Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “I’ll admit that I was mad, but it was never hatred.”

  “I’m sorry I went away.”

  “It was necessary. You’re the only one in the history of the heku that has put the factions at a standstill. It’s quite amazing,” Chevalier smiled warmly.

  “At what price though?”

  “No price. We lost nothing, I swear.”

  “Just us.”

  “Not us, damnit, Em. We didn’t lose anything.”

  “I’m so confused,” Emily sighed.

  Chevalier grinned, “That’s normal.”

  Emily frowned and hit him on the chest, “I’m not confused all the time.”

  He reached up and brushed her hair away from her face, “We’re ok.”

  Emily shrugged, “We’ll see.”

  “Shall we do our normal?”

  “What?”

  “Give me two months to make it up to you,” he said, and grinned.

  “What happens in two months if I’m still getting ‘you’re in my way’ vibes?”

  “In your way vibes?” he asked, and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes”

  “Then I’ll buy you your house in the city, any house you want,” he promised.

  “In any city?” Emily asked.

  “Yes, in any city.”

  “Deal.” She reached out to shake his hand, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him and kissed her softly.

  “You’re never in my way,” he told her, and pulled her onto his lap, facing him.

  “Sure…”

  “So are you leaving me for Exavior?”

  “Yes, I always love a heku who tries to kill me, twice in one day even.”

  Chevalier cringed, “Do I get to go talk to him?”

  “No, I think Kyle handled it,” Emily told him.

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

  Emily nodded, “Deal, 6th 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 ou
t 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.”

  Kyle looked at the doctor, and Emily saw their lips moving quickly, but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  Dr. Cook looked at Emily, raised an eyebrow, and then left the room.

  “What did you say to him?” Emily asked.

  “I just told him you’re afraid of him, so he better leave,” Kyle explained.

  Emily’s eyes narrowed, “I’m not afraid of him.”

  “Rest. I’ll have your tailor make you a robe for tomorrow’s trial,” he said, and left the room.

  Kyle blurred outside of the palace and met up with the second-floor guards, who were getting yelled at by Mark while the Elders watched.

  “Is she ok?” Chevalier asked, glaring at the guards.

  “She hurt her back, but won’t admit it,” Kyle said, and watched Mark. “What’s he finding out?”

  “They’re new to the palace guards, and apparently hadn’t caught Emily’s scent before,” Quinn explained, irritated.

  “She agreed to help us with the trial. I’m having a robe made,” Kyle told them.

  Zohn nodded, “Good, we can get it out of the way then.”

  “I’ll go check on her,” Chevalier said, and headed inside.

  “Elder?” Kyle called to him. “She’s in my room.”

  “Why?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Chapter 4 - Valle Trial


  Emily carried the dark green robe into the council chambers and saw that the others had already arrived.

  “I’m here, now what?” she asked.

  “Put it on and sit here,” Kyle said, and pointed to an empty chair between him and Chevalier.

  “How do you not cook in these robes?” Emily asked, slipping it on and sitting down.

  Kyle grinned and turned around. He didn’t want Emily to see he was laughing.

  Emily glared at his back, “You do realize this robe isn’t fooling anyone. I’m obviously not heku.”

  “Hmm, she’s right. We didn’t think about that,” Zohn said, looking at the drastic height difference.

  “They will just have to deal,” Chevalier said. “Turn on the fan, pull up your hood, and we can begin.”

  Emily shrugged and pulled the hood up so it shaded her face, and the rest of the Council did the same.

  “What’s with the robes and hoods anyway? You don’t normally do all this,” Emily asked Kyle.

  “This trial is different. It’s not as casual as the others.”

  “Hmm, ok,” Emily said, and turned around.

  Four guards brought in two haggard looking Valle. They were obviously starving, and their skin had begun to wither and crack. One of them looked right at Emily and studied her for a bit before he was pushed to his knees by the guards.

  Papers were handed down to each of the council members. Emily looked through them, but none of them were written in English, so she grabbed her pen and started doodling on the back of them while the council members read through the details.

  Emily jumped when Quinn spoke. His voice was ominous and echoed through the chambers.

  “Ingram and Selhman, charges are brought against you and you will be tried and punished in this court,” Quinn said, while the two prisoners watched him, cowering.

  Quinn sat down, and Chevalier stood to speak. His voice was also malicious and made Emily’s skin crawl, “Charges against you are for the murder of 426 heku from the Randolph Coven. The charges include committing treason by giving information to the Valle, and providing them with the information they needed to carry out the attacks.”

  Emily frowned. She hadn’t heard about the deaths, but was already getting upset at the thought.

  Chevalier sat down, and Zohn stood, “Do you have a defense?”

  Ingram stood up. He was hunched over and the bones in his back stood out against his thin skin, “We didn’t do it! We were victims.”