Page 62 of Betraying Korth
Sobs racked my body.
“Dahlia,” Korth’s hoarse voice came from just outside my cell.
His voice was the only sound powerful enough to compel me to sit up and turn around. My heart threatened to emerge from my throat just at the sight of his face. “What…what are you doing here?” I choked, hastily trying to wipe away my tears. “Your wedding…”
Korth looked just like how I felt—utterly miserable. His bridegroom’s suit of purest white trimmed with gold made him glow in the dim interior of the dungeon. The torches set into the brackets cast a flickering light over his face, giving his eyes a sunken, haunted expression as he stared at my dismal surroundings.
“I had to see you.”
I stretched my arms wide. “Now you’ve seen me,” I said dully. My eyes were puffy and red from crying, my nose dripped, and my hair was matted and uncombed. The state of my clothing was deplorable. There was no mistaking me for a princess. I had nothing to conceal anymore.
Korth’s gaze switched from my face to my shoulder. “Were those…scars on your back?”
Absently, I reached a hand over my shoulder to trace along one of the scars that had been visible while my back was to the cell door. All the gowns I’d worn while masquerading as a princess had covered them, but this one had a tear down the back that exposed them. “Courtesy of therealPrincess Odette.”
We stared at each other through the bars. I wanted to look away. I wanted to hide my face from Korth so he wouldn’t remember me this way, but I couldn’t. The longer we looked at each other, the more intensely I tried to memorize every one of his features, never to be forgotten. Soon, he would leave and start his new life with a wife who wasn’t me. My stomach churned as I thought of him and Odette together, whispering intimately and swinging hands as they walked along the beach, perhaps even kissing at the top of each bridge they crossed. They would have children together and laugh about the foolish handmaiden who had failed to steal the true princess’s place.
“Why did you lie to me?” Korth burst out. “If you had told me, I would have helped. I could have?—”
“But you wouldn’t have,” I contradicted him. “If I’d come to you that first day and told you that I had replaced your true fiancée and was planning a coup to overthrow her corrupt father, you’d have had me imprisoned right away.” I gazed around at my cell’s tiny interior. “I knew exactly what would happen if I told you, and I was right.”
Korth winced. “On the bridge that night, we promised…we promised we’d never hurt each other.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “I told you that I neverwantedto hurt you, and that’s true. But I never promised that I wouldn’t.” I hung my head in shame. “I knew what I had to do. People’s lives—their liberty and agency—they were depending on me. I couldn’t be selfish, as much as I wanted to be.”
“Dahlia, did you—” Korth broke off and pressed his dark head against the bars of my cell door, teeth gritted.
“Ask me, Korth. I won’t lie to you.” I raised my shoulders in defeat. The least I could do was give him the truth that I had withheld for so long.
“Was everything a lie? Did…did you ever love me?” Korth’s voice was strangled.
I crossed the length of my cell and gently placed my hand over his, a last touch to remember him by. “That part wasn’t a lie,” I whispered. “I love you more than you know.”
Korth gripped my fingers with his own, his forehead still leaned against the bars. “I loved you too, Dahlia. But?—”
“I know.” The ghost of a smile flickered across my face as I let my tears fall thick and fast, noting the past tense when he said that he’dlovedme. I wasn’t worthy of his love anymore. I had been right; unconditional love was nothing more than a fairytale. “You deserve better than a traitorous imposter. I want you to be happy, even if…even if it isn’t with me.” My voice caught on the words and exited as a croak. I gulped for air. “Don’t marry Odette,” I whispered. “She will make you miserable, and I really do want you to be happy.”
“Dahlia,” he groaned, and raised his eyes to meet mine. He looked every bit as conflicted as I felt. “I fear I’ll never be happy without you in my life.”
A slight scuffling sound made both of us look around. Peter Pan was perched on his bed, chin cupped in his hands, as he stared unabashedly at us, each one of his teeth visible as he grinned.
“Don’t stop on my account, this is the best entertainment I’ve had since arriving on this godforsaken island. Go on then, Korth, you said you’ll never be happy without the girl who seduced you with the intention of betraying you and attempting to start a war. This is good.” He flurried his hand as if signaling for an actor to continue a scene after a missed line.
“Shut up, Pan,” Korth snapped. “It’s only because of my sister’s poor judgment that you’re even alive.”
“I thanked her for herexcellentjudgment.”
“And I’ll thankyoufor not butting into private conversations,” Korth retorted. He looked back at me. “Dahlia,why would you do this? Was everything Odette said true? What made you?—”
“I’ve been a part of this rebellion my entire life,” I confessed. “The last three generations of my family have worked to secure me a position close to the royal family. We wanted them surrounded by those loyal to the rebellion before we acted, and when you asked Odette to come here, we felt like it was the perfect timing.”
“She told me you handed her guards over to pirates.”
“That’s true. I headed the mutiny en route from Ebora. You must understand; Ihadto.”
Korth slowly shook his head. “But…that is wrong. Mutiny, treason…those are crimes punishable by death.”
“I know.” I clutched at the bars. “But what’s wrong is how Odette and her father were treating the people. Not all leaders share your honesty and compassion, and their power has corrupted them. All the people in Ebora have been oppressed for years. You said you saw my scars, but those are nothing compared to what others have endured. We had to dosomething. Odette and Raquel treated us brutally, and I couldn’t—Iwon’tstand by and let that happen. I’d rather die from trying to do what I feel is right than stand idly by and watch injustices happen.”
