Page 36 of Betraying Korth

I frowned, wondering if Curdy had become more spiteful or if I simply had become less so during my time in Haven Harbor. I didn’t like what I was seeing in Curdy and didn’t want to imaginesuch characteristics in myself, even if they had once been true. “She’s not like that.”

“Ishe? I’m surprised you aren’t here withhim. It seems like you spend every moment together.”

I quickly glanced over my shoulder to ensure that we wouldn’t be heard over the clanging of pots and pans. Cooks and the kitchen staff bustled around, not paying us the least mind. “A walk every day is hardly spending every moment together, and you know I need to gain his trust.”

A vein ticked on Curdy’s neck, and his grip tightened around the bag he held. “You’re doing all that just to gain his trust? No other reason?”

“That’s my purpose in being here, just as yours is to keep an eye on yoursister.How’s she doing, anyway?”

Some of the bitterness fell away as Curdy managed to grin mischievously. “She’s completely miserable.”

“How are the lodgings?”

“Smelly, damp, and loud. Normally it would bother me, but”—he shot me a knowing look—“it bothers her more.”

“And therein lies the beauty of it,” I said. “I wish I could see it.”

“You could come visit, you know.”

“I actually thought about it today, but it was raining, and princesses have to be proper and ladylike and not catch cold.”

“Though apparently if you do fall ill, you get pudding.” His jaw relaxed slightly and he lowered his voice so I had to bend forward to hear him. “It’s all just a charade, right? Everything between you and the prince?”

My gut contracted painfully. “You and I both know it won’t last. It can’t.” I touched my ear, then lips, and finally my forehead. “We all have to do our parts, and for me, that includes taking pudding to my future sister-in-law.”

At my last words, Curdy frowned slightly, but then hastily rearranged his features. “I need to get a meal over to Garrik and O—my sister before they float away in this downpour.”

As I turned to go, Curdy burst out, “Wait!”

Several kitchen staffers quieted and looked around at us curiously. Curdy worked his jaw back and forth, glancing at the onlookers then back at me. “You don’t have a spoon, Your Highness.” He held the utensil out to me.

When I took the spoon from him, his fingers brushed mine. “Don’t forget why we’re here,” he murmured.

My steps were slow and silent as I made my way back up to Tess’s room. I’d assumed that this mission would be so simple and straightforward. Pretend to be Odette, seduce her betrothed so that he would send an army to aid the rebellion, even if he didn’t realize who he was helping, then leave once Raquel had been overthrown. But now…

Of course I would still go through with it, even if I wasn’t looking forward to turning on Korth. The lives and futures of innocent people were counting on me.

“Thanks, Odette. You’re the best.”Tess’s croaky words clawed at my ears as she accepted the pudding.

The best? I was a fraud masquerading as royalty and actively planning to exploit her kingdom’s resources. I was the farthest frombestthat it was possible to be.

“Get better soon,” I told Tess quietly as I left her room.

The bleak weather mirrored my mood perfectly. Grey rain slid down the windows that cast a gloomy haze over the labyrinthine corridors, and a depressing darkness threatened totake hold of my mind. Each step felt heavier than the last as the weight of my constant charade settled over me like metal armor, something necessary for my protection but agonizingly heavy all the same.

There was no way to tell whether the rebellion would be a success. There were so many flaws in our plan, and so much relied on hope when our people had only known despair for so long. I paused at a glass door, staring at the balcony beyond. Rain hammered down, droplets re-bounding off the surface as they burst to create a mist that hovered knee high. I had to keep Curdy happy as he was part of the rebellion, but his hatred of any royal was blinding him to the goodness in Korth and Tess. Not everyone was as horrible as Ebora’s royal family.

As much as I wished I had someone to confide in, it would never come to be. Who would I tell? I couldn’t explain my true motivations and allegiances to Korth, nor could I confess to the other rebels that I didn’t think Korth deserved to be used. Even amidst this bustling castle so crowded with people, I’d never felt more alone.

“Odette!” Korth called from down the hallway. “I just saw Tess; she said you stopped by to visit her and bring her pudding.”

“Of course. What are sisters for?” I unfolded my arms and hoisted a smile onto my face.

“I’m glad my two favorite women get along,” he said while a pattering of feet sounded from behind him. Godfrey hurried into view, gasping for breath and eyeing me with great suspicion.

“Too bad we aren’t by the lake,” I whispered to Korth, nodding meaningfully at our overly diligent chaperone.

He bit back a laugh as the corners of his lips curled upward. A strange sense of pride surged as I saw his smile. Eliciting some sort of emotion from Korth felt more satisfying than any insultI could hurl at Odette, and I felt the loneliness from before ebb away.

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