Ms. Nine Tailed Fox

Chapter 22

"Is something bothering our princess?" Julia's inquiry was gentle as her fingers ran through the child's voluminous crimson curls, checking for knots and damp areas missed.

The little girl, enjoying the other's presence and touch like a baby beast savoring its mother's forceful yet affectionate groom, each lick nurturing, opened her shut eyes, and her reflection in the mirror in front stared back at her. She yawned, and her enthralling eyes glistened with tears and defeating lethargy.

"Is it obvious?" Seraphina asked back, her head nodding and bobbing in drowsiness.

"M'lady seemed overwhelmed by lassitude these last few days. Having trouble sleeping?" Julia tied the little girl's handful locks in a loose braid and changed her into a nightgown.

The child dashed to her wide plushy bed, diving into the sheets and snuggling and nestling herself into a bundled squashy ball, only her red crown peaking.

"Just need a few more days adjusting," Seraphina's milky voice was muffled.

"Indeed. It's only been a week since we've arrived," the clanking sound of the woman's slightly uneven steps ringed through the chambers as she blew out the candles one by one, and soon, only the silver moonlight remained enlightening.

"Goodnight, my lady," she bowed respectfully and retired, leaving the child to her peace and much-desired slumber. Unbeknownst to the dame, during the whole bustle, a pair of striking golden orbs never withdrew from the severed leg of hers, its stare profound and glaring, lurking under the sheets predatorily.

"You've returned," the head butler, Julia, greeted the man whose face donned a nasty lengthy scar slithering across his cheek and lips.

"Why are you serving her?" His voice was rusty and low as the pair headed to the grand duke's study.

"Better watch your tongue, commander. This 'her' is our new master, the young lady of the house, and the princess of the north," Julia's voice was frosty and the tone biting.

She knocked twice on the door, entered the study, and curtsied to her king, who was still working in the dead of the wee hours, followed by the rough man.

"What took you this long?" A deep velvet voice fell.

"Your grace," replied the knights commander, but the words after did not come.

The grand duke raised his head from the paperwork, and his golden irises, vehement and subduing, rested on the man standing before him.

"Go on," he told.

"Amaris, that child, your daughter, is not what you believe her to be," stated the scarred man.

"What I believe her to be?" Amaris's amused chuckle fell as he gestured to his brother-in-law to continue.

"The townspeople, where Rosaline lived after leaving the trope, knew barely anything about her child that very few could tell she had a daughter called Ris, but nothing more."

"Ris? As of my name?" Amaris confirmed in bewilderment.

"Must be," Julia added, finding her lady's mother to be a romantic shefox.

"Rosaline's only friend was a prostitute, who later became a mistress of an old nobleman, named Jia. The neighbors said they were sworn sisters and affirmed the woman took the child with her when Rosaline passed away," the man carried on.

"And she brought the child to the imperial elder?" Julia voiced, finding the sequence of the events specious.

"Considering Ezekiel's history with the fox clan, no friend would do so unless they are more than what they portrayed themselves to be," Amaris frowned, his eyes chilling with each passing second.