Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (27 page)

“
She’s afraid of hospitals,
I.V.’s, oxygen masks, the works. She’ll tear them off if you let
her,” Kyle said to the nurse, and she smiled sweetly and
nodded.

“
He’s not exaggerating,”
Chevalier said.

“
It’s ok, we have it under
control,” the nurse said.

A doctor came out to talk to them. He
looked too young to be a doctor. Silver braces on his teeth made
him seem even younger, and Chevalier took an instant dislike to
him. The young doctor put his hand out for Kyle and they
shook.

“
Hi, I’m Dr. Chen. I’m a
perinatologist. I’ve just looked your wife over, and I have some
concerns,” he said, checking the chart.

“
Concerns?” Kyle
asked.

“
Yes, first, her blood
pressure is way too high, that’s what caused the seizure. Then the
size of the baby is of concern when the mother is small boned, like
your wife is,” he explained.

“
Ok,” Kyle said, not sure
what else he could say.

“
We’re going to have to
induce labor immediately. If she has another seizure, it could harm
both her and baby,” he said.

Kyle nodded, “Do what you have to. Is
that done with an I.V. by chance?”

“
Yes, a medicine will be
added to her I.V.”

“
Yeah… she’s never, in her
entire life, kept an I.V. in,” Kyle said bluntly.

“
We’ll secure it as best as
we can. Once she understands the risks to the baby, I’m sure she’ll
be fine,” the young doctor said, smiling. “I’m missing the name of
the doctor who delivered her previous baby though.”

“
That was an emergency home
birth, in the middle of a hurricane. We didn’t have a doctor,” Kyle
explained.

“
Oh wow, let me note that
here,” Dr. Chen wrote something down.

“
Can we see her?” Kyle
asked.

“
Not yet, the nurse gave
her some medicine for anxiety,” Dr. Chen said.

“
Anxiety medicine?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Yes, for Nosocomephobia…
fear of hospitals. It’ll make things a lot easier if she’ll relax
and stop fighting everything,” Dr. Chen explained.

“
And she took it?” Kyle
asked skeptically.

Dr. Chen nodded, “Sure, then she went
into the bathroom. When she’s out, I’ll send a nurse to get
you.”

“
She’s Alone?” Chevalier
asked.

“
Yeah,” Dr. Chen said,
frowning.

“
That means her I.V.’s
out,” Kyle said, sighing.

“
Dr. Chen!” a young orderly
said to him frantically. “I can’t find the patient in
3.”

“
She’s in the bathroom,”
Dr. Chen said, smiling at Kyle.

“
That’s what we thought,
but we can’t find her,” the orderly said again.

Chevalier glanced at Kyle, “See if you
can find her.”

Kyle ran back to Chevalier a few
minutes later, “She just left in a cab.”

Chevalier growled and headed back for
the car with Kyle.

“
Wait!” Dr. Chen called.
“Are you going to bring her back?”

Chevalier ignored the young doctor,
and sped away from the hospital, “If I get her back here, I’m
bringing the restraints.”

Kyle thought for a moment and then
spoke, “You know as well as I do that she’s not going to come back
here willingly. You will do more harm than good if you start
yelling.”

“
Oh, I’m going to yell,”
Chevalier said angrily.

“
Why don’t you take the
long way and calm down before you see her?” Kyle
suggested.

“
No chance,” Chevalier
growled, and stepped on the gas to prove his point.

Chevalier left his car at the side
doors of the palace and stormed inside. He grabbed the collar of
the first guard he saw, “Where is she?”

“
I… I… haven’t seen her,”
the guard said nervously.

Chevalier threw him against the wall
and blurred upstairs. When he saw her room was empty, he turned to
the door, but was blocked by Kyle.

“
Seriously, you’re going to
hurt her if you don’t calm down,” Kyle said.

“
Get out of my way,”
Chevalier hissed.

Damon appeared behind Kyle, “Let Kyle
and I find her first, Elder. Just wait here.”

“
If you two don’t want to
find your heads separated from your bodies, I suggest you let me
by,” Chevalier growled.

“
If you hurt her, she’ll
take off again and you know it. You know how badly she pushes
buttons, and I can promise you, right now, she’s going to send you
over the edge of reason,” Damon said respectfully.

“
I’m going to find her. You
can come with if you want,” Chevalier said, and blurred out of the
room. He stopped at the main foyer and shut his eyes, inhaling
deeply.

“
You can’t find her that
way. The entire palace smells like she does,” Damon said, watching
him.

“
If the guards didn’t see
her, maybe she went directly into the garage and took off?” Kyle
asked.

Kyle matched Chevalier’s speed and
stopped just behind him in the garage. He looked around and saw the
Durango and the Humvee parked in their normal spots. His Ferrari
was there also. He wasn’t sure she’d take anyone else’s car, not
after being arrested for car theft once in her life.

“
Stables?” Damon asked, and
cursed when Chevalier disappeared. He was able to catch up with the
Elder at the doorway.

Chevalier looked around carefully. His
furious eyes took a fast inventory of the horses. All were
accounted for in their stalls.

“
Damn, where is she?”
Chevalier growled.

“
Maybe she didn’t even come
back here, maybe she went somewhere else,” Damon
suggested.

“
Where though?” Kyle asked.
“She doesn’t know anyone near enough to get to in a
cab.”

The smallest sound sent all three heku
into a spin to look behind them. Chevalier moved forward slowly,
his hands still balled into tight, angry fists. They all looked up
when their keen hearing picked up the sound of slow, rhythmic
breathing.

Chevalier blurred up the ladder and
froze, his eyes wide. Damon and Kyle stood beside him, ready to
grab him if he sprung.

Emily was lying on the straw, deep
asleep with a horse blanket thrown over her. She looked peaceful
and frail. Chevalier’s hands softened and as he watched her, the
anger flooded out of him. Kyle and Damon both noticed the change as
the anger in their Elder dissipated. They quietly jumped down into
the stables and went back into the palace.

Chevalier sat down beside her on the
straw, and watched her sleep. He wasn’t used to looking at her and
seeing the delicately fragile mortal that she was. Her vicious
temper and strong mind kept those thoughts far away from views of
her, but seeing her now, they came back to him. He watched as she
slept through the night, afraid his touch might wake her. He
couldn’t tell what her dreams were, but she didn’t move all
night.

When Emily started to wake up,
Chevalier reached over and brushed the hair back from her face. She
opened her eyes and sat up suddenly, looking around. She remembered
finally where she was, and then her eyes fell on
Chevalier.

Emily studied his face for a moment,
and then spoke, “Are you mad?”

“
Not anymore,” he said
truthfully.

“
I need everyone to leave
me alone,” she said, curling up against his side.

He wrapped an arm around her, “I
know.”

“
I’m not going to let them
take the baby early,” she whispered.

Chevalier kissed her forehead, “The
baby is developed enough that they aren’t worried about it. The
doctors are more worried about you.”

“
I’m ok, if everyone will
just back off,” she told him.

“
You had a seizure. They
said it can kill you.”

“
I got stressed out. Keep
Damon away from me and I’ll be fine,” she said, and stood up
slowly.

Chevalier stood up too, “Can’t we
compromise somehow? I can’t lose you.”

“
No compromises on this. I
have the baby my way,” Emily said, and started down the
ladder.

“
What do you mean, your
way?” Chevalier hopped down from the loft easily.

“
I mean… alone,” she said,
turning to him.

Chevalier frowned, “Alone? You almost
died.”

“
Almost. I’m not going to
put heku at risk because I’m in pain,” Emily told him, and crossed
her arms.

“
That’s it? You’re worried
about us?” Chevalier sounded amused.

“
You wouldn’t think it was
that funny if I ashed the entire palace, would you?” she asked,
frustrated.

“
Kyle and I were with you
for Allen. You didn’t ash us,” he reminded her.

“
I can’t guarantee that
again, and I won’t risk it,” Emily said, and started in for the
palace. She needed a shower and new clothes.

Chevalier appeared in front of her and
she almost ran into him. He put a hand under her chin and brought
her face up towards him, “Please take it easy for now, until we
decide what to do.”

Emily hated when he looked down at her
like that. When they were standing that close, it made her feel
like a child that was about to get chastised by her dad.

“
Define… take it easy,” she
said, and stepped back a bit so he wasn’t towering over her so
badly.

“
Stay in bed,” Chevalier
answered bluntly.

“
If I stay in bed, will you
back off?” Emily asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Chevalier sighed, “If that’s what it
takes, then yes.”

“
And Dr. Alona can go back
to wherever it is he came from?”

“
How about he stays in the
palace, but we keep him away from you? If we have a question, it
can be relayed,” Chevalier suggested.

Emily nodded, “Fine, I’ll give you
that.”

She crawled into bed after a hot
shower and noticed the TV had been moved closer to her. She also
saw a tray on her bedside table, but didn’t see anyone around. She
lifted the dome and grabbed the plate, suddenly very hungry. She
put the plate on top of her stomach and dug into the
pancakes.

Damon knocked and walked in just as
Emily was finishing off the bacon.

“
What do you want?” Emily
asked, and put the plate back on the tray.

“
Don’t get your panties in
a wad, I offered to come,” Damon said, and sat down in the chair by
the bed.

“
Why’s that?” Emily asked
suspiciously.

“
The Valle and Encala have
representatives in the palace, talking to the Council, and the
Council thought it wasn’t a good idea that you were alone,” Damon
said, and sniffed at the juice on her tray.

Emily grabbed the juice and moved it
to her bedside table.

“
Oh, and Chevalier thought
it would be a good idea to send you?” she asked.

“
He was a little busy at
the moment, so Maleth sent me,” Damon said, smirking.

“
I should go. They’ll be
more civil if I’m in the room,” Emily said, and swung her legs over
the side of the bed.

“
No can do, Tiny. Orders
were to keep you away from them. They’re pretty nasty today,” Damon
told her.

“
Was it that or was it more
like…
‘Keep the mortal from passing out in
front of guests,’
?” Emily asked,
grinning.

“
Yeah, it may have gone
something like that.” Damon laughed.

Emily groaned and bent over, grabbing
her stomach. Damon jumped to his feet and looked at her
nervously.

“
Sit,” she moaned, and he
sat back down, but watched her closely. She relaxed finally and
looked over at him.

“
Going to pop that kid out
now or what?” Damon asked, his voice was still joking, but Emily
could see the panic in his eyes.

“
You know what I like about
you, Damon?” Emily asked, and smiled.

“
What’s that?”

“
Nothing,” she said, and
grabbed her book from the nightstand.

“
Don’t you even wonder what
the Valle and Encala are here for?” Damon asked after a few awkward
minutes of silence.

“
Is it about
me?”

“
Well, no.”

“
Then no, I don’t,” she
said, turning the page in her book.

“
Want to play Vampire
Attack IV?” he asked, looking over at the Wii.

“
No,” she said, still
reading.

“
Hungry? I could get you
something.”

“
No”

Damon sat and watched her read,
tapping his foot against the floor.

“
Damon!” Emily
yelled.

Damon looked up, “What?”