Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (7 page)

“
If he kisses you again, no
one will be able to stop me.”

Emily nodded, “Deal,
6
^th
time’s a charm.”

“
Six?” Chevalier asked,
frowning.

Emily just grinned and then kissed him. His
arms wrapped around her and she pulled closer to him.

“
We need to find out if you
have the disease.”

“
No, we don’t.”

“
We can save your life by
turning you though,” Chevalier said, and took her hand.

“
I’m not going to be
turned.”

“
But you’ll
die.”

“
Do you know what the
chances are of a mosquito biting the horses, and then biting me
immediately after?” Emily asked.

“
Yes, and I don’t like the
odds.”

Emily kissed him softly, “No.”

“
Damnit, Em, just do
it.”

“
No”

“
I don’t want to fight with
you.”

“
Then don’t.”

“
Emily,” Chevalier said,
and took her head in his hands. “You can’t die, not of this
disease. Please, do it for Alex and Allen.”

“
No, I won’t
turn.”

“
Why not?”

“
I can’t talk about it,”
Emily said, and stood up. She walked over to the wall and pushed,
but it didn’t move.

“
Tell me,” he said, and
wrapped his arms around her.

Emily looked up at the high windows. All of
them except one were too dirty to see through. The clean one was
the one she shot out, and it had recently been replaced, “Lift me
up there.”

“
Em, we’re not done
talking,” he said, and followed her over.

“
I bet I can get through
those windows, and then I can come around to the game room and let
you out,” Emily said, motioning for the windows.

Chevalier looked up, “They’re too high
up.”

“
We won’t know for sure
until I look out, come on,” Emily said, and took his
hand.

“
Can we finish talking
first?”

“
Afterwards, ok?” Emily
crawled up onto a table, “Lift me up.”

Chevalier sighed and lifted Emily. She
crawled onto the ledge by the windows and looked out, then gasped
and turned around, blushing deeper.

“
What?” Chevalier asked,
not quite sure what to think of the look on her face.

Emily turned back again and looked, and then
turned to face Chevalier and buried her face in her hands.

“
What exactly do you
see?”

Emily was a brighter shade of red than he’d
ever seen, and the look on her face was pure embarrassment, “Get me
down.”

“
Jump, I can’t reach you,”
he said, still watching her closely.

Emily glanced again at the windows, and then
dropped down into his arms, “Oh… my… God.”

“
What? Just tell me,”
Chevalier said, amused.

Emily crawled out of his arms and pushed on
the door, “Kyle! Let us out.”

“
Kralen!” Chevalier called.
“Let me out, this instant.”

“
I think Kralen’s
occupied,” Emily said, and blushed deeper. “Kyle!”

“
Yes, we have,” Chevalier
said, and smiled at Emily as she frowned.

Emily cried out when the floor spun and she
fell forward into Zohn’s arms. She pulled away from him quickly,
then slapped him across the face, “Never, do that again.”

Zohn chuckled, “Wasn’t my idea.”

Emily stormed out, still blushing.

“
What do those windows in
the bar look out over?” Chevalier asked after she left.

“
I don’t know,” Kyle said.
“I’ve never looked.”

“
Thanks for dealing with
Exavior,” Chevalier said to Kyle.

Kyle nodded, “I didn’t mean to lose my
temper in front of Emily though.”

“
Do you know he’s kissed
her before… a lot?”

“
He has?”

“
Apparently… and… never
lock me up again, or I’ll have to kill all of you,” Chevalier said,
and walked out of the room.

“
He’ll get over it, it
worked,” Quinn said, walking out with a grin.

Zohn ran to catch up with Chevalier, “Did
she agree to the test?”

“
No, she
didn’t.”

“
We should all go talk to
her again,” Quinn said when he caught up to them.

“
She won’t change her
mind,” Chevalier told them as they walked into the bedroom. They
all stopped and looked at Emily. She was on the phone in the
corner.

“
Just tell me, Exavior,”
Emily said, frustrated. “That’s bullshit, just tell me.”

There was a long pause and Emily sighed,
“No, I won’t agree to marry you if you tell me.”

Chevalier growled slightly.

“
No! I don’t want to talk
to….” Emily sat down, “Hello, Sotomar.”

“
Thank you, but Kyle
handled it.”

“
Yes, he did.” There was a
pause before she continued, “No I’m not going to disappear over
that. I told you, Kyle handled it.”

Chevalier moved up and took the phone as
Sotomar spoke, “I just want to make sure that you aren’t going to
leave.”

“
She’s not leaving,”
Chevalier said, and shut the phone.

Emily sighed, “Exavior won’t tell me how he
found me. All he’ll say is how much he loves me, but I have a
theory.”

“
Oh, do tell,” Chevalier
said, obviously irritated.

“
I think when I was getting
that massage, Sotomar put a tracking device on my Durango. Maybe
even bugged it,” Emily said, and headed out of the bedroom,
followed by the Equites Elders.

“
Good evening, Ma’am,”
Kralen said at the bottom of the stairs.

Emily looked up at him with wide eyes, and a
dark blush rose into her cheeks, “Erm… he… umm… I’m… do you…?”

“
What’s wrong, Em?”
Chevalier asked, amused at how flustered she was.

“
He… they, I mean… is…”
Emily blushed further, and ran out of the palace and into the
garage.

“
What’d you do to her?”
Kyle asked Kralen.

“
Nothing, Sir,” Kralen
said, confused.

Chevalier ran for the garage when he heard
the Jeep start up, and was soon in his Humvee with Kyle, Zohn, and
Quinn. He punched it and spun out before gaining traction and
speeding out after the Jeep Rubicon.

Chevalier grabbed his cell phone when it
rang, “Yes?”

A grin crossed his face and he shut it
quickly. He floored the Humvee, and it quickly picked up speed,
catching up to the Jeep.

“
What?” Kyle asked from the
passenger seat.

“
Emily said the winner gets
a massage,” Chevalier said, and his face lit up.

They saw the Jeep slow for a second when
Emily popped it into 4-wheel drive, and then she turned a sharp
left and headed across a rocky field. Chevalier followed her and
almost caught up when she headed up a cliff.

“
You can’t beat her Jeep.
This is too heavy,” Zohn said, holding onto the roll
bar.

“
I don’t want to beat her,
but I can’t let her win by too much,” Chevalier said, and
laughed.

“
She’s going to roll it!”
Quinn said, shutting his eyes.

“
That thing has roll
mitigation, and she knows what she’s doing,” Kyle said,
grinning.

“
I shouldn’t have jacked it
up when she asked, it gave her too much clearance,” Chevalier said,
obviously having fun.

Emily turned suddenly and took the edge of
the cliff, staying at a dangerous angle as she sped toward the down
slope of the cliff.

“
Damn, she’s insane,” Zohn
said, slightly impressed.

Emily started down the smooth grassy slope
toward the Durango, and slid to a stop in front of it. She jumped
out and started a victory dance while the heku climbed out of the
Humvee.

“
You, Child, are braver
than I thought,” Quinn said, leaning back against the
Humvee.

She brought her finger to her lips and got
down on her hands and knees. Soon, she was under the back end of
the Durango. She crawled out from under the car after twenty
minutes, and saw Kyle motion her to the front of the Durango. He
pointed out a small electrical device under the driver’s seat that
had a tiny green blinking light on it.

Emily’s eyes narrowed and she walked over
and popped the hood on the Jeep, then took the small bug and sat it
down on the Jeep’s horn.

“
Ooooh Exavior?” she said,
and then opened the door to the Jeep and pushed against the horn
for thirty seconds. The silence was eerie after the loud sound of
the Jeep’s horn.

Emily pulled the small bug off of the horn
and tried to snap it in half. After the second try, Kyle took it
from her and easily smashed it in his fingers.

“
I can’t believe they
bugged my car! There’s a tracking device on it too, course, that
doesn’t really matter. It’s not going anywhere,” Emily
said.

“
We’ll have it towed away.
Then it won’t matter,” Quinn told her.

“
No,” Emily said, frowning.
“I like it here.”

“
Why would you want the
dead thing sitting here?” Zohn asked.

“
Just leave it, ok?” she
said, and got back into the Jeep. Kyle slid into the passenger’s
side and she took off for the palace, followed by the
Humvee.

“
We need a favor,” Kyle
said, watching the rocky terrain.

Emily sighed, “Like what?”

“
You know about Ingram and
Selhman, right?”

“
I know the names, and that
the Valle and Encala want them back,” Emily told him.

“
We need to try them. Get
it over with, but we can’t try them because we’re short one council
member.”

Emily glanced at Kyle, “What does that have
to do with me?”

“
As Chevalier’s spouse,
you’re automatically a member of the Council.”

Emily laughed slightly, “You need me to be
there?”

Kyle nodded, “Just for this trial. With
these types of political prisoners, only a full Council can be
used.”

“
So replace James, it’s
been long enough.”

“
We haven’t found a good
candidate yet, otherwise we would.”

“
Yeah, sure, I’ll go fill
in for the trial,” Emily said, and pulled into the palace’s
garage.

“
I’ll have a robe made for
you. We… we need you to keep the hood on, so they don’t see who you
are,” Kyle said, and cringed slightly.

Emily looked at him, “Seriously?”

Kyle nodded.

“
Yeah, sure, whatever
helps,” she sighed, and got out of the Jeep.

“
Aren’t you coming in?”
Kyle asked when Emily leaned up against the Jeep.

“
I don’t know where to
go.”

Kyle frowned, “What do you mean?”

Emily looked over at him, “Can I crash in
your room?”

“
Why don’t you stay in your
room?” Kyle asked.

Emily shrugged.

“
I thought you two made
up.”

“
We did,” Emily told him,
and walked into the palace.

Kyle sighed and followed her in, “You
obviously didn’t.”

Emily saw the two guards posted at the
bottom of the stairs and immediately blushed and looked away.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed as he watched her.

“
What’s up?” he asked
her.

“
N... nothing I guess… ex…
well… no,” she said, and headed up the stairs past them.

Kyle frowned at the two guards and headed up
with her. He turned suddenly when he heard a hiss and the two
main-floor guards flew past him and tackled the second-floor
guards. He turned back toward the fight and saw Emily sitting on
the stairs, leaning against the railing.

Kyle knelt down beside her, “Are you
ok?”

Emily watched as the two main-floor guards
restrained the growling and hissing second-floor guards, “What was
that all about?”

“
You didn’t answer me. Are
you ok?” Kyle asked her, and then turned to the guards. “Take them
outside. I’ll be right there.”

The guards nodded, and when Kyle turned back
to Emily, she was blushing again.

Emily put her hand out and Kyle helped her
to her feet, “Freak.”

“
What?” Kyle
asked.

Emily started up the stairs
slowly, “Why do they always have to throw me? Why not a simple,
‘
Hey, can I eat?
’”

Kyle chuckled, “Sorry, Em.”

Emily made her way to Kyle’s room and laid
down on the bed, “Ahhh, better.”

“
It’s your back again
then?”

Emily nodded, “I’m good now.”

“
Good afternoon,” Dr. Cook
said when he came into the room.

“
Damnit, Kyle,” Emily
yelled, and glared at him.

Kyle grinned slightly, “How can someone so
tough, be afraid of a doctor?”

“
I’m not afraid of him,”
Emily scowled.

“
Then let him look at your
back.”

“
No way, he wants to stick
a needle in it,” Emily said, and looked over at the doctor. “Come
at me with a needle and I’ll ash you.”