Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (13 page)

“
I told him we’d send
backup, in case they decide to try to carry out the attack,” Kyle
said, and they all started inside.

Emily was ignoring their talk of tactics
when her phone rang, “Hello?”

She froze, and the heku turned toward her
when she whispered, “When?”

Tears started to fill her eyes, “I’ll be
there tonight.”

The rest of the heku left when Chevalier
walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. Emily hung up the phone
and turned toward him slowly. His arms wrapped around her as she
cried.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked
softly.

She finally calmed down enough to speak,
“Aunt Jess died. She got thrown from a horse and… she died.”

“
I’m so sorry,” Chevalier
said, and led her to the bedroom.

“
I… I told Alec I’d be
there tonight,” Emily told him, and sat down at her laptop to make
plane reservations.

“
Take Equites 2. It’ll be
more comfortable and you can leave immediately,” he told
her.

Emily nodded, still in shock, and packed a
quick bag.

Chevalier watched her for a few minutes, “If
you can wait an hour, I will go with you.”

“
No, I need to go alone.
That way I can stay and help Alec if he needs me,” Emily explained,
and slung the bag over her shoulder. She said a long good-bye to
Alex and Allen, and then left on Equites 2, headed for
Albuquerque.

***

The pilot shut down the engines and watched
the truck approach, “Here’s your ride.”

“
Ok, thank you,” she said,
and got out of the helicopter. She sighed when Exavior stepped out
of the truck.

The heku pilot appeared at her side,
crouched slightly.

“
Just giving her a ride,
nothing else,” Exavior said, and watched the pilot
closely.

“
I can’t leave you with
him,” the pilot said to Emily.

“
It’s ok, he’s harmless,”
Emily said, and smiled reassuringly at the pilot.

“
I wouldn’t call myself…
harmless,” Exavior said, offended.

Emily glared at him, “You’re not helping,”
she said, and turned back to the pilot. “Seriously, head back, I’m
ok.”

“
No, Ma’am,” the pilot
said. “I can’t leave you here alone with the Chief
Interrogator.”

“
I order you to return… can
I do that?”

The pilot growled, and got back into the
helicopter, obviously angry. He was just taking off as Emily
crawled into Exavior’s truck.

“
Nice… now you can order
Equites around,” Exavior said, amused.

“
So what personality are
you going to have today?” Emily asked him as he crawled into the
driver’s seat.

“
Do what?”

“
You know… are you going to
be the dashingly suave type, the hopelessly in love sap, or the bar
fighting brute? I never know which to expect,” Emily
explained.

“
I didn’t realize you had
me pegged.”

“
Normally, it depends on
the company you are around. If history serves… today you are the
smooth talking friend.”

He nodded, “Exactly.”

“
How is he?” Emily asked,
suddenly serious.

Exavior sighed, “Not good. She was out alone
riding and fell. He didn’t find her until the next morning, and
he’s blaming himself.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence
while Emily faced the window as tears streamed down her face. She
jumped out of the truck and hugged Alec.

“
Thanks for coming, Emi,”
Alec said, hugging her tightly.

Emily pulled away from him, “Is there
anything I can do?”

Alec shook his head, and they all walked
back inside. Emily couldn’t help but notice the dirty kitchen, and
immediately went to work. She knew Jess would be embarrassed if
people saw it. Exavior sat down to watch her as Alec went to lie
down.

“
When is Pat coming in?”
Emily asked, starting on the dishes.

“
He should be here in the
morning,” Exavior told her.

Emily turned to Exavior and tossed him a
rag, “Make yourself useful.”

He grinned and started to wipe down the
table, “You do realize that as a member of the Council, I don’t
have to… clean.”

“
I thought we were
factionless here,” Emily reminded him, and started to load the
dishwasher.

“
True enough,” he
chuckled.

They cleaned in silence until they were
finished, and then Emily took the rag from Exavior and went back
over what he’d already done.

“
I just did that,” he said,
frowning.

“
Been a while since you
cleaned?”

“
It’s not that
bad.”

“
Ok.” Emily tossed the rag
into the sink and grabbed a broom.

“
Do you ever just…
sit?”

“
Not when there’s work to
do, no,” Emily said, and motioned for him to lift his
feet.

“
What happened to your
wrist?”

Emily sighed “Damn heku, don’t miss a thing
do you?”

“
No, so?”

“
It’s just a little cut, no
stitches required.” Emily turned to look at him, and he was
laughing.

“
We need to give the
Equites a raise, just for having you around.”

Emily frowned, “What do you mean by
that?”

“
You’re just high
maintenance.”

“
I am not,” Emily said, and
hit his feet off of the table.

“
Let’s go out for a ride,
for old time’s sake.”

Emily looked out at the bright sunny day,
and nodded, “Sure, let me just leave Alec a note.”

Before long, they were out on the horses and
heading for the far end of the property.

“
Can I ask you something?”
Emily asked, looking over at Exavior.

“
Anything”

“
Thing is… you can’t laugh,
and you have to tell me the truth.”

“
As long as it’s not
confidential Valle stuff, I think that’s doable,” Exavior said, and
stopped his mare.

Emily turned to face him, “I saw something…
at the palace.”

Exavior grinned, “You’re blushing.”

“
You know what? Never
mind,” Emily said, and kicked her mare into a slow walk.

“
Oh come on. I won’t tell a
soul. Who else can you ask?” He matched her speed.

“
There’s a room I saw…
accidentally. Another round room with runes on the wall... but not
the room like you tried to turn me in,” Emily said, and couldn’t
help but notice the way he winced slightly.

“
Ok, what about
it?”

“
Do you know what room I
mean?”

Exavior smiled, “There are several
possibilities.”

“
There were… people in it?”
Emily asked him, blushing deeper.

Exavior became serious, “What exactly did
you see?”

“
Never mind,” Emily said,
and looked away from him.

“
No, tell me.”

“
No, just never mind,
ok?”

“
Was it Chevalier?”
Exavior’s voice was tense.

“
No!” Emily yelled, and
then whispered. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“
Do what? I don’t know
which room you saw,” Exavior said, frustrated.

Emily sighed, “There was a… erm…
foursome.”

“
You found a round, runed
room where heku go to have sex?” Exavior was now amused.

Emily nodded slightly.

“
Do you remember when I
told you that there are some things in a heku’s nature that you
aren’t aware of?”

“
Yes, I remember
that.”

“
That’s one of them and…
don’t kid yourself… Chevalier goes in there.”

Emily frowned at him, “He does not.”

“
Yes he does. We all
do.”

Emily stopped her mare, “You go in one?”

Exavior nodded, “Every one of us does.”

Emily clicked her tongue and started the
mare walking again, “Why though? Why would he?”

“
It’s part of our nature,”
he explained, catching up with her.

“
Kyle?”

“
Yes, boyfriend,
too.”

“
Stop calling him my
boyfriend.”

“
I will when he stops
acting like it.”

“
So you, too?” Emily looked
at him.

“
Yes,” he said, and
grinned. “You offering?”

“
You’re disgusting,” Emily
told him, and kicked her mare into a gallop, heading back for the
ranch.

Exavior slid off of his mare once he got to
the stables, “It’s no more disgusting than drinking blood.”

“
I think it is,” Emily
said, sliding off the saddle.

“
Try it out, you may like
it… if you don’t want to tell hubby, you could always join
me.”

Emily frowned and heaved the saddle onto the
rack, “Don’t hold your breath.”

“
So who did you
see?”

“
Why the ceremonial room?
You all and your runes are about to drive me insane,” Emily said as
she started to brush down the mare.

“
It’s a controlled
environment.”

“
That’s it?”

Exavior laughed, “What else would it
be?”

“
Other than disgusting?”
Emily wrinkled her nose and then jumped slightly when her phone
rang. “Hello.”

She grinned, “Yes, he’s here.”

“
No, I didn’t know he was
going to pick me up.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“
First we cleaned the
kitchen and then… yes, he cleaned… not very well, but he
tried.”

“
I will, ok… bye… bye
Chev,” Emily said, and shut the phone.

“
Are you in trouble with
the Equites Police?” Exavior asked, amused.

Emily ignored his comment and went into the
house to start dinner. She found the ingredients for fried chicken,
and started to cook just as Alec woke up from his nap.

“
Not sure what I’d do
without you two,” Alec said, sitting at the table. “Exavior made
the funeral arrangements, and you’re cleaning and making
dinner.”

“
I also wanted to wait for
Emily… before asking…” Exavior said, and Emily noted the serious
tone in his voice. “What happens now, Alec?”

Alec shrugged and fought back the tears.

“
What do you mean?” Emily
asked, and sat down.

“
Can you run the ranch by
yourself? Can you cook and clean?” Exavior asked.

Emily glared at him, “Do we have to do this
now?”

“
No, it’s ok, Emi. I can
run the ranch by myself, and I can cook some, and clean some. I’ll
be ok,” Alec said. “Pat will be back next month, they’re moving
into the guest house. That was planned before…”

“
My offer still stands,”
Exavior said.

“
What offer?” Emily
asked.

Alec sighed, “I know, but I’m not sure.”

“
What offer?” she asked
again.

“
It’s something you
wouldn’t understand,” Alec told her.

“
Oh, I think she
understands more than she lets on,” Exavior told him.

Emily’s eyes narrowed and she spoke through
gritted teeth, “What offer?”

“
I’ve offered to turn
him.”

“
What? Alec… No!” Emily
yelled.

“
You don’t know how
tempting it is, Emi. Now with Jess gone, nothing’s really holding
me back,” Alec explained.

“
No, I won’t let
you.”

“
I haven’t decided yet,
either way.”

“
How could you offer this
to my uncle?” Emily yelled, and turned back to Exavior.

“
He’s a friend, a good
friend, and he would be good for... you know.”

“
Alec, did he tell you that
it would make us enemies?” Emily asked him, and Exavior hissed
slightly.

“
What do you mean enemies?”
Alec asked.

Emily turned to Exavior, “What have you even
told him?”

“
How do you know about
him?” Alec asked her.

“
Calm down,” Exavior said.
“I told him only what he needed to know and Alec, she’s pretty
intertwined with my world, and actually knows more than you
do.”

“
Why enemies though?” Alec
asked.

“
Exavior and I are supposed
to be enemies,” Emily told him.

“
That’s enough, Emily,”
Exavior said sternly.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “You offered to turn
him, but didn’t tell him the whole story?”

“
No, it’s tradition. He’ll
learn the rest when he’s decided.”

“
That’s backwards! How can
he make an informed decision if he isn’t told everything?” Emily
asked, irritated.

“
It’s done this way for a
reason,” Exavior said.

“
Listen to me, Alec, I
won’t do it either. Exavior tried once, and I won’t do it. I know
everything… and I won’t do it,” Emily said to him.

“
Not what I heard. If your
spinal tap comes back positive, I heard you will be turning,”
Exavior said, grinning.

Emily glared at him, “How the hell do you
know about that?”