Follow Adella

The young prince’s curiosity momentarily overcomes his carnal thoughts of Terrice. He pretends to continue on his way, but once his sister has turned the corner and is out of sight, he quickly reverses his course to follow her.

The prospect of Adella sneaking around is just too intriguing to pass up. He and Stewart had done more than their fair share of sneaking, to be sure, but Adella always seemed to be so proper and rule-abiding. If she is being deceptive now, there must be something of great consequence.

He turns the corner to follow his sister and stops in surprise when he sees nothing but an empty corridor. Adella said she was going to the gardens to inspect the flowers, but that would mean she would have to walk all the way to the end of the corridor to one of the palace’s side exits. Unless she ran, there’s no way she would already be through those doors. The only other possibility is that she went through one of the doors along either side of the hallway. These doors lead to the guest quarters, kept ready for any visiting dignitary. Perhaps Adella is checking on the accommodations for the Lynacean prince. If so, that would be odd, given that he is not scheduled to arrive for a few days.