Chapter 59

Rowena

Northern Princess Still Missing After Sixteen Years - The Whole Story

Intrigued, I clicked on the article. A moment later, I was directed to a random news site—nothing out of the ordinary. At first, in fact, I almost clicked away; but when I read the first line, I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

“The case was closed sixteen years ago,” the article began. “And now, it has been reopened. Where did the Northern Princess go?”

As I kept reading, I began to learn more about this missing princess than I initially thought. According to the report, she had vanished sixteen years ago at just two years old during a raging blizzard while traveling with her royal family’s convoy.

Despite exhaustive searches at the time, no trace of the young princess was ever found. The bitter winter conditions made recovery efforts nearly impossible,and so, after several months, the grim assumption was made that she must have perished in the howling storm; her small body likely was consumed by the ravaging elements, or maybe even wildlife.

I shuddered just at the thought… for a toddler to become lost in a raging blizzard, only to eventually succumb to hypothermia and be eaten by coyotes…

The thought was sickening. No, I hoped she hadn’t died like that, if she had died at all. Still, I kept reading.

My chest tightened, then, as I read about the devastated king and queen who were forced to bury an empty casket since they had never found their daughter.

For over a decade, they had mourned their daughter as dead, grieving at a grave with no body—nothing more than a few trinkets, such as a baby blanket and a stuffed animal, to symbolize her spirit.

The case had been closed, of course. The explanation seemed simple. But apparently, things had changed only a few months ago.

“Everything changed when a renowned soothsayer visited the Northern king and told him of a prophecy,” the article continued. “A prophecy that claimed that the princess had not died, and that she was actually quite close; but she had to be found before her nineteenth birthday, or she would truly never return.”

The king, immediately believing the soothsayer’s words, ordered for the case to be reopened. The princess would be eighteen now, with only less than a year left before she was set to be found. He had sent as many scouts as he could gather in search of her.

And that was how the search had begun.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as I finished reading the article. Eighteen years old… that would make the princess around my age now, if she truly was still alive out there somewhere.

I found myself wondering what could have possibly happened to her all those years ago, how she might have survived against all odds—assuming that she had survived the blizzard and that the soothsayer’s words were true.

At the thought of the blizzard, my mind flashed back to the strange vision I had had when I hit my head—the blinding white snow, the streaks of crimson blood, and a young boy with a cut in his shoulder.

I frowned, leaning back in my chair as I tried to piece the images together. But I simply couldn’t make sense of them; I had never even been in a blizzard, not as far as I could remember. And as for the boy, well, it had certainly seemed like a young Eric’s face in my vision.

But it was just that: a vision.

Right?

My head swam as I considered the implications that began to flicker through my mind. It was crazy, utterly insane to think I might have any connection to the missing Northern royal. And yet, I couldn’t seem to shake the eerie sense of coincidence.

A thought occurred to me then, one that piqued my curiosity enough to open a new browser tab. I quickly navigated to a genetics website, scanning the info on their at-home ancestry DNA testing kits.

A few clicks later, I had ordered one, figuring it couldn’t hurt to get a better grasp on my lineage. Hell, maybe I would even learn something new about our family—some unique heritage from another part of the world that had long been forgotten. The thought even excited me.

Just as I clicked submit on the order, a sharp rap at the door made me jump. I slammed my laptop shut on reflex, my heart hammering in my chest as though I had almost been caught watching pornography.

“Rowena?” Eric’s muffled voice came through the door. “You in there?”

I exhaled slowly, frantically raking my hands through my hair to regain my composure. “Y-yeah, I’m coming!”

Grabbing my crutches, I maneuvered myself out of the desk chair and hobbled over to open the door. Eric stood there looking apologetic for being late.

“Sorry about that. They really worked me over at training today,” he said with a lopsided smirk.

I shook my head, brushing off his apology as we headed for his car. “Don’t worry about it. I was keeping busy anyway.”

He arched an eyebrow curiously but didn’t push me for details as we climbed into the car. We made small talk on the short drive across campus, watching as students and warriors made their way toward the cottages, where parties were no doubt beginning for the night.

“You going out tonight?” I found myself asking, glancing almost cautiously over at Eric.

He shrugged and shook his head at the same time. “Why would I? I’m perfectly happy with it just being the two of us.”

“But…” I furrowed my brow, confused; Eric usually loved going to parties. Although, now that I thought of it, he had been home every night since my fall down the stairs. “Eric, if this is about my injuries… I don’t want you to miss out on fun just because of me.”

Just then, Eric suddenly peeled off the main road onto a smaller side street that didn’t head in the direction of home. “Who said I’m missing out on fun?”

“Where are we going?” I asked in confusion, peering out the window at the dense trees lining the road.

“You’ll see.”

My brow furrowed even deeper, but I didn’t press him further this time. A few minutes later, the trees parted to reveal a battered old neon sign glowing dimly in the dusky light. A diner was tucked into a small clearing just off the road, with a parking lot full of pickup trucks and motorcycles out front.

Through the large windows, I could see retro booths lined with people, mostly young people laughing and sharing milkshakes. The faint sound of classic rock music echoed out into the quiet surrounding area, and waitresses wearing bright blue retro diner uniforms bustled around inside.

Eric pulled into the gravel parking lot, putting the car in park and turning to face me with an oddly hesitant look on his face.

“I hope you don’t mind if I take you on a date.”