Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (127 page)

“
Not necessarily, the scent
continued to be there. He could be attracted to the scent, not to
me.”

“
So, let’s find out,”
Kralen said.

“
No,” Silas said. “We
aren’t running experiments on the Elder.”

“
How?” Emily
asked.

“
Mask your scent next time
he’s here,” Kralen suggested.

“
He’ll notice,” Silas said.
“Then somehow he’ll find out about this conversation, and you and I
will be banished.”

“
I’m not going to tell,”
Emily said.

“
You don’t have to, all you
have to do is think about it when he touches your arm.”

“
That’s really annoying…
where are you going?” Emily asked when Silas left the
Interstate.

“
To get fuel, and you need
something to eat.”

“
Why are you all so dead
set that I eat all the time when I’m not hungry?”

Silas grinned, “Because you get grouchy when
you’re hungry.”

“
I do not!”

“
Do me a favor, stay here,”
Silas said before he and Kralen got out. Silas began pumping gas
and Kralen went inside the convenience store. Emily got the baby
out of his car seat and leaned back with him on her chest, she shut
her eyes to wait for them to finish.

***

Emily rolled over in bed when she heard her
phone ring. She glanced at the clock, it was only 12:30am. She
sighed and grabbed it, “Hello?”

“
Are you aging?” William
asked.

“
William? It’s
12:30.”

“
Are you aging?” he asked
again.

Emily sighed, “No.”

“
When were you going to
tell us?” Sotomar asked.

“
I figured you knew. Seems
everyone knew before I did.”

“
Did the Equites know
first?” William asked.

“
No, Exavior did… I had
some tests run to confirm it and then I told the
Equites.”

Sotomar growled, “And when were the Equites
going to tell the other factions?”

“
I don’t know… honestly, I
thought you probably figured it out.”

“
This changes everything,”
William told her.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
What we mean is… the
Equites kept vital information from us, and you’re no longer
mortal. Therefore, no longer able to move into the mortal world. We
are nullifying the alliance.”

“
What!?” Emily said,
shocked. “Don’t do that.”

“
Consider yourself, once
again, fair game,” Sotomar said, and the line
disconnected.

“
Silas!” Emily yelled, and
scrambled out of bed.

“
What’s wrong?” Silas
asked, scanning the room.

“
Lock down the island,” she
said, and ran out of the room and down the stairs. She heard the
alarm in the city sound as iron bars fell over the windows of the
castle. She got to Kyle’s office and Silas opened the door for her.
Both went in, and Emily put the phone on speaker.

“
Council,” Zohn said,
irritated.

“
Zohn, is Chevalier
there?”

“
You’re interrupting a very
important trial.”

“
Is he?” Emily
screamed.

“
I’m here, Em,” Chevalier
said.

“
William and Sotomar called
me. The alliance is off. They said I’m now fair game,” she told
them, glancing at Silas.

“
What? When?”

“
Just now. I’ve locked down
the island… they’re mad because we didn’t tell them I’m not aging,
and said that because of that, they realize I can’t disappear into
the mortal world.”

“
Damnit, we knew they’d
find out eventually.”

“
I don’t know what to do,”
Emily whispered.

“
You’ve already locked the
island down. We’ll send guards over, for now, stay there while we
try to figure things out on this end,” Quinn told her.

“
Is Silas with you?” Zohn
asked.

“
Yes, Elder,” Silas
replied.

“
Get three guards with you
two and keep the baby close.”

“
Right away,
Sir.”

“
They are my friends,”
Emily said, mostly to herself.

“
Let us talk to the other
factions,” Chevalier said. “We’ll let you know what we find
out.”

The phone disconnected and Emily looked up
at Silas, “I suppose you’re going to tell me you knew it couldn’t
last, and I shouldn’t have counted them as friends.”

Silas shrugged, “I think we all knew it
couldn’t last, but I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t have made friends
with them.”

“
I did it again. I’m such
an idiot.”

“
Did what?”

“
Made friends with a heku,
ones I trusted, then had them turn on me.”

“
It’s not your fault,”
Silas told her. “You’re trusting and I, personally, think that’s
part of your charm.”

“
It’s part of what makes me
gullible,” she said, and walked out of Kyle’s office. She ignored
when three guards fell in behind her and went up the stairs to get
Dain from Anna.

***

“
She’s still dealing with
it,” Chevalier explained. “It was hard for her and she hasn’t come
to terms with it. We decided to tell you when she was
ready.”

“
It’s too late, Sotomar and
I agree that the alliance has ended,” William said.

“
Yet you and Sotomar are
together without a war. Does that mean that the alliance with the
Equites has ended, yet the Valle and Encala remain aligned?” Zohn
asked.

“
For now, yes, our main
goal now is to remove Emily from your care.”

“
You tried for almost 16
years. What makes you think we’ll give her up now?” Chevalier asked
angrily.

“
We know her better now,
and feel she will come to us to try to change our minds. When she
does, the Equites will no longer be in control,” Sotomar said, and
hung up.

“
She will be safer here,”
Quinn said, sighing.

“
I’m not sure she’ll leave
the island,” Kyle said. “She’s pretty happy there.”

“
This goes deeper than the
factions after her,” Chevalier told them. “Now it comes down to
heku she considered friends, turning on her.”

“
Again,” Kyle reminded
them.

“
Another personal
violation,” Quinn said. “The worst kind for her.”

“
I’ll go talk to her,
though I doubt that she’ll come back,” Chevalier said. “In fact,
the last person she’s going to want to face right now is
Zohn.”

“
What? Why? This has
nothing to do with our argument,” Zohn said, frowning.

“
Doesn’t matter, she’ll
think she’s going to get an
‘I told you
so’
from you, and will avoid
that.”

“
Then maybe I should
go.”

“
No, stay here, Kyle and I
will go,” Chevalier said, and stood up. He and Kyle left the room
and minutes later Equites 2 took off for Island Coven.

When the Blackhawk landed on the roof of the
castle, there were guards waiting. Chevalier hopped out and walked
over to look down over the island. He could see that the iron bars
he installed were blocking the pier, and that the ferry was
stationary. Guards patrolled along the outer rim of the cement
wall, and the castle was inaccessible except for by helicopter, and
that would soon be locked down.

“
Elder?” Kyle asked, and
opened the door. Chevalier turned to him and descended into the
lower levels of the castle.

“
Where’s the Lady?” Kyle
asked one of the main-floor guards.

“
Swimming, Sir,” he said,
and saluted.

Kyle and Chevalier went to the door to the
pool and saw Silas and three of Island Coven guards waiting.

Chevalier sighed, “How is she?”

“
She won’t talk about it.
She said she wanted to swim alone, so I posted a guard along the
outer wall of the room and let her be,” Silas told him.

Chevalier opened the door to the pool and
stepped inside. He didn’t see Emily in the pool, so he headed over
to the hot tub, which was also empty. He walked toward the dressing
room and could hear her crying from inside. Dain was sleeping in a
car seat by the door.

He knocked softly on the door, “Em?”

Emily scrambled to stand up, “Be right out…
I got… chlorine in my eyes.”

Chevalier picked up the baby when he woke up
and started to fuss. Emily came out a short time later, completely
dressed and dry.

“
I just have one question,”
Emily said, watching Chevalier rock Dain.

“
Ok”

“
Is there any chance at all
to realign the factions and live the rest of my life in
peace?”

“
No,” Chevalier said,
refusing to lie.

Emily nodded and pulled close to him,
leaning her head against his chest. Strong arms wrapped around
her.

“
We’ll protect you,” he
told her, and kissed the top of her head.

“
Forever?”

Chevalier smiled, “Yes, forever.”

Other books in The Heku
Series

Book 1 : Heku

Book 2 : Valle

Book 3 : Encala

Book 4 : Equites

Book 6 : Ferus

Book 7 : Eternity of Vengeance