Emily sighed, “Fine… both of you inside. But no talking about me or my ghost.”
“Ghost?” Silas asked, grinning.
She glared at him and then walked into the house, followed by Kralen and the newer heku guard.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Megara asked from the top of the stairs.
“It’s ok. Go back to sleep,” Emily said, ascending up to her room.
“I wasn’t asleep.”
“Mortals sleep.”
Megara just rolled her eyes and went back into her room.
Emily curled up in bed after checking to make sure that Kralen and the other heku weren’t whispering about her. With the addition of the two, she was soon asleep.
Early the next morning, Emily woke up and then looked at the two in the corner.
“Good morning,” Kralen said, standing up.
“Morning,” she said, stifling a yawn. Emily slipped on a robe and then shuffled the heku out of her room, so she could change. By the time she changed and limped down the stairs, Kralen had coffee on and was whipping up a quiche.
“You’re making breakfast?” Emily asked, sitting down at the table.
“Sure”
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“I’m French. We can all cook,” he said, smiling. Emily watched as he expertly prepared the quiche and then handed it over to her while she sipped on her coffee.
Emily took a tentative bite while Kralen shook his head, “I didn’t poison it.”
“Wow, it’s actually really good,” she said, and then dug into her breakfast.
“You doubt my skills,” he said, sitting down.
Emily looked around the kitchen, “Where’s the other heku?”
“I sent him back out to his post.”
“I guess the entire faction is now laughing that I have a ghost.”
Kralen shrugged, “Not many know, really. The Elder is keeping it pretty quiet.”
“Is he embarrassed that I saw a ghost?”
“No, but he doesn’t want others to think you’re crazy.”
“Nice,” she huffed, and finished her breakfast.
He tapped his fingers lightly on the table for a few minutes and then smiled, “The rest of us already know you’re crazy.”
She frowned and looked up at him, “Is there some reason you are in here irritating me?”
“Chercher des puces.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I just want to bug you.”
“Yeah well, how do you say bugger off in French?”
Kralen smiled broadly, “Casse toi.”
She sighed, “That was a hint. Not a question.”
“Oh, I know.”
Emily finished her breakfast and then turned to Kralen and put her feet up on the table, “Fine… but if you’re here, I get to ask questions.”
“Oh Lord.”
“What was your name before you turned?”
“Why?”
“I just want to know.”
“Well, I don’t remember.”
“Has Kralen always been your heku name?”
“No”
“So what was it?”
“It’s not…”
“Don’t tell me that crap. What was it?”
He sighed, “Dietrich.”
“Why did you change?”
“I don’t know. Names get old after a thousand years.”
Emily smiled, “You believe in ghosts.”
“I most certainly do not.”
“Sure you do.”
He glanced toward the window, and then sat back in his chair, “I realize that you think you and I are exactly alike… but we’re not.”
“Yeah we are.”
“Similar in some ways, yes. I don’t believe in ghosts though.”
“You’ve never once encountered something you couldn’t explain?”
“Nope… I happened to be outside of Domrémy-la-Pucelle one night in the Bois-Chenu forest…”
“Why?”
Kralen’s eyes narrowed, and then he shook his head, “Some mortals working under me at the time claimed to have seen Joan of Arc in the woods.”
“You were mortal at the time?”
“No”
“Did they see her?”
“I doubt it. This was almost 60 years after her death.”
“So they saw her ghost.”
“I wanted to prove to them that there’s no such thing as ghosts, so I went and stayed the night alone in Bois-Chenu.”
Emily leaned forward, “You saw her, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t. Just after midnight the woods filled with the scent of humans. I backed around and flanked them. They were trying to scare me.”
“You probably scared the hell out of them.”
He grinned, “I did.”
“But no Joan?”
“No, no Joan. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to actually searching for a ghost.”
“One set up doesn’t mean there are no ghosts.”
“There aren’t.”
Emily sat back and studied him for a moment, “So if you’re from France, how did you end up a member of Okanogan Coven?”
“I followed a heku there and stayed.”
“A man?”
“No”
She leaned forward again, “Who was she?”
“Her name was Gemma. She was from the Italian Province of Terra di Lavoro.”
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s no longer a province.”
“How did you meet?”
“We met at an Equites coronation.”
"Why did she come to Okanogan?”
“We wanted to go to the new world. It was rumored that all three factions were settling in different parts of it, and we wanted to see what the big deal was.”
“You followed her to Okanogan then… keep going…”
“Not much to say. Okanogan has always been near Encala City.”
“The Encala killed her?”
He nodded, “That was a long time ago.”
“Not if mortals were moving to the new world.”
“It was still a long time ago,” he said, and then stood up and walked out of the kitchen. Emily wondered if she’d pushed him too far in her quest to learn more about him. She sighed and decided to just not bring it up again.
“Mom?” Megara asked from the kitchen door.
Emily smiled at her, “Good morning.”
She sat down by her Mom.
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked.
“I’m… sort of…”
“Thirsty?”
Megara nodded.
“You have too much heku in you to survive off of food.”
“I don’t want to be heku.”
“I know.”
“Do you have any in the house?”
Emily couldn’t help but smile, “No, I don’t keep blood in the house.”
“I guess I can go back to the palace. I miss my teachers.”
“And your Dad?”
That brought a smile to Megara’s face, “I miss Dad too.”
Emily stood up and kissed her forehead lightly, “You’re a Daddy’s girl.”
“I guess.”
“We can go back. I’m sure the Cavalry is ready too.”
“Why do they even come? No one’s after you anymore.”
“They come because your Dad thinks they need to be here,” Emily said, grabbing her purse.
“You’re just leaving the house empty?”
“Alec will be back tonight. It’s fine.”
Megara nodded and then followed her Mom out to the Jeep. Emily checked in with Silas quickly and was soon headed back to the palace. She was relieved to be able to sleep without Exavior’s nightly visits but still wondered how to rid her house of his ghost.
Horace and three other members of the Cavalry met them in the palace’s garage. Emily smiled and then climbed out after Megara.
“Where’s the cane
?” Horace asked.
Emily shrugged, “I don’t need it anymore.”
“We’ll have to clear that with Dr. Edwards.”
“If you must.”
“I’m just going to go to the kitchen,” Megara said, and disappeared inside.
Horace smiled, “You back then?”
“Yup,” Emily said, and walked inside. She tried to ignore the feeling that the heku were laughing at her ghost encounter but got side-tracked when she heard yelling from inside the council chambers.
Derrick blocked the door when she walked up, “Not sure you should go in there.”
She frowned slightly when she recognized the voice, “Is that Andrew yelling?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“At who?”
“The entire Council.”
“Why?”
“It’s not my place to say,” Derrick said, still blocking the door.
“Who else is in there?”
“Iuna and their Faction Liaison Officer.”
“Maybe I should keep the peace.”
Derrick turned slightly, and his lips moved quickly as he spoke to someone inside the room. After a couple of minutes, he turned around, “They said to come around back.”
When Emily opened the door, she immediately felt the tension in the room, and then the Encala’s voices quieted when she appeared and sat down beside Chevalier.
It was obvious that Andrew was avoiding looking at her, and she cleared her throat before speaking, “Keep your voices down.”
Iuna nodded slightly and whispered something to the other Encala before turning to the Council, “You’ve heard our demands.”
Chevalier nodded, “We have, and we still refute your claim.”
“You don’t have to approve for action to be taken.”
“How dare you threaten us,” Kyle said, scowling.
Iuna shrugged, “Return it, and we’ll let it go.”
“No,” Quinn said.
Emily was dying to know what was going on but promised herself to stay out of the Council’s affairs unless it involved her. She sat back when the conversation turned to Latin, obviously in an attempt to keep her from knowing the specifics of the argument. She focused in on Andrew, and the way he wouldn’t look at her and how his body was turned slightly away from her.
Two hours later, they finally returned to speaking English.
“Three weeks,” Iuna said, still angry.
“Understood,” Kyle replied.
The Encala turned for the door, but Emily stood up, “Andrew?”
His shoulders fell slightly, and then he turned around.
“I need to speak to you in private for a moment,” she told him.
Andrew glanced at Iuna and then nodded to Emily.
Chevalier asked Derrick to escort Andrew to the conference room just as Emily unhooked the phone cord from the phone and the wall and shoved it into her pocket.
“What are you doing?” Zohn asked, frowning.
“Having a private conversation,” she told him before leaving. Andrew was already waiting in the conference room, and it didn’t escape Emily’s notice that Derrick was standing outside of the door.
She sat down across from him, “Care to explain?”
He looked down at his hands, “That’s all Encala stuff.”
“No, how you won’t return my phone calls, and I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
“You were kidnapped and injured in my care,” Andrew said, and finally looked up at her.
“So? That’s my life.”
“It’s unacceptable.”
“So you ran off and hid?”
“Not exactly…”
Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Were you ordered to stay away from me?”
He sighed, “It’s more complicated than that. An enemy’s wife was injured in my presence. Because of me…”
“I don’t blame you.”
“It doesn’t matter. It makes things dangerous between our factions.”
“I don’t think the Equites are even mad at you over that.”
“It’s dangerous for you to get too close to me.”
“Is that from you or your Council?”
He shrugged, “I guess they’re right.”
“You swore you’d never put your Council before me,” Emily reminded him.
“I’m not. I’m taking my Council’s advice with regards to your safety.”
“Bullshit! Your Council said no longer to contact me, and you agreed. Simple enough.”
“I can’t fight my Council.”
“Oh, of course not! What the hell is friendship anyway? It’s easy to come by. You might as well throw it away.”
“We’re still friends,” Andrew told her.
“Apparently not! You promised me…”
“I had to get out of that coven,” Andrew explained. “You were hurt, and I was surrounded by Equites.”
“Equites that know you’re my friend and wouldn’t have hurt you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I trust Chev.”
“He’s an Equites… I’m an Encala…”
“You’re just a chickenshit then.”
“Em…”
“No! You don’t have the balls to stand up to your Council when they said you couldn’t see me. We’re friends, and I’m not going to let the Encala Council keep you away from me.”
“You can’t stop them,” Andrew said, and tried to take her hands. She pulled them away from him.
“To hell I can’t.”
“You promised to leave the Council business to the Council.”
“No, I promised to leave the Equites Council business to the Equites Council. I have no loyalties to the Encala, and I fully plan on telling Iuna where he can shove his ideas about you and me.”
“Listen to me,” Andrew said to her. “Their concern was for both of us. I was put into a dangerous situation with the Equites, and you were placed in harm’s way because I’m an Interrogator.”
“I was in harm’s way because I’m me! You know that…”
“No, this time they were after me.”
“Don’t think I’m done talking to you about how you drove an Equites insane either.”
“Em…”
“No! This isn’t going to happen.”
“Why won’t you listen to me? You were kidnapped because of me.”
“Next time they’ll kidnap and torture you to get to me… it’s a never-ending cycle," Emily said, getting frustrated. She felt on the verge of losing a good friend, “I knew you shouldn’t have been put on the Council.”
“I’m a good Interrogator,” Andrew reminded her.
“You were a good friend, too. Apparently, things change.”
“The Council will loosen their restrictions…”
“Wait! You’re restricted?”
“Just from contacting you.”
“For my safety?”
“Right”
“And you agreed?” Emily asked, irritated.
Andrew sighed, “I had to. I suspect when things calm down, they’ll let us resume our friendship.”
Emily stood up suddenly, slamming the chair back into the wall, “They have no say in who I’m friends with!”
“No, but they do have a say in who I am.”
She turned and limped out of the room. As she passed Mark and Derrick, she hissed, “Put him in a cell.”
The Encala turned when Emily walked in through the trial room doors. Kyle and Chevalier both stood up, recognizing the look on Emily’s face. She was furious and was about to take it out on someone. They just weren’t sure who.
Emily ran up to Iuna and pushed hard against his shoulder with her one good hand as his eyes grew wide, “Want to explain what gives you the right to dictate who I’m friends with?”
Iuna put his hands out in a gesture of peace, “It’s more com…”
He stopped talking when
she pushed him again, “Stay out of my life!”
“Calm down,” the Encala’s Faction Liaison Officer said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The entire Equites Council cringed, knowing that would anger her more.
Emily spun on him, “Get your bloody hands off of me.”
He pulled his hand back, “Just calm down.”
Shocking the Council, Emily unconsciously crouched slightly and balled her hands into fists as she turned back to Iuna. Chevalier and Kyle instantly appeared in the trial area and pulled Emily away from the enemy Elder. Heku instincts could only be controlled for so long when faced with an aggressive stance.
“Em,” Chevalier said, putting a restraining arm around her.
“What gives you the right to forbid him from contacting me?” Emily screamed.
Iuna settled his anger, and then looked at her calmly, “Right now, things are tense between our factions. It’s dangerous for him to be near you.”
“You want to talk tense? Piss me off… then we’ll see how tense things are.” Chevalier tightened his grip when he felt her body stiffen. He knew she was about to attack the enemy again.
Kyle put his hand out to Iuna, “Now may not be the time to discuss this.”
Iuna nodded, but Emily screamed, “You can’t keep him from talking to me!”
Iuna was now fully calm, “I can, and I am.”
“He’s my friend,” she said, a little calmer. Her voice held a hint of pain.
“We understand that. However, he’s our Interrogator and his duty lies with the Encala.”
Emily’s voice dropped to whisper, “I won’t let you do this.”
“Em?” Andrew said from behind her.
She looked over at him and frowned, “I had you thrown in prison.”
“We can’t do that,” Quinn told her. “He’s done nothing that warrants it.”
Chevalier finally let Emily go when she pushed toward the doors. She walked up to Andrew and looked up at him, “I’m glad that you can throw off years of friendship, but I’m not like that.”
“I haven’t thrown away our friendship,” Andrew said softly.
She nodded, “Yes you have. You’ve not only thrown it away, but you’ve broken a promise to me.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said as she headed slowly for the door. “I saw this coming.”
Emily couldn’t take the pain of losing Andrew. He was her trusted friend, and he had easily been able to just write her off. She wondered if he even thought about calling her anymore, or if he cared enough to wonder if she was ok. She was afraid that if the Encala agreed to let them be friends again, he would choose not to renew the friendship that she held so close to her heart.
Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series Page 8