Chapter 27

**Alexander’s point of view: Preparation for the mission to come.**

With everything already carefully planned out, it was time for us to put the mission in motion now. Xavier went down to the village near the riverbed and ask the officer in charge of the ferries, if he could borrow some of the tradesmen’s uniform, for the use of a top secret, official business for the crown.

Out of fear of getting into trouble with his superiors, he didn’t want to hand over anything, without any official proof. But after showing the officer, the royal, golden family crest, the officer quickly handed the uniforms over, without uttering another word.

With his extensive knowledge of everything, uncle helped us forge authentic looking, identification papers, for when we will be boarding the ferry boat as undercover tradesmen. The werewolf’s wouldn’t expect us to pull the same kind of trick on them, that they have previously used on us. The day when they disguised themselves and followed me on the ferry the whole time and later when they had sneaked into the fairy realm and attacked me in the forest.

A little more than a week has passed since I last saw Odette, when we said our last farewell before she and her parents had returned home. I hoped to see her soon after, but unfortunately it was not meant to be for now, not until I have successfully gone through with this investigation.

For now, I wrote Odette a letter, explaining some of current situation I find myself in, but I did not tell her the whole truth of the situation yet, because I don’t want her to worry about my safety, when we are on our mission in the werewolf realm. Later on, after Xavier and I have returned from our mission and I hopefully have a better grasped on what is going on over there, I will write her a new letter, containing more detailed information about the subject.

I hope our new gift from the royal fae family; the eagle will keep her company and help her with the longing feeling she is experiencing each and every day. That same feeling, I myself have to endure every day, for the duration of our separation.

After I was done writing the letter, I took out the blue flower, that was gifted to me by Odette on the day she left. Since that day, I still keep it close to my heart and remember the warmth I felt, when I held it in my hand for the very first time.

From within my memory of her, I slowly started to draw a portrait of her long curly locks of hair, the beautiful, fair complexion of her oval shaped face, her dark brown shaded arched eyebrows, situated just above her big beautiful baby blue eyes, that stares right into my very soul and her small, cute straight nose, topped off with a pair of rosy, cupid bow lips.

After the portrait was done and I felt satisfied with the end result. Then I went to the royal library and asked uncle to help me search for the map of the correct location, of the village were Odette was living in the fairy realm. After we found the map, I took the concealed letter, portrait and map, to where the eagle was comfortably staying in the castle.

So far, we have bonded very well, within the few days she has already been staying with me. I also told her about my immortal mate Odette and that she will soon have the opportunity to meet my fated love for herself. I looked everywhere for her, until I found her in the garden, where she was busy spreading out her large wings and getting some exercise.
It was that time of day, I enjoyed the most.

When the snow had stopped falling for a few hours and the sky was clear blue with a shimmer of sunlight, just barely noticeable over the tops of the frozen mountains, rising above the frozen forest, that surrounds my castle. For a while, I was just sitting on one of the many benches placed throughout my garden and silently observed her, while she was enjoying her flight, high above in the sky.

Later on, when the snow started to fall down again, I called for her to come inside with me. When we got inside, she followed me to my study, when inside, I closed the door behind us, before sitting down in my chair. In the meantime, she also made herself comfortable on top of my large wooden desk. When we were both settled in, I started to explain the situation of the upcoming events that will take place throughout the next few days or months, depending on how long the investigation will take in the other realm.

When I was done explaining everything to her, she nodded her head as a sign of understanding. Firstly, I took out the portrait and map, before showing her the exact location of Odette’s village and then showing her the portrait, of Odette that I drew myself.

Afterwards, when she was done memorizing everything, she looked back up at me with an excited glint in her eyes. I just smiled at her, knowing that she has been waiting for this journey for a while now. Lastly, I handed her the sealed letter and told her to take good care of it and not to lose it, during her first venture to the fairy realm, that she will be undergoing.

The next morning, after a good night’s rest and a filling breakfast, I said my farewell’s to the eagle and watched her spread open her large wings, before taking flight high up in the sky, during the time that the sky was clear and the snow had stopped falling down. I stared up at the sky, until she had flown out of reach of my eye sight. With a sudden feeling of being alone again, I slowly lowered my head and went back inside the castle.

When I got back inside, I slowly made my way to where I knew everyone was patiently waiting for me in the library. After having some tea and delicious snacks next to the burning fireplace, we all gathered around the table, containing the plans for the mission. We carefully went over the plans again and memorized the content that contains the layout of the map for the entire werewolf kingdom with all of its dry, sandy roads above ground and the underground tunnel system, where they spent most of their time, while they are in their two-legged forms.