Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series (9 page)

David smiled, “I bet you can, but please, don’t ask him for my freedom.”

“I better go,” she said, looking toward the door.

“Yes… before you are caught.”

“Tomorrow, would you like some music to listen to?”

His face lit up, “That would be great, thank you.”

Emily again made it out of the doorway before anyone noticed and managed to do so for the next week.

***

She was almost to the kitchen when Kyle caught up with her.

“Where have you been?” he asked, more confused than mad.

“Around the castle, why?” she asked, and grabbed an apple from a bowl on the counter.

“I’ve been looking for you since you slipped out.”

“Well… not hard enough I’d say,” she said, walking past him and up the stairs to her room.

Emily stepped into her room, and her mouth fell open at the guard standing inside the door, “Who are you?”

“I’m Russ,” he said, staring straight ahead.

“Why are you here?”

“Orders from the Chief Enforcer.” His voice was even and annoying.

“He ordered you to guard inside my room?” She stared at him surprised.

“Yes, Ma’am… was supposed to start a week ago, but we got busy with new strategical maneuvers.”

“Get out!” Her eyes flared.

“No, Ma’am,” he said, again staring straight ahead.

Emily screamed and ran down the stairs to Chevalier’s office. She knocked hard.

“Come,” he demanded angrily.

“Don’t come me… get him out of my room!” she growled, stepping into his room.

“Not until you understand how important it is to stay safe.” Chevalier looked up at her and winced, her temper was raging.

“I am not your child. I am not your ward. I am not your minion, and I expect you will treat me as an equal adult.”

“Emily…” he started, but she cut him off.

“If you can’t accept that I do what I want, when I want, then I will just be on my way.” She turned to leave, but he was suddenly in front of the door.

“No, you listen to me. The Encala and the Valle want you. They will get you if they find you alone, and I won’t have it.” He could feel his temper getting out of control, but she wouldn’t let it drop.

Emily took a step forward and glared up at him, “I can protect myself.”

“No, you can’t… and the further along you get, the less you are able to do.” He tried to make her see reason.

“Get... him… out... of... my... room.” She stomped at him.

Chevalier stood his ground, “No.”

“I am not weak. I can protect myself,” she said, stepping toward him angrily.

“No you cannot.” He didn’t back down.

Emily gritted her teeth and let go of the anger that had been growing within her. Chevalier growled deeply and clutched at his chest, the burning pain stabbed through him like a hot sword. It stopped as suddenly as it started, and when he caught his breath, it was too late for reason.

Emily took a step back when she saw the out of control fury in his eyes. He was on her in less than a second, and she was pinned against the wall, his hand around her neck and her feet inches from the floor.

“Never… do that again,” he hissed into her face.

She glared at him and dug at his hands to let go. The lack of submission to his request angered him more, and he tightened his grip.

“Is that understood?”

Emily fought to make him let go. She could feel his hand tighten and cut off her airway. She couldn’t breathe, and dug helplessly at his hands trying to force them off of her neck.

His mind grasped what he was doing, and he let her go. She fell to her knees and gasped for breath.

“Emily,” he said, bending down to help her.

She pushed his hands away, and he saw the dark bruises starting on her neck, “Leave me alone.”

“Emily, I’m so sorry,” he said, and reached out to help her to her feet.

She pushed his hands away again and stood up, still breathing hard. He took a step toward her as she ran out of his office and he felt it better to let her go.

“Kyle?” he whispered, loathing himself for what he had done.

“Yes, Sir?” Kyle asked, worried by the look on Chevalier’s face.

“I… I lost it with her,” Chevalier said angrily.

Kyle’s face dropped, “Is she ok?”

“I don’t know. She ran off,” he said.

“What happened?” Kyle asked quietly.

“She got mad at me and... she used her ability on me.” He looked at the door, willing her to come back.

Kyle sighed, “Sounds like you didn’t have a choice. I’ll go talk to her.”

Chevalier nodded and sat down in his chair. Kyle returned several minutes later.

“She’s leaving,” he said sadly.

Chevalier was out of his chair and in her room in a blur. She was packing a large bag that was sitting on the bed. Emily didn’t look at him when he entered.

“Please, don’t leave,” he said softly.

She didn’t answer but threw more clothes into the bag.

“Emily, don’t go,” he asked again, placing his hand on her suitcase to stop her.

She glared at him, and when he moved his hand, she shut the suitcase and sat on it to zip it.

“Where will you go?” he asked softly.

She went into the bathroom to gather her things.

“You can’t go alone, please. It’s not safe.” He was ready to beg if she would forgive him.

“Oh, I’m not going alone,” she said as she came back into the room.

Chevalier frowned, “Who are you going with?”

“None of your business now is it? Once I’m gone, I’m no longer your concern,” she grumbled at him.

“You know that’s not true, you and the baby are my concern no matter where you are,” he whispered.

“Yeah, well, it’ll be pretty hard to control when I get where I’m going,” she said, and sat on the floor to slip on her shoes.

“Where are you going then?”

“Again, none of your business.”

“You swear to me you are taking someone with you?”

“Oh yeah, I am taking a heku with me,” she promised.

Chevalier watched her, and as his eyes fell to her expanding middle, his heart ached.

“I’m begging you, please stay. I’m sorry for what I did. What can I do to make it up to you?” He stood and walked over to her.

“You can let me go with whatever heku I choose.” Emily turned to look at him.

“Take whoever you want, just don’t go, please.” He was starting to panic as she pulled her suitcase off of her bed and extended the handle. Chevalier took her hand softly in his.

She pulled her hand away, “Don’t, Chev. It’s too late. We’re not good for each other.”

Her words stung him deeply, “Don’t say that. We just had a fight, nothing more.”

“Nothing more? I wanted to kill you and could have.” She looked into his eyes.

“But you didn’t,” he said, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her.

For one brief moment, she let him hold her and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She leaned her head on his chest briefly, and then it jerked up.

“Good-bye, Chev,” she said, and kissed his lips gently before grabbing her suitcase.

“What can I do to get you to stay?” he asked.

“Nothing, it’s best if I go now.” She looked around the room and headed out the door. Chevalier followed her, unsure where she was going.

When she took the door down to the prison cells, he put out his arm to stop her, “Where are you going?”

She shook his hand free and walked down the stairs. The guards saw Chevalier with her this time, and both winced, knowing they would be punished for letting her down there, threats or no.

She reached out to the closest guard, “Give me your keys.”

He nervously looked up at Chevalier

“Emily, you can’t let them go,” he sighed.

“I’m not letting them all go… just one,” she said, snapping her fingers at the guard.

“No, you can’t let our prisoners go,” he told her sternly.

She turned on Chevalier, “You said I could take any heku that I wanted.”

“I didn’t know you meant a prisoner.”

“Well I did and do not go back on your word again,” she said furiously.

“Emily? Are you ok?” A voice rang out from the cells.

“I’m getting you out. We’re going back to your home,” she said, and snatched the keys out of the guard’s hand.

“Emily, no,” Chevalier said, and followed her.

She rounded the corner into the second set of cells and stopped at the end, thumbing through the keys to find the one for David’s cell.

“Are you ok?” he asked, reaching out of the cell to touch her arm.

Chevalier hissed at him and he drew his hand back.

“Emily?” David asked, looking at her. “What happened to your neck?”

Chevalier was infuriated that this prisoner knew her well enough to care about her already.

When Emily didn’t answer, David turned to Chevalier, “This was you? You assaulted a pregnant woman?”

“Shut up, Encala, before I shut you up,” he hissed at the prisoner.

“Are you sure you can shut me up or do you only pick on women?” David crouched slightly and faced Chevalier.

Chevalier grabbed the keys from Emily and opened the cell door quickly. She stepped in between them, her back to David.

“Stop it,” she said, glaring at Chevalier as she put her hands on his chest.

“Emily, let’s get out of here. You’ll be safer with the Encala,” David said, taking her arm.

“Over my dead body,” Chevalier yelled, taking her other arm.

Kyle appeared in the cell doorway, his eyes wide.

“What’s going on here?” he asked them, looking from Emily, to David, to Chevalier.

“I’m taking David, and we’re going to stay with the Encala,” Emily said, still watching Chevalier.

“What?” Kyle yelled, outraged.

“She thinks she’s leaving with him,” Chevalier said, his eyes locked on David’s.

“Emily?” Kyle said as he saw her neck. “Let me see your neck.”

Emily glared at him, “You stay away from me, too.”

“Everyone calm down!” Kyle said sternly.

“Emily?” David said suddenly, and then reached out to catch her when she fell.

He laid Emily down on the floor and she began to convulse and her eyes rolled back in her head.

David reached out and took her head in his hands so she didn’t hurt herself.

“What did you do to her?” Chevalier growled at David as he knelt down by Emily.

“Me? You’re the one that choked her,” David said, struggling to keep her head still.

“I’m going to get Dr. Edwards,” Kyle said, and blurred up the stairs.

When her body fell silent, Chevalier picked her up and ran up the stairs. The two guards advanced on David and managed to get him back into his cell.

Chevalier kicked her bag against the wall and laid her down on her bed. She still wasn’t moving. He yelled at the guard to leave her room, and his order was followed immediately.

“Em?” he asked, touching her cheek softly.

She didn’t respond.

He watched her for the hour it took Kyle to return with the doctor, who immediately went to work on Emily.

“Did she hit her head when she fell?”

“No,” Kyle answered.

“What was she doing when she seized?” he asked, taking her blood pressure.

Chevalier sighed, “We were… sort of… fighting.”

“Fighting?” the doctor asked as he touched the bruises on her neck.

“It’s not what you think! That was an accident,” he said it more to himself than to the doctor.

“Was she without oxygen?” The doctor was angry.

“No,” he said softly.

The doctor sighed softly as he took her blood pressure, “Her blood pressure is way too high.”

“Fix it,” Chevalier told him.

“I can’t just fix it… it takes time, a calm environment, no upsets, no arguments, nothing.” The doctor looked over at Chevalier, irritated.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Kyle asked, worried.

“She’s post-ictal. After a seizure, it takes time for the body to regain energy back.” He pulled her shirt off of her abdomen and began pressing around gently with his hand.

Finally, the doctor stood up, “You can’t let her blood pressure get back up there. It’s not good, and it can kill both her and the baby. For now, make her stay in bed.”

“That’ll cause her blood pressure to rise!” Kyle said, frustrated.

“Do what you can but try to lessen her stress.” The doctor was glaring at Chevalier, who was holding Emily’s hand and watching her closely.

“Is the baby ok?” Kyle asked, watching Chevalier. He could feel the hatred coming from the Chief Enforcer.

“Yes, the baby is fine and growing well it seems.” The doctor finally looked pleased about one thing.

“We’ll call you if anything changes,” Kyle said, and showed the doctor to the door. He then walked back and stood on the other side of the bed from Chevalier.

“I could have killed her,” Chevalier said sadly.

“Yes, but she could have killed you, too,” Kyle whispered.

“Her’s was a warning. She wasn’t trying to kill me. She was trying to show me that she can defend herself.”

“She knows we’re dangerous creatures. She knows the risks of doing what she did.”

“Maybe I should let her go with the Encala, she may be safer there.”

“You don’t mean that, Sir,” Kyle said. “Tempers just flared, tomorrow you can calmly talk to her.”

“If she will even talk to me,” he said, watching her.

“She will. She will probably feel bad too.”

“I drove her to find a friend in an Encala prisoner.”

“We don’t know how she came to know him.”

“It doesn’t matter. She does know him and knows him well enough that he cares about her.”

Kyle sighed, “Tomorrow, Chevalier, we’ll try to talk to her tomorrow.”

“If she still wants to leave, I will let her. I can’t hurt her again,” he said, looking up at Kyle.

Kyle nodded, and then left the room quietly.

“Emily,” Chevalier said, and then kissed her forehead lightly. “I’m so sorry.”

“Chev?” she whispered.

“I’m here.”

She didn’t respond. He sat and watched her all night.

Just before noon, Emily stirred and finally opened her eyes. Chevalier waited for her to talk to him.

Her eyes fell on him, “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself,” he said, not moving toward her.