Kenneth’s POV
I sat in my office, rolling on the chair as I stared at the birds on my desk. Only four of them were back out of the countless birds I had sent out. I was worried, wondering if the birds had landed safely and the men had gotten my message.
It had been four days since I had sent the letters and expected the men to be trooping into the palace but they weren’t here yet. I hadn’t even gotten a response to my letters and couldn’t stop worrying about what the delay was all about.
I feared the worst. I feared that the letters had fallen into the wrong hands. I feared that someone totally unrelated to who the letters were meant for had seen the birds flying in the air, shot at them with a catapult and eaten them.
My heart squeezed at the thought of my precious birds being turned to meat and ending up in someone’s belly. I didn’t put precious time in raising them for them to have such a bland ending.
“Damn it,” I cursed, banging my fist hard upon the desk and holding in my wince as the pain rattled my bones and travelled all the way to my brain.
I had hit the desk too hard. I pitied the desk more than I pitied my throbbing hand as I stared at the split in the wooden desk. I was going to have the servants change the desk against and knew that they would start gossiping among themselves when they were free from my hearing.
I wouldn’t blame them if they did. This would be the fifth desk that I had damaged with my fists in the past two days. I considered telling them to make me an iron desk to save myself from their gossip and redeem my integrity.
I snorted, knowing that an iron desk wouldn’t withstand the rage of my fists either but it wouldn’t break as easily as a wooden one. The servants wouldn’t have to clear my table twice in a day anymore.
I was taut with worry and hated that I was here waiting for news that couldn’t have taken me seconds to find out if I was in the utopia town. There were days that I wished that I had the same technology that they did in the utopia town.
“Soon.” I said to myself.
Very soon, I was going to have the technology of the utopia town in my land. I wasn’t dealing with those lowly humans, being patient with them and going through all the troubles of selling slaves for nothing.
I had a goal. I had something to get from them and I was going to get it.
I decided to read the letters attached to the legs of the four birds in my office and started removing them. I sighed as I went through the letter one after the other and dropped them in the trashcan when I was done. They didn’t have anything that I wanted.
The men only acknowledged that they had gotten my letter and were preparing to come back home. I wondered when they had sent the letter and when they were expected to be here.
A bird flew in through the window and I raised my head up to look at it, curious at its entrance. It wasn’t any of the birds I had sent out.
I watched as it landed on the desk and hurriedly removed the paper attached to its leg.
“Yes.” I shouted with glee, not caring if I got the guards and servants scared.
This was what I had been expecting all day and what I needed to get off the moody edge I’ve been in.
The spy had found out the exact house where the men were hiding and would be back soon to take us all here.
I smiled as I let the birds out of the office so they could fly back to the poultry, eat and rest.
Finally some good news. I was elated and pumping hard with adrenaline.
Kevin’s POV
“Here you are.”
I turned as I heard Zeke’s voice and watched him coming towards me. Yes, here I was. I needed some private moment alone and decided to get myself some fresh alone since Ella was busy having a nap. She’d trained hard on her own today that I would have forced her to rest if she hadn’t decided to sleep.
She had slept off the moment she collapsed on the bed and I had had to sneak out of the bedroom like a thief to avoid waking her up.
Zeke sat beside me and sighed as he looked at the sky. “Are you working hard on training your heart to be stronger?”
I wanted to smile but didn’t and shook my head. “Is that what you came here to tell me?”
He chuckled. “Not really. I asked that because the war is closer than we think it is. I don’t want to worry about my daughter and son-in-law at the same time. Trust Ella; your worries will only hinder you from focusing on your opponent and fighting as hard as you should.”
“Thank you for worrying about me, Zeke.”
“I have to. I don’t want to comfort my daughter because her mate lost his life while worrying his ass.”
I winced at the gruesome image he painted in my head. “It will not happen.”
He nodded. “Let it not happen.”
“What do you mean by the war is closer than we think? You said that earlier.”
He scowled. “Caleb found a strange man running away from here yesterday. He chased him but lost him. He said the man had the scent of a rogue. I think our hideout has been found.”
“Shit.” I cursed both in my head and aloud. The rogues were as good as being here.