Page 63 of Betraying Korth

Korth buried his face into his hands. “I thought everything was so black and white. I can’t condone what you did.”

“I know you can’t. But believe me, I never wanted to see anyone get hurt. In fact, it was my desire to protect the people in my kingdom that motivated my decisions. If I was fighting for a noble goal, doesn’t that outweigh some of the less honorable means it took to achieve it? Turning a blind eye to those who are mistreated and enslaved isn’t an option for me. If the right course means doing nothing to stop abuse as long as it didn’t affect me, then I don’t want to do what is right, do you?”

“I don’t know,” Korth lamented, clutching at his hair. “I don’t know what’s right anymore.”

“That’s odd,” piped up Peter. “You certainly claimed to have a firm grasp on right and wrong at my preliminary hearings. I suppose if I’m not an attractive woman, I can’t sway your ethics the same way she can.”

In an uncharacteristically aggressive move, Korth kicked at the iron bars on Pan’s cell. “I don’t care how much my sister advocates for you, one more word and you’re going back to solitary confinement for the rest of your miserable life.”

Peter fell silent but still watched us so closely that it seemed like he could see right into my soul, a smirk playing across his face the whole time.

“I know you want to follow the rules, Korth,” I said quietly. “But if you never deviate from the rules and by doing so allow people to suffer, what has truly been gained? If tyrants go about unchecked and abuse those who are innocent, how is that just? You want to follow rules, but their rules are wrong.”

“There has to be another way,” Korth groaned. “I could… I could sign a treaty with Ebora like Treva did with the sirens.”

“You really think that a simple treaty will cause King Raquel to free all those he has enslaved? He has all the power in Ebora. All of it—no one can challenge him. People can’t even feed their families without begging for aid, and everyone else is in the same situation and can’t give the help that they so desperately need. We don’t need a treaty; we need an army. We need to be liberated.”

“You want me to start an unprovoked war,” he said slowly.

“Is it unprovoked, though? Or is it simply that youpersonallyhaven’t been provoked? Raquel is more than happy to work with you because you can benefit him. If you want the measure of a man, don’t look at how he treats his equals or superiors. How he treats his inferiors is a far more accurateassessment. You entering the war is better than allowing Raquel to continue the abuse he is doling out. And if you remember, I fully intended to start the war. I intentionally manipulated you into thinking that the king needed reinforcements so that you would send troops to dethrone who you thought was an imposter.”

Korth slowly shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to fight against you.”

“I know you don’t want to fight against me, but will you fightforme? You’re about to marry Odette and condemn all of us commoners to a lifetime of servitude and poverty.”

He didn’t answer. From down the hall, one of the guards called, “Your Highness?”

I lowered my voice and spoke in a rush. “Korth, I know how much you love your people. Every kingdom should have a ruler like you, but they don’t. I’ve told you before, not everyone is as honorable as you are. That’s why we need people like you to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.”

“Prince Korth! Everyone is waiting for you.” The footsteps drew nearer.

I allowed my fingers to slowly fall away from where they had wrapped around his on the bars. “You have all the power now. What you do with it is entirely up to you.”

“Your Highness!” The guards would round the bend any second.

He looked desperately at me. “Dahlia, do you think what you did was right?”

I drew a deep breath, willing myself not to cry. “Yes and no. But I was fighting for what I believe in, and I will never regret that. If I die, at least I’ll die knowing that I did everything I could to help others, and that’s enough for me. I don’t want to be a coward who’s too afraid to take a stand against injustice.”

The guards clanked into sight, swords bumping against their thighs as they approached.

“Prince Korth,” a beefy guard with a bushy handlebar mustache said tentatively. “Everyone is waiting. We can’t delay any longer. Princess Odette insists.”

“Goodbye,” I whispered, shrinking back into the shadows at the back of my cell.

After a final look back at me, Korth allowed himself to be led away, back toward his wedding.

CHAPTER 28

Even if I hadn’t been consumed by my own thoughts, I wouldn’t have been able to focus on the sounds from the wedding outside anyway. The buzzing from the audience grew to such a pitch that it felt like wasps had created a nest inside my brain. Whether it was because I wasn’t paying attention or because weddings go quickly once all the guests are seated, the ceremony seemed to flash by. Granted, I intentionally blocked out all the noise I could because I couldn’t bear the thought of hearing Korth exchange vows with someone as despicable as Odette. He would promise to be faithful to whomever he married, and I knew he would be, even if Odette wouldn’t return his love or his loyalty.

I ignored all of Peter Pan’s attempts to engage me in conversation, curling up into a ball instead and wishing fervently that they had sent any other girl from the rebellion. The pain of loving then losing Korth was more than I could bear. What I wouldn’t trade to revert back to my state of ignorant bliss when I assumed that all royalty were corrupt and evil. The world was so much simpler back then. Now, I would always be burdened with the knowledge that I had doomed a good man to a lifetime of heartache and misery…at least for the rest of my shortened life.

The most hidden parts of my heart wished that Korth would come rushing back and say that he had seen the light and was willing to forgive me of my treasonous acts, and that what we had was irreplaceable.

Such dreams were as real as my innocence. A prince would never be permitted to wed a convicted criminal, no matter how much we loved each other. Besides, he was married to Odette now. He would have placed a ring on another woman’s finger and sworn to love her, not me.

The thought caused me more anguish than any pain that could ever be dealt to my physical body. Too heartbroken to eat the sorry meals that the guards shoved through the bars, I lay unmoving on my bunk, ignoring how Peter Pan managed to construct some type of hook out of the debris in his cell and drag my meal trays over to himself. I didn’t think I’d ever be hungry again.

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