Chapter 38 – Desta
DESTA
Am I ready? Is that a joke? Of course I’m not ready. The truth is, I’m starving. I’m tired. I’m in some pain, and it feels like the meds they gave me for that are wearing off. I am happy, though. As weird as that sounds, I’m so deliriously happy.
Ferrin is alive. He’s alive, and he’s here with me.
Whatever this craziness is between us, it’s two-sided, and that’s all I need to know.
I’m also going to meet my brothers. And I have nieces and nephews.
A sister-in-law and a soon-to-be sister-in-law.
I have a family. It’s not just me living alone day to day, counting the seconds in between visits from a woman who isn’t even my mother.
My dream was seeing the festival and the lanterns.
But this is my new dream. One I scarcely allowed myself to imagine.
I have a million questions, and I’m sure they do for me as well.
Ferrin walks beside me since holding my hand doesn’t work so well. I’m shaking, and he wordlessly moves to the other side of me so he can put his good arm around my waist and keep me close. This man. He has no clue all that he is. I know he doesn’t.
He thinks he’s evil. Damaged goods. All wrong in every capacity.
But beneath the layers is this man. The one who kills for me. Who protects me with his own life. Who kisses me and looks into my eyes as he’s both tender and deliciously brutal.
When we reach the second floor, Gabe is there waiting for us.
“Good evening, Your Highness. You’re looking better.”
“Thank you. I’m feeling better. Genevieve doesn’t quite work anymore, does it? So please call me… Desta, I guess.”
He grins. “Just as the prince asks me to call him Rowan and I never do, I don’t believe that’s a request I can follow.”
“We’ll work on it,” I tell him, and he chuckles.
“Are you saying I’m not looking better?” Ferrin quips.
“No,” Gabe deadpans. “Right this way. Everyone is already waiting in the parlor. I see you were able to get the thief to stay.”
Ferrin chokes out a cough. “She’s very persuasive.”
“Let us hope it’s for the right reasons.” Ferrin’s back goes straight, and he glares at Gabe, who doesn’t so much as bat an eye. “It’s my duty to protect this family from all threats.”
“If I wanted to steal from you, I would have nicked about a dozen items you’re all stupid enough to leave out in the open. Or I would have taken the reward. I’m not here for the money. I’m here because she asked me to stay, and like a helpless fool, I’m falling for her.”
“You are?” I squeak.
Ferrin gives a little uncomfortable shrug. “Yeah. I am.”
I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him. Right here in front of Gabe. “I am too.”
Ferrin smiles against my lip, and Gabe clears his throat when Ferrin starts to kiss me deeper.
“Glad to hear it,” Gabe states. “You should also know that I don’t typically take the word of a thief, but I believe I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make me regret it.”
Ferrin goes to say something, but I interrupt him.
“If you’re both done with this, I’d like to rip this Band-Aid off already. I’m about to pass out from nerves here.”
We continue down the hall until Gabe stops us in front of an open door and waves for me to enter. Just like that. As if it’s that simple. Ferrin gives my hip a squeeze and moves his hand to my lower back. I throw him a side-eye, and he gives me an encouraging nod.
I suck in a deep breath and hold it in my lungs as I enter the room, which turns out to be a large study complete with sofas, bookcases, a fireplace, a table and chairs, and a built-in bar.
Javier is standing by the window, and I spot Marcella and Bellamy sitting on one of the sofas, talking.
Standing over by the bookcases are two men, King Sebastian and Prince Rowan, along with an older woman I don’t recognize.
All conversation stops, and I do my best not to fidget or bite my lip.
Bellamy stands and comes over to me and gives me a warm embrace. “How are you feeling?”
I smile. “Ask me that question again later.”
She laughs and takes my hand, leading me away from Ferrin. She walks me over to the king and prince, who seem as though they don’t quite know what to make of me.
Rowan cracks first, his eyes glistening as he sucks in a shaky breath.
“You have no idea how many times I envisioned this very moment. I’ve dreamed of little else since the night you were taken.
” A tear tracks down his face that he does nothing to wipe away.
“You don’t remember me, but I remember you. Even if you were a baby.”
I swallow audibly, but it’s no use. I’ve already got tears coursing down my cheeks, and no amount of sniffling or wiping them away will change that.
“I had a whole speech planned,” Sebastian picks up, his voice equally as tremulous as Rowan’s.
“Now that I see you, I don’t remember any of it.
You’re so grown-up. So beautiful.” He grins ruefully.
“Sorry if that sounds big-brotherly, but I haven’t seen you since I was fifteen, and truth be told, I never thought I’d get this moment. ”
I hold out my hand to them. “Hi. It’s lovely to meet you both. I, um, I don’t know what to say. Thank you for never giving up on me, I guess.”
Sebastian shakes my hand, followed by Rowan, but it feels awkward. Wrong. Screw it. I give Rowan a hug and reach out my other arm for Sebastian until I’m planted between them. They laugh and hug me back, and a weightlessness coasts over me. A sense of belonging.
“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. ”