Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (17 page)

Emily nodded.

“
What were you afraid of
last night?” Chevalier asked.

“
I don’t remember,” Emily
said, watching the water.

“
I’ll get you some lunch,
ok? Come out when you are ready. I’ll be right outside the door,”
he said, and left, shutting the door behind him.

Emily sat for a while and let the warm
water do its work. Finally, she climbed out of the tub and dressed
quickly. She found Chevalier sitting by the table with a silver
tray on it. She sat down and pulled off the dome. She was hungry
from missing breakfast, and dug into the spaghetti.

“
I need to go back to the
trials. Will you be ok alone?” Chevalier asked, and brushed the
hair away from her shoulder.

“
Can I go with you?” she
asked, frowning.

“
What if I send Mark
up?”

“
Do you really have to
go?”

“
I really need to, yes,”
Chevalier said. “What about Damon? I can send him up. Today’s
trials are Elder only.”

Emily shook her head, “I bet he thinks
this is really funny.”

“
No, I don’t think he
does,” Chevalier told her.

“
Send Mark,” she said, and
sat down the fork, no longer hungry.

Chevalier kissed her forehead and left
just as Mark was arriving.

Mark was disappointed that Emily
wasn’t in the mood for the game, but began to get worried when she
lay in bed watching out the window for hours. He heard Chevalier
coming up the stairs and met him out in the hallway.

“
She hasn’t moved all
afternoon. She’s just staying in bed, watching out the window,”
Mark said, concerned.

Chevalier sighed, “She met
Adam.”

Mark gasped, “How?”

“
She got nosey down in the
prison,” Chevalier said a bit coldly.

“
Well at least that
explains her mood. Damn, I hope she feels better,” Mark said, and
left for the barracks.

***

“
Doesn’t it seem like we’ve
had a lot of trials lately?” Quinn asked as the Council settled in
for another day.

“
Seems like it,” Damon
nodded.

“
How is Emily?” Maleth
asked, when Chevalier sat down.

“
Better, seems like every
day Adam wears off a little more,” he explained. Emily spent the
first two days in bed, but over the next week, started to come out
more and more, though she avoided the prison now.

“
I hate to say this, though
I wish it hadn’t been Adam, maybe that’s what we needed to keep her
away from the interrogation chamber,” Damon said.

Chevalier just nodded.

The Court Reporter shuffled some
papers, “First up is Ed. He’s an Equites, 248 years old. He’s
accused of intent to harm a member of the Council.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow, “Which
member?”

“
I didn’t! I swear, it was
a misunderstanding,” Ed yelled, his terror filled eyes on
Chevalier.

“
He snuck up behind Emily
while she was working with that demon horse. He scared the horse,
who ended up throwing Emily into a fence. On interrogation, he
admitted he was going to make her an offer,” Damon told
him.

“
I just… I just wanted out
of that room. I didn’t do anything,” Ed pleaded.

“
Offer?” Quinn asked,
ignoring Ed.

“
An offer to feed,” Damon
said, and scowled at Ed.

“
No, no that’s not what I
wanted, I swear!”

“
What then, did you want
with her?” Quinn asked him.

“
I wanted to talk to her,
that’s all.”

“
About?”

“
Just visit, nothing more,”
Ed said, still watching Chevalier.

“
Hmm, interesting. Aren’t
there outstanding orders about talking to the Elder’s wife?” Quinn
asked Damon.

Damon nodded, “There are.”

“
I say guilty then,” Quinn
said bluntly.

Each of the council members voted
guilty, and then Damon stood up, “Using you as an example, you are
sentenced to 16 years in prison for disobeying a direct order and
causing harm to a member of the Council.”

“
No... please... no,” Ed
said, and fell to his knees. Two guards came in and hauled him
away.

“
Next?” Maleth asked the
Court Reporter.

“
Next up is Lady Emily,” he
said.

“
Excuse me?” Chevalier
said.

“
She submitted the correct
paperwork for a trial. She is on the docket.”

“
This should be
interesting,” Damon said, and turned to the door when Emily
entered.

“
Good morning, Emily,”
Maleth said, smiling.

Emily smiled at the Council and limped
over to the trial area.

“
What exactly brings you
here today?” Quinn asked with a smile.

“
I’ve been doing some
research on the heku laws, specifically as it applies to Equites
prisoners,” she said, and blushed briefly as she felt the Council
watching her. “I am here on behalf of Exavior… to ask for his
release.”

“
Can she do that?” asked
Zohn. He had been appointed the Equites Chief Interrogator, and
this was his first trial day.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, I do believe
she can.”

“
On what grounds do you
appeal for his release?” Quinn asked.

“
On the grounds that I’m
the one he was accused of assaulting, and I want him released,”
Emily said nervously.

“
Bring Exavior here,” Damon
said under his breath.

Emily turned suddenly when she heard
the door behind her open, and then looked back to the Council when
Exavior stepped in with his hands restrained at his back. He moved
forward and stood beside Emily.

“
What am I accused of now?”
Exavior asked.

“
The Lady is here to try to
get you released,” Quinn told him.

Exavior raised an eyebrow, “Oh, she
is?”

“
Was that at your request?”
Damon asked angrily.

“
No, it was not. I wasn’t
aware she was even trying,” Exavior said, and looked at Emily. It
was obvious to the Council that she was avoiding looking at
him.

Emily rocked back and forth nervously
on her feet, “Sooo… can we let him go?”

“
On what grounds?” Damon
asked, irritated.

Chevalier hissed softly. The sight of
his pregnant mortal wife standing before the Council beside a large
enemy heku made him furious.

“
On the grounds that he
didn’t mean to hurt me, and I think time served is enough,” Emily
said.

“
What about attacks on
Council City?” Quinn asked.

“
Oh… that… do you have any
proof that he actually attacked?” Emily asked.

“
I did attack,” Exavior
told her.

“
Shut up,” she snapped at
him.

Quinn chuckled, “Seems that we can
hold him indefinitely on grounds of the attack.”

“
Fine then… how about you
release him so I can stay out of the prison,” Emily said, and
looked at the ground.

“
Wait for our decision in
the hallway,” Maleth said.

Two guards came in. One took Exavior’s
shoulder and the other pulled Emily’s hands behind her
back.

“
Hey!” she
yelled.

“
Let her go,” Chevalier
growled. The guard looked up at him and let go of Emily nervously.
He moved to Exavior and helped the guard escort him into the
hallway. Emily followed, not looking back at the
Council.

“
What are you doing?”
Exavior asked her after the door shut.

“
Hopefully, setting you
free.”

“
Do you just wander around
all day trying to find trouble?”

Emily frowned, “No. I thought you’d
want to be free.”

“
I can take care of myself.
There’s no reason you need to put yourself in jeopardy to set me
free,” he said, irritated.

“
How is this putting me in
jeopardy?”

“
You have no idea what
you’re dealing with. I am just looking out for you,” he said, and
Emily picked up a hint of patronization.

“
Oh, another one of those
heku traits that I haven’t seen in my 7 years with them?” she asked
him, angrily.

“
You have only scratched
the surface of what the heku is truly like. You are my main
concern. I want to keep your view of our species as you see it
now.”

“
Yeah well, don’t do me any
favors,” Emily snapped, and stormed off.

The guards pushed Exavior back into
the council room a short time later.

“
Where is Emily?” Quinn
asked, confused.

“
I do believe I’ve lost my
representative for this appeal,” Exavior said, and
shrugged.

Damon motioned one of the guards up
onto the stand. Quinn and Damon listened in while he relayed,
word-for-word, what happened in the hallway.

Damon turned to Exavior, his eyes
narrow, “What did you mean by scratching the surface of what the
heku are truly like?”

Chevalier turned to Exavior as he
spoke, “I know about your interrogation chamber. I also know she’s
trying to find it. She sees this species as warm and kind. You know
as well as I do that that’s a far cry from our true
nature.”

“
So, as you see it,” Quinn
asked, “We are incapable of caring for her?”

“
Exactly. If you cared for
her at all, you would let her leave and start a life back with her
own kind,” Exavior told them.

“
Let her leave? She can
leave whenever she wants,” Damon scowled.

“
Can she?” Exavior
asked.

“
I will not sit here and
defend my actions to a prisoner. Return him to lockup,” Chevalier
growled.

Exavior nodded and went with the
guards.

“
Damnit,” Chevalier
hissed.

“
What?” Maleth asked,
turning to him.

“
Emily’s encounter with
Adam scared her away from the prison. Now that Exavior brought it
all up again, I can just see the challenge forming in her head
again,” Chevalier said, frustrated.

“
If we kill him, would she
stop going down there?” Damon asked.

“
No, if we kill him, she’ll
take that personally and it would drive her harder.”

Damon growled and blurred from the
room.

“
Shall we continue?” Maleth
asked, and turned to the Court Reporter.

Emily stood down in the prison looking
at the empty wall. She tried to form a map in her mind of what
would be behind it, but she wasn’t finding an answer. She’d been
down into the prison a lot and never noticed this annex and its
empty wall. She wondered who would build a hallway off of the main
prison that went nowhere. She ran her hands along the cold
stones.

“
Having fun?” Damon asked,
walking into the annex.

“
What’s this place for? The
hallway doesn’t go anywhere,” Emily asked, turning to
him.

“
It’s for future
growth.”

Emily turned to him and leaned against
the hidden doorway to the chamber, “You’re lying.”

Damon frowned, “What makes you think
that? That’s quite an accusation.”

“
It just so happens that
I’ve been wandering this prison for almost an hour, yet the second
I walk into this annex, you appear. Sounds to me like the guards
yelled that the mortal was close to something she’s not supposed to
be.”

“
You’re flattering
yourself. Maybe I was informed you were looking for trouble, and as
my experience has taught me, you usually find it,” Damon
grinned.

“
If I’m not close to
finding what I’m looking for, then you don’t need to watch
me.”

“
Someone has to, you’re a
magnet for danger.”

Emily smiled sweetly, and then walked
out of the annex and up the stairs to the foyer.

Damon blurred back to his
seat.

“
What was that?” Quinn
asked, irritated.

“
Our resident pain in the
ass found her way to the door of the interrogation chamber,” he
said, looking over at Chevalier.

“
Did she know there was a
door?” Chevalier felt his heart skip a beat.

“
No, but she’s not stupid.
She knows no one puts a hallway to nothing,” Damon said.

“
Maybe you’d be better off
just taking her in and showing her the room,” Maleth
suggested.

Damon cringed.

“
No, I don’t think she
needs to see that right now. Exavior was partially right. She
doesn’t know some of our more darker tendencies. It’d be nice if we
could keep it that way. For now, I’ll just stay out of the chamber,
Kyle and Damon should too,” Chevalier said.