Page 100 of Stolen Princess

His face crawls over mine, a sadistic smile on his lips, as my world grows dark and fuzzy.

“Night, night, girlie. No prince is coming to save you now.”

32

FERRIN

My heart storms in my chest, and I shoot upright, pain rippling through my back and shoulder in a dull, medicated ache. I’m not in the water or on the grass or even at the festival anymore. It’s also fucking daylight.

I don’t know where I am, but I have a guess given the faces I’m staring at. Dread pools low in my gut, and my hands shake with the need to get out of this bed. Out of here.

“Where is she?” I demand, and King Sebastian stands, rubbing a weary hand over his forehead and cursing in what I think might be Latin. In addition to the king, Prince Rowan is here along with his fiancée, whom I’ve seen pictures of online but whose name I don’t remember, a tall, muscular Black man, and a slightly older man who still looks nothing short of formidable.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” the prince demands, and I shake my head as I shift to the edge of the bed and dangle my feet over it. I’m weak, and that’s not what I want to be right now.

“How long have I been asleep?” I try instead. “How much time have I lost?”

“The guards alerted us to what you said,” the king informs me. “We brought you to our residence on this side of the country and had our doctor fly in to tend to you. The bullet was through and through with minimal tissue damage. You were transfused and given pain medication. It’s just before noon now.”

Honestly, I’m shocked they did all of that. I’d have thought they would have put me in the hospital or in jail.

“You claimed you had my sister’s tiara, and it was stolen by the woman who’s been keeping her a hostage all these years,” the prince states, not as a question. “That story is the only reason you’re here and not in prison. We know the tiara was stolen from you.”

That makes my brow furrow. “How could you have known that? Only the woman who took it and I knew it was there.”

“Because the woman who took it left her fingerprints behind, and when I went into the house and looked in the safe, I found a diamond that was part of that tiara.”

His fiancée holds up her hand, showcasing a large, pink diamond. Holy shit.

I blink at him. I had no clue he was in Sven and Lars’s home. But I recognize that diamond.

“That diamond was part of the band that fed up into the Eye of Egypt. The large, flawless emerald that represented its center. It was missing other stones as well. One large one that was already gone when I stole it, and two more that had fallen out that I sold. We need to find the woman. Desta will be brought to her.”

Silent exchanges are made around the room.

“We know who she is. We also found the necklace you had in your bag and know it was you who stole it and the replica tiara.”

Fuck. A pang slams me, stealing my breath. The necklace was everything I had been riding on. I lick my lips as a flash of dizziness hits me, my forehead breaking out in a sheen of sweat. It doesn’t matter now. I’ll figure something else out. I always do. But Desta needs to be found.

“Sven and a woman I’ve known as A took her. They must have followed us around the festival all day. Desta and I got into a fight. She overheard some things, and I was an idiot. I shouldn’t have taken her there, but she wanted to see the lanterns, and I didn’t think they’d be dumb enough to attack with so many people around. I thought they’d wait and ambush us at the car since I parked away from everyone else. That’s what I would have done, and it’s why I did it, already knowing she wasn’t going to be with me by that point. Fewer witnesses. Quiet. Less risk. Except I was going to bring her to you, so she never would have been put in danger.”

I should have known better. This is all my fault.

“You realize our sister has been gone for twenty-one years,” Rowan asserts. “Other than you knowing some things you shouldn’t, which you could have discovered on your own with some skill, why should we believe you? How do we know this isn’t a setup? We have no proof of anything or that you even had a woman with you.”

“Your Highness, if it were a setup, I would have asked for something in exchange for her. I never asked for the ransom. You offered it. You found the necklace, so you clearly know what I do and am capable of, but you don’t know my real name or who I am. I assure you, it’s not Rhys Stephan. Even the wanted pictures of me have it wrong. I found a woman who I know is the princess.”

“Why do you believe that?” the older man who has a Spanish accent presses.

“She was taken from the festival as a little girl and kept in a cottage in the middle of nowhere and had never left. Her mother, or the woman who claims to be, never let her leave. She filled her head with lies about how dangerous and violent the world is. Desta wanted to go to the festival because she believed it was her birthday and had been told by the woman she was originally with that it was her special day. That the festival was for her. She was kidnapped at the festival by her mother when she was six. But the woman she was with before was always anxious, and they moved around frequently.”

“That doesn’t prove it’s our sister,” the king continues.

“It’s her. I know it’s her.” Fuck, I have no proof. “She knows it’s her too. She’s…” I stare down at my hands. Incredible. Funny. Sexy. Everything I had no clue existed. Then something occurs to me. I lift my chin. “Where’s my phone? You have my bag. I have pictures of her on my phone.”

“She was a baby⁠—”

“She has long blonde hair and silver-gray eyes. Listen, we don’t have time for this. I…” Fuck it! “I killed the brother of the man who took her because he was going to kill her or take her. They were my accomplices when I stole the necklace and the replica tiara. It was their house I had the actual tiara in, though they had no clue I had it. I had stolen it three years prior from a woman at the hiring of the woman who has been acting as Desta’s mother. Why on earth would I make this up? I had the necklace and should have been thousands of miles from here.”