“No,” William said. “We also want to know what the Valle are going to do about the Asher Coven.”
Sotomar smiled, “Why would we do anything about then?”
“They’re breaking heku law,” Zohn told him. “We have no business being involved in mortal sports.”
“They aren’t hurting anyone,” Ryan said. “They’ve agreed not to win the competition, so we see no reason why they can’t compete.”
“What gives you the right to break the laws of the heku?”
“Not breaking… bending…,” Sotomar told them. “The rules specifically state that heku cannot influence mortal sports, not that we can’t join them at all.”
“Not the rules we were speaking of,” William said.
Sotomar’s eyes narrowed, “I’m aware of that.”
Emily looked from Sotomar to William, “What do you mean?”
“We’re done, Dear,” Sotomar said to her. “You may go.”
“No, I want to know.”
She sighed when four Imperial Guards entered through the back doors and escorted her out after she looked hard at Zohn. He was watching her carefully and it felt familiar and she wondered why part of her was drawn to him.
Sotomar leaned forward, “What do the Encala care that we have Emily?”
It was obvious that Andrew was furious, “We care because it was done against heku law and it interferes with her relationship with our faction.”
“We didn’t turn her against you though,” Ryan said. “We just turned her against the Equites.”
“She obvious doesn’t remember our friendship!”
Ryan smiled, “We might have skipped that part…”
“We’re not going to stand by and watch this!” Zohn yelled. “You know as well as we do what happened to the last person you did this to.”
“I’m surprised Chevalier even heard about that,” Sotomar said, unaffected by his anger. “I was more careful this time.”
“It’s too dangerous and it’s a personal violation that ranks up with the Ancients.”
“We’re done,” Sotomar said, and motioned for the Door Guard to open them. “See them out.”
“This is going to backfire on you,” Zohn said to him. “We’re not going to clean up the mess.”
“Neither are we,” William said.
“So you’ve joined?” Ryan asked.
“No, we’ve not aligned… however… when a common mission is found, we will cooperate long enough to see it through.”
Zohn turned to Richard, “Shall we go?”
“Yes, I got what I needed.”
“Which is what, exactly?” Sotomar asked the Equites Chief Interrogator.
Richard simply smiled and walked out with Zohn, followed by the Encala. Once in Equites 2 and headed back to Council City, they were free to talk.
“She has doubts,” Andrew said, breaking the silence.
“I saw that,” Richard replied. “I saw flickers of disbelief.”
“So it’s close to when the re-memory may break?” Zohn asked. He had been concentrating on Sotomar and hadn’t seen what the Chief Interrogators picked up.
“If I had to guess… yes,” Andrew told him.
“Then that’s when she could lose her mind.”
“Yes”
“What else?”
Richard smiled, “She hates Sotomar.”
“And… she’s hiding her hands,” Andrew added.
“He may not know the bond is broken,” William said. “So how is it then?”
“She may have found someone other than Sotomar,” Richard suggested. “Or… she may have just finally sworn her allegiance to the Valle.”
“If Sotomar finds out how badly she hates him, he’s not going to be happy.”
“The hate isn’t mutual,” Richard said. “Sotomar is very much in love with her.”
“It’s common around her, though,” Zohn reminded him.
“Still, it makes things more dangerous.”
“So what do you suggest?” William asked. “The Encala are in on a rescue mission.”
“We can handle the Valle alone,” Zohn assured him. “We just don’t want to end up getting turned to ash, and risking her falling into another coma doing it.”
“I want to be there,” Andrew said.
“We know that. We can’t attack though.”
“So we wait?”
Richard lightly tapped his fingers against the armrest, “She’s close to breaking out. The more things we can do to remind her of before the re-memory, the more she’ll come out.”
“You copying what Sotomar says about Winchester safety brought a glimmer of doubt. I could see it,” Andrew said.
“How do we time our attack with her revelation that it’s all a lie?” Zohn asked.
“More importantly, how do we handle the realization?” Andrew asked. “If she did find someone else… she’ll realize that she cheated on your Elder.”
“That’s not her fault.”
“Will he know that?”
Zohn started to say yes, and then paused, “I would think so.”
“Will she know that?”
“I don’t know.”
***
Emily was bored. She was certain the Equites and Encala would have come back, but they hadn’t returned since their meeting two weeks ago. Sotomar was out of the palace on a mission, and had taken Hillock with him. She wandered the palace alone, not sure what to do. The four guards following her seemed put-out to be on her guard duty, and were even more irritated that she walked aimlessly around the palace.
“A book maybe?” one of them suggested.
“No,” she told him.
“Movie?”
“No,” she said, and then started up to the ninth floor of the palace to see what she could find.
“What’s up here you need?” one of them asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Just go back to your room then.”
“I don’t want to. If you’re so bored… go away.”
“Elder’s orders are we’re to stay with you.”
“Joy”
“We don’t want to be here any more than you want us to be, Princess,” he hissed.
Emily sighed and then decided to appease them and go find a book, “Fine… library then.”
Her guards had cleared out the library before she arrived, and then took up post outside of the door. There was only one way in and out of the massive expanse of books, so they were allowed to let her look by herself.
She thumbed through some of the books, finally coming across one of her favorite books, Anna Karenina. She picked the book up and inspected it as she ran her fingers along the crisp pages. Not sure why, she half expected to find the pages warped from water damage. She didn’t feel like that serious of a book though, so she returned it to the shelf.
After almost an hour of searching for something to read, Emily passed yet another tall ladder and decided that she would actually climb this one to see what books were on the shelves almost two stories above her head.
Emily found that the higher she climbed, the less fiction she came across and the more she ran into hand-written books that seemed older than anything she’d seen before. One was bound in a thin leather and the pages were scribbled in Latin with a hasty pen. The entire book smelled of rotten flesh and she quickly put it back on the shelf, no longer wanting to know what was in it. Up higher, she discovered a rolled parchment that contained nothing but runes.
After rolling up the parchment and returning it to the shelf, Emily saw something that seemed out of place. Off to her right was a hardback book that seemed in pristine condition, and hundreds of years newer than anything else she’d seen up this high.
She reached over for it, but her fingers could only barely touch it. Hanging further off the ladder she was able to finally grab it, but lost her balance and fell a few feet before her foot caught on the ladder rung and she was able to grip the shelf tightly. Once her heart ca
lmed from her close-call, she looked at the book.
There was nothing special about the book, Generations by Camber Smith. She started to put the book back, but then saw a copy of the Equites Crest on the spine. Wondering why the Valle wanted an Equites book, she opened it and was shocked to see a picture of Ulrich. The first page she turned to was titled “Miles Winchester.” Sitting down on the rung of the ladder, she began to flip through the pages of her history.
Emily smiled when she found a picture of her Mother with her stallion. She lightly ran her finger over the picture and then saw Sam standing behind her. She had to admit she missed him a bit, especially when she felt as alone as she had lately.
When the next page showed a black and white photo of Chevalier, Emily frowned and began to read. She was completely absorbed in what she was reading, because it was in contrast to her memories of the events described. She distinctly remembered her first encounter with Sotomar, though the book depicted the incident correctly, they had it listed as Chevalier, and not Sotomar that had whisked her away to Colorado.
By the time she finished the book and read about the three children, Allen, Alexis, and Dain, Emily began to wonder about the validity of the book as opposed to her memories, which seemed faded and distant suddenly.
Emily put the book back where she found it and quickly climbed down the ladder. She wasn’t sure what to do about the feelings she had that things around her weren’t real, or that things she felt were masking something deeper. Hillock was the only one she felt comfortable talking to, and he was out with Sotomar, who she despised and didn’t trust. She briefly wondered if there was something Sotomar was covering up, and then if Hillock was in on it also.
“Where to now?” one of her guards asked.
Emily didn’t answer, but walked down the stairs and toward the kitchen. She always enjoyed baking, and thought it would give her a chance to think. Nothing cleared heku out of the kitchen faster than the smell of baking cookies. After loading up a cookie tray, Emily turned to put it in the oven, but stopped when she’d turned to a cupboard instead. She could clearly remember the oven being there, but now it was just a cupboard.
She dropped the cookie sheet on the counter and then sat down on the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees. She couldn’t figure out what was happening to her. Nothing seemed real, nothing seemed solid or plausible. For almost thirty years she’d been with the Valle, yet only recently had she begun to feel like she didn’t belong.
Trumpets sounded, letting the palace know that Sotomar was back. Emily stood up and decided to talk to Hillock about her suspicions and concerns. Heading up the stairs, she could hear the heku coming down the stairway.
“Emily,” Sotomar said, smiling brightly. He put his hands out for her, but she walked past him and up to Hillock.
“I need to talk to you.”
He glanced nervously at the Elder, and then back to Emily, “Ok, what’s up?”
“Alone”
Sotomar nodded when Hillock looked for approval, so he led Emily up the stairs to a private conference room. Once they sat down and Hillock confirmed no one was listening to them, Emily took his hands and looked into his eyes.
“You love me, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then tell me the truth when I ask you…”
“What’s going on, Emily?” Hillock asked when he noticed how nervous she’d become.
“Is something weird going on?”
“Like what?”
“Like… I don’t even know. Something that would make me feel like things aren’t like they should be. Something that alters my perception of events in my life?”
“What’s causing this?”
“I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s getting worse.”
“You need to see a doctor.”
“No, I don’t. I need you to tell me what’s going on.”
Hillock frowned slightly, “Nothing’s going on.”
She cocked her head to the side slightly and then got a strange look on her face, “You’re lying to me.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are… I… I can tell.”
He sighed, “You can’t tell if anyone’s lying, Emily.”
She let go of his hands, “You’re in on it.”
“Nothing’s going on to be in on. Maybe you’re coming down with something.”
“You’re lying to me,” she whispered, and then stood up. “I trusted you.”
“Emily, listen to me. We just need to talk to the Council about this.”
“No we don’t! Why would I go to them about this?”
Hillock surprised her by appearing at her back and restraining her from behind, “Let’s go… it’s what’s best.”
“No, take me in there and I tell Sotomar everything.”
He gasped and let go of her, “What?”
Thinking quickly, Emily spun and then kissed him passionately as her fingers wound through his hair and grabbed a handful.
He fought for only a moment before returning her kiss and spinning around to put her on the table. She wrapped her legs around him and pressed her body against his.
After a few minutes, Hillock pulled away from her and looked into her eyes, “This was all a ruse to get us alone?”
She smiled and started to unbutton his shirt as she nodded.
“You just can’t be trusted, can you?” he asked, amused. “We can’t though, the Council is waiting for me.”
Faking a pout, Emily watched Hillock walk out and she looked around, not sure what to do from here. It was obvious that Hillock was in on whatever was going on. Without even trying, she could see the lie forming on his face and it infuriated her. She felt the hole in her heart grow larger as she thought about his lies.
Emily had to find out what was wrong, what was causing her to feel like this. She felt on the brink of discovery, but didn’t know how to bring it all to the front so she could fully see what was happening.
Not sure what else to do, she headed into the Valle’s prison to seek out Larry and Cody. The Equites had them first, and she wondered if the two former V.E.S. leaders knew anything about her history.
“Lady Emily, you can’t come down here,” one of the Prison Guards told her.
“I won’t be but a second.”
“Go back up,” he said, and took her arm.
Emily yanked her arm away from him, “Don’t touch me.”
“Then get out of the prison.”
As he growled and took her arm again, her eyes focused in on the electrical control panel high above the guard’s desk. She saw herself climbing onto the desk to reach it, and then running off down the corridor following a strange Encala heku.
“Lady Emily?” the guard asked, suddenly concerned that she’d fallen silent.
“I need to go lay down,” she whispered, and then headed back up the stairs. No one said anything to her, and she was able to go into her room and lie down on the bed undisturbed. The image was solid in her mind, following an Encala through the Valle’s prison system, looking for Chevalier and Kyle.
“Emily?” Sotomar’s soft voice penetrated the dark room.
“What?” she whispered.
“Are you ok?”
“I just don’t feel well.” That wasn’t entirely a lie, her stomach was tied into knots and trying to clear the fleeting images in her mind was giving her a headache.
“Shall I call a doctor?”
“No”
He sat down beside her on the bed and the room fell silent for a few minutes.
“Talk to me, please.”
“About what?” she asked, though she didn’t look over at him.
“About why you are so quiet, why you ignore me, and can’t look me in the eye.”
“I don’t know why.”
“Have I done something to you?”
“No”
He sighed, “You know I care a great deal about you, right?”
She shrugged.
“If you need anything, just tell me. I would give you the world.”
“I just want to be alone.”
“Very well,” he whispered, and then disappeared.
Following pure instincts, Emily got out of bed, walked over to the corner of the room, and then sat down and pulled her legs up against her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and buried her face between her arms as she began to rock. This odd position gave her more comfort than she had felt in years, and she felt the stress of the images begin to fade as her mind calmed.
“Can you tell me how to get you to sleep in the bed? You’ve been sleeping on the floor for almost 3 years from the sounds of it.”
Emily frowned as she heard Chevalier’s voice in her head. She calmed her breathing and put the hatred for him in the back of her mind to focus on his words. She remembered those words, they were spoken by Sotomar during her recovery from Chevalier’s 2-year control of her.
“You’re not going to be lashed here. Not for anything.”
Again it was Chevalier’s voice saying what Emily remembered Sotomar telling her. Why would her mind pick an enemy to say those caring words?
Emily’s mind replayed when she first found out that Sotomar loved her. It was just after her bout with pneumonia shortly after they first met. When her mind showed her the image though, it was Chevalier, and not Sotomar that was speaking.
“Leave it, Love.”
“Don’t look at me like that, you knew it all along.” His face was stern, but then he grinned.
It was Chevalier’s face, not Sotomar’s who grinned at her. She thought back and couldn’t remember Sotomar ever smiling at her the way she remembered in that instance.
She could feel memories, emotions, and feelings all rushing forward, so she concentrated hard on them, trying to bring them to the surface. She suddenly realized that’s what had been missing from her life, true, raw emotions.
With an impact that caused her head to pound, it all came back to her and she gasped and looked around the room. Her breath caught as she saw the gray of the Valle room, and then remembered her last 6 months with them. How she lived in their palace as a Valle, as Sotomar’s wife. Her heart sunk when she remembered her time with Hillock and how it broke the bond she’d assumed was from Sotomar.
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 51