Page 98 of Stolen Princess

Right as my feet gain purchase on the bottom of the lake, I’m jolted from behind, causing me to trip and stumble forward. My face goes underwater, and I reach back for Desta, yelling through the pain as I try to secure her to me. But it’s too late. She’s ripped off me, her hands clawing at my back and her legs frantically kicking.

I shoot to my feet, agony ripping through my left shoulder as I attempt to swing around. A fist lands straight in my face, and I tumble back into the water, sputtering with shock and outrage.

“You motherfucker, you killed my brother.” Another hard shot to the face, and I go under before he pulls me back up and releases me to float. “You get to die knowing I’ve got her, and mercy isn’t something I plan to grant. I’ll fuck her and torture her, and you can’t do dick about it.”

I blink in time to see the gun pointing at my face. I drop into the water as gunshots fire, one after the other. Motherfucker, he has her, and I have nothing. I don’t even have my gun. I lost it when I went into the water after her.

I release the air in my lungs, letting heavy bubbles guide the way as my body goes slack and I bob up to the surface facedown. He’ll see the gunshot wound on my back, but it’s a risk. He could rage and shoot me again, but I don’t think he will.

He doesn’t have that kind of time.

I’m proven right when the boat takes off with a small motor and no way for me to catch it. Stupid. So fucking stupid! I should have taken her to the clifftop to watch the lanterns, but that felt too isolated. Too dangerous. I shouldn’t have taken her here at all. I should have brought her straight to the prince this morning.

It’s my fault, and now he has her.

I move toward the shore as best I can, my left arm all but useless and my head fuzzy. The cold of the water isn’t so much a shock to me anymore, and I’m tired, my limbs heavy. There are people nearby. I hear them more than I see them, but they can’t help me. I need the royal guard. I need the prince.

He typically makes a small speech after all the lanterns have taken to the sky. Tonight I was to meet him with Desta. I told him who I believe she is. I told him how I found her. He didn’t believe me. Why would he? His sister has been missing for over twenty years.

Then I explained about the tiara and how I had it before it was stolen from me by a woman. How Desta’s mother claims her sister has it, but I don’t believe that. I believe she has it. That she stole it from me. She’s the only one who knew I had it.

That’s when the prince started believing me.

I was going to kiss her goodbye and send her to the guard who was to meet her. I couldn’t join her. I’d be arrested. At the very least, the necklace would be confiscated from me, and I can’t have that happen. That’s my future. As much as I’d love to say she is too, I know that’s not an option. I needed her to be safe. I needed her to be with the royal family.

Then I could go because I knew they’d take care of her from there. She’d finally have what she deserves. What she should have had all along. From behind the scenes, I’d work to get Sven and her mother so no one could ever hurt her or take her again.

Now she’s gone, and I have to get her back.

They’ll kill her. I don’t know why he didn’t now. It doesn’t make any sense. Then again, I don’t know why that woman took her in the first place or kept her there all these years. Maybe she loves Desta. Maybe that’ll save her.

I claw my way to shore as royal attendants storm the beach, their guns drawn. They’re too late.

“Sir, you’re hit,” one says to me, dragging me farther onto the shore, my legs creating trails in the grass.

“I need the prince,” I tell him, my vision swaying as he sets me down. I shiver, my teeth chattering as everything goes left then right. I’ll end up dead or in jail, but who cares about that anymore? “Get a message to him. Tell him I’m the one he spoke to about the girl. It’s urgent. They have her.”

Then the world goes black once again.

31

DESTA

“No!” I scream in outrage as Ferrin’s body bobs to the surface, his face down and blood coloring half of the back of his shirt. He was after the reward. I know that. But he also saved my life. Again. Our last words were me telling him I hated him, and then I flipped him off. Now he’s dead.

Sven backhands me, smacking me directly where the gun bashed my head two days ago. Stars burst behind my eyes, and I fall backward into the boat. Dazed, I search around, anxious for anyone to help. I could go back into the water, but if Ferrin hadn’t found me, I would have drowned because of how deep it is.

It’s empty out here on the water. Most of the boats are now lining the shore. I’m alone. The gun is in Sven’s hand, but before I can make a grab for it, he tucks it into the back of his pants and takes off, using the small motor at the back of the boat to shoot us over the top of the water.

I roll back with momentum and smash into the side of the boat as we bounce up and down. My head spins, and my stomach revolts.

Ferrin.

A sob sticks in the back of my throat. It makes no sense, but I can’t stop it either. It’s why his betrayal hurt so much. I was starting to fall for him. It doesn’t matter that it hadn’t been a week. I felt something with him from the first moment he looked at me and smiled.

Was it all a lie? An illusion?

Or was there something real even he couldn’t fight or deny?