Alec stumbled back, wings flapping nervously. "No need for violence, Lady Sienna! I only wished to make a new friend, and at the sa ti, warn you about anything that you might not be aware of."
Sienna advanced, eyes gleaming ominously. "Warn ? Or sow discord in my marriage? Let tell you sothing, feathered gossip: my husband may be cold outside, but when he is with , he is hot. Our family is solid. If anyone tries to wedge themselves between us, I will wedge my pan between their ribs."
Alec, scoffed. The just as he had landed suddenly, he flew off in the sa way.
Sienna watched his vanish into the twilight with a sneer. "Idiot," she muttered.
"You should have let hit him at least once." Aunt Linera said.
Sienna nodded. "I should have, but I couldn’t. I am determined to pull off this summit without any incident. If you had hit him, then the eagles would have run to the king, crying and lying."
Aunt Linera snorted. "But they started it. Every word that cunning eagle said was ant to put holes in your marriage."
Turning to face her aunt, Sienna said, "He spoke of them as rumors. He called beautiful. At the end of the day, nothing he said can be used to prove that he actually wanted to cause harm. Foxes are not the only sly beast n aunt. Others are learning."
"And it is good that you are aware." Elias’s voice ca from between a group of guards that reached them. In his arms was Eli, mouth sharp. eyes sharper. The kid looked at Sienna as if she had been doing sothing suspicions.
Automatically, Linera and the guards put a distance between themselves and the couple. Elias stood beside Sienna, and they started a slow walk ho. "So, what did I miss?" He asked her.
She narrated everything that had happened, dramatizing so parts of the encounter.
When she was finished, his gaze flickered toward her, gentle by suspicions. "You defended ?"
Sienna jabbed his arm with her finger. "Of course, I did. We are husband and wife, and the success or failure of this summit affects us both. Besides, if anyone is going to complain about your coldness, it will be . Outsiders don’t get that privilege."
They walked in silence for a mont, the sea breeze tugging at their clothes. Eli held the silence, just to enjoy a rare mont of being carried in his father’s arms. The boy was afraid that if he spoke up, his father would wake from this dream, put him down and remind him that he was a man at the young age of five!
Sienna spoke up, her voice more serious. "It can’t be a coincidence that he dropped from the sky right before , and tried to sow discord. Could this be revenge? They know I planned that fra job."
Elias narrowed his eyes. "They lost face so they decided to whisper poison in your ears and make us hate and destroy each other from within. It fits their style."
She snorted. "It’s pathetic."
Elias’s gaze lingered on a group of drunk beast lords being escorted away by guards from the direction of their ho. He knew that so of them were not drunk. They were pretending to be intoxicated to gather information or carry out different sches. "Pathetic sches can still be dangerous. Discord spreads faster than fire."
Sienna tilted her head, studying him. His expression was calm, but his aura carried tension she recognized. She sniffed the air and froze.
Blood.
It clung faintly to the arm of his shirt, hidden beneath the scent of salt carried by the sea breeze. Her eyes sharpened. "You sll like blood."
His steps faltered. He glanced at her, then away. "Your scenting senses have grown, much like your ntal health."
She clenched her jaw. "What happened? Was it sothing at the summit? Sothing with the royals? One of our enemies? Don’t tell you tripped over a wine glass."
His silence was heavy. Finally, he said, "There was.....an incident. A dispute between the golden snake delegation and the monkey tribe envoys. A lot of pride, egos and pranks gone wrong. Words turned to claws. I was forced to intervene."
Sienna’s heart thudded. "Intervened? How? Did you beat them up or just ask politely?"
"Both," he admitted. "As the host, I could not just sit by and let our summit be ruined. The eagles were behind the sche of course. They talked the monkeys into pranking the golden snakes."
Sienna let out a tiny hiss. "Stupid eagles. They made you fight!" She stopped walking, forcing him to halt. "Were you hurt?"
"No." Eli piped up. "Papa is the best. Nobody beats papa."
Proudly, Elias replied. "Exactly."
Sienna’s temper flared. "They tried poison on day one and today it is pranks and gossip. I am sure they have sothing planned for tomorrow. They won’t give up until the very last mont. We should be on guard because they have just one day, one chance. When this is over, I don’t want to see another eagle beast man for at least a year. In fact, the next eagle to fall in front of will be sent back with dents."
Eli chuckled.
Elias’s lips curved faintly. "I know you would."
Sienna wrinkled her nose, sniffing the scent of blood on him. "You are not getting into my bed without taking a bath first. In fact, don’t carry Ali with that sll on your body. I don’t want her asking questions or staying awake because she thinks an eagle is going to poke her eyes out or sothing. She hasn’t touched a green good since the failed poisoning attempt." She sighed.
They walked through the gate to the compound. Sothing in them all relaxed, because they were finally ho.
"Foxes shouldn’t eat greens anyway." Eli muttered.
Sienna poked his butt. "Say that again and I will feed you nothing but greens for a whole year. Your biggest skills are complaining and bad spying. Co down from your papa’s arms and hurry to the bath."
"Hmph!" Eli rejected her suggestion, turning his head. His short, dark curls bounced.
Unfortunately for him, his papa lowered him to the ground imdiately. The boy looked from Sienna to Elias, and then burst into tears. "Great grandma Byra...." he cried loudly, as he ran ahead of them.
"You know he is going to complain, right?" Sienna asked him.
Elias nodded. As they walked up the stairs, leading to her cottage, he wondered how Numia was surviving in the cottage where his n had imprisoned her temporarily to pause the matchmaking efforts. He also wondered if soone had inford Sienna about this, because he had forgotten to do so.
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