Chapter 22: The Right Door, The Wrong Timing
Fluffy pinched the bridge of its tiny fox nose with its paw. "You have the self-preservation instincts of a soggy muffin."
Evelisse grinned.
She rounded the marble corner, eyes darting as the palace hallway yawned ahead—empty, polished, and echoing with the distant clink of banquet trays. She couldn’t get caught now. Her parents were clearly off somewhere... privately reunited. And something about that made her suspicious. Or curious. Or maybe both.
She needed answers.
’No way Mother got all flustered over a casual reunion.’
Fluffy floated beside her, ears twitching like satellite dishes. "If we find them in a *compromising* position, I reserve the right to self-destruct."
Evelisse ignored him and pressed a finger to her lips. Two guards remained at the back entrance to the royal wing.
"You’re going to regret this," Fluffy muttered, ears folding low. "I feel it in my fluff."
Evelisse ignored him and marched through the corridor like a girl on a mission. Her slippers made no sound against the polished marble tiles, but her heart thudded like a war drum. She turned a corner, spotted the cart of white petaled blooms unattended outside a nearby chamber, and her eyes gleamed.
’Jackpot.’
Quickly, she slipped beside it and snatched a handful of petals from the topmost basket. A few guard posts lay ahead, just around the inner corridor near the royal study. She needed a distraction. And a bit of chaos.