Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (46 page)

“
I’m guessing that’s why
his children were killed, to keep it a secret,” Chevalier said,
irritated.

“
So you rightfully belong
to the eldest son?” Kyle asked.

Sam nodded.

“
That son would be a mortal
then, right?”

“
Yes,” Sam said.

“
What does that one son
have to do with Emily?” Chevalier asked, and drew the poker out of
the fire.

Sam screamed, “Don’t! Not again!”

Chevalier touched the poker to the exposed
skin on his stomach, and inhuman screams filled the room. After
only a few seconds, Chevalier returned the poker to the fire.

“
Please, no,” Sam
whispered, trying to catch his breath.

“
Don’t make us ask… tell
us…” Chevalier growled.

Sam began to cry softly, “The son is a
prisoner of the Valle, kept in a coven in Iceland. After Ulrich’s
death, the son was my master.”

“
Keep going…” Kyle hissed
when Sam paused.

“
They make the son tell me
what to do, and I obey. Their orders were clear… at first it was to
befriend the Winchester, and then my orders were to take Allen,”
Sam said, soft enough they had to strain to hear him.

Chevalier growled and backhanded him
again.

Kyle held Sam’s head up to face Chevalier.
His eye was swollen shut and his cheek was swelling with the broken
cheekbone.

“
My… new orders… were to…”
Sam said as blood poured from his mouth, “Get Emily out of the
Equites.”

“
This entire time you’ve
been working for the Valle?” Kyle growled.

Sam nodded, “Yes.”

“
Wait,” Silas said,
thinking. “If you’ve been keeping an eye on Emily… then you are the
one giving information to Exavior.”

Chevalier turned away from the fire and
faced Sam again, “Is that true?”

“
No,” Sam said, coughing.
He was turning pale as the blood slowly drained from his body, the
nails still embedded deep into his flesh, “I told my Master, the
eldest son.”

“
Who, in turn, told the
Valle Council?” Kyle asked.

“
Not the Council, they
don’t know,” Sam said softly. “Exavior is the only one that knows.
He is going to take Emily as his mate when she leaves the
Equites.”

Chevalier growled, “Over my dead body.”

“
He knows… about her
age…”

“
What about her age?” Kyle
asked, confused.

“
He loves her.”

Chevalier growled deeply and blurred to Sam.
With one fluid movement, he removed Sam’s head and threw it into
the fire.

“
We’ve let him in the
palace, in the castle… we let him spy on her for twelve years,”
Chevalier hissed.

Kyle pulled Sam’s body out of the chair and
let it slide to the floor, “We all did. He delivered Allen and
watched the children.”

Chevalier walked up the stairs and out of
the interrogation room, followed by Mark, Kyle, and Silas.

“
Sir,” Storm said, walking
up to them and ignoring the blood on their clothes. “There’s a
problem on the pier.”

“
What problem?” Chevalier
growled.

Storm took a step back, “The Valle are
demanding to see Lady Emily.”

A malicious smile crossed Chevalier’s face,
“How many?”

“
Four, one of them is a
member of the Council.”

“
Let them in. I’ll meet
them in the conference room in twenty minutes,” Chevalier
said.

“
Right away, Sir,” Storm
said, and blurred away.

“
Get out of the bloody
clothes and get Em out of prison. Meet me in fifteen minutes in the
conference room,” Chevalier said, and disappeared up the
stairs.

The other heku blurred away.

“
Em?” Silas said from the
cell door.

Emily turned toward him as he opened the
door, “Is he here?”

Silas nodded, “Yes, he’s coming to the
conference room.”

Emily stretched, her back sore from the hard
cot, and then got up and followed Silas to the conference room. She
stepped in, still wearing the heavy blanket over her shoulders, and
sat down. Chevalier kissed the top of her head softly when he
walked in and sat down beside her. Mark and Kyle came in next,
bringing hot coffee, bacon, and eggs with them for Emily.

“
Where’s Sam?” Emily asked,
taking the hot coffee in her hands to warm them up.

“
He’s dead,” Chevalier
said. “This time for good.”

Emily nodded and took a sip.

“
Are you ok?”

“
Just cold.”

There was a knock on the door and Kyle
opened it. Storm was standing before Exavior and three Valle
guards, who were surrounded by island guards.

“
Come… sit…” Chevalier said
to the Valle, and Storm bowed and shut the door after they
entered.

Exavior moved quickly to Emily and knelt
down beside her, “Are you ok?”

“
Of course,” Emily said,
raising her eyebrows. “Just tired… it’s 4am.”

“
I thought you were in
prison.”

“
Why would you think that?”
Emily asked.

Exavior stood up and sat at the table across
from the Equites.

“
So, why are you here?”
Chevalier asked, crossing his hands on the table.

“
We came to do a welfare
check,” Exavior explained.

“
I’m not in jail,” Emily
said, smiling. “Your informant was wrong.”

Exavior frowned, “I’m not sure what you
mean.”

“
We know all about Sam,”
Chevalier said. “How he’s not her familiar, and has been feeding
information to the Valle.”

“
What?” Emily screamed and
stood up. “I think that violates the ultimatum.”

“
Wait!” Exavior said, and
then calmed himself. “Sit, please.”

Emily stayed standing and crossed her arms,
“Violation of the ultimatum…”

“
No it didn’t. We aren’t
hurting you,” Exavior explained. “Plus, this started long before
the ultimatum was given.”

“
You’ve been spying on her
in secret for twelve years?” Kyle growled.

“
Yes, I have,” Exavior
said, and smiled. “It was no coincidence that I was at the New
Mexico wedding. It’s come in handy, and has done no
harm.”

Emily glared at him, “I don’t care what you
say. The punishment for breaking the ultimatum is now coming.”

“
Wait,” Chevalier said,
holding up a hand. “Let’s not jump to that.”

“
No, no more talking, the
Valle broke the agreement,” Emily said, and started out of the
room, but Mark stepped in her way.

“
Please, just stay,” Mark
said.

“
No, and you have my
permission to tell the Encala that the Valle broke it,” Emily said,
and turned to them.

“
Don’t leave because idiot
here messed up,” Kyle said softly.

Emily glared at Exavior, “He’s not going to
stop. If he’s been following me for twelve years, then there’s no
chance of ever getting the peace that the agreement was meant to
bring. Now get Mark out of my way before I ash all of you.”

Chevalier nodded at Mark and he stepped
aside. Emily stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

Chevalier turned on the speakerphone and
dialed the three Councils. He ordered an immediate session with all
three faction’s Elders within the hour. He thought he could stall
Emily that long, and needed all factions present. They all greed
when he mentioned that the ultimatum had been broken.

“
Get every guard out there,
patrol the streets, the walls, the castle… triple the guards in the
prison, and double it in the rest of the castle,” Chevalier said,
and left the room.

Kyle grinned at Exavior, “You can stay right
there.”

“
Em?” Chevalier asked,
walking into the bedroom.

“
What?” she asked angrily
as she threw things into her suitcase.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed
her neck softly, “Don’t go.”

Emily leaned her head back against his
chest, “I don’t have a choice.”

“
He’s an idiot, you can’t
punish the entire species because of Exavior,” Chevalier
said.

Emily sighed, “I need to take a quick
shower. I smell like the prison.”

She pulled away from him, and he saw that
she was tearing up as she disappeared into the shower. Chevalier
took the 9mm out of her bag and blurred it down to the safe in his
office. He also told Silas to put Alexis to sleep using control. If
she was napping, it could buy them a few extra minutes.

Emily took a long hot shower as she got her
crying back under control, then came out dressed, and brushed her
hair while Chevalier watched from the bed

She started going through a small bag and
frowned, “Have you seen my gun?”

“
No,” Chevalier
lied.

Emily crawled on her hands and knees and
checked under the dresser and bed, “Damnit, I need my gun.”

“
I haven’t seen it,” he
said, and blurred from the room.

Emily looked up when she heard helicopters
landing, and then zipped her suitcase shut. She decided to stick
with just the .45 that went with her Thukil uniform. She started to
tear up again, but was finally able to get it under control.

“
Anna?” Emily called
out.

“
Yes?” Anna said, coming
into the room.

“
Where is
Alexis?”

“
Alexis is napping, and
Allen is out with the guards playing baseball on the north
lawn.”

“
Allen’s here
now?”

“
Yes, Ma’am.”

“
Wake her up and get Allen
in here to pack,” Emily said, and started hauling her suitcase down
the stairs. She stopped at the foot of the stairs when she saw all
nine Elders looking at her.

“
Damnit, Chev, it’s not
going to work,” she said, and passed them with her
suitcase.

“
We just want to talk,”
Quinn said, watching her struggle with the suitcase.

“
Silas!” Emily yelled, and
he appeared at her side.

“
Yes, Em?”

“
Put this in my truck
please, and get the suitcases from the kids when they are done
packing,” Emily said, and turned toward the Elders.

“
Sure,” Silas said. He
glanced nervously at the Elders and then took her suitcase out to
the truck. He had brought her truck with the horses and didn’t
realize it gave her an easy way off of the island.

“
You have about 5 minutes,”
Emily said to the Elders.

“
Come into the conference
room,” Chevalier said softly.

Emily nodded and walked into the conference
room, and then sat at the end of the table while the Elders took up
the other spots around Exavior. Exavior looked down at the table
when his Elders came in to room.

“
We’re ready to hear why
you are leaving,” William said, watching Emily.

“
The ultimatum has been
broken by the Valle,” Emily said, and saw the Encala glare at the
Valle.

“
Do you care to explain
that?” Sotomar asked. “We haven’t violated the
agreement.”

“
Exavior did. He’s been
spying on me using a familiar that used to belong to Ulrich,” Emily
said.

“
You did what?” Sotomar
scowled at Exavior.

Exavior nodded, “It did no harm. It helped
me protect her.”

“
It was invasive, and part
of the agreement was that I wouldn’t be spied on,” Emily said,
glaring at him.

“
It started before the
ultimatum though,” Exavior said.

Sotomar growled, “You did this without
Council approval!”

“
We’ve learned quite a bit
about the Valle today,” Chevalier said. “Took some interrogating,
but we know about Ulrich being an incubus, and how the Valle killed
hundreds of his children to keep it under cover.”

Sotomar glared, “That is of no concern to
you.”

“
Except that Sam became the
familiar of Ulrich’s eldest living relative… which isn’t Emily. A
mortal you have locked up, so he can give Sam orders in regards to
her,” Chevalier said.

“
Orders to spy on the
Winchester?” William asked angrily.

“
None of his children are
alive, except Emily. We took care of all of them,” Sotomar
said.

“
Well…” Exavior said,
shrugging. “I kept one.”

Sotomar exhaled loudly, “You did?”

“
Yes, and the familiar
actually belongs to him.”

“
Belonged, I killed him,”
Chevalier told them.

“
Belonged then, and yes, I
used Ulrich’s eldest son to give him orders that let me keep tabs
on Emily… purely to keep her safe,” Exavior said.

“
Breaking the agreement,
therefore, I’m off,” Emily said, standing up.

“
Listen to us, please,
before you go,” Sotomar said, looking into her eyes.

Emily sat back down and crossed her
arms.

“
This wasn’t approved by
the Council. We knew nothing about it,” one of the Valle Elders
said.

“
We knew the Valle would
screw this up,” William said. “I say we wipe them out instead of
losing track of Emily.”