Page 4 of Betraying Korth
Oddly, the notion of marrying a stranger whom I would undoubtedly despise didn’t bother me in the slightest. My life’s work was to overthrow the king in order to free my people from bondage. It had been so since the cradle. Lying, cheating, stealing…these were all a mere means to an end, and selfishly, I much preferred an undesirable marriage to dirtying my hands with some of the more bloodthirsty plans that had been proposed in the past. For all my long list of crimes, I’d never killed anyone.
Curdy’s glare was likely to burn a hole in the side of my head, and Father’s jaw locked with tension. I remained silent, still assessing the viability of the plan.
“I could go instead,” Trina offered, but her proposition was instantly met with a flood of disagreement.
“You’re a cook. Dahlia’s the princess’s personal handmaiden. She’s been training for something like this for her entire life,” Steele objected.
“Odette already trusts Dahlia; it would look suspicious if you tried to go,” Thad added.
“Dahlia’s prettier. We need the prince to like her if we want to have any chance of accessing his army, and he will know her penmanship if she’s been writing to him. You can’t even read.”
“Silence!” Father hissed in his commanding voice. We all quieted down, anxiously looking around for any sign of a guard. Had we been overheard? For several tense minutes, we listened to the scurrying of rats in the corners of the cellar as we tried to ascertain if our treasonous group had been discovered. Mother, the dedicated lookout, poked her head into the room to give a slight shake of her head to signify that no one was coming.
In a low voice that was barely more than a whisper, I said, “I’ll do it. Odette already intends for me to accompany her to Haven Harbor, and I don’t think we’ll get a better opportunity. It will take some planning, but if we succeed, we could have the might of Haven Harbor at our backs when we do finally move to overthrow our government.”
“What about the princess after we stage the mutiny?” Curdy asked. “Are you going to kill her?”
“No.” A cruel smile lifted my lips. “But I’m very interested to see how she enjoys the same kind of life she has imposed on so many others.”
As we closed the meeting, we all moved in unison, first touching our earlobes, then lips, and finally our foreheads. “Hear all, speak none, remember always,” we chanted. “In shadows we thrive; with unity we rise.”
CHAPTER 3
The intensity of Mother’s and Father’s arms tightening around me was almost smothering, but I didn’t want them to stop and kept my eyes squeezed shut during the embrace. Though I never would have admitted it out loud, I wanted to cling to those final few moments of feeling safe before I had to board theFalada, the ship that would make the voyage to Haven Harbor.
“I wish I could go with you,” Father whispered into my hair as Mother kissed my forehead. “I hate that you have to do this alone.”
I lifted my chin, determined to prove that I was just as strong as they were. “You’re needed here.”
It was true. Father was the current leader of the rebellion, and no matter how much he loved me, we both knew that he was the one positioned closest to King Raquel. He had the best chance of killing him when the time came and couldn’t afford to run off to some foreign land to play babysitter to me. “And Declan will be along in a few weeks. You can pass any information along then.”
Haven Harbor being so far away meant that any possible news of our mutiny would be slow to reach anyone, which wasa benefit, but the double-sided drawback was that I would be cut off from knowing what was going on here. Ideally, I’d win Prince Korth over by the time Declan brought word that Ebora was in trouble. Would it be enough to make him willing to send his army to aid our rebellion? Granted, he would be under the impression that he was helping the royal family. If we were found out…well, I always knew my life would end at the bottom of a hangman’s noose anyway. Such was the fate of anyone who wanted to initiate change and was willing to sacrifice. Everyone in my family knew it.
“Stay safe,” Mother said, tears welling in her eyes and choking off the end of the word. Safety was hardly an option in my future. “I love you so much. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
“I love you, too.”
“This is what you were born to do,” Father whispered. “And I know you’ll succeed.”
“Dahlia!” Odette called to me. “Hurry up.” She stood on the boardwalk with crossed arms and her lower lip childishly stuck out. “It doesn’t matter if we’re in Ebora or on a ship; I’m still your mistress and you will obey me.”
“Good luck,” Father whispered in farewell. “We’re all rooting for you.”
Mother bit her lip. Even though she knew that she had raised me to help overthrow the king, now that the time had come for this first phase and any misstep on my part could lead to my demise, she balked.
I had the opportunity to make a difference for the people of Ebora, and I was going to take it. I’d never be able to sleep at night if I knew there was a way I could have slowed or stopped the king’s power grab and yet did nothing. Besides, there were more crewmen on my side than Odette’s during this voyage.
I gave Mother a reassuring smile, then picked up my small carpetbag and made my way over to Odette as she was helped up the gangplank by one of her personal bodyguards. Curdy, one of those selected to accompany Odette on her voyage, leaned casually on the ship’s railing and winked at me. I rolled my eyes.
“Arrange my things,” Odette ordered the instant I was aboard. “The captain is going to show me my rooms, and the quartermaster is tasked with punishing anyone who disturbs me.”
Just like everything else in her life, her accommodations were lavish and yet she found thing after thing to complain about. The bed was bolted to the wall in a way that made her climb in on the side she didn’t like, and she didn’t care for the room’s furnishings. She whined about how drafty the cabin was and claimed that everything smelled of salt and fish, and she found the stairs to climb down to her quarters cumbersome.
“I’m sure to develop a headache every day,” she moaned, dramatically pressing the back of her hand against her forehead.
“I think you’re far more likely to develop a stomachache once we set sail, Your Highness,” I quipped, hiding my smile.
Odette flung herself onto the bed. “Another travesty! Woe is me!”
