"But..."

"You talk in your sleep." He could feel the warmth from her blush, and he smiled.

She rolled onto her side away from him and glanced at the clock Kyle put in for her. It was almost 3am. She decided to stay awake and watch for 7am, but soon, her eyes began to feel heavy, and she was comfortable with Chevalier pressed against her back with his arms around her.

"Good Morning," he whispered, kissing the tip of her nose.

She glanced at him. He was on top of the covers and fully dressed, smiling down at her. She could feel the blush rising to her cheeks, and she pulled the covers tighter around her.

Chevalier chuckled at her modesty. "Gordon is almost here with your breakfast."

Her eyes widened. "No! He can't come in here."

"Why not?"

"Chevalier, stop him, please. Don't let him in here!" The panic in her voice stopped his laugh, and he got up to talk to Gordon in the antechamber. Emily took the opportunity to run for the bathroom, taking the bed sheets with her as a cover.

Chevalier entered the bathroom just as Emily was pulling on a robe and cinching it tightly around her waist.

"What was that about?" he asked, watching her.

"What was what?" She turned to look at him.

Chevalier just looked at her, waiting for an answer.

She sighed, "How many of your coven have you slept with, Chev?"

The question shocked him, but he held his face steady. "I don't see how that is relevant."

"Oh, it's quite relevant."

"How so?"

"Is it safe to assume the answer is a large number?" She walked past him and out into the bedroom.

Chevalier followed her, not sure where this was going. "I wouldn't say large, per se."

"That's it then. I don't want to be added to that number based on one lapse in judgment." She sat down and picked at the eggs on her plate.

"Is that what it was... a lapse in judgment?"

"Yes." She pulled the robe down over her legs.

"I see, so you fear that Gordon will count you in with my many... shall we say... exploits?" He was enjoying this, and it infuriated her.

"Exactly"

"Then do you care if I am counted along with your exploits?" He casually sat in the chair across from her.

Emily didn't answer, but the blush quickly rose to her cheeks.

His eyes narrowed, and then he started to laugh. "My God, Emily. How many men have you been with?"

She pushed the plate away, no longer hungry. "It's none of your business."

"Oh, do tell. You were quite good at it, so I can only guess at the high number." He laughed harder when her blush grew darker.

The humiliation was too much, and Emily briefly considered jumping off the balcony. He noticed her gaze and stopped laughing, studying the look on her face and the darkening blush. She walked over and began going through the closest wardrobe.

Chevalier wondered at her sudden silence and the body language showing she was extremely uncomfortable. His mind shifted to the conversation they had about Keith. She met Keith when she was 14-years-old, and then it struck him.

"Oh," was all he could manage to say.

After a long, awkward silence, he moved to her side as she rifled through the wardrobe. "I'm sorry, Em. I wasn't thinking. I guess I didn't realize it'd only been..."

"Don't... just don't say it... we shouldn't be talking about this." She grabbed what she had her hand on and disappeared into the bathroom.

Chevalier decided to leave her alone. She seemed to need some time to adjust to what happened, and he was all too eager to make use of his private office. It was only a few seconds before he unlocked his office door and went to step in but saw Storm running at him.

"Wait!" she called to him.

"Yes, Storm?" He hated how his voice sounded irritated with her.

She paused for a moment and then continued, "You promised a follow up with the Wilson case, sir. He's no longer waiting patiently."

"Not today, Storm." She looked hurt but walked away from him.

He walked into the solitude his office provided and heard the door lock shut behind him. Ignoring the piles of papers and stacks of books, he sat in the large mahogany chair and buried his face in his hands.

"What was he doing?" he wondered.

How had he come so far as to seduce a child? He let his feelings take over, and that was never safe, not when he'd spent his entire life gaining control of his most intrinsic emotions. He delved deeper into his mind and body, trying to figure out what it was with Emily that he couldn't live without, why she brought out such strong desires. He shuddered to think it could be love. He, the Chief Enforcer, didn't love. He commanded. He punished. He took, but he didn't love.

The image of Kyle sitting on her bed during the night brought the sudden rage back, and he fought the urge to break something. Emily brought out his protective tendencies, which always led to violent ideations.

There was so much to protect her from, not the least of which, herself, her dead husband, and now the disobedient in his own coven. Ulrich was also on his mind, his warning for Chevalier to stay away from her, and his promise to make her disappear. Chevalier also thought about his promise to Ulrich that he wasn't interested in Emily, another broken promise surrounding her. She seemed to be collecting them from him.

He sighed and shut his eyes, deep in meditation.

Emily waited to see if Chevalier would come back soon, but after a few hours, she knew that the dream Keith was right. She let it get too far, and now he wanted nothing to do with her. What she needed was something to occupy her mind, something that would let her think. She needed to decide where to go now that Chevalier would want her to leave. She didn't want to go to Ulrich. She didn't know him, and Chevalier didn't trust him.

She walked out of the bedroom, paused to tell Anna that she wasn't needed again today, and then she set about going through the castle. She didn't find anything interesting, just more bedrooms, some servant's quarters, and a large ballroom with wooden floors and long green drapes covering the walls. One door she went to open was heavy. She could budge it just a little, no more than an inch. It was dark inside and sounded like a large room.

Emily set her feet firmly and put both hands on the door, pushing as hard as she could. She groaned with the strain, but again, all she could manage was about an inch. She stopped when she heard a chuckle from behind her, and she spun around.

She smiled. "Kyle!"

"Are you having problems?" He walked past her and easily opened the door.

She shrugged and walked into the room, then her mouth fell open. The room was uncommonly large and housed an empty pool. She began to walk around it and could hear Kyle walking behind her.

"Why is it empty?" She stopped to look at him.

Kyle laughed. "We're heku. We don't swim for fun."

"Then why do you even have a pool?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Well, that's tough. Okay, so..." He was hesitating.

"Sooooo... what?" She prompted.

He sighed. "This used to be a ceremonial room. A donor stepped into it by accident and... well... he can't be in the ceremonial room. So we moved the ceremonial room to a more secure location, but we had to do something with this one, and to keep up human appearances, we put in a pool."

"That's pretty pathetic, but okay. No one swims?"

"Never," he said, looking around the large empty room.

"Hmm, that's too bad." She stepped down into an empty hot tub and sat down on one of the benches that lined the outside.

Kyle followed her down and sat across from her, his eyes amused.

Emily glanced around the massive room to make sure no one was around, and then she turned back to Kyle. "May I ask you something?"

"That depends," he said, watching her. He was drawn to her green eyes.

She smiled slightly. "If I wanted to, can I leave?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I'll open the door for you."

She hesitated. "Not here, here... the island."

"You are leaving us?" He tried to hide the shock in his voice but failed.

Emily shrugged. "If I do, will anyone try to stop me? I mean those armed guards with the dogs on the pier?"

"Well," Kyle began, "I'm sure that Chevalier would try to stop you, and I would try to talk you out of leaving, but you aren't a prisoner here. The guards on the pier keep people out, not people in."

She fought back the tears. "I don't think Chev would care much if I left."

Kyle moved closer to her. "Did you two get into a fight?"

Emily couldn't help but smile weakly. "You could say that."

"I've seen the way he looks at you. I don't think he would like it if you leave."

"Don't be so sure, Kyle."

Kyle tried to read her face to figure out what the problem was, so he could help. "If you are right, then I would still ask you to stay."

"That's sweet, but I don't think he would even want me on this island. It's only a matter of time before he gets back and asks me to leave. I just need to figure out where to go, now that my ranch is gone." One stray tear betrayed her and escaped her eye.

Kyle reached out and gently wiped the tear way. "You don't have any family or friends?"

She shook her head. "Dad and... well Keith, were the only close family I had, and I didn't have time for friends."

"I won't let you go homeless, Emily. I have a few places you could stay. I even have one in Europe if you want to get far away." He sounded sad.

Emily looked up at him. "You do? You would let me stay there until I got a job and got back on my feet?"

Kyle nodded silently.

She relaxed a bit. "Thank you. That's... that's so nice of you."

Kyle stood up and offered his hand to help her do the same. "Let's go riding. It's nice out, and I won't let you leave today."

Emily nodded and followed him out of the pool room and into the barn where their horses waited, already saddled. Emily grabbed Patra's large head in her hands and kissed her nose. "It's okay, Patra. I'll take you with me when I go."

Kyle watched as Emily slid easily onto the painted mare, and they set out along the tree line, walking the horses slowly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kyle asked after some time in silence.

Emily shook her head and looked away from him.

"If you decide you need someone to talk to..."

She nodded and shut her eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face.

"Hey, I thought heku couldn't be out in the sun," she said finally, looking over at Kyle.

"Not can't... we just don't prefer it. The sun is obnoxiously bright." He smiled, adjusting his sunglasses.

"Garlic?" she asked.

"We don't eat."

"What if I threw it at you?"

Kyle laughed. "Then I'd probably throw it back."

"Holy water?"

He raised an eyebrow, clearly having fun. "None of that works. Are you trying to kill me?"

Emily smiled despite herself and shrugged. "It doesn't matter, I guess. I'm not Catholic."