Page 18 of Betraying Korth

“Yes.” She looked up from her work, her large dark eyes shining in earnest. “Do you like shiny shoes?”

I thought about it. I had never paid much attention before. “Yes, I do,” I decided. “Do you?”

Tess focused on her paper, her forehead puckered slightly as she tried to form a cursive G. “I don’t know. I don’t care about boys yet.”

“Yet, is it?” I asked teasingly. “You will one day?”

She shrugged. “I guess. Mama says I will marry Prince Ernst from Berkway one day, but he isn’t very nice all the time. He thinks girls are annoying. He’s thirteen.”

I chuckled. “Well, most boys think that when they’re that age. Give him time. Maybe by the time you’re grown up he will have changed his opinion.”

She wrinkled her nose at me. “Or maybe he won’t. You’re lucky to be marrying Korth. He’s nice and he says I’m smart.”

“Because you are.”

She beamed.

When Korth cameto escort me for our walk in the courtyard the next day, I couldn’t help glancing down. His shoes were so thoroughly polished that they were practically mirrors. “Your shoes are the shiniest I’ve ever seen,” I told him as I took his arm. “I’m very impressed.”

Korth’s chest inflated so rapidly that he was in danger of floating into the sky. A shy smile curled his lips upward. “I shined them myself.”

I gave his bicep a soft squeeze and felt him flex slightly beneath my fingers. Charming him was becoming easier and easier. I could tell he liked me. The softness in his eyes when he looked at me, the hesitant way he touched me—I had him right where I wanted him. “How many meetings do you have today?”

“About eight. Most are to review the tariffs on our imports from different kingdoms, but there are a few about a criminal trial coming up, and one is to listen to a petition aboutimproving the harbors. Now that the fishing industry has picked up, we need to expand the docks.”

“You must tire of listening to so many people every day.” I glanced back as he guided me through the fruit orchard. Godfrey lurked in the distance, glaring at how close Korth and I were to each other, even though it was only our arms touching.

“Talking tires me more than listening,” he confessed.

“Unless it’s about bridges?” I teased.

“Except then.”

We continued walking around the perimeter of the estate, where I could see houses in the town beyond, which all had an excessive amount of foliage surrounding them—trees, bushes, and hedges. It was a stark contrast to the castle’s neatly manicured lawns and flower beds. I tilted my head, staring at each plot of land that was flooded with shrubbery. While it wasn’t the sort of tangled undergrowth one would find in a forest, the yards did look cluttered with so many bushes, some that had grown up so high that they rose past door height on either side of the windows.

The brief closeness I’d felt to Korth while we’d shared our unconventional interests petered out, replaced with memories of how the commoners in Ebora were so overworked and exhausted that they didn’t have the time or energy to care for landscaping either. Such a task would fall far below other more pressing needs like feeding their families or finding work. The families here didn’t seem to share the same sunken, hollow look that those in Ebora did, but I couldn’t think of another reason as to why the flora would be so untended. My shoulders became more rigid as I reminded myself that the man whose arm I clutched, as nice as he seemed, was still a royal…just like Odette.

“Do you like the plants?” Korth asked as he followed my gaze. “Are there many here that are different from Ebora?”

“Several, though it seems very overgrown for the civilians.”

“It has to be.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I took in the sight of one hedge that had been trimmed to look like a siren. “Why’s that?”

“We have a lot of hurricanes, and the shrubbery here act as deflectors that absorb the gusts of wind. Otherwise, flying debris would batter the buildings. The more plants stand in the way, the less likely they are to have broken windows. As long as they keep the trees healthy and trimmed so branches don’t fall, it is actually a safety hazardnot tohave foliage surrounding your home.”

I paused, having never considered such a thing before. I couldn’t imagine that Raquel and Odette had such motivations when they looked at their own citizens.

“The castle doesn’t have such things.”

“Our structure is made of stone,” Korth pointed out. “And we have storm shutters if a hurricane is headed our way. But our villagers need more protection. We hold informational lectures about preparedness at the start of every rainy season and distribute leaflets. There is a committee that just started to prepare those since hurricane season will begin soon.”

“Can they all read?” I asked curiously, the closeness to Korth blossoming once more.

“Naturally. We take great pride in educating all our citizens.”

I fell silent. The way he talked about his subjects was so vastly different than how I was accustomed to Odette speaking of them—as if they were something disgusting she had accidentally stepped in and was eager to be rid of.

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