Page 15 of Betraying Korth

“So it connects to Tess’s room?”

“Hers is the room directly below us. You may hear her singing from time to time. Prince Korth’s rooms are below hers, though he doesn’t sing,” Gerta went on, picking at a resilient snarl in my hair. “The rooms are all stacked on top of each other.”

“That’s very convenient,” I mused.

“How so, Your Highness?”

I looked up at Gerta in the vanity mirror’s reflection. “I would assume it would be much more convenient to have an attendant always on call at the bottom of one dumbwaiter, as opposed to several.”

“It is, isn’t it?” she mused, plaiting my hair swiftly. “There, you’re all set.”

“Thank you.” I patted my hair and looked again at the doors hiding the dumbwaiter. “What are the different cords for?”

“Green for laundry, red to call the guards, yellow for meals, that sort of thing.” A sudden stricken look came over her face. “I’m so sorry, I ought to have told you before so you could call for service.”

“No need; I’m simply interested. You go ahead and get some rest.” I smiled pleasantly as she left. Once the door clicked shut, Icrossed the room to run my hand over the cabinet’s carved door. “How very convenient indeed.”

Even though I was ready to drop right where I was standing from exhaustion, I couldn’t resist pulling the cabinet doors open and looking down. A vast, empty chasm swelled before me, with dark shadows shifting on the shaft’s walls. Far below, I could hear the echoes of maids opening the dumbwaiter’s doors and extracting laundry, gossiping away happily as they did so. Unable to dismiss the urge, I reached out and gently strummed the taut ropes inside the shaft. At least now I didn’t have to cater to Odette’s constant demands. If I wanted to examine the inner workings of a machinery, I would be able to, so long as no one saw a princess engaged in such behavior.

But my exhaustion was so great that not even the allure of a dumbwaiter could keep me away from my bed for long. I slowly closed the cabinet doors and latched them, promising myself that I would have more time to look at it the following day.

There was so much about Haven Harbor that I was eager to learn more about. What powerful allies they could be to our cause.

The next morning,I went to inspect the dumbwaiter again as soon as I woke up. Sunshine filtered in, throwing patches of light to replace the shadows on the walls so I was able to examine the elaborate pulley system better. Fixed pulleys were secured to the top of the shaft, and when someone down below pulled one of the cords, I watched as the dumbwaiter was elevated by means of additional pulleys that moved with it.

Fascinating.

There were even tags that had Tess’s and Korth’s names on them. I eyeballed the distance between the tags and determined that they must serve to instruct the person pulling the ropes at the bottom of when to stop. The itch to climb directly into the shaft nearly overpowered me, but a soft rap on my door made me withdraw my head and hastily close the doors.

“Odette, it’s me!” Tess’s sweet voice chirped from the other side of the door. “I thought we could get ready together today.”

I couldn’t help smiling, wondering if this was what it was like to have a sister. “Enter.”

She bounced through the doors, a hairbrush in one hand and a gown flung carelessly over her other arm. Without being prompted, she plunked herself down on one of the stools and examined her reflection in the mirror.

“If we both wear blue, we can be twins today,” she announced. “We can even have Gerta do our hair the same.”

“I love that idea,” I told her with equal enthusiasm, pulling up another stool and looking in the mirror as well. “I wish my hair was as dark as yours. Then we really could be twins.”

She beamed as Gerta bustled in and began helping us get ready.

“Korth likes you,” Tess announced. “He’s really happy.”

“I have a hard time telling,” I answered. “Your brother is difficult to read and barely speaks to me.”

Tess eyed me. “Want to know the secret to get Korth to talk more?”

“Yes. I love secrets.”

“Me too!” Tess’s face fell slightly. “Does it matterwhathe talks about?”

“I will take anything at this point.”

She nodded solemnly. “Then just ask him about bridges. He’ll start talking.”

“Any bridge?”

Looking me dead in the eye, she slowly nodded her head up and down. “Anybridge. It will be boring, but at least he’ll talk.”

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