Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen

they need
to be here,” Emily said, grabbing her purse.
    “You’re just leaving the house empty?”
    “Alec will be back tonight. It’s fine.”
    Megara nodded and then followed her Mom out
to the Jeep. Emily checked in with Silas quickly and was soon
headed back to the palace. She was relieved to be able to sleep
without Exavior’s nightly visits but still wondered how to rid her
house of his ghost.
    Horace and three other members of the Cavalry
met them in the palace’s garage. Emily smiled and then climbed out
after Megara.
    “Where’s the cane?” Horace asked.
    Emily shrugged, “I don’t need it
anymore.”
    “We’ll have to clear that with Dr.
Edwards.”
    “If you must.”
    “I’m just going to go to the kitchen,” Megara
said, and disappeared inside.
    Horace smiled, “You back then?”
    “Yup,” Emily said, and walked inside. She
tried to ignore the feeling that the heku were laughing at her
ghost encounter but got side-tracked when she heard yelling from
inside the council chambers.
    Derrick blocked the door when she walked up,
“Not sure you should go in there.”
    She frowned slightly when she recognized the
voice, “Is that Andrew yelling?”
    “Yes, Ma’am.”
    “At who?”
    “The entire Council.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s not my place to say,” Derrick said,
still blocking the door.
    “Who else is in there?”
    “Iuna and their Faction Liaison Officer.”
    “Maybe I should keep the peace.”
    Derrick turned slightly, and his lips moved
quickly as he spoke to someone inside the room. After a couple of
minutes, he turned around, “They said to come around back.”
    When Emily opened the door, she immediately
felt the tension in the room, and then the Encala’s voices quieted
when she appeared and sat down beside Chevalier.
    It was obvious that Andrew was avoiding
looking at her, and she cleared her throat before speaking, “Keep
your voices down.”
    Iuna nodded slightly and whispered something
to the other Encala before turning to the Council, “You’ve heard
our demands.”
    Chevalier nodded, “We have, and we still
refute your claim.”
    “You don’t have to approve for action to be
taken.”
    “How dare you threaten us,” Kyle said,
scowling.
    Iuna shrugged, “Return it, and we’ll let it
go.”
    “No,” Quinn said.
    Emily was dying to know what was going on but
promised herself to stay out of the Council’s affairs unless it
involved her. She sat back when the conversation turned to Latin,
obviously in an attempt to keep her from knowing the specifics of
the argument. She focused in on Andrew, and the way he wouldn’t
look at her and how his body was turned slightly away from her.
    Two hours later, they finally returned to
speaking English.
    “Three weeks,” Iuna said, still angry.
    “Understood,” Kyle replied.
    The Encala turned for the door, but Emily
stood up, “Andrew?”
    His shoulders fell slightly, and then he
turned around.
    “I need to speak to you in private for a
moment,” she told him.
    Andrew glanced at Iuna and then nodded to
Emily.
    Chevalier asked Derrick to escort Andrew to
the conference room just as Emily unhooked the phone cord from the
phone and the wall and shoved it into her pocket.
    “What are you doing?” Zohn asked,
frowning.
    “Having a private conversation,” she told him
before leaving. Andrew was already waiting in the conference room,
and it didn’t escape Emily’s notice that Derrick was standing
outside of the door.
    She sat down across from him, “Care to
explain?”
    He looked down at his hands, “That’s all
Encala stuff.”
    “No, how you won’t return my phone calls, and
I haven’t seen you in weeks.”
    “It’s complicated.”
    “Try me.”
    “You were kidnapped and injured in my care,”
Andrew said, and finally looked up at her.
    “So? That’s my life.”
    “It’s unacceptable.”
    “So you ran off and hid?”
    “Not exactly…”
    Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Were you ordered to
stay away from