Page 119 of Stolen Princess

“Princess Desta,” Sebastian whispers into the top of my head. “I’m so incredibly grateful and happy that you’re here. That you’re finally where you should be. Welcome home.”

I sob and nod, having no words. The way they’re embracing me so open, so fully, without even knowing me, is so much more than I could have ever imagined.

I hear sniffling behind me and pull away to see Bellamy wiping her face. “What? I can’t help it. This is one of the best moments of my life. Even Marcella and Althea are crying, and they never cry.”

Sebastian chuckles and walks over to his wife to kiss her forehead.

“I’m Althea,” the older woman introduces, drawing me back to her. She takes my hand as she uses her other to wipe her tears. “I’m your aunt. Welcome home, Your Highness.”

“Hello. Thank you. It’s wonderful to meet you. Please call me Desta, which still feels bizarre to say, but Your Highness is a lot.”

“I can imagine this is all a lot.” She winks at me.

Sebastian wipes his cheeks and goes over to the bar. “I think a toast is in order. And something to eat before dinner, as you must be starving. At dinner, you’ll meet the children. The twins are napping at the moment, but both should be up by then.”

“And of course we have a lot to discuss,” Rowan states, taking the glass of champagne from Sebastian and handing it to me. “There’s so much we need to know, and I’m sure you have questions for us.”

“Yes,” I agree. “I’m here, but that’s because of Rhys and dumb luck.” I throw him a quick side-eye, and he sighs. Then shakes his head.

“My real name is Ferrin,” he announces. “You already know who I am, you might as well know all of it.”

I beam a smile at him.

“All right,” Sebastian states. “Ferrin.”

Everyone takes a glass of champagne, and Ferrin sets a plate of cheese, crackers, meat, and olives in front of me on a side table. My stomach grumbles loudly, making me blush.

“Cheers.” Sebastian holds up his fancy glass full of bubbling gold liquid. “To your safe return. To the start of bringing our family back together as it should be. And to ending the darkness and the curse once and for all.”

We all hold up our glasses and say, “Cheers.”

I take a small sip. This is much better than the prosecco I had at the restaurant. The bubbles tickle my nose, but I love it from the first sip. I set it down and shamelessly attack my plate. I’m ravenous, but no one here seems to mind. Marcella offers me a seat on the sofa, and I gladly take it, eating and sipping at the champagne. Ferrin is standing off to the side, unease in his stiff features. He doesn’t feel as though he belongs in this room, but he does.

He’s part of this. All of it.

Hell, he likely has more information about Antonia than I do.

Sebastian sits across from me beside his wife, and Rowan takes the other side of me.

“There are some things we need to go over with you,” Sebastian starts. “Particularly about Antonia and the cottage you lived in. We also need to figure out if we want to announce your return and how that would look.”

“All right,” I reply. “I’ll tell you anything I know.”

“Do you know where you were this morning?” Althea asks. She, Javier, and Gabe all have tablets or laptops going.

“At the cottage I was raised and kept in. I woke up there, but Sven, the man who took me, wasn’t there. Or at least I didn’t see or hear him. I was upstairs in my bedroom with no memory of how I got there from the festival. I don’t know what came over me, other than I knew I had to get out. I panicked and climbed out of my window when I heard Antonia downstairs. It felt as though there was more, but I couldn’t place it, and everything was fuzzy and disjointed.”

“What about the house itself? The place you were raised.”

“It was a cottage with a tower on one side and open grounds surrounding it. It’s fenced in on all sides by a giant hedge of branches and thorns. On one side, beyond that is a forest, with a river on the other. The only real entrance in and out is on the forest side, and that’s where I ran. There’s a hidden gate with a keypad lock.” I stare down at my hands. “I feel as though I lost time. I honestly can’t remember anything from when Sven took me to when I woke up. I don’t know what they gave me, but it’s like my memory is a black hole.”

“The cottage belongs to the royal family,” Sebastian informs me, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his thighs as he speaks. “Ferrin was able to show us the general location on a map, and I recognized it. But when we went into our system to look into it further, we discovered it had been removed from our registry, and there is no evidence of it on any map. The street you were picked up on this morning abuts a protected forest. There can be no camping or hunting in it. All of the land surrounding the cottage is either owned by us or preserved land. You would never have been found there. Not ever.”

My jaw hits the floor, and I hear Ferrin curse.

“We know Antonia was living at the Batorini estate until a few months ago when I killed Signoria,” Marcella jumps in.

“You killed her?” For some reason that surprises me. Perhaps because she seems nothing but sweet and kind. “I know about that. Antonia told me her best friend was killed. She was devastated by it.”