Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (17 page)

Chevalier and Kyle got to the room and found
the door locked. Chevalier sighed and broke the lock, and they
walked into the stiflingly hot room.

“
Damn, is she trying to
cook?” Kyle asked. The room was so hot it was hard to
breathe.

“
She’s always cold,”
Chevalier told him, and turned toward the bathroom when the sound
of the jetted tub filled the room.

“
Tub time, I’ll catch up
with you later,” Kyle said, and left, shutting the door behind
him.

After a few minutes, Chevalier went to the
bathroom door, but found it also locked. He frowned and broke the
lock easily, and walked inside. Emily was asleep in the bathtub
again. Her casted arm was propped up on the edge of the tub.

He smiled down at her and then knelt down by
the tub, “Em?”

Emily jumped and grabbed for a towel,
quickly covering herself, “Get out.”

Chevalier frowned, “Why?”

She fought to keep the towel covering her,
but the jets made it hard to do with only one hand, “Don’t look at
me.”

“
Em…”

“
Please, don’t look at me.
Just go,” Emily said, and brought a second towel into the
water.

Chevalier sighed and gave her the privacy
she requested. He waited for her out on the edge of the bed, and
she appeared a short time later wearing a nightgown and long
robe.

“
What was that?” he asked
softly.

Emily shrugged and sat down at the table.
She pulled the dome off of the tray and looked down at the
cheeseburger and fries, then put the dome back on and stood up,
heading for the door.

“
Something wrong with
dinner?”

“
No, just… not what I want
tonight,” Emily told him, and headed down to the kitchen. Chevalier
followed her and backed her guards off, who returned to her
door.

Her bare feet padded on the marble stairs as
she ran down toward the kitchen, not looking any of the guards in
the eye. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl, then
headed into the walk-in refrigerator. Emily heard Allen talking to
Chevalier, so she grabbed the blood supply kept for him.

“
Where’s Alex?” she asked,
and poured him a glass.

“
She’s up eating,” Allen
said, and took the glass over to the microwave.

Emily set about cutting up vegetables for a
salad while Chevalier watched her, and she felt that he was
scrutinizing her every move.

“
You’re craving a salad?”
Chevalier asked, and Allen turned toward her.

“
No,” Emily said, and sat
down to eat.

“
I don’t think I’ve ever
seen you eat one,” Allen said, and sipped from the
glass.

“
There’s nothing wrong with
eating a salad,” Emily said, and glared at both of them until they
looked away.

Emily looked back down at the lettuce and
carrot salad and tossed the bowl into the sink, “Guess I’m not
hungry.”

She felt self-conscious as she headed up the
stairs. Suddenly, the palace seemed full of curious eyes, all
watching her, and she wrapped her arms around herself and ran up
the stairs.

Emily tried to lock the door, but found that
the lock was broken. She crawled into bed still wearing her robe
and softly cried herself to sleep.

Chevalier came in after he knew she was
asleep and sat on the bed beside her. He debated lying down next to
her, but things were still different between them since her return,
and he wasn’t sure she was ready for it. He brushed her hair away
from her face and gently wiped away a lingering tear.

He finally decided to lie next to her, and
she pulled up against him when he wrapped his arms around her. Her
dream held no answers for him, but flowed between images of people
he didn’t know, and places he’d never been.

Emily sat up suddenly when the alarm on her
phone went off. Chevalier also sat up.

“
You set an alarm?” he
asked.

“
Yes,” Emily said, and
crawled out of bed, disappearing into the closet.

“
Going
somewhere?”

“
Yes,” Emily said again,
and he could hear her struggling to get dressed with only one
arm.

“
Can I come?”

“
No,” Emily told him, and
came back out in a loose dress. “I’ll be back in a couple of
hours.”

“
Good, then we can
talk.”

“
Ok,” she said, and grabbed
a cup of coffee before leaving.

Emily got into the Jeep and started into
town. She pulled up at the medical office buildings just in time
for her appointment. She signed in and waited for the nurse to come
and get her, then followed the nurse and looked away when she was
weighed. A few minutes after she got into the room, the doctor
entered.

Dr. Hayden looked over her chart, “How are
you doing?”

“
Fine,” Emily said,
swinging her legs nervously.

Emily couldn’t help but tear up. Dr. Hayden
helped her sit up and frowned.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked.
Emily liked this doctor. He had been discreet about her wishes to
keep things private, and he only called her when she called him
first. She suspected he was about as old as Alec, and had a kind,
gentle nature.

“
I’m… so big,” Emily said
as a tear trailed down her cheek.

Dr. Hayden touched her arm, “You only gained
5 pounds while you were pregnant, and you’ve already lost 3 of
those.”

Emily shrugged.

“
How are things going at
home?” he asked, watching her closely.

Emily hid her face in her hands and broke
down in tears.

Dr. Hayden sat with her patiently until
she’d calmed down.

“
I’m sorry,” Emily said,
and took a tissue from him.

“
I want to take some
blood,” he said, and smiled when he saw her start to panic. “No
time to worry, just going to do it fast. I want to make sure
everything’s ok.”

Emily had a hard time telling him no, and
she barely had time to get away before he was done and showed her
the four vials of blood.

“
Any pain?” he asked, and
picked up her chart again.

“
There was at first. Now
I’m just tired,” Emily told him.

“
How is the bed rest
going?”

“
It’s going ok,” she
lied.

“
Stress related
miscarriages can be risky,” Dr. Hayden said as he wrote on the
vials. “You lost a lot of blood, and I want you to keep resting,
you’re still pale.”

“
Ok,” Emily
nodded.

“
Call tomorrow and I’ll
tell you what the results are. In the meantime, I want you to start
on vitamins. I’ll send you with some samples and a prescription,”
he told her.

After filling the prescription at the
hospital across the street, Emily went back to the palace and
parked the Jeep in the garage. She looked down at the crook of her
arm where the blood was taken, and pulled off the bandage. There
was a tiny red mark that the needle left, and she wondered if the
heku could smell that much of a wound.

Emily bent her arm and headed into the
palace. She relaxed some when she made it past the guards at the
stairs and into the bedroom without anyone staring at her. She
dropped the medicine bag onto the bed and then jumped when
Chevalier moved. She hadn’t seen him in the chair.

“
Don’t do that!” she said,
holding her chest.

“
Sorry, I was just waiting
for you,” he told her.

Emily picked up the bag and shoved it into a
dresser drawer, then pulled off her coat and kicked off her shoes
in silence as Chevalier watched her.

“
Come… sit,” Chevalier
said, and touched the chair next to him.

Emily sighed and sat down, fully expecting a
fight.

“
How are things?” he asked
her, a little awkwardly.

“
Fine”

“
Did you get a
cut?”

Emily smiled slightly, “It’s so tiny. I’m
surprised you can tell.”

“
You’d be amazed at what I
notice,” he said. Emily looked over at him, unsure what to make out
of the tone of his voice.

“
What, exactly, do you mean
by that?” Emily asked, frowning.

“
I’m not here to fight, but
something is going on and I want to know what it is.”

Emily shrugged, “Something I need to deal
with.”

“
Not when it has to do with
something I’ve done, or something I’ve been accused of
doing.”

“
I need you to let me deal
with this alone.”

“
No, I’m not going to let
something Exavior said put a rift between us.”

“
I’ll be ok when I have
time to get used to it.”

“
Damnit, Em, you don’t have
to get used to it by yourself. I’m not even sure he told you the
truth.”

“
I’m pretty sure he
did.”

“
Don’t be so sure,”
Chevalier told her. “Can’t you see how telling me could help? If
it’s true, then maybe I can help you understand… if it’s not, then
I can diffuse the situation.’

“
No, I don’t see
that.”

“
Will you talk to
Kyle?”

Emily blushed, “No.”

Chevalier frowned, “Mark?”

“
No”

“
David?”

Emily frowned, “Why would I talk to
David?”

“
I don’t really care who
you talk to, as long as it’s not Exavior,” he explained. “Will it
help if you go back to the island?”

“
No, I can’t go to the
island.”

“
Why not?”

Emily shrugged, “I just need to stay here
for now.”

Chevalier growled when someone knocked on
the door, and Emily glared at him.

“
Come in,” she called
out.

A strange heku guard came in, “There’s a
mortal at the farmhouse for you, Lady Emily.”

Emily frowned, “Who?”

“
I didn’t ask, cowboy type…
his shirt says K. Russo.”

“
Seriously?” Emily asked,
surprised.

“
Yes, Ma’am, shall I tell
him to get lost?”

“
No, I want to talk to
him,” Emily said, and stood up slowly. She walked out the doors,
following the guard, and sighed when she saw Kyle, Mark, and
Chevalier follow her, “I can handle this. No reason to call out the
minions.”

“
Anyone with the last name
of Russo deserves the… minions,” Chevalier said with a
grin.

“
Sir, here are those
reports,” Storm said, walking up to Chevalier and handing him some
papers.

“
Storm? I didn’t know you
were here,” Emily said, smiling.

“
Yes, just here this week
for some meetings.”

Emily’s face fell, “I bet you are.”

Storm looked quickly at Chevalier, confused,
and he shrugged and followed Emily down the stairs.

Emily walked as quickly as she could through
the underground tunnel to the farmhouse. She emerged, smiled, and
ran into the arms of the mortal waiting for her.

Chevalier and Kyle both froze, eyes wide, as
Emily hugged a man who looked like Keith. Mark looked at them and
then back at the mortal.

“
Damn, you’re short,” the
mortal said, and grinned as he looked around for the source of the
growl.

“
And you’re ugly.” Emily
laughed and sat down on the couch, “What brings you
here?”

The mortal looked at the towering heku and
frowned, “They always this friendly?”

Emily sighed, “Stand down, geesh. This is
Keenan, Keith’s brother.”

Chevalier and Kyle relaxed some, and Mark
went back into the hidden tunnel.

“
I’m here for a couple of
reasons… first to see how you are doing after the trial,” Keenan
said, and sat down beside her. “I knew you didn’t kill Keith. You
don’t have that in you.”

Emily smiled, “No I didn’t kill him, but
you’d be amazed what I can do.”

“
You’re too tiny to do
anything dangerous,” Keenan said, and dodged when she tried to hit
him on the arm.

“
So what’s reason number
2?” Emily asked.

“
Trying to find out why you
went to this guy,” Keenan said, nodding toward Kyle. “You were
supposed to come to me when that Sonofabitch died.”

Emily laughed, “Marry another Russo? Not a
chance.”

“
Don’t classify us all with
Keith, he was always a moron.”

“
That’s an
understatement.”

“
Well, the last reason I
came was for this,” Keenan said, and handed Emily a large manila
envelope. She opened it and pulled out a stack of papers and then
started to read through it.

Emily frowned as she read.

“
You better be taking care
of her,” Keenan said to Kyle. “Or you’ll have to deal with
me.”

Kyle grinned, “I think we have it
covered.”

“
She may only be 3 feet
tall, but she sure finds enough trouble.”

Emily reached over and hit Keenan on the
chest.

Kyle laughed, “Yes, she does.”

Chevalier was silently watching Emily. Her
eyes went from confused, to mad, and then upset.

“
Why did he do this?” Emily
asked, still flipping through papers.

Keenan sighed, “Keith was a selfish bastard,
what can I say?”