Mark glared at him and whispered, “What are you doing?”
“Eat and then I’ll expect to be fed.”
“What?” Silas growled.
Emily looked from Kralen to the cheeseburger and then grabbed it quickly and turned away from them to eat it as fast as she could, using her body to protect it.
“Care to explain?” Mark whispered to Kralen, too low for Emily to hear.
Kralen shrugged, “I’m not going to do it. I just want her to eat.”
“We should have run that by Lori first.”
“Probably”
When she finished the cheeseburger, Emily turned slightly and exposed her inner thigh as her body shook with fear. Kralen walked up and knelt down beside her, then took her nightgown from her hand and covered her back up.
He looked into her eyes, “I’m not going to make you pay for food.”
Emily slowly reached a wrist out to him.
Kralen blurred suddenly to the door, far away from her.
“What the hell was that?” Silas growled, again too low for her to hear.
“Damnit, she’s going to get me banished,” Kralen said, moving further away from her.
“We’ll need to tell the others about that.”
“I’m not telling him!”
“We have to,” Mark said, and they all turned when Chevalier and Kyle entered.
“Tell me what?”
“How is it you always come in when we’re discussing whether or not to tell you something?” Kralen asked, irritated.
Chevalier chuckled, “Just lucky. What are you trying not to tell me?”
“Damnit,” Kralen growled, and then relayed what had just happened.
Chevalier sighed, “Good thing he’s still alive. He’s not had nearly enough pain yet.”
***
“He removed it?” Kralen gasped.
Silas nodded and laughed slightly, “Yup.”
“Still… damn.”
Silas shrugged, “I wish I would have thought of it while we had torture rights.”
Kralen nodded, “Yeah, me too.”
“Maybe we’ll get to again. The Elder seems pretty in control and hasn’t killed him yet.”
“He will though. We’ve been torturing him almost non-stop for 2 months,” Kralen said. “He’s a Valle and can’t take that kind of abuse.”
Mark grinned from beside them, “Aren’t we all just glad he’s on our side?”
Kralen chuckled, “Yes, we are.”
“That water tank is amazing too.”
“Yes it is. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Silas whispered.
Mark watched Emily as she rocked slowly in her tight ball, but could see her peek out from under her arm occasionally and look at the bowl of fruit beside her, “We better have the Elder come up.”
Kralen nodded, “Yeah, she’s not going to eat it without some help.”
Silas called for the Elder and then turned back to Emily, “2 ½ months, it’s amazing her resolve.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean how she doesn’t talk still.”
“Maybe she doesn’t recognize us,” Kralen suggested.
“That’s true.”
Chevalier walked in and sighed when he saw the untouched bowl of fruit, “Damnit, I was hoping she’d eat today.”
“She didn’t touch it even when we stepped out for a few minutes,” Mark explained.
Chevalier went over and sat down next to her, “Em, you need to eat.”
She didn’t stop rocking, but peered out from under her arm at the fruit. On the rare occasion she would eat freely, it took Chevalier to convince her to do it. No one else had had any luck.
He held the bowl toward her, “Come on… I won’t race you for it… take one.”
Emily’s hand shot out and she grabbed an apple and then turned away from him to eat it quickly. He sat back and watched as he began to wonder if his Emily was gone and all he had left was this hollow shell.
She turned back toward him finally and set the apple core down into the bowl. Instead of immediately turning back toward the wall or curling up into a ball, she looked at Chevalier’s chest as she tensed.
“What?” he whispered, frowning as he looked down at his shirt.
She shifted slightly, turning her body toward him with her eyes firmly fixed on his chest and her breathing began to pick up.
He glanced at the Cavalry and Mark shrugged. When Chevalier turned back, he fought a gasp when he saw her hand was slowly moving towards him. Her fingers twitched and her hand shook as she reached out and softly touched a button on his uniform shirt. He was afraid to move, afraid to even breathe as she studied the button and traced it with her trembling finger. After only a few seconds, she undid the top button on his shirt and when he stood up, she jerked back to the wall and began to rock slowly.
Chevalier walked over to the Cavalry as he re-buttoned his shirt, “What do you think she wants?”
“No idea… go back and see if she’ll finish.”
Chevalier called out for Lori, and then remembered that she went back to her coven for the week, “Fine… here goes.”
The others watched as Chevalier again sat down beside Emily and watched her rock. It was only half an hour later when she turned and again looked at his chest. He sat perfectly still while she reached out fearfully and ran her finger along the top button on his shirt. He didn’t respond when she undid the top button, but she jerked her hand back suddenly.
“Just stay,” Kralen whispered, and Chevalier nodded slightly.
Within a few minutes, Emily looked over at Chevalier’s chest again and reached her shaking hand out to undo the next button down. This repeated over the next two hours until his uniform shirt hung open, revealing a stark white t-shirt beneath it.
“What do you want?” he whispered, careful not to move.
She looked over at his chest again and frowned. Ever so slowly, her hand reached out and took the neck band of his t-shirt and she gently moved it down to reveal part of his upper chest. He let her do it, not sure what she wanted or what she was looking for. She reached her neck up slightly to peer down into his t-shirt and then let go and relaxed back against the wall.
“She wants to see your chest,” Mark whispered.
“But why?” Silas asked, too low for her to hear.
Chevalier slowly reached down and tore his t-shirt apart at his chest, then lowered his hands. Emily immediately looked over at him and again reached out. She brushed aside the torn t-shirt, revealing his bare, chiseled chest and his skin goose bumped as she lightly ran her fingers along his skin and then returned to her wall.
“Get Lori back here,” Chevalier whispered.
Mark nodded and blurred from the room.
“Tell me what you want, Em,” Chevalier whispered softly. When she didn’t respond, he sat back to wait for word from the Psychiatrist. When Lori arrived, he was still sitting beside Emily with his shirt open as she rocked in her protective ball.
“They told me what happened,” Lori said, sitting down beside him. “I’m very happy.”
“That she wanted to see my chest?” he asked her.
Lori smiled, “No, that she initiated contact. I don’t care what kind.”
He sighed, “I wonder if it’s time to turn her over to the mortals.”
“They’ll put her away in a hospital and would notice her not aging.”
“As opposed to staying here, too terrified to move or speak? Am I doing it for her or am I following an impossible dream of having her back?”
Lori smiled and touched his arm, “Yesterday I would have suggested we start her on medication. Today, I’m encouraged by the small bit of contact that she initiated.”
“I just don’t see how wanting to see my chest is encouraging.”
“It’s minor compared to her touching you at all.”
“Yeah I guess,” Chevalier said, and sat back. “2 ½ months and we’re no closer to having her back.”<
br />
“It’s just going to take time. Why don’t you go with the Chief Interrogator to the Encala and…” Lori stopped suddenly and looked at Emily when she whispered.
“Shhh”
Chevalier watched her, wondering if he’d heard her correctly, “Em?”
Emily continued to rock, unphased by anything she’d said.
Lori watched Emily again and repeated her sentence slower, “Why don’t you go with the Chief Interrogator to the Encala…”
“Shhh,” Emily whispered again.
“Encala,” Lori said.
“Shhh”
Lori glanced at Chevalier and then turned back to Emily, “Valle.”
When she didn’t respond, Chevalier tried, “Equites.”
“Shhh”
“Emily, are we not allowed to speak of the factions?” Lori asked her.
Chevalier watched her, “Or can we just not speak of the Encala or the Equites?”
“Shhh”
Lori watched Emily closely, but other than her hushing them, nothing had changed.
“What about the Ferus?” Chevalier asked.
Emily didn’t respond.
“Can I say Encala?” Mark asked from the door.
“Shhh,” Emily whispered.
Lori nodded slightly, “Did the Valle tell you to be quiet if someone said those factions?”
Emily silently rocked.
“That way,” Lori said, turning to Chevalier. “If one of us showed up at Salazar’s house, she wouldn’t call attention to herself by making noise.”
Chevalier nodded, understanding, “But what if it was a Valle Council member? I mean, what if Sotomar sho…”
“Shhh”
“Answers that,” Chevalier said, smiling.
“The blanket masked her scent, so if she didn’t make any noise, no one would know she was even there,” Mark said.
“We didn’t actually,” Kralen reminded him. “We were in that room for 30 minutes before we decided to kill what was in the cage.”
Chevalier growled at him.
Kralen smiled slightly, “We thought he had a pet.”
Lori smiled, quite pleased, “This is great! Both contact and she’s giving us a warning, very very nice.”
“She’s giving us a warning?” Chevalier asked.
“Yes. She’s warning us that if the Encala…”
“Shhh”
Lori grinned, “If the you-know-who show up, we’re supposed to be quiet. More than likely we’ll be punished if we aren’t.”
Silas turned toward the door and then back to Chevalier, “The Council needs you so they can decide on a punishment.”
Chevalier nodded and stood up, “Tell them I’ll be there as soon as I get changed.”
Silas nodded and Chevalier left the room as soon as he replaced his t-shirt and got back in uniform.
Two hours later, all three Elders came into the room with Emily. The trial ended and they had called a break in Council proceedings for the next three days. The Council thought it was because of the grueling trial, but the true reason was that the Elders didn’t want to call Chevalier away from Emily if she was in the middle of making progress.
Chevalier went over and sat down beside Emily with a plate of pizza, “I brought dinner. Again, we’re not going to race you to it and you don’t have to pay for it.”
Without any hesitation, Emily reached out and he froze while she again began to unbutton his shirt. This time, she didn’t recoil after each button, but shakily undid each one in quick succession. When his shirt hung open, she again pulled down the neck on his t-shirt and peered over it before sitting back against the wall.
“I need to stop wearing t-shirts,” he whispered before tearing his down the front again.
Emily reached out and moved the t-shirt aside, and as she moved her hand back toward her, she grabbed a piece of pizza and turned toward the wall to eat it.
Zohn smiled, “May I try?”
Chevalier shrugged, “Be my guest.”
“Equites…”
“Shhh,” Emily whispered before taking a bite of pizza.
“Fascinating,” Quinn whispered.
Chapter 25 - Progress
“Do you have him?!” Sotomar yelled at the Equites Council.
“No, we do not. If we find him though, we will not hand him over,” Zohn told him. “We very much want Salazar and are actively searching for him.”
“Why is that exactly?”
“That’s none of your concern,” Quinn assured him.
Sotomar scanned the entire Equites Council, “I want to know why you’ve been searching diligently for our former Chief Interrogator for the last 5 months! He is ours to banish.”
“If you banish him, we’ll consider that an act of war,” Chevalier said, grinning. Sotomar recoiled slightly at the malicious look on Chevalier’s face.
“He’s ours to banish.”
“I stand by what I said.”
“The full Council agrees,” Kyle growled.
“I demand to know why you are insisting that we give up our right to punish our former Council member!” Sotomar yelled.
The door opened slowly and Alexis stepped in. She quietly sat down and looked over the Valle in the trial area.
Sotomar’s eyes narrowed, “We just want to know why you think your need for punishment is more than our own.”
“We don’t think it’s greater… we know it is,” Kyle told him.
“As it stands, we don’t have him in custody at this time,” Zohn said. “However, we do expect full compliance from the Valle in handing him over if he is caught.”
“Are you threatening me?” Sotomar asked.
“Take it how you will. We better not find out you have banished him.”
Sotomar growled and turned to leave with members of his Imperial Guards.
“Thank you, Dear,” Zohn said to Alexis. “He’s always much calmer when you are here.”
“It’s my pleasure, Elder,” she said, and headed out the door again.
Kyle stood suddenly and disappeared from the room. It was his time to watch over Emily and he was anxiously waiting for the Valle to leave so he could get back to her room. He nodded to Silas when he walked in and then sat down beside Emily as she rocked on the floor.
“Where is Mark?” Kyle asked.
“He’s down trying to convince Kralen to go feed. He hasn’t fed in over a month because he doesn’t want to leave Emily,” Silas explained.
Kyle nodded, “Well tell him it’s now an order.”
Silas nodded and relayed the message down to Mark.
“Anything new?”
“Nope, she’s been quiet.”
Kyle turned to Emily, “I have a question for you, Em.”
She glanced briefly at him and then turned back to her rocking.
“My horse is acting weird and I can’t figure out why. He groans, moves around a lot, and won’t eat.”
He watched her, but she didn’t respond.
“I guess I could just put him down.”
Silas grinned slightly. He’d seen Kyle’s horse that morning and the stallion was fine.
“No input at all?”
Kyle turned when Mark walked into the room.
“He went to eat,” Mark whispered.
“Don’t… move…” Silas whispered to Kyle. “Not a muscle.”
Kyle froze, still looking at Mark, “Why?”
Mark was watching Emily intently, “Don’t move.”
“I’m not moving,” Kyle whispered, too low for her to hear. “What’s going on?”
He stopped talking when he felt a soft touch on his shirt. He could barely breathe as he felt the top button on his shirt loosen and then felt a soft tug on the next button. He stayed watching Mark as Emily slowly opened up his uniform shirt and then pulled down the collar on his t-shirt before sitting back.
“Ok, you can move,” Silas said.
Kyle looked down at his t-shirt and then over to Emily. She
was no longer rocking, but watched his chest intently.
“What should I do?” Kyle whispered, still watching her.
“The Elder used to tear his t-shirt so she could see his chest.”
“Yes, well, I’m not the Elder.”
Mark grinned, “Then I have no idea.”
“Well ask Lori.”
Kyle could hear Mark whispering from the back of the room as he stayed perfectly still.
“She said to open your shirt,” Mark said.
“Will the Elder kill me?”
“Maybe,” Silas chuckled.
Kyle sighed, “Great.” With one swift movement, he tore the white t-shirt apart down the front and then watched as Emily reached out and opened it. She then sat back and watched the fire, no longer rocking.
It was only a few minutes later that Chevalier and Lori came in. Lori had filled the Elder in and he agreed with what she had told Kyle do. Kyle looked over at them when they walked in and was relieved to see that the Elder wasn’t mad.
“New orders,” Chevalier said to Mark. “No one in here is to have on a t-shirt.”
Mark nodded, “Easy enough.”
“We need to know if she initiates contact or tries to open your shirt.”
Mark nodded again, “Or we could save her the time and just open them.”
Chevalier looked at Lori and she nodded, “Can’t hurt.”
The male heku in the room all opened their shirts to reveal bare chests, still not sure why Emily was interested in it. They all stood perfectly still when Emily looked over from her protective ball and scanned their exposed chests before laying against the wall and wrapping her arms around herself as her knees pulled up closely to her, her normal sleeping position.
Chevalier sighed, “Such little progress after 6 months.”
“I’m pleased with her progress,” Lori said, sitting down on a chair by the fire. “I know it seems slow, but for two years she was tortured. We have killed heku for losing their minds with much less torment than that. The fact she’s shown any progress at all is amazing.”
He nodded and sat down beside Emily on the floor. He wanted so badly to reach out and touch her, to take her in his arms and protect her, but he knew the damage was beyond what strong arms could heal.
***
Eternity of Vengeance (Extended Edition) : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 58
