Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (85 page)

“
What the hell are you
doing!?” Chevalier asked, walking into the room and glaring at
Mark.

“
Help me!” Emily
screamed.

Mark stood up as the Elder crouched,
his hands balled into fists. He could see Zohn and Quinn in the
hallway, slowly getting to their feet.

“
Listen to me, Elder.
Before you let her go, just hear me out,” Mark said, crouching
slightly. Zohn and Quinn appeared at his side and crouched,
blocking Chevalier from Emily.

“
You have 5 seconds,”
Chevalier said, taking a menacing step towards them.

As quickly as he could, Mark explained
about the belladonna and the nightly mind controls. He was telling
Chevalier about Emily’s treatment when she screamed and began to
seize. Kyle limped into the room just as her body relaxed and she
fell asleep.

Chevalier glanced at Kyle, “How long
was she poisoned?”

“
Five months,” Kyle said,
and leaned against the wall. His leg was still healing from the
fight he had with Chevalier.

“
She was on the island for
part of that.”

“
They followed
her.”

“
Two months in the
farmhouse?”

Kyle nodded, “It was five months’
worth. I started to smell it a few weeks ago, and then it got
stronger over the last week. They were upping the dose slowly over
time and then added the nightly conspiracy stories.”

“
Where are they?” Chevalier
asked furiously.

“
In the prison,” Quinn
said. “There’s more.”

“
What?” Chevalier
growled.

“
We… keep losing our
memory. We regain it after a few hours, but both Zohn and I have
lost it once,” Quinn said.

“
Why do I care?” he
hissed.

“
We think Emily has some of
her father’s abilities, probably dormant until this
incident.”

Chevalier stood up slowly and frowned,
“His ability to wipe the mind?”

Quinn nodded, “That’s the only
explanation.”

Chevalier sat on the edge of the bed,
“How much longer will this go on?”

The doctor shrugged, “A couple more
days I guess.”

“
Let me go, please, Chev,”
Emily asked, and looked up at him.

Chevalier nodded and untied one of her
ankles.

“
Chevalier, no,” Quinn said
sternly.

“
I’ll hold her,” he said,
and unfastened the rest of the restraints. He pulled her onto his
lap and held her wrists.

“
Take me away from here,”
Emily whispered, and laid her head on his shoulder.

“
When you feel better I
will, I promise,” Chevalier said.

“
Damon’s alive.”

Chevalier nodded.

“
Quinn and Zohn are going
to lock me up in a house.”

“
I won’t let them, Em,” he
promised.

“
It hurts.”

Chevalier nodded and kissed her
forehead, “Everyone out.”

“
We can’t leave you alone,”
Quinn said.

“
Fine, then Kyle can stay.
I need his help anyway,” Chevalier said sternly.

As soon as the heku left the room,
Kyle walked over to the bed.

“
I need you to erase what
they did to her mind,” Chevalier said, looking up at Kyle. “I’ll
hold her. It’ll be easier if she’s relaxed.”

Kyle nodded, “I tried once, all I
seemed to erase was what had just been told to her.”

“
Try again.”

Kyle sat on the bed beside Emily and
called her name softly. She looked up at him and almost immediately
fell under his control. His soft rhythmic voice sounded through the
room like a cadence as he slowly erased what had been planted by
the heku. He continued for three hours as she was transfixed on his
eyes, unable to move or look away.

“
Sleep now,” Kyle said
finally, and she shut her eyes and fell into a deep sleep in
Chevalier’s arms.

“
Thank you,”

“
I hope it
worked.”

Kyle reached out and gently touched
the blisters on her ankles from the restraints. He touched the back
of his hand to her foot and got up to get a blanket.

Chevalier looked down at her emaciated
form, “The worst part… is that I watched this happen and didn’t
know.”

“
None of us knew,” Kyle
said as he sat back down. “We all knew she was getting thinner, but
she doesn’t eat when she’s stressed, I thought it was the
trial.”

“
They were poisoning her as
we watched, and even in my own coven.” His words were
seething.

Kyle nodded, “I sent word for Gordon,
to find out more.”

“
No wonder she hates it
here. She gets attacked more in this palace than anywhere else.
Surrounded by heku under my control, and we keep getting
tricked.”

“
I’m hoping things will be
better when she feels well. Maybe when she can see clearly again,
she’ll realize this is where she belongs,” Kyle said
softly.

Emily slept through the night in
Chevalier’s arms. The doctor came in occasionally to adjust her
I.V. or replace the bag, but otherwise no one bothered them. Kyle
sat silently by the fire, giving them as much privacy as he could
but still making sure Chevalier didn’t let her go.

“
Let me go,” Emily yelled
suddenly, and began to pull at Chevalier’s hands.

“
No,” he said, and trapped
her legs under his.

Emily tried to bite him, and Kyle
appeared and held her feet so the Elder could reposition away from
her mouth.

“
I hate you,” Emily glared
at Kyle.

“
I know,” he said
softly.

“
Chev, you can’t do this,
let me go,” she screamed.

“
I can’t let you
go.”

“
If you love me, you’ll let
me go!”

Chevalier shook his head, “I do, but
no.”

“
You’ve never loved me… you
knew from the second you kidnapped me to Colorado that all you
wanted was my abilities and to pop out some new faction members,”
Emily growled.

“
Em…” Chevalier
sighed.

“
No, I’m not going to be
used anymore. You’re no better than Keith, using me as a punching
bag. As soon as I get free... and I will get free… I’m so gone,”
Emily said, and struggled to get free.

“
I don’t think you believe
that.”

“
You have no idea what I
believe. You abandon me and Alex for two months, and then for
another week. You let people do whatever they want to me. If you
cared one bit about me, you wouldn’t keep letting things happen to
me.” Emily tried to bite his hand, but he pulled back away from her
a bit, still holding her wrists.

“
Chevalier, maybe you
better step out,” Quinn said from the door.

“
Yeah, go run off,” Emily
hissed.

“
I’m not leaving,”
Chevalier growled.

“
Encala, that’s what you
all remind me of,” Emily yelled, and fell silent after Kyle locked
her eyes for a moment.

“
Thanks,” Chevalier said,
and laid Emily down on the bed.

“
She doesn’t believe any of
that. We can’t listen to what she’s saying,” the doctor said,
adjusting the flow of her I.V.

“
I don’t understand why I
didn’t know she was in trouble,” Chevalier said, sitting in a chair
by the bed.

“
None of us did,” Kyle
said.

“
No, I mean emotions,
feelings. I should have known she was tied up to a bed, don’t you
think?”

“
You got
nothing?”

“
I still don’t.”

“
Probably because the
emotions and feelings she’s having aren’t her own, the drug has
taken over,” the doctor said. “I see improvements though, it won’t
be long.”

“
I want to know how we’re
going to protect her in the future. She’s right, she keeps getting
attacked right under our care,” Chevalier said, looking at
Quinn.

“
I don’t know yet. We’ll
come up with something.”

Chevalier leaned back and watched
Emily sleep. He touched her foot softly. Contact with her while she
slept usually provided glimpses, even full images of her dreams,
but he got nothing from her. Mark was holding her I.V., so
Chevalier was able to sit back and relax and watch her
sleep.

“
Chev?” Emily
whispered.

“
I’m here, Em,” he said,
sitting on the bed.

“
Make everyone leave,” she
whispered. Her voice was hoarse from the screaming.

“
Go,” he said, and wrapped
his hand around her arm where her I.V. was so Mark could leave. The
rest of the heku all stepped out.

“
Did you need something?”
he asked, touching her face lightly.

“
No,” she said, and pulled
the covers up.

“
Then why did we ask them
to leave?”

“
They were
staring.”

“
Yes, they
were.”

Emily’s body began to shake, and she
pulled herself into a ball.

“
Em?” Chevalier
whispered.

“
It hurts,” she said, her
voice tense and strained.

Chevalier laid by her side and held
her as her body trembled. She fell silent after a few hours and
slept. The doctor came in and changed out her I.V., then left
quietly. He wanted to listen to her heart, but Chevalier refused to
let anyone touch her.

Just as the sun began to shine through
the cracks in the curtains, Emily began to wake up. She reached out
and tried to pull the I.V. tubing, but Chevalier took her
hand.

“
Take it out,” she
whispered.

“
No,” Chevalier whispered,
and kissed her hand.

“
I’m thirsty.” Emily sat up
slowly and looked around the empty room.

Chevalier called for some orange
juice, still holding tightly to her arm. Emily didn’t even see the
servant drop it off. It looked to her like it just appeared in his
hand. He gave it to her and she drank it quickly.

“
More?” he asked, setting
the glass down on the table.

“
No,” Emily said, and
looked up at the I.V. “What is that?”

“
Nutrition”

Emily laid back down and rolled onto
her side to look at Chevalier, “Where did you go?”

“
I needed to take care of a
coven in Iowa.”

“
Did you kill all of them?”
She studied his face.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes.”

“
When can I go back to the
island?”

“
What if I told you that I
need you here for a while?” Chevalier asked.

Emily frowned, “Do you or do you just
not want me to go?”

“
I need you
here.”

“
I’m confused about… some
things.”

“
What things? Maybe I can
help.”

“
Is Damon dead?” she asked
softly.

“
Yes”

“
Are Quinn and Zohn
building a house for me in the city?”

“
No”

“
I saw them though.” Emily
frowned, vividly remembering the images, “Now, I’m not so
sure.”

“
It was all a trick. That’s
why you were slipped belladonna, to weaken you so they could
control your mind and feed stories to you.”

“
Who?”

“
We think it was the
Valle,” Chevalier said.

“
They aren’t going to leave
me alone, are they?”

Chevalier shook his head, “Probably
not.”

“
I could go coven to coven
and wipe them out completely,” Emily said, still
whispering.

“
Yes, you could, but I’d
rather you not.”

Emily gasped and her eyes grew wide as
she looked over Chevalier’s shoulder. He turned and saw a strange
heku standing in the room with a tray. He stood suddenly, still
managing to hold onto Emily’s arm.

“
Who said you could come in
here?” Chevalier growled.

“
I have food for the Lady,”
he said, bowing.

“
That doesn’t answer my
question. Who said you could come in here?”

“
The Chief Enforcer did,”
the heku said, looking nervously at Emily.

“
Kyle?” Chevalier asked. It
was a few minutes before Kyle walked in through the shattered
door.

“
Yes, Elder?” Kyle asked,
and then glanced at the heku. “Who the hell are you?”

“
He said you told him he
could come in here uninvited,” Chevalier said, his hand tightening
on Emily’s arm.

“
Chev, that hurts,” Emily
whispered, still watching the heku with the tray.

Kyle raised an eyebrow, “I did,
eh?”

“
Bring that tray to me,”
Chevalier said, and the heku slowly approached him with the
tray.