#Chapter 104: Epilogue - Part I

Rowena

I stood in the hallway just outside the parlor, my heart pounding in my ears. The voices behind the door were hushed, but I could still make out every word through the thick wood.

“Your Majesty, we can’t thank you enough for making this journey,” my father’s voice echoed softly. “I can assure you that, had circumstances been different, we would have liked to have met you much sooner.”

There was a pause, and then a deeper, richer voice responded—one I didn’t recognize yet. “Please, call me Stefan. And the honor is all mine—you protected my daughter despite everything. Although a part of me still can’t believe my little girl is actually alive after all these years.”

My heart leapt into my throat. My father—King Stefan from the Northern kingdom. I knew he was coming to visit, but to finally hear his voice… It was unreal.

A trembling hand came up to rest against the door as I tried to conjure up any memory of my father, of my past life. But there was nothing, of course; I had been