Eternity of Vengeance (Extended Edition) : Book 7 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  When the movie was over, Alexis went over and sat down beside her Mom, “If you need to talk, I’m here, ok?”

  Emily sat back and watched her.

  Alexis blushed slightly, “I have a boyfriend, Garrett. He and I’ve been dating for almost a year. He’s so sweet, and smart, and cute.”

  When she didn’t reply, Alexis continued, “Allen and Miri are doing well. They are still living on the Island and have four dogs now. I guess that’s what heku do because they can’t have children, they just get pets.”

  Alexis glanced at her Dad and then returned to Emily, “Dain doesn’t know you’re back yet. He’s kind of grouchy though, like Dad.”

  “Hey now,” Chevalier chuckled.

  Alexis smiled, and Emily studied her every movement, “It’s true. He also looks like Dad and is big like Dad. I don’t see how there are half of your genes in him, he’s huge.”

  Emily reached out and lightly touched a bruise on Alexis’ arm. She looked down before explaining, “Oh that. Garrett and I went ice skating. I apparently didn’t get any coordination from Dad, and I fell pretty hard. It was funny though, Garrett thought Dad was going to kill him.”

  Emily frowned.

  “It’s ok. It’ll be gone soon. I heal a lot faster than a mortal, and I’m about as graceful as one too. It’s irritating how much faster Dain picks things up than I do. Once he found out I got hurt, Dain went to the same ice skating rink just to show me up, and he didn’t fall once.”

  “She needs this,” Lori whispered to Chevalier. “Idle chatter about nothing. We heku tend to only talk when it’s important and aren’t good at unimportant chit-chat.”

  Without even thinking, Alexis took her Mom’s hand and the heku were shocked that Emily didn’t move away from her, “You’d really like Garrett, Mom. He’s so sweet and kind, hard to believe he’s a heku and older than dirt. He won’t tell me exactly how old he is, but he once slipped and mentioned something about King Decebalus, and it sounded more like he knew Decebalus than read about him, so that’d put him at around 2,000 years old.”

  Chevalier grinned and whispered, “Garrett isn’t even 300 years old yet.”

  Lori smiled and watched Alexis.

  Alexis laced her fingers through her Mom’s, “It was so hard when you first left.”

  Emily looked up at her and frowned.

  “I went through sort of a rebellion.”

  “Sort of?” Chevalier asked, and shook his head.

  “Ok, so it was a big rebellion,” Alexis admitted. “I kept thinking I had to fill your shoes. Do what you did. Be who you were. I couldn’t do it, no one can be like you. As soon as I figured it out, I was able to sit back and just relax.”

  “I still help when other factions get out of hand. Once, the Encala…”

  “Shhh”

  Alexis looked at her Mom, “What?”

  Chevalier smiled, “We aren’t to say the name of the factions.”

  “Oh, ok,” Alexis said, turning back to Emily. “It’s not important anyway. Garrett and I are going to the island for the weekend though. It’s nice to get away from the palace for a while, ya know?”

  Alexis stood up and brushed down her skirt, “I’ll come say hi when I get back, ok?”

  Emily hesitantly let her hand go and watched her walk out of the room. Lori and Chevalier followed her out, leaving Emily alone in the room.

  “That went really well,” Lori said, patting Alexis on the arm.

  Alexis nodded, but her eyes filled with tears.

  Chevalier pulled her into a hug, “It’s ok, you did well.”

  “She’s not like Mom at all.”

  “She’s coming around, it’ll be ok.”

  Alexis nodded and pulled away from her Dad. She looked at the bedroom door and then started down the stairs.

  “Are we ready for panel meeting?” Zohn asked as he walked up the stairs with the others.

  Chevalier nodded, “Sure, come on in.”

  They all walked in and stopped at the door. Emily was standing across the room from her shackle and she had a glass of water at her lips. She froze and gasped when she saw them. The glass slipped out of her hand and smashed against the floor as she dove for the shackle and scrambled to get it around her ankle. Her hands shook as she fought to get the clasp fastened while they watched her.

  Chevalier sighed, “Where’s her water?”

  “I took it away with her breakfast,” Lori said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

  Once Emily got the shackle fastened, she turned to the wall and began to rock.

  The heku turned away from her so they could talk.

  “That’s good though. She wanted water and went and got it,” Lori said.

  “No, it’s not good. She thinks she’s in trouble for drinking it.”

  Zohn shook his head, “I’m guessing she’s in trouble for stealing it, not necessarily just for drinking it.”

  “Did she cut herself?” Dr. Edwards asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Chevalier told him.

  Mark looked up to check on her and then gasped and spun toward the door, “Don’t look at her.”

  The other heku followed Mark’s lead, except Chevalier. He turned and sighed, “Damnit.”

  Dr. Edwards looked briefly and frowned, “My God.”

  Emily was standing facing the wall. Her overalls were down low on her hips and she was topless. Her wrists were crossed high on the wall above her. The position was similar to the normal lashing restraint used by most heku.

  Chevalier walked over to her silently and noticed she was breathing in short gasps. He’d seen that many times before, it was how one breathed when they were about to be lashed and were just waiting for the pain to start. He couldn’t help but gently run his fingers down the soft skin on her back and flinched slightly when her breath caught.

  He reached up and softly took her hands in his and brought them down off of the wall, then grabbed her t-shirt and slipped it over her head. She pushed her arms through the t-shirt and watched him. He could tell she wasn’t sure if she was still in trouble or not. Lastly, Chevalier refastened her overalls over her shoulders and touched her face lightly.

  “You’re not going to be lashed here. Not for anything,” he whispered, and took her hand.

  She looked over at the shackle and he followed her gaze.

  “Do you want to put those back on?”

  Emily’s eyes fell to the heku across the room.

  “Out,” he whispered, and heard them all leave quickly.

  Chevalier walked slowly toward the TV corner and pulled her gently along behind him, “Come on… let’s watch a movie.”

  She hesitated and pulled against him, but he was easily able to get her over to the couch. She sat down on the floor in front of it and he decided not to push the issue any further. He put in a movie and sat on the couch to watch. Only part of the way into the movie, she softly laid her head on his knee and soon fell asleep.

  Chapter 27 - Caught

  “Any questions on the rosters?” Mark asked, looking out over his Cavalry.

  “No, Sir,” they replied in unison.

  “I know it’s been hard with Silas, Kralen, and I gone this last year, but I appreciate the hard work and dedication you’ve shown. Keep it up.”

  The Cavalry soon disbanded and the three headed back up to Chevalier’s room.

  “Hey, what do you big-wigs have hidden up on the 5th floor?” one of the third-floor guards said to them.

  Mark turned on him, “Excuse me?”

  He shrugged, “Just seems like you all have something important up there you’re hiding.”

  “Mind your own business or find your way back to the city streets.”

  “Yes, General,” he said, irritated.

  “I’ll write it up,” Kralen hissed, and started up the stairs.

  “He’s not the only one that’s asking questions,” Silas said as they started along the hallway to Chevalier’s room. “I heard the servant’s earli
er speculating about why we all keep the fifth-floor clean instead of allowing servants up here.”

  “If you hear it again, we’ll take it to the Council,” Mark told them. They stepped into the room and moved into their spots along the walls.

  “Morning, Em,” Kralen said, smiling at her. She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, watching TV. Her shackle was left against the far wall for when she slept, but during the day she’d started to wander further away from it.

  “What’s on TV today?” Mark asked, looking over at the TV.

  Emily didn’t answer, but turned back to the sit-com.

  “Why don’t you try the couch today? It has to be more comfortable than the floor,” Silas suggested. He smiled slightly when she didn’t respond, “Or not… sit where you want.”

  “Back to our earlier discussion,” Mark said. “I think it should be Weston.”

  “I guess, he’s just so quiet,” Silas said.

  “Quiet is good. He’s efficient and does his job.”

  “But can he lead?”

  “He’s already Team lead of area 4,” Kralen reminded him.

  “I know, I just get a bad feeling from him,” Silas told him.

  “Cleome then,” Mark said.

  “No,” Kralen and Silas said together.

  Mark shook his head, “Why not?”

  “Horace said he’s been complaining about us being gone so much lately,” Kralen said. “We don’t need rumors.”

  “Damn, Ok, let’s go back to Weston.”

  The heku were deep in thought when a knock on the door brought them out of their concentration. Mark frowned and opened the door only slightly, “Horace! Who said you could come up here?”

  “The Chief of Staff, Sir. I told him I’d only be a moment.”

  Mark growled and stepped out of the room with Kralen and Silas, careful not to let Horace see into the bedroom, “What then?”

  Horace was holding a deep box and held it out, “We found these, abandoned up by the pond.”

  Mark looked in at four tiny puppies and then glanced up when Chevalier and Kyle walked up.

  “No one’s to be up here!” Kyle growled.

  Horace tensed, “The Chief of Staff said I could come talk to the General.”

  Chevalier looked into the box, “What’s up with the dogs?”

  “We found them out by the pond. We were talking about how it’d be nice to have dogs with us, the Cavalry. Similar to your guard dogs on the Island Coven pier, Sir,” Horace explained. “We took them to a vet and have bottles to feed them. He said they’re in good shape, wolf puppies, and only a few days old.”

  “I don’t think it’s good use of the Cavalry’s time to raise puppies,” Mark said, frowning.

  “But wolves, Sir. If the Cavalry had trained wolves with us…”

  Kralen nodded, “That would be pretty intimidating.”

  Silas looked into the box, “However, we’re talking weeks of feedings and cleaning up puppy poop. It’ll be a year before we can even start to train them.”

  Kyle picked one of the puppies up and it immediately began to yelp, “Noise too, they will cry all the time.”

  Mark grabbed another by the scruff of his neck and brought it up so he could look closer, “I just don’t think we need the added responsibility of dogs on top of taking care of horses.”

  “My vote is yes,” Kyle said, bringing the yelping puppy up to his face. “However, I don’t want them in the palace making noise. You keep them in the barracks and do all of the training.”

  Mark sighed when the puppy he held began to yelp also, “I just…”

  The heku all turned when the door opened. Horace gasped when Emily peeked out around the door and looked at the heku. They all stepped back, and if as on cue, the puppies began to cry louder and struggle to get away from the heku’s grasp.

  “Oh my God,” Horace whispered.

  Emily eyed them all carefully and took a timid step out into the hallway.

  “Don’t move,” Chevalier whispered to them.

  She looked again at each of them and then up at the puppy Mark was holding. She slowly reached up and took it from him, and laid it to rest against her shoulder. The puppy immediately quieted down and began to nuzzle against her neck. Kyle slowly lowered the puppy he held and she took it from him and did the same.

  Without looking Horace in the eye, Emily took the box from him and then backed slowly into the bedroom. She shut the door behind her quietly.

  “Get Lori,” Chevalier ordered.

  “One word…” Mark growled at Horace.

  Horace was in too much shock to speak. Seeing the return of a long-dead charge was overwhelming and he just stared at the door.

  “Horace!” Kralen yelled.

  The Cavalry Commander jumped and looked at Kralen, “Yes, Sir?”

  “Not a word about this to anyone.”

  “Yes, Sir,” he whispered, and looked at the door.

  Lori came up the stairs quickly, “What happened?”

  Chevalier headed inside with the Psychiatrist while Mark continued to berate Horace for coming to the restricted floor. Lori shut the door behind them and watched Emily as she sat down with the box of puppies.

  Emily opened up a bag that was inside and pulled out numerous bottles of yellow colored milk and tiny bottles. She gently picked out each wolf puppy and then folded her blanket and placed it into the bottom of the box before returning the puppies.

  “I don’t see how this can hurt,” Lori said, watching her.

  Emily filled the first bottle and picked up the noisiest puppy. She held him closely and began to feed him as she rocked him against her chest.

  “Four puppies though?” Chevalier said. “That’s a lot of work. It might be too much for her.”

  Lori smiled, “Are you going to take them away from her?”

  Chevalier sighed, “No.”

  “Then we’ll just wait and see.”

  Emily reached down and gently kissed the puppy on the top of its head, and then a slight smile appeared on her lips. Chevalier gasped at the show of emotion. She hadn’t shown any sign of a smile since they set her free over a year ago.

  “Beautiful,” Lori whispered, nodding.

  The puppy Emily was holding grunted as she picked it up off of her shoulder and gently laid it down in its box. She picked up the next one and began to feed it as she pet the sleek gray fur along his body.

  “This may be exactly what she needs,” Lori said.

  Chevalier nodded and watched Emily show care and emotion to the tiny creatures. For the first time in a year, he began to feel that his Emily may still be in there somewhere.

  Mark came in a few minutes later, still livid, “Zohn is speaking to the Chief of Staff, and Kralen is still yelling at Horace.”

  Chevalier didn’t care that Horace had seen Emily, or that the Chief of Staff overrode one of the Elder’s orders. He just watched in awe as Emily took care of the tiny wolf puppies.

  “It’s the best thing that could have happened,” Lori whispered.

  Mark looked over at Emily and smiled, “Oh, wow.”

  Emily softly kissed the puppy’s head and then laid him in the box. The puppy grunted with each movement, his tummy too full to lay comfortably. She picked up the next and refilled the bottle before settling down to feed it.

  ***

  “Em, you have an escapee,” Kyle said, watching one of the overly fat puppies waddle across the wooden floor. Emily looked over at him and then reached out quickly and put him back in the box.

  “Silas is almost done with their pen,” Mark told her. “That’ll help keep them in one place.”

  “Do you need help?” Kralen asked, frowning. Emily held one puppy as she fed it, while another pulled at the back of her overalls and growled.

  She reached behind her and picked up the growling puppy, and put him into the box with the others as she continued to feed the only female puppy among the four.

  “That one�
��s going to be trouble,” Kralen said as the growling puppy latched onto the ear of a sleeping sibling and began to growl and tear at it.

  “He’ll be yours,” Mark said, grinning.

  “Who said I want one?”

  “I did… remember… it’ll be intimidating.”

  “Like I need a wolf to be intimidating,” Kralen grumbled.

  “No use even arguing about it,” Chevalier told them. “The Cavalry’s going to be hard pressed to get those puppies away from Em.”

  “That’s true,” Mark said, watching as she put the female puppy into the box with the others.

  Alexis knocked softly and then walked in and smiled, “Wow, they are getting big.”

  Emily looked up at her and watched her come into the room.

  “I got you a present, Mom,” she said, and sat down beside Emily and the puppies. Alexis held out a small golden pin inlaid with diamonds, “Don’t tell Allen, but I stole his rank insignia.”

  “Alexis!” Chevalier gasped.

  Emily’s eyes were wide as she took the small pin and ran her fingers across it before walking over and timidly handing it to Chevalier.

  “You can have it,” he said, and held it out for her.

  She turned and walked back over by the puppies.

  Chevalier followed her and knelt down, “Em, take it.”

  When she didn’t respond, he laid it down in front of her and stood back up. Before he’d gotten to the other heku, Emily was standing and walking toward Kyle with her eyes down. She reached the pin out to him.

  Kyle frowned, “He said you can have it.”

  She moved her hand slightly, still holding the platinum pin out.

  He shrugged and took it, then slipped it into his pocket as she returned to her corner and sat down.

  “Why don’t you want it, Mom?” Alex asked, watching her closely.

  “Maybe it’s because you stole it,” Chevalier suggested, still irritated over the thought. “She may not want it.”

  “Oh, he has more,” Alexis said, smiling at her Dad. “He won’t miss this one, and Mom needs it worse.”

  “Still… it’s not nice to steal.”

  “She needs it for her collection of memorabilia though,” Alexis said, and picked up a puppy to cuddle.