Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (7 page)

“Try”

Emily nodded and stood up, “I will
think about it.”

Sotomar smiled, “That’s all I
ask.”

He took her arm and they
walked out together, and returned to the council
chambers.

“Why have you released her?” William
growled.

“Because there’s no reason
for her to be restrained. She cannot run from us,” Sotomar told
him, and watched as Emily walked up onto the Council stand and sat
beside Chevalier. She took his hand under the table.

“Did she tell you where he
is?”

“I did not ask. It’s of no
real concern to the Valle.”

William’s eyes narrowed
and he turned back to her, “Consider any alliance or friendship now
null and void and you… my Dear… are now target number one for the
entire Encala faction.”

“Understood,” Emily whispered,
watching him closely.

“If the Equites cannot get
some control over you, then we’ll have to take that control upon
ourselves.”

“Do not threaten us!” Kyle
yelled. “Now, get out.”

William spun angrily and blurred from
the building.

Sotomar smiled, “You still have a bit
of a limp.”

“Yes,” Emily said, it wasn’t something
she could hide.

“I can help you.”

“I’m fine. It’s going
away.”

He nodded, “Think about
the alliance, Emily. The Encala aren’t going to stop until
Frederick is returned.”

“I will.”

Sotomar smiled and then
turned and left the council chambers.

Zohn turned to Emily, “Please, for the
sake of preventing a war, where is he?”

“It won’t prevent a war if
I return him. They’ll just attack because I once had
him.”

“That’s not true. We may
be able to peacefully resolve this.”

She sighed, “He killed
members of my Cavalry. Jaron saved my life once, yet he died in
front of me on the battlefield.”

“He died honorably.”

“He died when I could have
prevented it,” she said, and her eyes began to fill with tears. She
hated to cry in front of anyone, so she stood and started for the
back door.

“We’re not done,” Quinn told
her.

She stopped and nodded,
then wiped a stray tear from her cheek, “I’m not telling you. I’ll
return to house arrest.”

“We’re releasing you from house
arrest,” Kyle told her.

Emily turned around, “You
are?”

“Yes,” Chevalier said.
“There are rules, however. You aren’t completely off the
hook.”

“Rules?”

Quinn nodded, “No slipping your
guards.”

“No going out by yourself,” Zohn
added.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“No, that’s not all… No
going into the prison,” Kyle said.

“You stay at the palace.
You may visit the other house for renovations, but you must stay
here at night,” Zohn said.

“No memory wipes or
turning anyone to ash,” Dustin said. “No one…”

Emily nodded, “Ok.”

“You don’t have to worry
about being attacked. You won’t be alone long enough unless you are
in our room,” Chevalier told her.

“And my wardens?”

“Return as
bodyguards.”

She smiled, “Thank you.”

“We will continue to try to find
Frederick and please… think about telling us where he is,” Quinn
said.

“They were my Cavalry. I
will let him go when I feel he’s been punished enough,” she told
them, and then left through the back door.

“If human emotions rule out, she’ll
lead us to him,” the Chief Investigator whispered.

Chevalier nodded, “Let’s hope
so.”

Emily walked out and met
up with Silas and three members of the Cavalry, “So now that I’m
sprung, will you all lighten up?”

Silas grinned, “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” she asked, crossing her
arms.

“Maybe… We’re spending a
lot of time trying to find Frederick. It’s getting a bit
annoying.”

“Oh, well… stop looking.
You aren’t going to find him.”

“We can’t stop looking,”
he said, and they followed her down the stairs. “We need to find
him to prevent a war.”

She stopped at the front door and
turned around, “Is that why I’m free? They hope that I’ll tell you
where he is?”

“No, they freed you because it’s been
long enough.”

She smiled slightly and
walked toward the stables. Mark and Kralen were in the stables
talking quietly.

Kralen turned toward her when they
came in, “You free?”

“Yes, pretty much. Lots of
restrictions though,” she said, and headed for the stall of her
stallion. She stopped in front of it and touched the lock, “Why is
he locked up?”

“You’ll have to take that
up with Dustin,” Mark said. “He doesn’t think it’s a good idea for
you to have the fastest horse.”

Emily reached over the stall and
rubbed her stallion’s nose, “How long has he been locked
up?”

“We take him out. He won’t
let anyone ride him though,” Kralen said, and leaned back against
the wall.

She smiled, “That’s because he’s
mine.”

“Dustin reissued you Jaron’s
mare.”

Emily turned and her eyes narrowed,
“He reissued me a horse?”

“Yes”

“We’ll see about that. He
has no right to do that.”

“Yes he does, he’s on the
Council,” Mark told her. They were prepared for a fight and knew it
was coming. They warned Dustin about it, but he didn’t seem
worried.

She took a deep breath and
smiled.

“What?” Silas asked, nervous about how
she reacted.

“I’ll get my horse back,
but Frederick remains under my control.” She noticed that all three
of them winced slightly when she said that.

“Why don’t you end this
and just tell us,” Mark said, irritated. “We’re spending every free
moment looking for him.”

“You won’t find him.
There’s no reason to look.”

“We have to. We’re trying
to avoid a war.”

“The Encala won’t attack.
William’s just mad, but he knows I can pretty much annihilate any
army he produces,” Emily said, and walked over to Jaron’s
mare.

“We going out?” Kralen
asked.

“Sure, I need out of
here,” Emily said, and slipped a bridle on the mare. By the time
she walked Jaron’s mare out onto the palace grounds, Mark, Silas,
and Kralen were already mounted and waiting for her. She jumped
into the saddle and they all headed out.

***

“Lady Emily wants to speak
to Dustin,” Derrick said to the Council.

Dustin smiled, “I was waiting for
this.”

“What did you do?” Chevalier
asked.

“I assigned her to a new
horse.”

“Why would you do that?” Kyle asked,
frowning.

“It’s too dangerous for
her to have the fastest horse,” Dustin explained. “Add in the level
of experience she has, and she can too easily escape any of
us.”

“That is true,” the Chief Interrogator
said.

“Let her in,” Dustin told
Derrick.

Emily came in with the two dogs at her
feet and moved to stand before Dustin, “Give me back my
horse.”

“No”

Her eyes narrowed, “That
stallion is mine.”

“Until we find Frederick,
I won’t risk you getting away and going to him,” Dustin
said.

Emily smiled slightly,
“I’m not going to go to him. He still has months before he’s even
in pain, and he’s fine where he is.”

“Nevertheless, you will keep the other
horse.”

“No! That stallion is
mine.”

“You’ll keep Jaron’s mare.”

“Fine, then I quit,” she
said, and turned to walk out.

“You can’t quit,” the Court Reporter
said, shocked.

She turned to him, “Yes I
can. I’m not longer a member of your Cavalry.”

“Rank isn’t something you can quit,”
Dustin told her.

“Watch me, Cujo,” she
growled, and left the trial area.

“That was productive,”
Chevalier said, and opened up the ledger in front of
him.

“She’ll come around,”
Dustin told him, grinning.

Kyle sighed, “You have no idea how
much she does to those horses that we don’t know how to
do.”

“She’ll come around.”

Kyle shrugged, “Ok.”

Emily angrily left the
council chambers and ignored her guards when they tried to talk to
her. She got to the stables and crawled under the stall door to her
stallion. Once there, she began brushing him down, still seething
that Dustin tried to take him away.

“You quit the Cavalry?”
Mark asked, shocked. He’d just come into the stables after talking
to the Council.

“Yes, I did,” she snapped, still
brushing down her horse.

“Why are you being so
stubborn?” he asked. “Just give us those ashes and you can have
your damned horse back, and everything will return to
normal.”

“No, and Dustin’s lucky I don’t do the
same to him.”

Mark gasped, “Emily…”

“You cannot threaten the
Council!” one of her guards growled.

“They have no right to
take my horse away from me,” she whispered, and her voice
cracked.

“Out,” Mark told her four
guards, and she heard them leave.

Emily leaned her head against the
stallion.

“They were under my command when they
died,” Mark said, looking over the stall at her.

“I could have stopped it,” she
whispered.

“We asked you not to.”

“Right, and because I
obeyed, they died.”

“Vengeance is mine to get
though. I was their leader.”

She shook her head, “No,
it’s my fault they are dead. I owed Jaron my life, and yet I let
him die.”

“He wouldn’t blame you for
that, and if he were here, he’d tell you to let Frederick
go.”

“You get revenge your way.
I’ll get it mine,” she whispered, and started to brush the horse
again.

Mark sighed, “It’s getting dark and
your dinner is ready.”

“I’m not hungry,” she told
him, and started to braid the stallion’s tail.

“I have to go to a
meeting. Your guards are outside of the stables.”

Emily nodded and kept
braiding. After doing all she could with her horse, she again
crawled under the door and into the stables, then looked around.
Only a few lights were on, and it was dark enough that most of the
stable was thrown into shadow.

“Are you ready to head
in?” one of the guards asked her. She turned around when she didn’t
recognize the voice and saw a guard she didn’t know.

“Who are you?”

“I’m General Meun from the
Samuel Coven. I’m here to cover for some of your Cavalry while
they’re gone,” he said, crossing his arms.

Emily glanced at the three
members of her Cavalry behind him and then shrugged, “No, I’m not
ready to head in.”

“Let’s make this simple… I’m here to
get you to tell me where Frederick is.”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because, I’m not your
friend, and I don’t like you. I’m your guard for a week and I will
make your life a living hell.”

Emily frowned, “Chevalier knows you’re
here?”

“Nope, Sweetheart, I was sent in by
Dustin.”

She crossed her arms and faced him,
“Why would he send you?”

“Because, I’m an ‘old
one’,” he told her, and took a step closer.

The Cavalry glanced
nervously at him.

“Not even an ‘old one’ can control me
when I don’t want them to,” she told him, taking a step
back.

Meun grinned, “Wanna bet?”

“Does anyone besides
Dustin know you’re here?”

“Dustin’s all I need for
permission to get the Encala Elder back,” he said, and looked into
her eyes.

Emily turned her head away from him,
“Stop it!”

“I also have permission to do whatever
it takes…”

She looked at him with wide eyes,
“Meaning?”

“Meaning…” he whispered,
and his eyes fell to her neck. “Meaning you can let me control you,
or I’ll force it.”

She gasped and covered her
neck, “Chevalier outranks Dustin, and I can assure you he won’t
like this.”

“By the time I get what I
need, it’ll be too late.” He blurred to her and pinned her against
the wall.

“Stop it!” she screamed as
he ran his nose up her neck. She saw the Cavalry guards looking at
her, shocked. They weren’t sure what to do. She was in their care,
but the General’s orders came from Dustin, a member of the
Council.