Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

W e’d both been watching Odette scrub the deck for hours, and the fun had worn off just a little. To Odette’s credit, she hadn’t stopped, though her pace had slowed considerably and she was biting her lip in pain. Her arms, unused to the rigorous work servants completed, were sure to be jolly sore the next day.

“I’ll enjoy watching this for a couple weeks,” Curdy snickered. Odette had worked her way over to the area of the deck nearest the captain’s quarters, far away enough that, combined with the lapping waves and relentless wind, I was confident she wouldn’t overhear us, even if we could still see her.

“You’ll get even longer to enjoy the view. We have two months before the wedding,” I reminded him. “The next ship won’t even arrive in Haven Harbor for two weeks, remember?”

Curdy’s puzzled expression was all the answer I needed, and I sighed in frustration. “This first bit of time is for me to gain Korth’s confidence. Then a message will arrive saying that there was an uprising, and that the king was overthrown and is in hiding.”

“They’re going to stage the coup before they get reinforcements?” Curdy asked, still confused. “I thought the point of this mission was to gain a war ally.”

“It is,” I explained patiently, all while wondering if Curdy ever listened during our midnight meetings. What could he have been doing instead? “When I get that message that my father is in hiding, I will act all upset and convince my new fiancé that he needs to send ships to aid my father in retaking his throne.”

Understanding dawned in Curdy’s eyes. “Oh! And when they get there, he will think those in the castle are the imposters.”

“Precisely. Soldiers marching into battle don’t stop to ask for identification before attacking. They follow orders, so I intend to have Korth give them orders.”

“So if they’re told to eliminate all those who are in the palace…”

“Then the corrupt government will fall. The rebellion will back up the story, and within a month or two, Raquel will be gone and we will have new leadership.”

Curdy nodded, chewing on his chapped lip as he thought. “What if Odette escapes and raises the alarm?” he asked.

“Then you will get into a lot of trouble,” I said with a laugh. “You and Garrik volunteered to be her babysitters, remember?”

He wrinkled his nose. “So I have to stay with her all the time?”

“That’s the idea of babysitting.” I bumped his shoulder. “But it won’t be non-stop; you’ll both need sleep. I’m sure you and Garrik can work out a schedule to swap off duty.”

“And time to report to you,” Curdy reminded me. “I can’t very well bring her with me when you and I see each other.”

“True. But that won’t take too long.” I grinned wickedly. “Now we just need to think up something smelly for her to do.”

“Emptying chamber pots?” Curdy suggested.

“A good choice for the smell and mess, but I don’t want her in the castle where it would be easy for her to alert someone. Besides, you and Garrik can’t very well tag after a chamber maid without arousing suspicion. No, it will need to be something that men and women do together.”

“I can think of something you and I could do together,” Curdy teased, trailing a finger across my hand.

I rolled my eyes. “You stop that. I’m a princess now, remember? What if Prince Korth saw you?”

“He isn’t here.”

I wanted to snap back with a sarcastic retort. Curdy knew full well that I wasn’t interested in him, but persisted in his ribbing anyway. How could I phrase things so that he would know I was serious, without being offended that I was done with his jokes?

“We need to be practicing so our behavior won’t make anyone suspect we’re imposters,” I finally said, taking a step away from Curdy. “And that means all of us. We only have a few days before our lives will depend on it.”

Curdy stuck out his lower lip in an exaggerated pout. “I thought you’d want to reward me for volunteering to watch her .”

“And you have my undying gratitude.”

Curdy huffed, but I ignored him and struck up a conversation with the ship’s captain instead. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Curdy continued to watch me, arms crossed and leaning against the mast, but he didn’t make any additional advances. When Odette worked her way back over to his area of deck, he made no effort to move out of her way, nor did he spare her a single glance.

My feet and stomach had long since grown accustomed to the gentle swooping sensation of the ship rising and falling as it cut through the waves, and I found the sun-filled afternoon the most glorious I’d ever experienced. I leaned so far over the bow of the ship that I could see the mounted figurehead of the siren below me and breathed in the salty sea air that whipped my hair back. So this was what Odette had felt like before I’d replaced her—not a care in the world, no chores or tasks to harden her hands or resolve. She got to sleep whenever she wanted to, eat however often and as much as she desired, and had servants waiting on her hand and foot.

Now, she would have none of that. She would be torn away from her own family and her life of luxury and be made to work for a living. What could I have her do? My first thought was some sort of stable hand. I quite liked the idea of having Odette muck out stalls and she was at least slightly familiar with horses, having been given a plethora of riding lessons. But that also posed more of a risk than I was comfortable with. As a stable hand, it would be too easy for her to take a horse and escape, and stable hands were usually men anyway. No, I needed something for her to do that was smelly, tedious work that didn’t give her any access to transportation.

I shook my head. That was a problem to solve later, once we were in Haven Harbor and I knew what options were available. Right now, I wanted to bask in our first victory. The mutiny had been carried out to perfection. We had suffered no casualties at all, and Odette was on her hands and knees, scrubbing the deck with a burning, smarting lye soap that would callous her pampered princess hands in no time. I smirked at the sight of her. Other crewmen were tossing buckets of water over the deck where she had already scrubbed to wash away the grime, and the resulting splashing had soaked Odette to the skin.

How long would it take of her scrubbing like that for her to really understand the difficulty of the life she had imposed on others? The bit of fabric she always carried with the three tiny dark stains had fallen out of her bodice and into the discolored water. She snatched it back up and shoved it out of sight again. For the briefest of moments, we made eye contact. A blaze of anger sparked in her eyes, but she quickly lowered her gaze to her task, dipped her brush back into the water, and set to scrubbing again.

It didn’t matter how angry she was; I had all the power now, and she had none. I continued to watch her long after she looked away. Once I arrived in Haven Harbor, I might not get to see her forced into manual labor anymore; I would be too occupied with getting the prince to fall madly in love with me. I had to soak in the glorious vision while I could. If only I were better at painting; I would have captured that image and had it framed.

The intensity of my vindictiveness was slightly unsettling. While I had carried out the marooning of the soldiers, I’d done so with a twinge of regret, wishing that there were a way to save them. I felt none of that remorse with Odette. I wanted to watch her struggle as she had forced countless others to struggle. Vengeance was sweet after so many years of oppression. The lash on my back from the week before throbbed in approval. At least I wasn’t having Odette whipped.

When Garrik brought over two hard sea biscuits and a strip of salted meat, he dangled the food wrapped in a handkerchief in front of Odette’s nose. “A meal fit for your station.”

She glowered and after one sniff, didn’t take the portion.

“Your next meal won’t be until dawn,” he warned her. “And I have your new clothes. They’re better suited for your work.” He shoved one of the patched servant dresses at her. She took the scratchy brown fabric and held it up, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“Aren’t you lucky?” I piped up. “We’re keeping you fed, clothed, and housed without charging you a single copper for it. What a glorious opportunity.”

Odette ground her teeth together before wrenching her mouth open, but Garrik waggled a finger at her. “Ah, ah, ah. You mustn’t address the princess. She’s above your station.”

It was worth risking execution from treason and mutiny to see the look of horror on her face.