Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (59 page)

Chevalier frowned when he saw Emily’s
bodyguards visiting with some of the coven dignitaries, but didn’t
see Emily.

“
Mark?” he called
out.

“
Yes, Elder,” Mark
asked.

“
Who is guarding Emily
tonight?”

“
Ted and Jack,” Mark said,
and then spotted them. “At least, they should be.”

“
Your first official duty,”
Chevalier said, and watched Mark approach the two
guards.

Chevalier watched as Mark became irate
and yelled at the two guards. He heard Mark tell them to report to
his office in the morning, and he blurred from the room.

Chevalier turned when one of the coven
dignitaries asked him about relations with a new coven that formed
close to his. He stopped listening to the dignitary when he heard
Mark yell for Kyle, and he saw Kyle blur out of the
room.

“
Seems both of our honorees
have disappeared,” Quinn said after Kyle had left.

“
Yes, seems so, and it’s
making me nervous,” Chevalier told him.

Maleth walked up, “Where are Kyle and
Mark?”

“
I’ll go find them,”
Chevalier said, and left the room through the back door. He
listened carefully and heard angry voices from the
stables.

Chevalier walked up as Mark and Kyle
seemed to be interrogating someone on the straw in the corner of
the stable, “What’s going on?”

Kyle turned to the Elder, “Seems like
the Encala are pretty interested in talking to Emily
today.”

Chevalier looked down at the three
Encala, “About what?”

“
That’s what we’re trying
to find out,” Mark said, and kicked one of the Encala, who started
to whine.

“
Where’s Em?” Chevalier
asked, looking around.

“
Strange thing is… she was
cleaning out a stall when I got here, and these three brave souls
were hiding in the corner watching her. When I called them out, she
ran off,” Mark said, and shrugged.

“
So her personal guards,
who skipped out on her, let the Encala get to her?” Chevalier
asked, suddenly very curious.

Mark nodded, “I can’t wait to deal
with them. I called for Kyle in case Emily decided to come back and
turn them to ash.”

Three members of the Cavalry arrived
from the city and took the Encala into the palace
prison.

“
You two go back to the
reception, it is for you after all,” Chevalier told them, and they
both ran off to the reception area. Once they were gone, he shut
the open stall and then blurred up to their room. He could hear the
jetted tub running and grinned when he found the door was locked. A
brief tap under the lock snapped it, and he walked
inside.

Emily jerked and looked over at him,
“Don’t do that!”

“
Sorry, Em. Are you ok?” he
asked, sitting on the edge of the tub.

“
Yes, if people would quit
watching me in secret,” she said, and leaned back in the tub,
re-covering her eyes with a washcloth. “I let Mark take them, happy
now?”

Chevalier was glad she covered her
eyes, because her comment made him grin, “Yes, very.”

Emily grumbled under her
breath.

“
Would you rather stay here
instead of going back to the island?” Chevalier asked.

Emily shook her head, “No, I want to
get away, and I want to get Allen away from his
schoolbooks.”

“
He’s enjoying
studying.”

“
He’s a little boy who
needs exercise and sunlight.”

“
Maybe not, I mean… he may
not need sunlight.”

Emily pulled off the washcloth and
glared at him.

Chevalier chuckled, “Ok, I’m going…
I’ll come get you for the helicopter later.”

Emily stayed in bed as long as she
could, and then got up and started to pack. When she heard the
helicopter start up, she picked Alexis up out of bed and carried
her, still asleep, up the stairs while one of her guards brought
the bags.

Emily handed Alexis up to Kyle, who
was already in the helicopter, and then she looked
around.

“
Where’s Allen?” she asked
Chevalier.

Chevalier shrugged, “He said he
doesn’t want to go.”

Emily’s eyes turned furious and she
went back inside. She came out a short time later dragging Allen by
his ear. Chevalier ran to them and took Allen from Emily’s
grasp.

“
I’m not going,” Allen
fumed.

“
Oh yes you are,” Emily
told him, and pointed to the helicopter. “Get in or I’ll carry
you.”

“
You can’t make me,” Allen
said. He crouched low and glared at her.

Emily’s eyes grew wide and she took a
step back.

“
Get in the helicopter,”
Chevalier said, picking Allen up and throwing him inside. He then
turned to Kyle, “You have my permission to put him over your
knee.”

Kyle nodded and glared at Allen. Allen
saw the anger in his eyes and buckled into the seat.

Chevalier wrapped his arms around
Emily, “He’ll come around.”

“
Yeah, if he doesn’t kill
me first.” Emily laid her head against Chevalier’s
chest.

“
I’ll meet you at the
island in a week, ok?” Chevalier kissed the top of her
head.

Emily nodded and crawled into the
helicopter, followed by four of the top members of the Cavalry,
including Mark. She buckled in and then leaned her head back to
sleep on the way.

***

“
Em?” Kyle said softly, and
touched her shoulder.

Emily jerked awake and almost fell out
of bed trying to get away from the heku sitting on the edge of her
bed.

“
Just me,” Kyle said,
smiling.

She nodded and pulled the covers
up.

“
Who was attacking the
Elder and I this time?” Kyle chuckled.

Emily frowned, “It’s not
funny.”

“
I know. It’s just
surprising that after all of this time, you’re still trying to save
us in your dreams.”

Emily laid back down and rolled onto
her side.

“
Did you know it’s almost
1pm?” Kyle asked.

Emily sat up and looked at the clock,
“Damn. Whose idea was it to travel in the middle of the
night?”

Kyle chuckled, “There’s coffee coming.
Anna has Alexis down getting some lunch.”

Emily nodded and stared at
Kyle.

“
Oh, right, I’m gone.” He
blurred from the room.

Emily stretched and laid back down,
not wanting to get up. The helicopter hadn’t landed on the island
until almost 5am, and then she’d had to fight to get Allen off of
it before it returned to Council City.

Emily grumbled when someone knocked on
her door, then sat up and pulled the covers up, “Come
in.”

Gordon walked in with a large smile
and a pot of hot coffee, “Good to have you back, Lady
Emily.”

Emily smiled. She still felt that
those around the palace considered it a demotion to help her with
anything. It was nice to feel wanted again, “Thanks, always good to
be back.”

Gordon set the coffee down on the
bedside table and then left the room. Emily had a few cups of
coffee to wake up, and then slipped into her bikini. She’d been
wanting to swim for a while. She threw a towel over her shoulder
and grabbed a clean diaper, and she was tying her hair up into a
ponytail when she walked out of the bedroom.

The two members of the Cavalry smiled
at her, and then quickly looked away. Emily headed down to the
dining room and kissed Alexis on the head.

“
Sim?” Alexis asked her
with a grin.

“
Yup, let’s go.” Emily
picked her up and stripped her clothes off, handing them to Anna to
get washed. They walked to the pool and the guards opened the door
for her, “Send Allen down, please.”

The guards nodded and stood outside of
the door so she could swim in peace. Almost twenty minutes later,
she looked up from the water as Kyle pulled Allen into the room.
They were obviously fighting.

“
I don’t care what you say.
I don’t have to do what she says,” Allen said, crossing his
arms.

“
Yes, you do. Now get in.”
Kyle glared at him.

“
Why should I have to
listen to a weak-minded mortal? It’s not my fault Dad married
down.”

Emily gasped when Kyle backhanded
Allen to the floor, “Unless you want a rough seven days here, I
suggest you drop the attitude.”

Allen stood up, glaring at Kyle, and
stepped into the pool. Kyle moved over to a lounge chair and sat
down, his eyes glued to the 6-year-old. Allen stood in the corner
of the pool with his arms crossed.

Emily sat Alexis up on the cement and
she ran to Kyle, who wrapped her in a warm towel. Emily moved over
to Allen.

“
Is it seriously that bad
to come spend time with your family?” Emily asked him.

Allen sighed, “Yes, it’s humiliating
to be thrown into mundane mortal tasks.”

“
So swimming is a mundane
mortal task?”

“
Yes”

Emily sighed, “You have some mortal
blood in that body, and it’s not good for you to sit with your nose
in a book all day.”

“
Don’t insult me,” Allen
glared at her.

Emily slapped him and he lunged at
her, but was suddenly dragged out of the water by his arm. Kyle
pulled him off to the side, “You are part mortal, like it or not,
and you will obey your mother and show her the respect she’s
due.”

Allen just glared at him.

“
The next time you attack
her, or even so much as crouch, I’ll throw you in a prison cell for
the rest of the day. Is that understood?” Kyle was
furious.

Allen nodded.

Emily crawled out of the pool and
wrapped in a plush towel. She sat down on a lounge chair to throw a
diaper on Alexis while Allen and Kyle had a stand-off in the
corner. She passed them as she and the baby headed out into the
castle. Anna met them at the door and took Alexis, so Emily could
get some alone time.

Emily headed up the stairs to her room
and sat on the bed to think. She hadn’t realized how anti-mortal
Allen was, even though he was 25% mortal himself. She also hadn’t
realized how much animosity he felt toward her, and the thought
scared her. She felt a twinge of fear of her young son. She
couldn’t turn him to ash if he attacked her, he was just a boy, but
she knew that he could kill her if he wanted.

Emily heard a knock on the door and
threw on some jeans and a t-shirt before seeing who it
was.

“
Can I come in?” Kyle
asked.

Emily nodded and sat down on a chair
by the fireplace.

“
Do you want to talk about
it?” Kyle asked, sitting in the chair beside hers.

“
Talk about what? How my
own son hates me, or how he considers me a lower life-form? How
about we talk about how my son can and wants to kill me?” Emily
asked, watching the flames dance.

“
I’ll never claim to fully
understand him. No one can because he’s the first of his kind,”
Kyle explained. “All I can explain is some things I see in him,
things that I see in every new heku.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I mean like constant
studying. Every new heku delves into books, studying everything
they can get their hands on. For the first time in their lives,
they remember everything, and so the world opens up to them in a
way not previously possible.”

“
He’s a little boy. He
needs exercise and interaction with people,” Emily said.

“
He may not though. He
doesn’t require the food of a mortal or the sleep of a mortal,
maybe he doesn’t need what other mortal boys his age need,” Kyle
said, also watching the fire.

“
How do we know that
though? How do we find out how much of him is heku and how much is
mortal? There has to be some mortal in there, right?”

Kyle thought for a moment, “Not
necessarily, when a child is 50% mortal and 50% heku, he is
completely mortal… with no sign of a heku at all. It’s therefore
not unreasonable to think that with his body being mostly heku,
that the mortal traits are gone.”

Emily turned her face away from Kyle
so he wouldn’t see the tears building, “You’re telling me my son is
gone then.”

“
No, and I’m not saying
what he does is right. I just wanted to see if I could help you
understand the parts that I do understand.”

“
My son can kill me and
wants to,” Emily said softly.

“
Today… wait a day and
he’ll attack anyone who comes near you. He’s confused right now.
His mind is that of a predator, but there’s a conscience there, he
loves you and it gets confusing. Does he listen to his heart or his
instincts?” Kyle said, touching her hand. She turned her hand over
and laced her fingers with his.