"Since you've caught me, might as well tell you about it," Elena tranquility said. "Cut the chase, I ain't wasting my time to hear those foolish things," Edmund gave her a cold glare but he was too daring to have thought that she would be shaken by it. "I lost my eagle two days ago. I have a feeling that he is around here."
"Sneaking in the middle of the night to find an eagle?!" Edmund chuckled in disbelief. " That's just a ridiculous excuse. I expected more from you, Elena."
"Indeed, that's the very reason why I never intended to tell anyone. It might seem ridiculous but that's the fact, your majesty."
"Very well then, if you insist. Then show me where it's whereabouts," Edmund raised his brow. "That's the problem, your majesty. I don't know where he is, so I'm here to find him," she raised her voice a little bit and it succeeded to make the King furious. "Enough with the excuse!" he exclaimed. "Tell me the truth and I might as well spare your life." Her attitude had brought him to the very edge, he was beyond sickening. "I won't lie to you, your majesty. That's a disgrace to me and to Vremoor," Elena replied with calmness.
Leon slightly kicked Edmund's foot as a warning before he took it beyond measure. "Fine, I'll a chance but if we don't find your eagle tonight then you're coming with me." Leon signaled the guards to lower their swords by now but they were still in their position to wait for future instruction. "Of course, with the help of your soldiers, I believe we can find him tonight."
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With the help of Matthias, the soldiers were given the general picture of the Queen's golden eagle. And so all the soldiers had been looking for it for the past few hours but nothing was found. "I'm running out of patience," Edmund mumbled under his breathe. "But we can't catch them without any concrete evidence," Leon whispered back. "I am aware of that but we are just wasting our time here. I highly doubt that the eagle even existed."
"I am with you for that. I've never heard that the Queen had an eagle as a pet," Leon spoke louder than he expected. And suddenly a soldier came running towards the King before he received a piece of news that the eagle has been spotted on the tree in the forest. But before none of them could reply, Elena was already approaching their way. "Eagles are not pets. Those creatures are sacred. It symbolizes longevity, pride, royalty, wisdom, and freedom," Elena suddenly stated. And magnificent golden eagle was standing on her right arm.
"You must respect them first to gain their respect. And those words aren't proper at all."
Although, Edmund didn't show it from his facial expression he was shocked. While Leon's face shows it all. "Oh, I- I am so sorry, your highness," Leon stuttered. "Pardon for his insolence behavior. There won't be a second time, he will keep it in mind, won't you?" Edmund said with cold eyes. "Yes, indeed I will."
"I see that your eagle has an injury," Edmund stated as he spotted that the proposition of the wing ain't right. "Yes, a small injury. He'll be fine in just a few days with the right treatment."
"I'm glad to hear that," Edmund spoke.
"You have my thanks for helping me find Ezio, your majesty. And since our misunderstanding has been solved, I shall excuse myself," Elena curtsied before she walked back to her chamber along with Matthias.
Edmund saw those two figures slowly drifted away through the dark. "I must say she truly impressed me," Edmund whispered with a smirk. "Held the beauty and the intelligence of a Queen but is also as cunning as a snake," Leon finished his words. "Indeed, and never thought she would be that brave. The ball hasn't even started and she has succeeded walking away with an eagle as an excuse," Edmund chuckled. "Unfortunately, this is the first and the last for her."
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Ezio has intelligence beyond what you could've expected. And since the Queen and the eagle are connected to each other, Elena could order anything in her mind and Ezio would do as he was told. So telling him to fly to the forest was effortless.
"You did well, Ezio," Elena smirk as she patted the eagle's feather. She dig her fingers into a bowl taking a piece of meat for his treat as he ate it with ease. "And he's much more fool than I thought he would be," Matthias chuckled. "But we can't let our guards down. We might succeed fooling him this time but that doesn't guarantee next time."
"Then what's your next step?"
"We shall discuss this matter with Cassandra tomorrow," she replied as Ezio flew to the top of the wardrobe. Yes, he didn't injure his wings. It was all part of the plan. When Elena was carrying him on her right arm she was also collecting shadows around her to manipulate Edmund and his companion. Shadow is something that the Queen controls and with that, she could do many different things. One of them is to create many different manipulating forms.
Since she only needed to manipulate the wings. What she did was only flicking her index and middle finger together forming tiny circles as she imagined the wrong proposition of the wing in her mind. It was a simple gesture but no one except for the Queen could've done it.
"The next step must be a success, there won't be any second chance. Failing is not an option."
"I haven't even had a chance to distract his attention and yet, he has suspect us," Matthias sighed. "Not to mention the others."
"Indeed, have you received any further information?"
"No, it always ends up with a dead end."
"I'm counting on you in this matter."
"I'll try my best to gather more information."
"Thank you, for everything you've done for me, Matthias."
"There's no need to say thanks, El," he gave her a reassuring smile. "Well, I should go to bed now. Good night."
"Good night, Matthias."
- ☽.
