Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

F or the rest of that night, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep. I stared at the canopy over my bed, but the only image that came to mind was Korth with his tousled hair from my dream. After more than an hour of lying in bed, I finally concluded that I wouldn’t get back to sleep and got up, wrapping a robe around myself and walking out to the balcony. From what I could tell, there were very few illuminated windows this early in the morning. The bakers would no doubt be awake already, and a few fishing boats dotted the horizon, but everything else remained still and silent.

Elbows supported by the railing, I propped my chin on my hand and stared at the quiet, prosperous town sprawled out below me. I wanted a life like this for the people in Ebora. Back home, commoners didn’t know what it was like to live without fear. When Korth walked through town, people would likely bow or raise their hands in greeting with smiles on their faces. When Princess Odette walked through town in Ebora, her citizens had scurried away, averting their sunken eyes and shielding their children.

Here, everything felt vibrant and colorful while Ebora was a drudgery of dull greys and misery. I couldn’t imagine that Korth would ever have been happy married to Odette, but his dedication to duty would undoubtedly drive him to fulfill his commitments. Knowing his idealism, he would probably hold out hope that he would be able to inspire change in Ebora if he was engaged to the true Princess Odette.

I sighed. Even if Korth wanted to help the people in Ebora and had married Odette, I knew enough about politics to know that it would take months, if not years, to enact any proposed laws. Then there would be the issue of formalized committees to analyze the current situation and formulate action plans. My fellow countrymen couldn’t afford to wait on the hope of change someday in the distant future. Families were being torn apart and lives were being destroyed right now. We didn’t need a slow change in the political climate over a period of time; we needed to be liberated.

The sky shifted from pitch-black to inky blue, the first sign of the impending dawn. I stared hungrily at the horizon. How long until my people would emerge from the eternal night we were forced into and get to see the dawn of a new era? Any king would be better than Raquel. When I was a young girl, I kept hoping for an end to the siren plague. Not because I was particularly frightened at the prospect of a siren calling to me, but because I longed for the day when a foreign nation would see the injustices dealt to the subjects in Ebora and have the bravery to step up and act on behalf of those who couldn’t defend themselves.

That hope had been blotted out over the years. Each beating I witnessed and each mother’s cry I heard reinforced the message that we were entirely on our own. Unless I managed to trick Korth into sending an army, it wouldn’t happen. A wry smile lifted my lips as I tried to imagine how the confession would go if I tried to be honest.

“Korth, I need to tell you something. I’m not really Odette. I’m actually a servant who overthrew the true princess because I don’t agree with her politics. But even though I led a mutiny and committed treason and sent her entire guard into the hands of pirates, will you still send an army for me against the father of your real fiancée? It would mean a lot.”

I scoffed. Everyone claimed they wanted honesty, but they really didn’t. They wanted to be comfortable living their lives, blissfully unaware of any problem that didn’t affect them. It was one thing to battle a trial on your own and gain new perspective. To watch someone else fight a battle and then have the courage to aid that struggling person even without a personal reward in sight was a quality that I was increasingly sure that almost no one possessed.

“Your Highness!”

I jumped and looked around for the speaker, but the noise was too far away to be in my same room.

“What are you doing?” The voice sounded as though it had come from both below and behind me.

A muffled tone answered the maid’s indignant cry but was too low and garbled for me to understand any of the words. I inclined my ear. It seemed as though the sounds were drifting in through one of the open windows and echoing in the walls of my room as well.

“Even if you are interested in its mechanics, it isn’t a prince’s duty to climb into a dumbwaiter shaft to inspect pulleys, and before the sun is even risen at that. What if something had happened to you?”

I bit back a laugh as Korth’s low, muffled voice rumbled a response. Their conversation faded as I heard the snap of windows below being shut. Eager to hear more, I returned inside and pressed my ear against the doors hiding the dumbwaiter’s shaft, but other than the distant grinding of gears and the whirring of the ropes being fed through the pulleys, I couldn’t make out any more of what they were saying.

A faint pink glow lit up the sky outside and a soft rap came at my door. “Enter,” I called, stepping away from the dumbwaiter.

Gerta came in, laden with a breakfast tray. “Good morning, Your Highness,” she said brightly. “You’re up early. Did you rest well?”

“Very well, thank you.”

Gerta chattered away cheerfully as she helped me get ready for the day. I studied my reflection while she styled my hair. Based on appearance alone, I should have Korth falling at my feet. And while he seemed interested, he wasn’t doing anything about it, and our conversations about bridges and dumbwaiters, while enjoyable, weren’t doing anything to win Korth’s undying loyalty. Looks alone clearly weren’t enough to gain Korth’s confidences, so what was?

When he came for me that morning, Korth’s shoes were shinier than ever and his hair was so neatly combed that each strand of hair was perfectly in place.

Despite my best efforts to purge the dream from my memory, from the moment I saw Korth, both the images and sensations of my dream came flooding to the forefront of my mind in full force. For the first time, I felt flushed as Korth brushed his lips against my knuckles and found myself tongue-tied.

“Wondergood to see—good morning,” I said in a rush, hating how my voice choked up and I fumbled for words. No blushing, stammering girl would ever be able to win over a powerful prince. I cleared my throat and let out a controlled breath. “My apologies; I seem to have mixed up my greetings today. You have quite the effect on me.”

I slipped my hand around his arm and waited for Korth’s chest to swell with pride each time it did when I complimented him and wasn’t disappointed.

“I was going to take you to meet my Nona today,” Korth told me. “She wasn’t at your dinner, but I try to visit her every day for at least a few minutes. She always said she wanted to meet the girl I would marry.”

“The queen dowager?” I asked as he led me down a long corridor. “I thought she passed away some years ago.”

“She did. Nona is my father’s mother, so they weren’t royalty. My mother inherited the throne, and my father is consort.”

“But your Nona lives at the palace? That is kind of you to have her stay.”

Korth held another door open for me as we wended our way up to the turret, still tailed by Godfrey. “Well, she needs extra tending to these days. She used to be quite brilliant, but her mind sometimes wanders. Not quite in the same way you described the servant girl you brought with you, but…you’ll see. This is her door.” He knocked softly. “Nona? It’s Korth.”

“Who?” A creaky voice came from the other side of the door.

“It’s Korth, your grandson. I have someone I want you to meet.”

The door was opened by a nursemaid, and my nose was immediately filled with the scent of herbs and medicines that lingered around aging individuals. Korth’s grandmother was in bed, sunshine streaming in through the window so that a rectangle of light was cast on her bed. Dust particles floated in the sun’s rays, swirling as the air current from the opening door swept them into some forgotten corner of the room.

Korth’s grandmother was very old, with paper thin, wrinkly skin and fragile white hair. She was squinting at Korth, adjusting wide glasses on her nose with shaking hands. “Orion? Is that you?”

“No, I’m his son. Remember? I’m Korth.” He sat down on the edge of her bed and took her frail hands in his. “I have someone I want you to meet.”

“You look like my son,” Nona babbled. “He’s a handsome boy, Orion is. You look just like him.”

“Yes, because he’s my father,” Korth said patiently. “Remember, Nona? He got married and had me and Tess, your grandchildren. Here, I want to introduce you to my fiancée, Princess Odette.”

Nona didn’t seem to have heard all of what he said. “Orion says he will marry the princess one day.” She let out a creaky laugh. “Isn’t that the silliest thing you’ve ever heard?”

“He did marry her. I’m their son, and this is Princess Odette.” Korth looked pointedly at me, and his grandmother followed his gaze.

Her eyes, which had been unfocused, suddenly sharpened.

“Good morning,” I greeted her, holding my hand out to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She squinted her eyes again, but this time, it was as though she could see right into my very soul, and she didn’t take my hand.

“Stay away from my grandson,” she hissed. Her innocent, babbling demeanor suddenly changed, and I withdrew my hand, thoroughly unnerved.

“Wh-what?” Korth stammered. “Nona, this is Princess Odette, my fiancée.”

“This woman will bring you nothing but heartache.” Her former wispy tone had vanished, replaced by something cold and waspish.

I laughed nervously. “What makes you say that?”

“I can always tell.”

I’d never felt so wrong-footed and unnerved in my life. She had no way of knowing my true intentions; our plot hadn’t been discovered. But what could I possibly say that wouldn’t come across as insensitive but still help me defend myself?

“I wouldn’t do that to Korth.”

“She’s right, Nona. Odette and I are getting married soon. We care for each other.”

“I don’t like her.” Korth’s grandmother was becoming increasingly upset. Her pale cheeks took on patches of blotchy redness, and her fingers shook worse than ever. “I don’t think you should marry her. Pick someone else.”

My heart hammered and my throat suddenly felt parched. Unsure of what to do with my hands, I wrapped my arms around myself like a protective covering, shielding me from the wrath of Korth’s grandmother as the nursemaid moved in and sat next to her patient.

“Nona,” Korth began in a consoling tone, “you just met Odette. You don’t know her yet. If you get to know her, I’m sure you’ll like her.”

The sharpness faded from her eyes and she slumped back against her pillows, docile once more. “You’re a handsome young man. You look just like my son, Orion. Have you met him?”

Her lucidity vanished just as quickly as it had come, but my apprehension remained. What if Korth trusted his grandmother’s judgment? Surely not if she couldn’t even remember her own grandson anymore. But she had remembered him at that point… I couldn’t stop myself from retreating several steps to give Korth privacy with his grandmother, wishing I could fade into the background and avoid being detected again.

I was confident I would be able to convince Korth that his grandmother’s judgment of me was not to be trusted, but if the experience was repeated over and over, who knew how quickly seeds of doubt would be sowed? I couldn’t afford to let Korth develop any reservations about our relationship.

Korth, clearly torn between defending his fiancée and showing respect for his elders, continued to talk quietly to his grandmother for several more minutes.

“You’ll come see me again, won’t you, Orion? I miss you.”

“I’m Korth, but yes, I promise I will come see you again tomorrow. I always visit you, and your son will come by later this evening.”

“Goodbye, Orion!” she trilled.

“I’m sorry about that,” Korth apologized later. “I don’t know what came over her when I introduced you. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” I ran my tongue across the smooth fronts of my teeth, wondering if it would be better to ask Korth if he believed his grandmother’s mistrust or if I should assume he wouldn’t believe the ramblings of an old, forgetful woman. “I didn’t enjoy being accused, but I suppose it is similar to the servant girl I brought. Sometimes she thinks things that aren’t true as well. It’s unfortunate, really.”

Korth nodded sadly. “It’s the main reason I wanted the family you brought to stay together. I know how difficult it is to have a family member forget things. Nona used to be well-known as an excellent judge of character, but her memory has been fading more and more lately. Tess and I have an easier time with it, but it has been a struggle for my father in particular.”

“I’m sorry. I can only imagine how painful it would be to have a parent unable to remember their child.”

“I don’t want you to ever feel unwelcome here,” Korth said with a backward glance at his grandmother’s fading door.

I smiled graciously at him. “I’m here for you, and no family is perfect. If they all acted perfect, I would wonder if you were hiding something.”

“I would never hide anything from you. I’m glad I can trust you to do the same for me.”

I made sure to show my dimples as I returned his fond expression. “I’m glad I can always trust you to be honest.”