Deceitful Lottery (MxM)| Y.E.P.1 series, BOOK 1 - 4

10. Chapter - Royal City

"Yeah, it sounded like scratching. As if someone was trying to scratch their way inside of my room. Usually, I wouldn't really pay any attention to it, but as I'm not at home, every little thing out of normal, which I was not explained, is just scary. I'm probably overreacting, but I just can't help myself." He smiled, goose bumps covering his whole body.

Qen's eyes widened, his face growing whiter. This was definitely not good news. With the history of the palace itself, hearing scratching was never a good thing.

Still frowning, Qen'eixe tugged on Rey's hand and quickened their speed. He wanted to be in the dining room as soon as possible. They had to check it out before something bad happened.

"I will tell the King and Azka about it, so they can look into it. I am sure it was nothing serious." He smiled, not wanting to make to boy more nervous, and continued towards the dining room.

*****

Corey was sitting in the grass behind the palace, enjoying the warm weather. He was surprised they let him be alone in the gardens for such a long time. He spent the morning after breakfast with Patrick and Isdoy, but he decided he needed some time alone after lunch, so he begged Qen to no end to let him go. He couldn't ask Azka, as he and the King were absent during the lunch, which was apparently his fault. As he found out later on, Qen sent them to check his room out.

Sighing, he stretched his hands, looking around the garden. He could see the edge of it at the far end, wondering about the ocean, and if there were some creatures living there.

Putting his hands down, he yipped when he touched something furry. Looking at it, his eyes widened. An odd looking animal was standing there, its cute cat-like muzzle sniffing his hand carefully. It had a fur red as a fox's, body reminding him of a small chick; it even had a two wing-like things attached to its back. When Corey looked more carefully, he could make out a tail that was curled under its body. After looking at it for more than a minute, he couldn't decide what exactly the animal reminded him of. It was neither a squirrel nor a bird, but it definitely had features of both of them.

"What are you, a bird or a rodent?" he asked the creature, shaking his head at his absurd behavior. He's been sitting in the grass for past three hours, resting, without talking to anyone, and it was making him stupid. He loved being left alone, but it was probably too much at the moment.

The animal suddenly jumped up, landing on Rey's stomach, and started to make its way up. It was looking at him with its big black eyes, nose twitching, and Corey couldn't suppress the urge to touch it. It was too cute.

When Rey's fingertips touched the soft fur of the creature, it stopped, letting out a soft purr-like sound. Corey couldn't help but chuckle when it started to lean against his fingers as a cat did when it wanted to be petted.

"It is a Bheila. It is a small garden animal that lives on trees. It is very friendly and harmless; they like to have someone petting them. There is a family of them in the tree over there. They have four young ones in their den at the moment. I suspect this one came out looking for a food and noticed you. We are all familiar with them so he was probably just curious because he has never seen you before." Azka's voice sounded suddenly, making Corey and the animal jump. The Bheila's big eyes turned towards the prince, the poor thing looking too shocked to react differently.

"Lesha, Loha." Azka'rah smiled, sitting down next to Rey and scratching the little thing behind its ear.

Confused and still a little bit startled by the prince's sudden appearance, Corey watched as the animal hissed, turned around and run up towards his neck where it stopped and snuggled down.