Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (61 page)

Emily rolled her eyes.

Mark grinned slightly, “She has a nasty
habit of taking kicks for a heku. She is a Commander in this
Cavalry and will be treated as such.”

Emily blushed slightly. She was made a
Commander a few weeks before, and tried to talk the tailor into
behaving, but her uniform was exactly the same as the Thukil
uniform except with a white shirt and diamond cutouts on the jeans
instead of hearts. In the four weeks since she’d last heard from
Exavior, she was almost fully healed and insisted the new training
start today.

“
Once you are assigned a
horse, it becomes your soul responsibility,” Mark said. “Any
questions?”

The heku all shook their heads. Emily was
pleased to see that they all looked excited to be in the Cavalry,
and were anxious to get started. These ten recruits were the first
to come to the palace from Powan. Everyone was hopeful for the
change in procedure. She slipped off of her stallion and grabbed a
bridle before taking the first new recruit in to find him a horse.
She had assigned Keith’s racing horses to the top officers in the
original Cavalry, except for his fastest, which she kept for
herself.

Emily came back out and mounted her stallion
to wait for the recruits to finish. She glanced around at the
thirteen members of the Cavalry around her, all mounted and on high
alert. She suspected Exavior left the area long ago, but the Elders
insisted she keep the Cavalry around. She smiled at Silas when he
winked at her, and then turned back to the recruits.

***

“
Sir,” Derrick said,
walking into the council chambers. “There’s a wandering heku to see
the Council.”

Quinn frowned, “A factionless heku came into
the city?”

“
Yes, Sir, the guards
escorted him in,” Derrick explained.

“
Very well, let him in,”
Zohn told him.

The heku came in and Chevalier and Kyle both
gasped, eyes wide. He walked into the trial area and stood before
them.

“
Alec?” Chevalier asked,
not quite sure it was him.

Alec nodded, “Yes.”

“
Damnit,” Kyle
growled.

“
What?” Quinn asked
him.

“
This is Emily’s uncle,”
Chevalier sighed. “Another break in the ultimatum.”

“
It was by my request,”
Alec said, smiling. Alec looked almost 30 years younger than his
age, and was taller, with broad, muscular shoulders and hulking
arms.

“
Before we break the news
to Emily,” Chevalier said, glaring at him. “Why did you
come?”

“
I came with a message from
Lord Exavior,” Alec said, not seeming intimidated or fearful of the
enemy Council.

“
Of course you did… what is
it?”

“
Now that I have joined
Exavior, we feel it is time for Emily to return to her family,”
Alec told them.

“
We are her family,” Kyle
growled.

“
No, I am her family… her
true family, and Exavior is her husband. She should return to us,
and we both feel that you are keeping her from leaving,” Alec
explained.

“
He is not her husband,”
Chevalier growled. “That marriage will be annulled as soon as Emily
feels comfortable enough to leave the city.”

Quinn quickly dialed a number on the
speakerphone.

“
Valle Council,” a man’s
voice said.

“
Sotomar?” Quinn
asked.

“
I’m here,” Sotomar
said.

“
We have a situation, how
fast can you get to Council City?”

“
I can be there in an hour.
What’s the problem?”

“
There’s a new Valle here
we need to deal with, and it will affect Emily.”

“
Very well, one hour,”
Sotomar said, and hung up.

“
I see no reason to bring
the Valle into this,” Alec said.

“
You’re Valle and, once
again, a Valle has broken the terms of Emily’s peace treaty,” Zohn
told him.

“
I am not a Valle. I
consider myself factionless.”

“
You were made by a Valle,
and are still very young, therefore, you are Valle,” Zohn told
him.

“
I refuse to be an enemy to
my niece. Emi means a lot to me, and I promised her father that I
would watch over her,” Alec explained.

“
Is that why you did it,
then? So you can watch over her?” Chevalier asked.

“
No, it’s not. Jess is
gone, Pat has moved away… Exavior’s offer seemed logical,” Alec
said.

“
Even though Emily
expressly prohibited him from doing it?”

“
It wasn’t her decision to
make. It’s my life.”

“
Where is he?” Kyle
asked.

Alec turned to him, “Lord Exavior has forbid
me from telling you his location.”

“
I can get it out of him,”
the Chief Interrogator said.

“
If it was anyone but
Emily’s uncle,” Quinn told him. “Let’s just figure this out before
we risk driving a wedge further between the heku and
Emily.”

“
She and I need to speak
alone,” Alec said. “She’s still my niece and I love her. I want
what’s best for her, but she has to understand that this was my
decision to make, not hers.”

“
We understand that,” Zohn
said. “However, she may not see it that way.”

“
While we wait for Sotomar,
may I speak to her?”

“
Derrick?” Zohn called and
looked over at him when he walked in. “Please call Lady Emily into
the council chambers.”

Derrick nodded and went out to the stables.
He walked up to Emily’s stallion, “Lady Emily?”

“
Let me guess…” Emily
looked down at him. “What did I do now?”

Derrick grinned, “Why do you always assume
you are in trouble?”

Emily slipped off the stallion, “Because I
usually am.”

Silas took the reins on the stallion and
Emily followed Derrick into the palace, and he opened the door to
the trial area for her. She stepped inside and saw the Council
talking to a heku. They all turned to look at her as the heku
turned slowly to face her.

Emily smiled at the strange heku and then
she froze and her eyes studied his face. The blood drained from her
face and she couldn’t find the strength to move.

“
Alec…” she
whispered.

“
Hello, Emi,” Alec said,
smiling.

Emily just stared at him, her eyes wide,
“Alec…”

Alec walked over and wrapped his arms around
her, “I’ve missed you.”

Emily took a step away from him and frowned,
“I’m going to kill him.”

“
Emi, this was my choice,”
Alec told her.

“
I’m going to kill him!”
Emily yelled. She turned and ran out of the council chambers. Alec
blurred after her, and the Council appeared out in the hallway
beside them.

“
Listen to me, Emi, I was
dying… Jess is gone, Pat is grown. I had no one,” Alec said. He’d
taken her hand and stopped her from running down the
stairs.

“
Where is he?” Emily asked,
gritting her teeth.

“
I need to talk to you. I
need to make you understand,” Alec said.

“
Listen to him, Em. You
can’t just go off to find Exavior,” Chevalier said. “Just listen to
him.”

Emily violently pulled her hand out of
Alec’s grip and glared at him, “How could you do this?”

“
Talk to me, alone,” Alec
said, glancing back at the Equites Council.

“
Go to the Council’s
conference room,” Quinn suggested.

“
I’m tempted to ash you
just for being stupid,” Emily growled.

Alec smiled, “Except you love me too,
Emi.”

Emily stormed off to the Council’s
conference room, followed by Alec.

“
Should one of us go?” Kyle
asked.

“
No, leave them alone,”
Chevalier said. “Maybe stay outside of the door though, in case she
decides to run.”

Kyle nodded and followed Emily and Alec.

“
And… Kyle?”

Kyle turned to Chevalier.

He sighed, “Listen in.”

Emily sat down with her eyes full of tears,
“How could you do this?”

Alec shut the door and sat down, “I’ve been
planning on this since you were a little girl. Now I can watch over
Pat forever.

“
You let Exavior talk you
into this… do you know what he’s really like? Do you know what he’s
capable of?”

“
Yes, and he’s my maker
now, I owe him everything,” Alec told her.

Emily just shook her head and looked at the
picture hanging on the wall.

“
I decided to be completely
honest with you, and start over from the beginning. When you were
two, Allen brought you out to the ranch for the first time. Exavior
saw you in a store and immediately knew from your scent who you
were. He spent the next year getting to know Jess and I,” Alec
said.

“
He’s known about me since
I was two?” Emily frowned.

“
Yes… it was only about a
year later that I found out what Exavior was, and he explained how
special you and your Mom were. Every time you came to visit us, we
allowed Exavior to come, but I always suspected that he kept an eye
on the Montana ranch too,” Alec explained.

“
You ran into him once,
when you were five, and he immediately got attached to you. I
brought him into the house when your Dad went out, and you colored
with him and told him you’d marry him someday.”

“
That’s sick,” Emily
growled.

“
It wasn’t an attraction
for him, he looked at you like a daughter,” Alec said. “He came to
me once. He wanted to kill Keith, and I talked him out of it. He
told us how Keith treated you, but we already knew. Then your Dad
had his stroke and all of the pressure fell to you. Exavior tried
to intervene again, but Ulrich wouldn’t let him.”

“
Ulrich was in on
this?”

“
Ulrich knew Exavior was
aware of you and your Mom, but Ulrich made Exavior… and Exavior
didn’t dare cross him. He searched frantically for you when you
disappeared, and came to tell me that another of his kind was on
the ranch. He waited and watched, and the day you came back from
Colorado and left again with Chevalier, he was
devastated.”

Emily leaned her head down into her hands
and listened.

“
I know what he did a
couple of months ago. He feels really bad about it and wants to
apologize, it’s killing him…”

“
So he decided to make it
up to me by turning you?” Emily asked softly.

“
That was my decision,”
Alec said. “I asked him to turn me.”

“
How did you even find
him?” Emily asked.

“
He came to me. He’s been
staying at the ranch for a few weeks… moping around the ranch, more
like. I wish you could see how agonizing it is for him, the memory
of what he did to you.”

“
He’s a monster, Alec,
please… stay here, join the Equites,” Emily asked him
suddenly.

Alec smiled, “Exavior is and will always be
my maker and my friend. I wish you would just talk to him.”

“
I can’t believe you’re so
devoted to him. He tortured me for hours. I’m still in pain from
what he did to me, and you’ve completely forgiven him.”

“
No, I haven’t, but I know
how sorry he is and he wouldn’t do it again.”

“
Yes, he would,” Emily told
him.

“
I want you to come back to
your family,” Alec said.

“
My family is
here.”

“
No, I’m your family, your
Uncle, and he’s your husband. You belong with us.”

Emily shook her head, “No, he’s done too
much and I’m not going to forgive him for that.”

Alec sighed, “Think about it, about
returning to your true family.”

“
Mark,” Emily called
out.

A few seconds later, both Mark and Kyle came
into the conference room.

Emily was shaking with rage and tears poured
out of her eyes, “Put him in prison until I decide what to do.”

“
Emily, no,” Alec said
softly.

“
Yes, I’m not going to have
you going back to Exavior,” Emily said as Mark put his hands on
Alec’s shoulders.

Emily ran out of the conference room.

“
Em,” Kyle called after
her, and blurred into the garage as she got to her Jeep. He watched
as she threw the doors and the top off to the side and crawled
in.

“
Get back,” Emily said when
Kyle appeared beside the Jeep.

“
Let me go with you,
Exavior could be out there.”

Emily answered him by flooring the pedal and
spinning out of the garage. She made it to the Durango just as a
silver helicopter flew low over the trees. She crawled into the
passenger’s seat and shut the door, locking it.

Sotomar was escorted into the council
chambers and stood by the heku that was standing before them.

“
What did a Valle do now?”
he asked, irritated.

“
Exavior turned Emily’s
uncle,” Chevalier growled.

Sotomar frowned, “He swore he wouldn’t.”

“
He did,” Alec said,
looking over at the Valle Elder. “Don’t worry. I don’t consider
myself a Valle.”