Chapter Fourteen: The Battle for the East Wing

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The day after Hubert and Rabbit left for Quantico, the East Wing was empty. Not just “nobody’s in there” empty, but the kind of empty that changed the way the room sounded. Every step carried farther across the bare floor. The dormer sat open and quiet where the cat tree had once filled the space, and the absence of the fountain left the air still in a way that felt wrong, like something had stopped breathing.

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To the untrained eye, it was just a guest room again.

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To the Kingdom, it was opportunity.

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Zephyr got there first.

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She moved through the doorway without hesitation, her paws quiet against the floor as she made a slow circuit of the room, testing the space the way cats do when something has changed but not settled. She paused at the dormer, nose lifting slightly as she took in what was no longer there, then turned toward the bed as if that had always been the point.

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One smooth jump. A turn. Then she stretched across the center.

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“This will do.”

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For a few minutes, it almost did.

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Then Lily appeared in the doorway.

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“Oh absolutely not.”