Page 50 of The Abandoned Princess

“Can you tell me exactly what happened to them all?” I asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about Princess Daria,” he said apologetically. “I never met her because she returned to Talinos before I first crossed the desert, and I haven’t made it across the sea myself yet.”

“She returned to Talinos?” I asked, confused. “But Daria is from Eliam.”

“You mentioned she’s a princess now?” Lori said to Xander. “I suppose she married Prince Percival of Talinos.”

“Percy?” I gasped and then fell into laughter. “I should have realized that for myself. I thought he was supposed to marry Giselle, though. I hope the Eldonians aren’t too disappointed to have missed out on the opportunity for an alliance with Talinos.”

“I admit I know nothing about the inter-kingdom politics of your group of kingdoms,” Xander said cheerfully. “But everyone I’ve spoken to seems perfectly content with how matters worked out.”

“So Daria ended up with Percy,” I said when my amusement subsided. “She was never rolling around the Four Kingdoms with the traveling merchants, then.”

It was surprisingly hard to let go of the stories that had kept me company during my years of captivity. The Daria of my dreams felt as much like a real person as the actual Daria in my memories. For a few minutes, I had thought maybe…

“How did you know that?” Xander sounded startled. “Daria spent two years hidden among the traveling merchants before Percy found her.”

I gasped. “Are you sure? She was definitely among the merchants—living in a wagon and everything?”

He nodded, bemused. “Yes, I’m quite certain. But how did you know?”

“And what about Giselle?” I asked eagerly, carried away by my wild suspicions. “Surely she wasn’t really herding geese?”

Xander’s confused expression deepened. “I thought you said you didn’t know what happened to them? I suppose someone in the village has heard the stories and the children—”

“No.” I shook my head. “No one has told me stories about them at all. It’s so remote here that I sometimes think the villagers forget the rest of the kingdoms exist. But are you saying I’m right? She really does herd geese?”

He smiled despite his obvious confusion. “I don’t think she does so any more, to be fair. But there was a…mix-up for a while.”

“A mix-up?” I waved my hand. “No, never mind that. Giselle really was with the geese, Daria was with the traveling merchants, and Cassie was exploring the deserted tunnels of an abandoned city. I can’t believe they were all real!” I jumped up and down, clapping my hands. “They’re all real, Lori!”

“I’ll admit I didn’t think the geese sounded very likely,” she said. “But I hope I’m able to admit to my errors.”

“I thought the godmothers abandoned me, but they were sending me reassurances, after all,” I said, inordinately pleased by my discovery.

“Hold on!” I cried, struck by a new thought. “You’ve talked about your siblings, Xander, but who are they exactly?”

I fixed him with an intent look, and he stared back at me, apparently disconcerted by the abrupt change of topic. “My siblings?”

I nodded and continued to look at him expectantly, so he shrugged.

“The oldest of us is Tarek—Rek we call him. Then it’s my sister, Adara, and Xavier and I are the babies of the family. All of my siblings are married, though, so I also have—”

“Zaria and Kali!” I cried in tones of triumph. “They’re real!”

Xander stopped in the middle of the road, looking helplessly at Lori. “What is happening right now?”

“I’ve dreamed about them all!” I told him in breathless excitement. “I thought my subconscious was making up pleasant stories about my missing friends as well as making up extra friends. But the dreams were all real! I feel like I already know Zaria and Kali, although they won’t know me, of course.”

My spirits briefly dropped at that thought, but they quickly recovered. The imaginary friends who had kept me company hadn’t been imaginary at all. I would get the chance to meet them in person one day.

At least, I would if we managed to break our enchantment. But in the meantime, I had already met one of them. He was standing right beside me.

“You seemed familiar the first time I saw you in the clearing,” I told Xander as I pulled him back into motion. “I thought it was because you reminded me of someone from my childhood, but I’ve just realized it was actually from my dreams about Zaria and Kali. You were in some of them, briefly.”

“I was in your dreams?” He sounded slightly awed, and I suddenly wished I’d stayed quiet.

If he had ideas of us being some sort of destined couple because he’d been the one to find me, then the last thing I wanted to do was feed his fantasy. I didn’t want someone to imagine themselves in love with me just because I was the girl in the tower.

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