the club.”

Emily sat up quickly when the door
opened as Chevalier and Kyle stood defensively. A heku pushed in a
plate and shut the door quickly.

Emily grinned slightly, “No more metal
trays I see.”

Kyle grabbed the tray and smelled it,
“Smells fine.”

“
I’m not hungry though,”
Emily said, and sat the plate of spaghetti down on the
floor.

“
It’ll be easier when we
get out if you aren’t starving,” Kyle told her.

“
I know, and I’m not
starving myself on purpose. I’m just not hungry,” she told them,
and leaned back against the wall. She slept on and off over the
next few hours while Kyle and Chevalier discussed ways to get
out.

Emily gave up on sleeping and looked
over at Chevalier, “Where’s Kyle?”

Chevalier shrugged, “I’m
not sure exactly. They took him about an hour ago.”

“
I’m kind of glad. I need
to talk to you,” Emily said softly.

“
Ok, what
about?”

“
I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t
say anything, but Zohn kind of confirmed it.”

Chevalier frowned, “Zohn confirmed
what?”

Emily rubbed the bridge of
her nose. She was starting to get a headache, “Don’t be
mad.”

“
I will try,” he said
skeptically.

“
I mean, I could have read
Zohn’s body language wrong.”

“
Em, just tell
me.”

Emily glanced at the door, “I think I
hurt my back.”

Chevalier looked at her, confused,
“How exactly is that something Zohn would confirm?”

Emily crawled over to
Chevalier and climbed onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her
and whispered, “I don’t understand.”

She leaned her head against
his shoulder, “Go ahead, take a whiff.”

Chevalier sighed and ran
his nose along her neck and gasped. He rested his forehead against
her shoulder, “Damnit.”

“
I have impeccable timing,”
Emily said softly.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, you
do.”

“
Was Zohn right? Is my back
hurt? I mean… I could just be late.”

“
No, he’s right. I’m glad
he at least knows, this changes everything. I thought you had
medicine for your… back.”

Emily looked up at him and glared, “I
do, but it only helps 97% of the time.”

Chevalier pulled her head back to his
shoulder, “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“
How strong is it?” she
whispered.

“
Not too bad yet, you have
to be right against your neck to notice, but it won’t be
long.”

Emily wrapped her arms around herself,
“I’m sorry.”

Chevalier kissed her forehead, “It’s
not your fault, just bad timing is all.”

“
I was going to tell you as
soon as I knew, course, I halfway expected you to know
first.”

“
How long before you get...
the flu?” Chevalier glanced at the door.