Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (82 page)

Kralen stopped as he
walked toward the kitchen and turned. Speaking to an enemy without
approval was grounds for being put on trial, and usually resulted
in a long prison sentence.

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “Did you just
answer Em’s phone?”

“At first, Sir, then she asked me to relay a
message… I wasn’t sure what to do, so I did.”

“Go on.”

She glanced at Allen and
then back to the Elder, “It was Valle Elder Sotomar. He asked me if
I would ask Lady Emily why the Valle were turned to ash a couple of
weeks ago.”

“Did she tell you?”

“No, Sir, her message was
to tell him to…” Miri looked down at her hands, “To… suck it,
Sir.”

Chevalier grinned slightly, “And did you
relay that message?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“It’s ok, Miri. She’s a
member of the Council and can give permission… though I wish her
message had been different, you did nothing wrong.”

Miri breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you,
Sir.”

Allen grinned at Miri when Chevalier walked
out of the room, “If we’re going to be bonded, you’re going to have
to stop being afraid of my Dad.”

Her eyes grew wide, “He’s
an Elder!”

“Keep thinking that,”
Kralen said, and Allen turned to him and saw he was serious. “I
wouldn’t let yourself get too comfortable with an Elder, even
bonded to his son.”

Miri nodded, “I completely agree.”

Allen sighed and patted Miri on the leg, “I
better go talk to Dad.”

“Good luck.”

“I’ll need it,” he told
her, and then followed after Chevalier. He caught up with the Elder
as he headed into the small office. “Dad?”

“Have a seat,” Chevalier
said, and motioned into his office.

Allen sat down and looked around, “Do you
have an office in every house?”

“Yes, I do.”

Chevalier sat down and then put his elbows
on the desk, waiting for Allen to speak.

“So,” Allen said, and
began to wring his hands.

“So… what?”

“About Miri.”

The Elder grinned and sat back, “I bet you
thought the hard part would be telling your Mom.”

“I guess I didn’t realize I needed your
permission also… so yes, I did.”

“Of course you need my
permission. When were you thinking?”

“Soon… actually… She and I
were talking last night about how perfect it would be here on the
island.”

“That soon, eh? Does Em know that?”

“I’m not sure. I’m a
little afraid to ask what all the two of them talked
about.”

Chevalier grinned, “Be very afraid.”

“I’m almost 17.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“How long are we going to be here?”

“Until your Mom is well.
Dustin’s still on the Council and she’s going to need her strength
back to even be around him.”

“So it’ll be another
couple of weeks. That’s plenty of time.”

“I’ll talk to Em about it,” Chevalier told
him.

“I also want to address
the Council when we get back.”

“Oh? About what?”

“About having the ability to come to Council
City when I want.”

Chevalier nodded, “Seems
fair, however, I’m worried about your temper around your
Mom.”

Allen nodded, “I know I
screwed up, but honestly, so have you.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“I realize that, but there
are no more secrets. She knows about Miri.”

“Something else can always
come up, you have to get some control because,” Chevalier leaned
forward and lowered his voice. “You know she’ll push your buttons
and can fly off the handle in the blink of an eye. The heku have to
use control.”

Allen smiled slightly, “Some more so than
others.”

***

Chevalier looked out over the stark white
beach and then turned to Emily, “They’ll understand if you don’t
want to be here.”

She was pacing nervously, “I have to be
here, I’m his Mom.”

Kralen grinned and watched her pace.

“It’s not going to be in
English,” Chevalier told her.

“I figured. Still have no
idea what was said at ours.”

“Then there’s the exchange.”

She shivered, “Just… warn me to look
away.”

Jaron frowned slightly, “It can’t be that
bad, you did it.”

“I did not!” she said, shocked.

Chevalier chuckled, “I
tricked her into that. She thought it was wine.”

Jaron gasped.

Emily turned and glared at Chevalier, “Still
not funny.”

“Sorry,” he said, and
fought to hide the grin.

“Renew your vows and try it again,” Kralen
suggested.

“Ew, no!” Emily grimaced.

“It’s common to exchange blood every so
often, it re-strengthens the bond.”

“Oh, I think he’s had plenty of mine.”

“You make it sound like I
feed off of you regularly,” Chevalier said, and shook his
head.

“Some like it… actually…”
Jaron said, and then quieted down quickly when Emily looked at
him.

“So I’ve been told.”

“Mom!” Alexis screamed from down the beach.
Emily looked over and saw Dain running naked towards her. She
gasped when his image blurred and he appeared in front of her with
his hands up.

Emily quickly picked him up and turned to
Chevalier with wide eyes, “He…”

“I saw,” Chevalier said, impressed.

“He can’t do that! How am I supposed to
catch him?”

“I honestly have no idea.”

“This is my penis,” Dain said to Kralen,
pointing down.

Kralen started to laugh, “Yes, it is.”

Emily sighed and took the
clothes from Alexis. She finally managed to wrestle a t-shirt and
shorts onto him, just before Allen and Miri came out. They were
walking hand in hand across the beach as the sun set behind
them.

Chevalier reached out and
bound their wrists with a thin black ribbon and began to speak to
them in Latin. Alexis, Kralen, and Jaron paid close attention, but
Emily’s mind started to take in the beauty around them. The sunset
over the ocean was a vibrant orange and the water turned a deep
purple as night fell. Dain leaned his head against her shoulder and
watched the others.

“Em?” Her name brought her
out of the trance, and she looked over at Chevalier.

“Oh!” she said, understanding, and turned
away from the others. She winced when she heard the soft hiss.

“No biting!” Dain yelled,
and Emily hurried and turned him around. She turned around when
Chevalier started to talk again and grinned slightly when Dain
frowned at his older brother.

Emily felt tears welling
up in her eyes when they exchanged rings. She marveled at the look
on their faces as they looked into each other’s eyes, then wiped a
stray tear that fell down her cheek. It was hard for her to imagine
that her son was old enough to get married. A small part of her
resented the wedding and how it seemed she was losing her son after
17 short years. She handed Dain over to Jaron, and took a tissue
from Kralen when he offered it.

When the ceremony was
over, Chevalier quickly moved to Emily and pulled her against his
chest, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned against him and the
tears began to flow. He grinned at the show of emotions, and held
her tightly against him.

“Congrats, Boy!” Kralen
said, and slapped Allen on the back.

Jaron smiled and shook his hand,
“Congratulations.”

Allen smiled and took Miri’s hand,
“Mom?”

Emily turned around and
dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. She tried to speak, and when
she couldn’t, she pulled Allen in to a tight hug.

She pulled up against Chevalier as the
newlyweds walked down the beach and got into a boat. They both
waved at those on the beach as Allen pulled the boat away from the
island.

“I have a penis,” Dain said, breaking the
silence.

Emily frowned and hit Chevalier on the
chest, “What are you telling him?”

Jaron grinned and walked away, carrying Dain
back to the house.

“I haven’t said anything
about that,” Chevalier chuckled, and put his arm around her,
leading her back to the house.

“Boy just knows what’s important,” Kralen
said, laughing.

Alexis shook her head and walked around to
the side door.

Emily sighed, “Kralen, did you give him an
anatomy lesson?”

“Nope, I didn’t… though if I knew he’d keep
bringing it up, I would have told him a long time ago.”

“Nice,” she mumbled, and
walked into the house. She headed for the kitchen and started up
the stove, then grabbed her phone when it rang and without looking,
flipped it open and rested it against her shoulder.
“Yeah?”

Chevalier and Kralen stopped when they
realized they could hear the conversation.

“Emily, it’s Sotomar,” the voice said.

“Ok, what do you want?”

“The divorce was finalized.”

She smiled, “Good to know.”

“Because of his sudden departure, you took
everything in the divorce,” Sotomar explained.

“What do you mean? We didn’t have
anything.”

“Exavior did, and now it’s all yours.”

Emily sighed, “I don’t want anything of
his.”

“Nonetheless, it’s yours… we’ll send the
information to Council City.”

“What exactly is it?”

“15 houses, six cars, an
island off of Australia, and then his fortune.”

“Sell it all and give the
money to charity,” Emily told him, and stirred the stew she was
making.

“It’s yours, do with it as
you wish. As I stated, all is on its way to Council
City.”

“Fine”

“Now that that is over,
can you please tell me why you turned 2 Valle to ash, and what you
were doing at a donor bar?”

“No, and I wasn’t at a
donor bar, I was at a Chinese restaurant.”

“So you say, but we’ve revived our heku and
they saw you come out of the bar.”

Kralen’s insides turned when he heard
that.

“Then they’re delusional.
Why would I go to a donor bar?”

“That’s what we want to know.”

“Fine, I go there
sometimes to make extra cash, it beats hooking,” Emily said, and
shut the phone.

Chevalier chuckled, “That should keep his
mind busy for a few minutes.”

She turned and leaned back against the
counter, “I don’t want all of Exavior’s crap.”

“I’ll help you take care of it,” he said.
“As soon as we get back.”

“You could give a house or
two to Allen and Miri,” Kralen said, and shrugged. “It’s always
nice to have some privacy.”

“That’s true,” she said,
and filled two bowls with stew. “Alexis!”

The 11-year-old came in and sighed, “Mom,
seriously, I can’t eat that.”

“You can and you will,”
Emily said, and sat down.

“Dad!”

“I’m sorry, Alex. You do
have a mortal body that needs fed,” Chevalier told her, and headed
out as he wrinkled his nose. Kralen covered his nose with his hand
and followed the Elder out.

Kralen gently set the
helicopter down on the roof and powered it down while the Cavalry
formed a line into the palace. Chevalier opened the door and helped
Emily out of Winchester 1. She clung to his arm. It was obvious to
everyone that she didn’t want to be back in Council City. Jaron
took Dain from Alexis and went inside as the others followed the
Cavalry.

“I need to go in there,”
Chevalier said when they got to the fourth floor.

She nodded, “I know, I’ll go too.”

“You sure?”

“I’m not going to hide from him.”

When they walked in
through the back door, the Council turned. All but Dustin watched
them and smiled.

“Welcome back,” Quinn said.

“How are you?” Zohn asked Emily.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“We heard a congratulations is in order,”
Kyle said, grinning.

She nodded, “Yup, he got hitched.”

Chevalier sat down and
began talking quietly and quickly to the other Elders, so Emily sat
down in the empty chair beside him.

“Here, Em, this is for you,” Kyle said. He
got up and grabbed a long banker’s box and sat it down in front of
her on the desk. He sat down beside her in an empty chair.

“What is it?”

“Exavior’s possessions,
according to the Valle that delivered it,” he told her, and tore
off the string holding the lid on.

Emily pulled a file from inside, “6,200
square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms on 6 acres.”

Kyle grinned, “It’s a shack really.”

“Here, Merry Christmas,”
she said, and handed the deed over to the Chief
Interrogator.

He chuckled and handed it back, “No, thank
you anyway.”

“What am I going to do
with all this crap?” she asked, and grabbed another
file.

“I wouldn’t exactly call
it crap, it’s some pretty nice mansions and…” Kyle pulled out a
file and flipped through it, “Cars, I guess.”

“Here,” said the Chief
Interrogator after reading one of the files. “1,000 acre horse
ranch in St. Barthelemy.”

“I don’t even know where that is,” she said,
glancing over at the file.

“Here’s the good stuff,”
the Chief Investigator said. He’d joined them in going through the
box and handed Emily a bank book.