The Octopus Queen (A Little Mermaid Retelling)

22 - The Little Mermaid

PART THREE—THE OCTOPUS QUEEN

My bedroom, like most of this island castle, was sculpted out of anger. I quickly learned, however, that while anger will burn brightly and fiercely, it will also drain you in spectacular fashion. I dropped into a dead sleep not a week after my exile and was unconscious for four days, tended by selkies. From then on, I was more cautious—especially after I found that an entire lock of my hair had turned snowy white. In a rare show of vanity, I ended up dying it.

"My queen ..."

I turn away from the golden, gilded mirror, brush in hand. One of my selkie maids, Minn, enters my bathing room, her large, liquid brown eyes downcast, studying the floor. Not long after my exile, the selkies that inhabit this coastline agreed to serve me in exchange for protection, something I was happy to provide. "Yes?"

Minn looks up, but only briefly. She is new to the post and quite terrified of me. I am used to it now.

"The Sea King requests an audience, my queen."

"What is the nature of this audience?" The mer-king and I have had limited interaction over these last sixteen years. As with the selkies, I have done my best to keep humans away from the deepwater mer-kingdom. However, unlike the selkies, who have been harassed due to their beautiful human forms, the harassment the merpeople face is completely my fault. Once I pulled my support, the fishermen of Farbarrow struggle to find fish, lobsters, and crabs. So, their vessels now search long and wide, trawling the depths to make ends meet. The once-powerful smokestacks of the processing plants barely smolder now.

"He would not say, my queen." Minn's lower lip trembles slightly, realizing now that she should have pressed the merman for details.

I sigh and run the brush once more through my waist-length hair.

"Very well," I tell her. My heart is cold, but I am not cruel. She'll learn. "Please send for Del and Omeri." I meant to spend the morning in my garden, but now I must get dressed up, painted, and have my hair plaited and crowned. The selkies call me their queen, so queen I must be.

Minn bows and begins to slide backward through the bathing room door.

"Is that boy still in my bed?"

The selkie maid pauses and looks over her shoulder, to the northeast section of my vast tower bedroom. "Yes, my queen."

I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. Of course he is. They almost never leave when told.

"Have the guards remove him."

"Yes, my queen." Minn completely backs out and I hear her bare feet slapping against the wooden floor.

I study my reflection in the mirror and turn slightly towards the door as two selkie guards enter. The boy in my bed—all of twenty years, for that I call him "boy"—gives a shout as he's seized by the arms and dragged from the luxurious mattress and soft comforters. I ignore his pleas to stay and wait for Del and Omeri to arrive.

For a while, I resolved to remain celibate the rest of my days; but in truth, exile is a lonely state to find oneself in. After a dally or two with some fine selkie men (after which I resolved to stay away from them, considering the nature of our relationship) I began to take young, foolish sailors into my bed. Following my banishment from Farbarrow, the duke has been hellbent on seizing the castle I pulled from the sea. For no other reason, I'm told, than because I reside in his territory and do not pay taxes.

For a man who considered me beneath his notice, he is quite obsessed with me.

The ships Duke Lucien sends often crash upon the barriers I erected around the island. Sometimes, the captains attempt to send smaller landing vessels, which is how that boy ended up in my bed. I can't name the fate of his fellows.