Free Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page A

paleness out further, and as she sat
down in a chair beside Chevalier, the council members grew
angry.
    Emily looked over at Ryan, “What do you
want?”
    Ryan’s eyes grew wide, “Who did that to
you?”
    “The Encala did… why are you here?”
    Ryan’s features softened
and his voice quieted, “We want the friendship back, Emily. We want
to realign ourselves with the Equites and to join them in
exterminating the Encala.”
    Emily took a glass of
juice from a servant, and turned back to Ryan after taking a drink,
“Bring Exavior here and I’ll think about it.”
    Chevalier frowned and turned to her,
“Why?”
    “Elder Exavior was banned
from coming to Council City. It was part of the conditions for his
return,” Ryan explained.
    “Then no,” Emily said, leaning back in her
chair.
    “Please, reconsider… the
Equites and the Valle could wipe out the Encala quickly, and then
peace would return to the heku again.”
    “No”
    Ryan sighed, “Think about it, at least.”
    Emily shrugged, “I’ll think about it.”
    The Valle Elder smiled, “Good, then we’ll
return and wait for your call.”
    Elder Ryan and the
remaining Imperial Guards moved out of the Equites Council Chambers
quickly, and the door was shut.
    “That was interesting,” the Chief of Defense
said, turning toward the others.
    The Council all turned to
watch Emily as she stared into the glass of juice. She finally
sighed and called for the Cavalry to mount up. There was a rush of
movement inside the palace as the Cavalry left for the stables and
guards replaced them at their posts.
    Mark came and helped Emily
out of the Council room.
    “What are we going to do
with Rasmussen?” Kyle asked when they heard the Cavalry leaving the
palace grounds.
    “Banish him again, I guess,” Quinn said.
    “I foresee Lady Emily
going after Exavior,” Dustin said, deep in thought.
    “I agree,” Kyle sighed.
“She seems to still have a bit of a vendetta.”
    “What do you think she’s thinking about?”
Quinn asked Chevalier.
    “Either going after
Exavior, the Valle, the Encala, or all of them.”
    “She’s still pretty weak.
We have a week or so before she’ll feel up to doing that,” Zohn
told them. “We either need to come to an agreement, or figure out
how to stop her.”
     
    ***
     
    “Emily?” Mark whispered,
and touched her arm lightly.
    She sat up and looked at him, “What’s
wrong?”
    “The Council needs you for
a few minutes.”
    “What time is it?” she asked, yawning.
    “It’s 5 o’clock.”
    “Ok, have some breakfast
brought in, too?”
    Mark nodded and left the
room when Emily got out of bed. She’d regained most of her strength
back in the week since the Valle visit, but was still pale and
sometimes had dizzy spells. She dressed quickly and tied her hair
up as she walked down to the back entrance to the council chambers.
When she walked in, the Council turned to her.
    “Sorry, we know it’s early,” Quinn said.
    “Come, sit,” Chevalier
told her, and motioned for the chair beside him.
    Emily sat down after
taking a tray full of fruit and coffee from a servant, and then
turned to the trial area. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Encala
Elder Aaron standing beside their Chief Enforcer, Frederick, and
two guards.
    “It’s good to see you are well,” Aaron said,
smiling.
    Emily frowned, “No thanks to you.”
    “We regret what we had to do to protect
ourselves.”
    “Whatever… why did you wake me up?” she
asked, grabbing a few grapes.
    “We’ve come to ask the
Equites to realign with us, so the Encala and the Equites can
remove the Valle faction,” Aaron explained.
    Emily grinned and looked at Kyle, “Is this a
joke?”
    “No,” Kyle told her, and
grinned slightly.
    “So… you all feed from me
every three days until I can’t even move, and now you want to be
friends?” she asked, frowning.
    “We apologize for what we did, again… but we
had to protect our city from your abilities.”
    “You