“Eric?” She spoke softly. Despite being less deft on her feet than anyone naturally born to the Dry World, she moved silently, as all magical creatures did. And from the way he jumped, it was obvious he hadn’t heard her at all.
“Ariel!”
He put out his arms, then stopped.
“What did you do to my ships—to all of our ships?” he cried.
Her eyes widened. Not what she expected him to say.
“Sorry, sorry.” Eric ran a hand through his hair. “No one was killed. A couple people were hurt. Weirdly, those at risk of drowning were rescued by a couple of friendly dolphins, and, if I am to believe what the cabin boy said, one particularly old and giant terrapin.”
“Eric,” Ariel firmly interrupted. “I am the Queen of the Sea. I protect my people. There are rules in place to allow us and you to live side by side. But if something threatens my realm beyond the scope of those rules, I will respond with all the force in my power. We must put up with your fishing to some degree. But if I hear anything else about some sort of reward for the capture of my friend Flounder the ‘magical fish’ and it involves killing hundreds of other perfectly innocent fish for no reason, I will destroy every boat within my demesne—as well as the towns they launched from. Understood?”
“Oh, the devil,” Eric swore. “I thought I caught wind of some foolishness like that. Now it all makes sense. Fishermen pulling in great piles of fish, looking for something…I heard the stink was unbelievable. Flounder is…a…friend of yours?”
“Since he was a fry.”
“I’ll put a stop to it at once,” Eric promised. “For now and forever. Believe it or not, things like this have happened before. There was a rumor once that the Narvani, to the east, believed that the poisonous spine of the chimaera fish would help with…Uh…Let’s just say it would help them have babies. It’s a deepwater fish, ocean floor, but that didn’t stop every idiot from just netting up every fish around and picking through them like an old woman through spoiled lentils.”
“The greed of Dry Worlders continues to shock me,” Ariel admitted.
“Yes, well, the greed of some tentacled sea-dwellers continues to shock me, too.”
“Good point. I don’t know where the mer fall in that. I think their sin is complacency, not greed.”
Eric sighed. “I wish I could see them. It sounds like a paradise. My kind of paradise. Here, on earth, in the sea. Maybe…someday…you could take me there?”
He asked so innocently, so plainly, she was taken aback. He sounded like a little boy.
Or a little mergirl, dreaming of the warm sand.
“I’d love to,” she whispered.
He took her hand and squeezed it. She held her breath, waiting for whatever was going to come next. He started to open his mouth…
“But speaking of tentacled sea-dwellers…” the prince said reluctantly, instead of kissing her. “Vanessa has threatened something…well, large and unspeakable and terrible. Magic, I think. She seemed quite serious. She said you’ll wish you had taken her advice and returned to the sea. And she told me to pass it along to you.”
Ariel swore and tried to lash her tail. Instead, she made a funny kick-kick move, which was far less satisfying.
“Everything. Everything she does. Every time I think I have her beat, or at least in a corner, she figures out something to do! I get my voice back; she keeps me from going back to the castle by threatening my father. You help me; she threatens Grimsby. I think she’s sending my father away—and it turns out it’s all a trick, a trap. Now she threatens something vague and terrible. Is it true? Isn’t it? Who knows? She knows my weaknesses and yours. So we all wind up just like we’re children rearranging pieces on the board of a game of koralli.”
“I guess that’s like chess?” Eric asked.
“I guess.”
They fell into a somber silence. The air felt chill and alive against her skin. The sky was almost starless because of the moisture in the air; not quite clouds, and not quite clear, the ether was veiled. The moon had set. Tendrils of breeze picked up the edge of her skirt. She sighed again and hugged herself, something she would never have done while she was underwater, queen. She constantly felt if she did anything that was even a little less than regal, she would be ignored even more than she already was when she was mute.
“I’m sorry,” Eric said again. “I wish I had better news to bring you, but I’m still having no luck finding your father. Believe me, I’m trying. But I did find these things. This first drawing was among the military papers she still tries to keep away from me. The places on it make no sense to me at all—they are of nowhere I know. It’s where she was intending to send the fleet before you destroyed it. It’s not of any of our neighboring countries. Maybe somewhere near the western lands? Some uncharted islands off Vespucci? Or hidden in Arawakania? Or nearby, in the Ruskal Sea? Do you recognize them?”