The Mansion (7)

In the evening, there was a family dinner. They all sat down in the living room to eat mother's cooked food, and father was present this time as well.

"Why do you keep carrying that fox all around?" he asked with quite a lot of disgruntlement, and Iris instantly screamed at him.

If he changed Kyro's mind, she'd be stuck all day in one room. And without any computer or TV! What would she do all day long then? 'You better think your next words through, old man,' she threatened him.

"It injured itself while getting back to me, so I'm worried it'll try to do something crazy again and get hurt even more if I let it out of my sight," Kyro explained as he lowered her to the ground.

This wasn't a good sign, but she decided to use this moment to explore the room. Even though her leg hurt, she could still move a bit to distract herself from the intoxicating smells coming from the table.

The conversation between the two men ended at that, but soon mother entered. While placing the last soup bowl for herself, she turned to Kyro and asked seemingly nonchalantly, "So, do you have a girlfriend now?"

Iris' ears twitched, and she looked back at her roommate. She hadn't seen anyone, but who knew, maybe he just never brought her home.

"Mom," he said with a roll of his eyes, "you'd know if I had. Be sure I'll tell you first just to get you off my back."

"Then hurry up! You're not that young anymore, you know? Soon no good girl will fancy you, only those crazy gold diggers." She shook her head at him. "I worry for you, son. If you have no one, at least bring over that young man of yours, Gale."

Both father and son who had put in their first spoonfuls of soup into their mouths started coughing like mad. Red-faced, they turned to glare at the innocent-looking mother.

But they were faced with an opponent that wasn't their equal. With a thick skin that celebrities could envy, she asked with concern, "What's wrong dears? Is it too salty? Spicy? I thought I made it as always…"

On the side, Iris chuckled to herself. She would have needed to be blind to not see the shipping going on here. This mother… she was certainly not someone one could meet every day.

With another laugh, Iris left them to their meal and looked around the room. It was surprisingly not that large, though only in comparison to all the other rooms here. The table with the chairs took up one half of the place, while the other was occupied by a sofa and a TV mounted on the wall.

Because of her current form, it was hard for Iris to see things placed at human eye level, but she could instead locate things below. Underneath the sofa, she saw a lot of small books, which—after a closer inspection—all showed up to have two male leads drawn on the covers.

Iris jumped back as if burned, and everyone's attention moved to her. Mother instantly came running over, cursing the stupid fox for going where it wasn't welcome, while the two men looked at each other.

"Is that one of the stashes I should not know about?" Kyro asked, and his father nodded, not even raising his head from the soup he was finishing.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' Iris apologized while laughing and limping away from the sofa. 'I didn't know it was someone's secret stash.'

The door outside was open, so she made her way out and met face to face with Queen once more. The white mountain passed her like she did not even exist and entered the house.

It was behavior fitting of a queen, so Iris didn't bother herself with it and just walked a bit more to lie down in a sun-warmed spot. As she basked in the sunlight, a scent tickled her nose.

Opening her eyes, she looked around, but there was no one around her, and the scent was faint, so it must have been left some time ago. Strangely, though, it was somehow familiar. She could have sworn she'd sensed it before, but she couldn't tell where or when. It was like a faint memory you think you recall, but you're not absolutely certain you didn't dream.

Her hair stood up and her mouth curled up into a snarl, but she didn't know against who or what she was reacting like that. That scent, she was certain it didn't bode anything good. All her instincts were screaming at her to get away from it.

"Iris!" Kyro called, and with a last look around, she made a sound to let him know where she was before starting on her way back to the house.

The inside of the mansion should be safe. Whatever was lurking outside, it shouldn't be able to enter the house.

"Did Queen startle you? Don't worry, she won't do anything," Kyro promised her, and she cooed at him in response, but her eyes didn't move away from the trees in the distance. Just to whom did that scent belong? And why was it familiar to her?