Ursula's Beginning

13. We musn't lurk in doorways (continued)

It was midday. Ursula wondered what was transpiring within the palace walls. The royal family's meeting was surely in progress now. She wished she had a cuttlemaid's powers of invisibility, for witnessing Alphon's hour of reckoning in secret would be a delight.

Rather than obsess about it at length, Ursula decided to stay busy with Barry and Amoret the rest of the afternoon. The library book proved to be a decent training guide. The cecaelians played gentle games with the barracuda and rewarded him with morsels the cuttlemaids had gathered whenever he listened and obeyed well. When he couldn't focus anymore, they put him in a storage pod with more food for the night. They placed a note of warning on the outside of the door. "Barry could be much more, uhh, spunky, by morning," Ursula observed.

Ursula returned home determined to keep her mind occupied with productive activities. She cracked open the biggest book she had on domestic spellcraft. Cruelty-free barnacle removal in five easy steps, she read. Ugh, why not. I don't even know what the back of my house looks like anymore.

Hours later, the exterior of her home looked like new and Ursula had moved on to a charm that promised to get her clothes folding and storing themselves. So far, she could get a pile of garments to rise from the floor and tangle themselves into a ball.

She stopped after her fifth attempt. A familiar feeling was beckoning her to the front room. Peering out the window, she was unsurprised to see Triton barreling her way as night fell around him. Ursula opened her front door and he shot straight through without a word. He didn't stop moving until he was in her windowless bedroom.

"I've done it. It's done. The letters are being dispatched to the other kingdoms tonight," he said with vexation.

"You've done the right thing. How did Alphon take it?"

Triton grabbed Ursula with surprising force and kissed her until she was dizzy.

"There," he said breathlessly. "In case I can't ever again." His arms still held her tightly.

"Darling, of course you can."

Triton released his grip by a fraction. "He took it better than expected. In fact, he was eerily calm. He had plenty to say, but he didn't throw any punches...or objects, even. And he left after the meeting, saying he needed to verify some information on his own. No one saw him the rest of the afternoon. We think he's possibly left Atlantica for a few days."

"Maybe he wants to use his 'I'm about to be king' line one last time on some stupid mermaid," Ursula snickered. "You know, while he still can."

Triton's face was stone.

"Oh come on, dear! Isn't this all good? Why are you so upset?"

"Ganeon is still angry with me about this morning, everything's moving so fast, and I suspect Alphon restrained himself today in the presence of our mother. But most of all, I don't think you understand what this means for us," said the prince.

Ursula nuzzled his neck, relishing the rare moment alone with her sweetheart. She willed it to last. "If it's truly that much of a disaster, you had better kiss me some more," she finally said. Triton's lips were just finding hers again when the sound of Alphon's voice made them both flinch.

"Isn't this a pretty picture?" he drawled. "The witch that killed my father seducing my traitorous younger brother. Triton, I never took you to be this interesting! Tell me, were you in on the murder from the start, or did she convince you to play king after the deed was done?" Alphon filled the entire doorway with his hulking frame and his green eyes glittered with malice.

Triton winced, and Ursula could tell the eldest prince had hit a nerve. So this is why he thinks it's over! He thinks it looks this bad to everyone. Ursula rapidly regained her composure. "Good evening, Your Royal Creepiness. What are you doing in my house?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"Oh, Ursula," Alphon chuckled. "You stupid, self-important whore. Have you no idea what's going to happen to you? I might forgive my brother in time, as he may prove to be under the influence of some odious witchcraft of yours at the moment. But you? You will pay dearly for everything you've done."

"I've done nothing wrong." She lifted her chin defiantly, her violet eyes crackling with barely-contained electricity. "Don't blame me for your father's dying wish. All I did was convey his words—"

"You invented his last words. And when the Council hears about how you subjected the king to a spell that killed him, while the so-called same spell improved countless others..." he trailed off, shaking his head in mock concern. "And then how around the same time, you lured my naïve little brother into your clutches—or is it brothers? Have you got your claws into Ganeon too? What are you doing for him in exchange for all that research? You must be exhausted," he sneered suggestively. "The Council will learn every detail of your conniving, murderous, wanton ways."

"Wanton ways!" she echoed. A scornful laugh bubbled up from the depths of Ursula's chest and ripped through her throat, throwing her head back and causing her fangs to flash in the dim light. "Do you hear yourself? You sound like a lunatic! And if you bring up any aspect of Triton's private romantic life in front of the Council, then yours shall be brought up as well. The testimony from tearful mermaids will drag on for a record number of days, no doubt, but at least it'll earn you an interesting footnote in a history book somewhere. And that's some consolation, isn't it? Since you'll never appear in one as king?"

As Alphon hurled himself at Ursula, Triton placed his body between them. "Calm down, brother," he intoned, nose to nose with his enraged kin. "Let's do nothing rash."

Alphon paused, then broke into a discordant grin. He floated backward, feigning sudden nonchalance. "Fine. Things have been boring around here for a long time. Let's have fun with our little game, shall we?"

"It's not a game!" Triton bellowed. One arm was still placed protectively across Ursula's torso. "None of this is a game!"

"See?! I love it already! The earnest but foolhardly little brother. The wicked slut that's leading him astray. And the prince that rises above it all to take his rightful place as king and exact justice." Alphon was lazily threading his way through the tiny house as he spoke, pausing frequently to study and touch Ursula's belongings.

Ursula slid around both mermen and flung her door wide open. "Get out," she said calmly. "I had better never catch you skulking about my house again, Prince Alphon. If you didn't get the message the first time with the piranhas, I will find a bigger messenger."

Alphon sauntered past her. "Expect everything to be revisited tenfold upon you, Ursula," he said loftily. She clicked the door closed behind him.

Triton and Ursula watched him retreat through the window. "Does nothing frighten you?" Triton marveled aloud, taking Ursula's hand.

"I get frightened sometimes, but not by him," she asserted. It was a half-truth averred for Triton's benefit. "For example, I feel scared when you talk about us like we're doomed. Like it's over before it's really begun." She caressed his face with her free hand and he melted into it, his eyes fluttering closed. "And I'm afraid I'm never going to get more than a stolen minute alone with you here and there. Can't we please spend some real time together tomorrow night?"

"I can't tomorrow—"

"The next night, then?"

"Ursula, you know I'd love to, but—"

"Then meet me," she implored. "You will love it. Meet me at nightfall near those giant rocks at the edge of Atlantica. The ones that look like whales."

"By the Uncivilized Waters?" Triton was aghast.

"Yes. There. Meet me in two nights. I promise you won't regret it."

Triton exhaled slowly, clearly out of fight for the day. "Thank goodness you're on my side, Ursula, because I can't win against you." He smiled wearily. "I'll meet you there."