ARIA’S POV

I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my uncle standing in the sitting room.

Then I heard his words again. ‘I was told Agatha was here.’ That was the part I couldn't shake.

By morning, I had gone over the conversation so many times that I was beginning to wonder if I was making something out of nothing.

Still, there was one thing I knew. Agatha had planned to return to the village. She had been very clear about it. So why had her father been told she would be at the royal house?

I found her in the dining room.

She was sitting...