Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (58 page)

“
Any sign?” Mark
whispered.

“
Nothing,” Chevalier
whispered back.

“
She’s still terrified. We
searched her room… again… and I added Silas and Kralen to her
door,” Mark explained.

Chevalier nodded and looked over when Emily
jerked in her sleep. He reached over and touched her arm to calm
her, but froze as a rapid replay of her stay with Exavior flashed
through his mind. The heku watched as his eyes moved quickly and
his grip tightening on her arm.

A low hiss escaped Chevalier’s lips. His
eyes were far away as he watched what happened in the Alaskan
mansion.

“
Elder, you’re hurting
her,” Mark said, touching his shoulder.

Chevalier released his grip on her arm and
disappeared from the room with speed that could only come from an
‘old one’. A loud crash sounded from somewhere in the palace
followed by guards yelling to clear the area. Mark glanced at
Silas, and he shut the bedroom door to block out the feral roar and
crashes as the Elder released his anger.

Quinn, Zohn, and Kyle appeared beside Mark,
and he glanced at them.

“
What happened?” Zohn
whispered.

“
He saw what happened in
the mansion,” Mark told them.

Quinn heard glass shatter from a few floors
below them, “That bad, was it?”

“
I wish I could see,” Kyle
said, glancing at Emily sleep.

“
I’m not sure I want to
know,” Mark told them.

“
Clear the palace and let
him be,” Zohn said as another crash sounded.

Mark’s lips moved as he called general
quarters for all palace staff, and Chevalier’s angry roars became
the only sound in the building. The enemy Elders joined them in
Emily’s room, afraid that Chevalier’s anger could turn to them if
he saw them.

Zohn jumped and grabbed Emily’s cell phone
when it rang early the next morning, “Zohn here.”

His eyes narrowed, “No you may not talk to
her.”

Sotomar was watching Emily. She’d woken up
and was staring at Zohn fearfully.

“
If you want to apologize
to her so badly, why don’t you come do it face-to-face,” Zohn
whispered.

Emily jumped when a crash sounded from the
palace. She looked at William questioningly.

“
Chevalier saw what
happened in the mansion,” William explained in whispers.

Emily frowned and slid out of bed, standing
unsteadily as she leaned on the wall. She reached up slowly and
pulled off her oxygen.

“
No, Child, leave him be,”
Sotomar said, and touched her arm.

“
I dare you,” Zohn hissed,
and shut the phone.

Emily pulled her arm away from Sotomar and
took a tentative step away from the wall. Her knees didn’t hold
her, and she fell back onto the bed, and then reached down to
un-strap the braces on her legs.

“
Em, listen to me. He needs
to be left alone,” Quinn said, and pulled her hand off of the
brace.

“
Damnit,” Zohn growled when
Emily’s cell phone rang again. The phone was ripped out of his hand
as Chevalier blurred into the room.

“
Meet me in the trees west
of Council City, alone…” Chevalier hissed into the phone and hung
up.

Emily reached out and touched his hand. He
turned to look at her, and his eyes were pitch-black and full of
rage. He pulled his hand away from hers and disappeared from the
room.

Emily reached stiffly into the drawer by her
bed and took out her 9mm, then motioned for Mark to pick her
up.

“
I’m not taking you there,”
Mark said softly.

She frowned and motioned for Sotomar.

“
No, Child,” he said, and
shook his head.

Emily turned to William and he shook his
head.

“
Yes,” Emily whispered, and
then began to cough uncontrollably.

Dr. Cook arrived suddenly and listened to
her back with a stethoscope after she stopped coughing, “You’re
getting pneumonia. It’s not uncommon after a lung injury.”

Emily motioned for the doctor to pick her
up. He glanced back at Quinn and then stood up, “Sorry, you need to
stay in bed and put your oxygen back on.”

Emily glared at him as he dug an antibiotic
out of his bag and handed her the small pill. She took it and threw
it at him, hitting him in the chest.

“
Pneumonia in a damaged
lung can be serious. Take this and it may not get worse,” he said,
and tried to hand her another pill, but she just glared at
him.

“
Take it or we use a shot,”
Zohn told her, and grinned slightly when she turned her glare to
him. “You already hate me. I’ll do it.”

Emily took the pill with some water, still
glaring angrily at Zohn and pointed at the door. She motioned for
everyone to get out.

The heku obliged and left her room, but Mark
stayed behind and turned to her when the others disappeared.

“
Do you want me to stay?”
Mark asked her.

Emily nodded and laid back in bed. Mark
propped her arms back up on the pillows and slid the oxygen cannula
onto her face. She looked out the window toward the west trees.

“
He’ll be ok, it’s Exavior
I’d be worried about,” Mark said, following her gaze. “I bet he’s
too afraid of the Elder to even show up.”

“
Is… he…” Emily tried to
talk, but her voice was still hoarse and cracked.

Mark looked over at her, “Is he what?”

Emily shrugged and looked out the
window.

“
He’s not mad at you,” Mark
told her.

Emily watched out the window until the sun
fell and she slowly drifted off to sleep. Mark heard Chevalier come
back into the palace a few hours later and moved to the door to
hear the conversation.

“
That Sonofabitch didn’t
show,” Chevalier growled.

“
I didn’t think he would,”
Sotomar said. “He’s good when he’s in charge, but if he’s not
running the show, he’s a coward.”

“
He may not even be near
here,” William suggested.

“
He’s out there,” Chevalier
said angrily.

“
Can you tell us?” Sotomar
asked.

“
Yes, I suppose I can, at
least to let you know why she’s leaving as soon as she’s well,”
Chevalier said, his voice softening some.

“
Do you really think she
will leave?” William asked.

“
I would if I were her,”
Chevalier said, and the Elders moved to the council chambers where
Mark was no longer able to hear.

Mark watched Emily sleep for a few hours
before Chevalier came into her room. Her breathing had become
labored and made a raspy noise.

“
Has he called again?”
Chevalier whispered.

“
No,” Mark whispered back.
“She thinks you’re mad at her.”

“
Why would I be mad at
her?”

“
I don’t know what you saw,
so I can’t answer that. She tried to get to you when you went after
him though.”

“
I heard,” Chevalier sighed
and walked closer to her. “What’s wrong?”

“
Dr. Cook said she’s
getting pneumonia,” Mark explained.

Chevalier took a step forward. He wanted to
sit down and take her in his arms, but wasn’t sure how well she
would handle that after what she’d been through with Exavior.

“
The doctor said it’s
normal after a lung injury,” Mark whispered.

“
What he did to her,”
Chevalier hissed, his hands balling into fists. “I’m going to do to
him.”

“
I want to pull the Cavalry
into the palace,” Mark suggested. “I want double the guards until
we find him.”

Chevalier nodded, and his hands relaxed,
“Go, I’ll wait with her.”

Mark nodded and blurred from the room.

Chevalier pulled up one of the cushioned
chairs and sat next to the bed, watching Emily sleep. He knew she
was having a bad dream. Her eyes darted back and forth under her
eyelids and her hands grasped at the blankets.

“
Let him go,” Emily
whispered lightly in her sleep.

Chevalier took her hand and her dream filled
his mind.

Emily was hanging from the shackles, high on
the wall as Exavior tightened the rack with Chevalier in it.

Chevalier’s skin was gray and wrinkled. His
feral eyes watched her hungrily as the pain from the torture
infuriated him.

“
Let him go,” Emily
screamed, and fought against the restraints.

“
Only if you’ll love me,”
Exavior said, and turned the crank again. A sickening grinding
sounded as Chevalier’s shoulders popped out of joint.

“
Please, leave him alone!
Put me in there,” Emily yelled.

Chevalier growled in pain, his eyes rolling
back into his head.

Exavior turned and got an iron poker from
the fire, the end orange with the heat. He pressed it against
Chevalier’s chest, and the Elder screamed in agony.

Exavior grinned and slowly released the
tension on the rack. Chevalier continued to watch Emily as Exavior
released his arms and legs from the restraints. Chevalier sprung to
his feet and crouched before her, running his tongue along his
cracked teeth.

Chevalier opened his eyes and looked at her,
then put his hand on her shoulder, “Shhhh.”

Emily jerked once and then settled down in
the bed. She pulled the covers up high on her shoulders and
Chevalier whispered for a servant to stoke the fires. Soon, the
room was stiflingly hot, and Chevalier pulled one of the blankets
off of her when she broke out in a sweat. The raspiness of her
breathing got worse, and she coughed often in her sleep.

Chevalier pulled the blinds in the room when
the sun came up, and then called for the doctor. Dr. Cook came into
the room and immediately sat on the bed beside Emily. He ran a
thermometer across her forehead and hissed slightly. Chevalier
watched quietly as the doctor listened to her breathing and began
to dig through his bag. He readied a syringe and glanced up at the
Elder.

“
Her fever is too high,”
Dr. Cook whispered. “I’m going to give her a stronger anti-biotic,
then I’ll need you to take her into a cool bath. See if you can get
her temperature down.”

Chevalier nodded and then frowned when Emily
didn’t respond as the doctor injected the medicine into her thigh.
Dr. Cook disappeared from the room, and Chevalier ran a tepid bath,
and then slipped Emily’s braces and nightgown off on the bed before
picking her up carefully, and laying her down in the water. The
heat from her body began to warm up the water so he added cool
water and continued to hold her.

Chevalier looked over her carefully. She was
covered in dark bruises, and her ankles, knees, wrists, and
shoulders were swollen and inflamed. The darkest bruise, just below
her breastbone, slightly resembled a hand, and he had to fight to
control his temper. He ran cool water over her neck where the ring
of puncture wounds was red and swollen.

Once she cooled down, he lifted her out of
the water and returned her to the bed where he gently pulled on her
nightgown and tucked her back in. He returned the oxygen to her
face and then sat beside her and held her hand.

Dr. Cook returned the next morning and
listened to her lungs again. He gave her another antibiotic
injection and left the room after nodding to the Elder.

Emily reached up in her sleep and removed
the oxygen, groaning slightly as she bent her arm.

“
Keep it on,” Chevalier
whispered and put it back.

“
No, Exavior,” she
whispered, and reached for it again. Chevalier took her hands and
held them as she fell back into a deep sleep.

He kissed her hand softly and whispered,
“Keep telling him no, Em.”

Allen brought Alexis in before bed. They
each kissed Emily softly and then he took her back out, afraid she
might wake her. Her breathing slowed down and the raspy noise
lessened, and by the following morning, was completely gone.

Emily sighed and pulled her oxygen off as
she opened her eyes.

Chevalier chuckled and put it back on her,
“Keep it on.”

Emily looked over at him and whispered, “Is
he dead?”

“
Not yet, but I’ll get
him,” Chevalier told her, and kissed her hand.

“
I’m sorry I went to the
doctor alone,” she whispered, watching him closely.

“
This wasn’t your fault,”
he told her. “None of this was your fault.”

“
You saw it?”

“
Yes”

“
All of it?” she
whispered.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes.”

“
I wish you wouldn’t
have.”

“
It just gives me more of a
reason to kill him slowly.”

“
He’s like
Sybil.”

Chevalier smiled, “Yes, he is.”

“
Those starving heku,” she
whispered. “Where are they?”

“
Sotomar released them,”
Chevalier told her. “We suspect they didn’t deserve to be
there.”

“
They were…” Emily started
to say, but her body tensed and she started to panic.

“
I know,” Chevalier said,
and touched her face softly.

Emily sat up slowly, grasping her stomach as
she sat up. She coughed and then swung her legs out of bed when the
coughing stopped.

“
Where are you going?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Nowhere,” she whispered,
and slowly pulled herself to her feet. She tossed the oxygen
cannula onto the bed and took a cautious step forward. When her
legs held, she took another step and braced herself on the
bedpost.