Unveiled

Chapter 7

     Princess Ember spoke with her servant about Sir Conner and Madame Quinn, and about when they would leave and who would be coming after them. She found out that Madame Quinn was deeply interested about her secret, and agreed it would be fine to show her before she left. She also decided on how to execute that for her, even though she was quite uncertain of whether she should or not. The only reason Ember decided that it may be fine was because of Quinn's quiet and curious nature.

     Dusk quickly came and Ember, once again, turned into her magnificent fox self, so she went to show her secret. Worries still clouded her mind, whether her secret would be spread, and shame and dishonor would be brought upon her kingdom somehow. She believed that it would be seen as a fault in their kingdom, and it would make it fall. 

     Sir Conner closed the door to the room they stayed in, and approached Madame Quinn at her dresser. He wrapped his arms around her middle and swayed slightly. She turned to meet his gaze and giggled lightly. 

     "So we're leaving tomorrow, right?" Quinn asked. 

    "That we are." Sir Conner replied.

    Quinn looked down in slight disappointment and looked back into the mirror. 

    "What's wrong, my love?" Sir Conner asked. 

     "I never found out what Princess Embers secret was" Quinn replied with a slight pout.

    Sir Conner gently replied,"I don't know why you think you need to know what it is." 

    "I don't know... I guess it isn't that important after all." Quinn replied. 

     "Why don't we go to bed now so we won't be tired for our trip back tomorrow, Quinny?" Conner suggested. 

    "Sure..." she accepted. As they blew out the last candle, something tapped on the window above the room, above the door. (That meant a hallway must be above the hallway outside the door, and somebody is up there in the window.) The couple looked up in shock, and he pointed to the window. She shuddered at the darkness up there. Suddenly the door opened slightly, and there seemed to be no one there. There gaze shifted down into two intense, narrow eyes looking into their room. Madame Quinn jumped in alarm. 

      The creature approached them, and Madame Quinn in particular. She looked into the foxes piercing grey eyes and shuddered. The fox stopped, and realized she was scaring them. A maid walked into the room just then to ask if everything was alright, and stopped in shock. She gestured at the fox, and seemed to say "Princess Ember..." 

     The fox nodded, and took off her cloak, revealing her pointed ears. Madame Quinn just stared.

    "You're Princess Ember?" Quinn asked, and the fox nodded. "I can't believe it! You're a fox?!" 

     No more words were said, the princess would have to just let it be. She blinked and just left the room to return to her own room. 

      The delegates had finished all the tasks they were assigned, and were returning to their home country of Scotland. A drizzle fell from the sky over the moor, and Ember watched from a window in the upper part of the castle as their carriage slowly became a distant object. The princess knew that they would be the first outsider to know her secret. The Queen and King told them specifically to keep it confidential.  Since she had no other things to do, she just watched over the moor and the carriage as they rumbled away. Suddenly, voices broke the silence, and Ember instinctively listened in, and heard something that surprised her.