Page 6 of Betraying Korth

I exhaled through my nose. All my patience was used up each day maintaining my cover; I had none left for anyone else.

“Marooner’s Island is within swimming distance,” Garrik’s low voice rasped as he came plodding down the stairs. “Are you ready?”

I straightened and nodded, heart pumping frantically within my chest, Curdy instantly forgotten. “Tell the men to prepare. Let’s do this with as little bloodshed as we can. A princess showing up with injured guards would just look suspicious.”

Garrik flashed a yellow grin that revealed several missing teeth and headed back up to the deck. I left Curdy looking mildly disappointed and followed Garrik out, watching as he began to move about the ship, discreetly whispering to each rebel before moving on. For such a large man, he could move with surprising stealth when he wanted to.

Odette didn’t give any indication she’d noticed me as I sidled up to her. “See that island?” I said, pointing toward the lone outcropping of palm trees.

“I see it,” Odette muttered as she fidgeted with her scrap of cloth, picking at a loose thread until it came loose and she let it float on the breeze until it fluttered down to be lost to the salty waves lapping at the ship’s hull. “There’s nothing else to see.”

“There is a story about that island that servants tell,” I informed her. “Before the siren plague, when we sailed the sevenseas, this was the place where any undesired crewmen would be abandoned. Those who didn’t starve or die of dehydration would often take their own lives, overcome with madness as the burning sun stripped them of their senses.”

“That’s a terrible story,” sniffed Princess Odette. “Tell another.”

“No, you need to hear this one,” I told her, stepping closer than my station permitted. She stiffened, and her hand clutched at the scrap of fabric in her hand. “Did you know that most of the crewmen who were abandoned were slaves?”

I expected the princess to cower in fear, but she didn’t. She froze, clutching her scrap of fabric and staring with petrified eyes as I lowered my voice so as not to alert any of her loyal guards.

“They were,” I told her, my voice barely more than a whisper. “They were cast off and forgotten, just as your subjects have been mistreated and abused by you and your father for years. Would you like to see the island? They say that skeletons are scattered through the sand and the ghosts still roam the beaches at night, determined to take revenge on their oppressors. I think it’s a fitting place for people like you.”

“Guards,” Princess Odette called quietly, trying to back away from me but still meeting my eye.

Curdy and Garrik leapt to attention, coming to my side and barely concealing the eager expressions that spread over their faces. “Your Highness?”

Odette pointed a shaking finger at me. “Arrest her.”

“On what grounds?” I asked, advancing another step. I heard the low rumble of voices cease from the crew below as Curdy and Garrik drew their swords from their sheaths with a slithering, scraping noise befitting our treasonous actions. “Afraid of facing punishment for your crimes?”

A gurgle escaped the princess’s lips as her pupils shrank to pinpricks. “Why are you acting this way?” she hissed.

“I’ve been acting my entire life,” I retorted. “What you see now is the real me.”

“Dahlia, what are you doing?” one of the guards below called out. I heard the tension that laced his voice. “Step away from the princess!”

I turned to face the crew and raised my arms.

“Iamthe princess now.”

CHAPTER 4

Pandemonium broke loose.

The spies loyal to me clashed with the king’s soldiers, who all tried to fight their way over to the stairs leading up to the princess. Garrik pinned Odette’s arms to her sides and held a cutlass across her neck while Curdy stood at the head of the stairs, keeping the high ground against any of the guards who may try to rush to the princess’s aid.

Shouts of protest came from Odette’s guards, but the rebels held them at bay.

“You’ll pay for this,” Odette hissed at me. She wasn’t struggling against Garrik’s vice-like hold, but undiluted hatred leapt from her eyes. “You traitorous scum.”

“Takes one to know one,” I snarled back, then raised my voice. “Drop your weapons!”

The king’s soldiers tensed as they saw the sword Garrik had pressed against Odette’s throat. A few started forward in a panic, but growls from the rebels stayed them.

“I’m offering you the chance to live,” I told them courteously. “We’re coming up on Marooner’s Island. You can either drop your weapons and swim, or stay and die. You’re outnumbered,and anyone who refuses will get to watch your sniveling princess be thrown overboard. Leave now, and I’ll let her live.”

A snort of dissent from Curdy’s direction stabbed the air.

“How do we know you’ll let her live?” one of the soldiers asked nervously, eyes darting from me to Odette.

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