Chapter eighteen
Michael Aflong turned to the doorway while he heard footsteps approach. His sister marched in without a word and took a seat before him.
"What a pleasant surprise Elizabeth?" He began, "How do you do?"
She hesitated to reply and pulled a thinking face. When she glanced at him again, she was frowning, "Very well. Except I came to clear something that has been bothering me of late."
Michael lowered his coffee with a worried glower. Steadily, he turned to face her completely and squatted to meet her eyes. With a hand upon her shoulder, he asked, "And how would I help? Do tell."
She returned his gaze with a defiant one and created some suspense with a bit of silence. When Micheal became expectant enough, she decided to sigh and say, "Why is Nax joining the Duke to London?"
Michael sighed heavily and broke out a tiny snicker. Well Elizabeth did not find anything she said amusing, still holding her frown.
Michael stood straight and turned away from her, laughing just a little bit more before he faced her again, coffee in hand, "You gave me such a scare. Is that the sort of thing you let bother you little sister?"
The lass squared her shoulders, stiffening her back to give a more authoritative look. She said rather seriously this time, "I'd appreciate a genuine answer. That is if you really consider me part of you."
Her brother placed his hands lovingly on her cheek and shook his head slowly, "You are all I have left. Never say that."
She nodded and waited for his response.
Michael dropped his hand with a sigh of surrender and placed his coffee on the table, "You are aware Philip is about to let go of that territory. I need it. Nax will get the seal for me."
Elizabeth creased her forehead in silent disappointment. Like father like son, greedy for one rich duchy. But it would only be fair if she dealt with him the same way she did with their father. She only tried to reason with him because she was the last of her blood, "But isn't it Scotland's? I doubt the King will give it to you."
"Oh worry not my darling," he snarled gently, "Your brother has his ways."
That was it. She was done trying. It was do or die. She eyed the knife on the dining table and watched him turn around to face the window. Slowly and quietly, she pulled it and slipped it between the folds of her fan. She had even become bored of killing men who somehow never kept their sticky fingers in their pockets.
She walked up to Michael  afterwards and stopped by his side, the both of them looking out the window at the same beautiful view of the farmhouse. Just down the lawn though, she sighted something move. Or someone.
When the lady cringed her eyes to study the being, she noticed a determined Monica making her way through her garden and slipping into the mansion. What a pleasant coincidence, she smirked.
Next, her eyes swept round the office to the cage with the bird. And there was that gaze again, the metal grey one it always gave everyone, stern and angry. Obviously when the eagle was finally out of that cage, only God knew what it would do.
Well she would worry about that later. First things first and right now she had things to do. With a mastered dexterity, she retrieved the knife from her fan and quickly shoved it into Michael's back.
Her brother was hesitant to react. At first, his lips just shivered with words that could not be formed, then his eyes became moist with what looked like tears. He turned to his sister slowly and gawked at her, though her attention still remained at the farmhouse across the mansion.
Almost as quickly, Elizabeth drew back the weapon from inside him and was seemingly admiring the blood on it.
Micheal crumpled down slowly, quietly, still shocked and confused. But right now, his mind couldn't gather facts and make any sense out of the situation. He just tried to fight it, something he knew was overly impossible. His moans of struggle only lasted for a short while before he gave up and closed his eyes finally.
Elizabeth was still watching the knife with a smile on her lips.
Anytime now…
Three, two, one…
The double doors clicked open and the Scottish barged in with an obviously ugly mood. When she immediately found who she came for, she snarled at her cousin, "We need to talk." The way Monica pointed her finger to the floor made Elizabeth know that talk was there and then. Somehow, she knew why she was here.
"If it's about my family posing any threat to your home then that's already settled," the blonde replied nonchalantly.
The Scottish frowned slightly, pondering on the lady's words. It was then that her eyes found the bloody knife in her cousin's hand. Automatically, she then found Michael's body right beside her, in a pool of its own blood.
"What have you done," Monica gasped as she rushed to the man on the floor. Slowly, she lifted him by the shoulders while tapping his cheeks lightly, "Michael!"
When there was no answer, her eyes looked up at Elizabeth again who stated with a small shrug, "He is the one who had Nax offer the Duke his help. They all want your home."
With a move she knew was vain, Monica shook Michael one last time. When that didn't work as expected, she yanked him away and stood, glaring at Elizabeth while she yelled frantically, "That would mean you have intentions of killing the greater half of England!"
Her cousin shrugged again, her stare still not leaving the farmhouse. "If need be Monica, I will."
The Scottish pulled her hair helplessly, then looked down at the body of her male cousin. He just lay there with no breath in him and a bleeding slit in his back.
"Stop this madness Elizabeth," she sobbed with a tone so mild even she was surprised.
Finally, the blonde looked away from the window and smirked at her. When she looked like she was about to say something, she simply threw the knife to Monica, "Hold this for me would you."
Monica caught the knife out of reflex and frowned in confusion, watching the blonde squat to hug her brother's body.
That scene was much more confusing than anything she'd seen before. Why would Elizabeth affectionately hold someone who she tried so hard to murder that dearly. The answer to that question came the next second.
Pairs of feet stamped quickly into the office, making Monica turn to the door fearfully. Several guards and a handful of footmen glared at what they saw with one intention clearly on all their faces.
Before Monica could think, let alone act, she heard Elizabeth cry from her side, "Why did you kill him Monica?"
It was then reality dawned on her and she knew she was in serious trouble. Monica eyed the knife in her hand and threw it down immediately, turning to Elizabeth in worry, "What?!"
Her cousin got up quickly and cried bitterly. If she still somehow had a heart in there, she cried all of it out. Afterwards, the Scottish faced the men at the door again and was about to utter a word of defense when they drew out their weapons from their sheaths.
Well that was not friendly…
Next, they pounced into the chamber and rushed towards her.
This visit of hers just turned out to be a major misunderstanding. Just while she looked around her clothes for weapons, she realized she was empty. How graceful!
Could that day get any better?
When the first man reached her, she hit him with a fist and kneed the second on his stomach. She then rushed for some knives on the table and faced them again with a pose she forced to be threatening.
But who was she deceiving? Her opponents were well over ten in number and also annoyingly angry.
Helplessly, she frowned and tossed the weapons away, thinking of what to do next.
When nothing came into mind, she began running round the big office just to waste their time. As much as she felt it was impossible, she believed a miracle could still happen. There was obviously no darn way out because everywhere was totally guarded.
Elizabeth finally stopped sobbing when everyone had their attention on her cousin. With one look around the chamber, she searched for anything useful at a point like this. And without knowing why, she stopped at the eagle again. That metal glare could scare anybody, let alone the bird itself. That was when an idea that made her smile popped into her mind.
Hurriedly and silently, she stalked to the cage, pulled out the lock, and bent low.
A sudden cry was heard from the metallic cage which began to wobble as the bird made its way through its small door. The men did not seem to care where it came from, not when a woman was giving them this much trouble.
Well the eagle found that offensive to its ego. With a small frown, it gave the loud squeak again and stretched it's wings apart. And with one final hop, it flew.
It was now the men turned around to realize a bird as mighty at that was in the office with them. Monica found it exciting though.
Unknown to them though, things were just about to get plain worse.
The eagle hovered about the room, using its claws, beak and and wings when necessary to punish his offenders. It felt like a long time since it did that. Monica had sought refuge a long time ago.
The guards and footmen took their attention from the lady to the bird, trying to seek cover in every single way.
Monica panted tiredly from where she squatted. This was surely not a coincidence. With that thought, she turned to Elizabeth who had a pistol in her hand.
At first, Monica thought she was about to be killed. But then, the blonde threw the gun to her carefully and used her eyes to point out the window.
The knife incident earlier had taught Monica the dangers of catching things out of reflex. So consequently, she left the gun to land just before her eyes. Was it a real gun or a trap?
She hesitated to touch it, lifting her eyes to frown at Elizabeth.
The latter just kept on pointing at the window with her eyes, something Monica understood to be some kind of escape plan.
At first, the Scottish found the idea of jumping down the three floored mansion as mere madness. But then, she realized the eagle was getting tired of clawing and dealing with the guards. And consequently she had little time.
What she still didn't understand was why Elizabeth would put her in trouble just to help her out of it. But there was no time for thinking, was there, and without a second thought, she snatched the gun, broke into a run and jumped down the window.