“That… was a little joke,” Exavior said, and handed her phone over.
“Get lost,” Mark growled, and the enemy heku blurred from the palace.
“Stand down,” Kyle growled.
“Put me down,” Emily said, and Kyle stood her up and looked at the dried blood on her forearms.
“Did they hit you?” Mark asked, his hands clenched into fists.
Emily sighed, “No, a mortal hit me, and you know what? I’m starting to dislike mortals more and more.”
“We have to go give a report to the Elders,” Kyle said, and took Emily’s arm.
“What? Why me?” Emily asked, wide eyed.
“You brought the Valle’s Chief Interrogator and an Encala Elder into the palace,” Mark said, taking her other arm.
“I did not! They walked in,” Emily said, and struggled a bit while they pulled her up the stairs to the council chamber’s door.
Derrick opened the door for them while Mark and Kyle drug Emily through the doors and up to the trial area.
“We were in lockdown because of Emily?” Quinn asked.
“No,” Emily scowled, and pulled her arms from Mark and Kyle.
“Damnit, Emily. Where’d the bruise come from?” Chevalier sighed.
“Fine…” Emily took a deep breath, and as quickly as she could, explained. “I went to eat and Exavior came in and then William came in and then they drank and there was a bar fight and a mortal hit me and pushed me through a window and then William drove the Jeep home with Exavior and then I got dizzy and Exavior carried me inside and that set off the alarm.”
Emily took another deep breath and cringed.
Zohn grinned slightly, “Well, explains that.”
“We called you, and you didn’t answer,” Quinn told her.
Emily sighed, “They took my phone.”
“Why didn’t you ash them?” Zohn asked, frowning.
“There was no threat. As annoying as it was, they just talked while I ate,” Emily told them.
“So you had dinner and drinks with an Encala and a Valle?” Zohn asked.
Kyle took a step back when he saw Emily’s hands clench into fists, “Am I on trial?”
“No, it just seems…”
Emily cut him off, “If I’m not on trial, then I suggest you mind your own business, and leave me the hell alone. I… did… nothing… wrong!”
She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
“You’re being quiet,” Quinn said, turning to Chevalier.
Chevalier blurred from the council chambers and the others followed him quickly. They all stopped in Kyle’s bedroom as Emily was sitting on the bed. Zohn, Quinn, Mark, and Kyle appeared between Chevalier and Emily.
“He tried to kill you, so you decided to have dinner with him?” Chevalier growled, and crouched slightly.
Emily stood up, “No I did not! He showed up out of the blue, so did William, and by then I couldn’t get out of the booth.”
Quinn put his hands out, “Both of you calm down.”
“Yet you wouldn’t defend yourself?” Chevalier hissed.
“I said calm down!” Quinn yelled.
“From what? Forced cheesecake?” Emily yelled. “I saw no reason to cause a major incident because of dinner.”
“You were injured…”
“By a mortal! I did what you asked. I let the heku fight their own battles, and still got punched,” Emily said angrily. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Elder, calm down,” Kyle said when Chevalier took a step forward.
Emily glared at Chevalier and then shut her eyes as her breathing slowed. The heku all frowned slightly and then she opened them and looked at Chevalier.
“How did I get in here?” Chevalier asked, and looked around the room. He was standing straight and perfectly calm.
“Did you have to do that?” Kyle asked, sighing.
“Yes, I did,” Emily yelled, and ran past the heku and down the stairs.
Chevalier frowned, “Who in the hell made her mad, and why does she have a bruise on her face?”
Quinn sighed, “Come with me.”
Chevalier followed Quinn out of the room.
“Do we follow her?” Mark asked Kyle.
“Let’s give her an hour to calm down. I’m pretty sure she’s going to the Durango,” Kyle said, and sat down on a chair by the empty fireplace.
“There was some validity to Damon’s claim,” Zohn said, sitting down.
Kyle glared at him, “There was not.”
“He was an idiot,” Mark said, leaning against the fireplace.
***
Emily sat in the Durango, covered in a blanket, and shivered from the cold. She’d cried enough it had made her headache worse, and all she wanted to do was to feel some warmth and go to sleep.
She jumped when the driver’s side door opened, and watched Chevalier get inside and shut the door.
“I’m not mad,” Chevalier told her.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Emily said, fighting back the tears that had been falling for the last hour. “I just went to get something to eat. I didn’t invite them.”
“Em,” Chevalier said, and took her hand. “I know that. The thought of Exavior carrying you into the palace just… it was just a little much.”
“I didn’t ask him to. I hate when I get carried around like a doll,” Emily explained.
“I think that sometimes, we, as heku,” Chevalier sighed, “Me included… tend to think of you like a doll, and I apologize for that.”
“I’ve noticed, well, not the Equites as much as the others,” Emily said, and rolled over to face him.
“Why are you staying in Kyle’s room?”
Emily crawled into Chevalier’s lap and pulled the blankets over both of them, “I’m confused.”
“About what?” he asked, and kissed the top of her head.
“Everything,” Emily said, and rested her head against his shoulder.
“Take the time you need, but promise you’ll tell me if there’s something I can do.”
Emily nodded and opened the door to the Durango and crawled out. She took his hand and jumped into the Jeep when he opened the door. Chevalier slid into the driver’s seat and started off for the palace.
“Did you ever consider how much easier your life would be if I weren’t in it?” Emily asked.
Chevalier smiled, “Yes, and I don’t think I would like it.”
Emily passed Kyle’s door and went into her room. She headed in to take a shower while Chevalier waited out in the room. She felt more secure with the dark shower curtains, and was able to relax as the hot water flowed over her. When she got out, she pulled a towel out of the warmer and wrapped up in it.
Emily pulled a nightgown out and quickly got dressed.
When she got out into the bedroom, both fires were going and the room was warm. She laid down on the bed and pulled the down comforter up over her.
Chevalier looked at her, unsure if he was supposed to join her, or stay in the chair.
“We made some changes to tomorrow,” Chevalier said. He opted to sit on the edge of the bed.
“Like what?” Emily asked, propping herself up on her elbow.
“First of all, we’ve built another chair for you,” he explained.
“Ok”
Chevalier chuckled slightly, “We’re also calling a break every two hours, so you can eat, or stretch, or whatever you need,”
Emily sighed, “Thank you.”
“If you need anything else, please, don’t hesitate to ask. We sometimes forget that you need things we don’t,” he told her, and touched her cheek lightly.
Emily nodded and shut her eyes as she yawned.
Early the next morning, Emily woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. She stretched and crawled out of bed. Alexis came out to eat and sat down beside her mother. Emily piled food on each of their plates, and sat back with a cup of coffee to wake up.
Alexis started
to eat quickly, and when her plate was empty, she ran back into her room to get dressed. Emily finished her breakfast and pulled on the heavy green robe that was hanging on the back of the chair.
“They are ready for you,” Silas said when Emily gave him permission to come into the room.
“Joy,” she mumbled, and walked down to the council chambers. She walked in and nodded before crawling into her chair. The new chair was propped up almost a foot and had a built-in footstool.
Kyle chuckled when she settled in and she glared at him before pulling her hood up.
“Bring them in,” Zohn commanded, and Emily watched as the two prisoners were brought in again and knelt down before them.
“Today we continue. The Council has reviewed the reports of the attacks on Randolph Coven from witnesses and documenting officers,” Zohn said. “Now is time for each of the council members to ask any questions they may have.”
Zohn sat down, and Quinn stood up, “What are your ages?”
Ingram looked up at him, “I am 378 years old, Sir.”
“I’m 1,307 years old,” Selhman said.
“How long had you been helping the Valle before the actual attack?”
Ingram gasped, “We are innocent. We didn’t do it.”
“There were witnesses that place both of you at the coven gates before the time of the attack, and one witness that puts you both at the scene of…” Quinn hesitated. He didn’t realize how hard this was going to be in front of Emily, “At the scene of the assault of the Lady Randolph.”
“Lies, I swear to you,” Selhman said frantically.
“Can you explain then… how you are the sole survivors of the attack?”
“We were lucky. We hid outside of the city, afraid for our lives,” Ingram said.
“So while your city was attacked, you cowered?” Quinn growled.
“No, no, we tried to go get help,” Selhman said.
“Did you hide or did you go get help then?”
Ingram glanced at Selhman before speaking, “We hid until it was clear, and then we went and got help.”
“I see,” Quinn said, and sat down. Emily had heard that tone before, and knew he didn’t believe any of it.
The Chief Interrogator stood up to speak. Emily hadn’t met him yet, but his face was angry and his voice boomed with authority, “Can you explain why the Chief Investigator found your bloody fingerprints at the scene of Lady Randolph’s murder?”
“We tried to help her, when we went back inside,” Ingram said.
“So after you ran to help the Lady of the coven, you then decided to hide from the Equites Army in a storm drain?”
“We were afraid. Everyone was dead.”
“Hm.” The Chief Interrogator sat down.
The Council member on the end stood up. Emily knew his face, but had never spoken to him, and didn’t even know his title, “If you watched it all happen, can you explain how the Valle were able to not only break in through the front gates, but also destroy the back cement wall to gain immediate access to the warehouse area?”
“I didn’t see that, Sir, we were up front,” Selhman said.
Emily frowned and wrote something down on the paper in front of her.
“So there was a huge crash only 100 yards from you, and you didn’t hear it?”
“We were busy fighting.”
“I thought you were hiding.”
“We fought first, and then hid.”
Emily felt like she was watching a bad cop drama.
The Councilman sat down, sighing.
Emily wrote something else down and then looked up when Chevalier stood up.
“I want to hear from you, Ingram, everything you did from the start of your shift, until the time the Equites Army arrived,” he said, and then sat back down.
Ingram looked up at the Council, “We arrived for work at 1500. Things were quiet, until a bunch of Valle came out of the west and down toward us. We knew we couldn’t hold them off, so we moved behind some pillars.”
“Once things started to quiet down, we ran into the castle to check on the Lord and Lady Randolph. When we got to the castle, it was too late, so we ran back out and hid until the Valle disappeared. Once they were gone, we ran toward the sound of helicopters that we knew must be the Army.”
Chevalier nodded and took a note from Emily. He frowned and then stood back up, but Emily put a hand on his arm. Things grew quiet for a few seconds, and then Emily let go of Chevalier’s arm.
“No, no, we tried to go get help,” Selhman repeated.
Ingram looked at him with wide eyes.
Chevalier chuckled, “Selhman, tell me what happened from when your shift started until the Equites Army arrived.”
Selhman nodded, “Our shift started at 1500. We only had a few things happen, nothing major, until the Valle came down from the west towards us. We stood our ground and told them to stop, but they just ran through us.”
Ingram glanced nervously at the Council.
“We followed the Valle into the castle, but we couldn’t stop the assault on the Lord and Lady. We watched from a hallway, but there were too many,” Selhman told them. “When we heard the helicopters, we ran out of the castle and met up with the Army.”
“I think I’ve made my point,” Chevalier said, and sat down.
“Let’s take a break until Selhman has fully regained his memory,” Kyle said, and the guards hauled the prisoners out.
Emily pulled down the hood and wiped the sweat from her forehead, “This thing is so hot.”
Chevalier chuckled and pulled his hood down, “Well played, Em.”
Emily stood up and pulled the robe off and moved to one of the fans. She turned when her lunch arrived, and sat back down. She took one bite and then looked over at Chevalier and Quinn.
“I’m confused about something though,” she said, and ate another bite.
“What’s that?” Chevalier asked.
“Where do the Encala figure into all of this?” Emily opened up the Coke and took a drink.
“They don’t, this was Valle only.”
“No, the Encala are in on it, too.”
Chevalier frowned, “What do you mean?”
“William… last night he told me he’s in town because of the Encala’s interest in this trial. It also seems to me like the Encala have some kind of stake. It was the Encala that attacked Thukil, not the Valle,” Emily said, and picked up her sandwich again.
Chevalier looked over at Quinn, “They said they were helping out the Valle in return for some prisoners.”
Quinn’s eyes narrowed, “We at first thought it was a combined attack, but then the only evidence we could find pointed to the Valle.”
“Where was most of the evidence? From the back broken wall, right?” Emily asked.
Zohn nodded, “Yes.”
“So the Valle came in through the back, and Dumb and Dumber let the Encala in the front.” Emily sat back with the can of Coke.
“We found no dead Encala though, all of them were Valle,” Zohn reminded them.
“How do you identify them?” Emily asked.
“Uniforms… which can be easily given out,” Chevalier said, and then frowned. “Why would the Valle give the Encala uniforms?”
“What were they after?”
“Nothing that we could tell, other than blood,” Quinn said.
“Find what they were after and you’ll find out what they were up to,” Emily said, and stood up. She ran out of the council chambers, “Back in 5!”
“What did you find in the interrogation chamber?” Kyle asked Zohn.
“I wasn’t there… Damon took them in,” Zohn said, and then turned to Quinn. “Maybe we better take them back in.”
“Let’s adjourn until tomorrow then. Take them in separately, so they can’t just copy their story,” Quinn told them.
Kyle grinned, “Coming, Elder?”
Chevalier shook his head, “No, not today.”
Emily walked in and gr
abbed her robe, “Ready.”
“We’re done until we get some interrogating done,” Quinn told her.
“Oh good. I’m going to go run naked through the rain,” Emily said, and walked out of the room.
Zohn frowned.
“She’s just hot.” Chevalier chuckled and followed her.
Chevalier caught up with Emily on the stairs, “Let’s go out riding.”
“Umm, no, I don’t really feel like it,” she said, and stopped in front of the guards on the fourth floor. She blushed deeply and looked away from them before running up the stairs.
“What did you all do? She can’t even look at you,” Chevalier asked them.
“Nothing, Sir,” Kralen said. “Honest, she just started acting weird around us.”
“Hrm,” Chevalier sighed, and went up the stairs to the bedroom. He shut the door and watched Emily, standing in front of the open window as rain was blown in on her from outside.
“What’s up with you and the guards?” Chevalier asked, sitting down in a chair.
“Nothing,” Emily said, and pulled her hair off of her neck.
“Did they say something to you?”
“No”
“Did they do something?”
“No”
Emily reached into her pocket when her phone rang, “Hello?”
“Yes, Exavior, I’m fine,” she said, and turned around to sit in the windowsill and cool her back.
“Stop calling him my boyfriend.” She sounded annoyed.
Chevalier frowned.
“Yes I know you do, bye,” she said, and hung up.
“You know he does what?” Chevalier asked.
Emily shrugged, “That he loves me.”
Chevalier hissed, “And who did he call your boyfriend?”
“He and William kept referring to Kyle as my boyfriend,” Emily explained, and then shut the window.
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Em?” Chevalier asked, no longer angry.
“What?”
“We need to talk about the lumbar puncture.”
Emily sighed and sat on the bed, “No, we don’t.”
“What if I told you that I can’t live without you?” Chevalier asked.
“You don’t have a choice. I’m mortal, and I’m going to die.”
“But we’re talking death in weeks or days even.”
Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series Page 7