Prince of Song & Sea
: Chapter 17

URSULA wasn’t a particularly witchy name. It was like any other name of any other person, except Ursula had ruined a half dozen lives in the pursuit of power.

Eric glanced around the room—Nora was muttering the name to herself like a bitter prayer, Gabriella and Vanni were staring at Eric, and Ariel had one hand clenched over her heart as if the name itself had hurt.

“But why do this?” asked Vanni. “So many cons, all of them long and complicated.”

Malek nodded. “Power is a heady thing. Ursula is a strong witch, but because she uses souls, she largely goes unrecognized. To manipulate the soul is a terrible thing. It is a violation of a person’s self at the deepest level and a field of magic most avoid. I suspect she started studying it after being wronged several times, but she was never specific when discussing what had happened, only that it had, and that she had been in the right and unfairly treated.”

Ariel snorted.

“She was unfairly treated?” Gabriella asked. “So what? She gets to mistreat the rest of us?”

“Not anymore,” Eric said. “Any advice for when we do deal with Ursula again? Does she have a weakness?”

The promise of seeing her soon still made Eric’s hair stand on end.

“She only told me the stories in which she was the victor,” Malek said and shook his head. “Most of her power comes from deals, and she thankfully hasn’t managed to acquire the magical artifacts she’s been after yet. She is not some sort of god who can only be killed with a specific weapon or by striking her heel. I believe she can be killed like any other person, but getting close enough to do that would be the difficult part.”

Malek smiled apologetically at Eric.

The door to the quarters opened, and Sauer stalked in. “I need everyone on deck to see what I’m witnessing and tell me if it’s the witch.”

Everyone rushed out. Eric and Vanni helped Malek navigate the dry deck when he asked, and Ariel draped him in a water-soaked blanket once they reached the prow. The ship and sea were washed in the golden light of late afternoon. The sun was no longer stuck on high noon as it had been on the Isle of Serein, and a smear of fog lingered on the horizon behind them. Ahead of them, with the first portents of night behind the hill, was Cloud Break Bay.

“That’s impossible,” Eric said with a gasp. “We left at dusk and were gone for hours. We shouldn’t have reached it this quickly.”

Sauer nodded. “We didn’t hit the fog till we were farther away, too, but when we emerged from it, we were here.”

Eric used a hand to shade his eyes, trying to see as much of the bay as he could. Max slunk out of the hull with a huff and sat himself between Eric’s feet.

“Hey, coward,” Eric said and reached down to pet him. “Does that look like home?”

Max let out a soft woof, and Eric pointed toward the docks.

“The ships are all docked in the same order as they were when we left,” he said. “No time has passed.”

“Yes, this is how the fog works,” said Malek, hauling himself up on the railing to see. “It transports you to exactly when and where you were when you first set out for the Isle of Serein. Ursula got tired of spending so much time traveling and finalized that trick about three years ago, I think. The years are a bit of a blur.”

“Imagine what else Ursula could do if she tried,” muttered Nora as they came into port.

Eric scowled. “She’s trying, but it’s all only for herself.”

The ship docked beneath the castle where no one would see them. The hull was covered in odd scratches and smudges of eel ooze. A few scorch marks from the electricity marred the wood, and most of the crew seemed desperate to sleep without interruption before dealing with people. The privacy was good for Malek, too, and he would be staying near the ship to spend time with Nora.

“I have told you what I know about the witch since your accident led to my release, and because of Nora,” he said to Eric before leaving to speak with his niece, “but I only escaped her through pure accident, and I will not subject myself to such danger again. She stole seven years of my life from me. I won’t throw this new life away for you.”

Which was more than fair.

Eric lingered near the back of the ship to think. Surely it would be obvious when Ursula arrived to Cloud Bay, the conqueror finally laying claim to the land they had attacked from afar. She seemed the sort to enjoy fanfare.

If he did nothing, Ursula and Sait would wear Vellona down eventually.

If he did anything, Ursula would kill him or whomever he sent. Snatch them away as easily as she had his mother.

Thinking of his mother left an ache in Eric’s chest. Leaving her on the Isle had been like losing her all over again. The realization that her ghost was being puppeteered by Ursula had taken the smoldering coal of his grief and rekindled it. He sniffed and rubbed his face, exhausted by the scent of salt. He would do anything for his mother to be with him now to tell him what he should do next.

Footsteps padded down the deck toward him. Eric lifted his head and patted his cheeks, trying to look less panicked. It was only Ariel, though, and she beamed when he met her gaze. Eric smiled back and thanked his nearly two decades of propriety training for keeping him together. She sat down next to him.

Despite her smile, her body was tense. Eric laughed.

“Do you want to ask about my curse?”

She nodded.

Of course she did. He would have if their roles were reversed, and he had sprung it on her rather suddenly. It felt right, revealing it on the ship, and he didn’t regret it. He just wished it were less relevant. Less painful.

“I was never supposed to talk about it. Only Mother, Gabriella, Vanni, Grimsby, and Carlotta have ever known about it, but I don’t think I can hide it anymore,” he said. “I always have to be careful, always have to make excuses, and always have to separate myself from the people around me without an explanation, and it’s exhausting.”

He felt lighter, as if he had been carrying his curse around his shoulders and speaking had divvied the weight between them. He wasn’t alone.

Ariel made a gesture he understood as thank you.

“You deserve to know. You risked your life going on this voyage with me. We wouldn’t have survived without you.” He shrugged. “So, questions?”

She brought her hand up to her mouth and kissed her fingertips. Then she tapped him four times.

Eric smiled. “No, no kissing at all. I can’t kiss anyone or let them kiss me. The curse was vague, so we were never sure if it was a kiss on the lips or any sort of kiss at all. I stayed clear of anything that could be considered a kiss.”

Ariel’s face fell and tears gathered in her eyes. Eric stifled his confusion at the sudden reaction, patting her on the shoulder. She was kind and loving, so of course she was upset about him not being able to kiss anyone or replace love. It didn’t help that they’d gone through an odd, dangerous experience. Even Eric felt all over the place.

But dealing with Ariel’s emotions was much better than facing his own.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Kissing’s not the end-all, be-all, and now we’re closer than ever to breaking the curse. It is what it is. But I guess now you can see why I was a little awkward after the, uh, lagoon incident earlier.”

Ariel let out something that might have been a hiccup or a laugh and covered her face.

“Everything hitting you at once?” asked Eric, rubbing her back. He was eager to move away from any more talk about kissing. “It’s been a wild few days, and you only washed up here yesterday.”

The whole of Ariel seemed to deflate. She closed her eyes, shoulders slumping.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked.

She nodded, cracking one eye open, and blew the last strand of hair from her face. It flopped right back down.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Her nose wrinkled.

“Ariel,” he said and tucked the strand behind her ear. “I hid my curse from everyone my entire life. It would be extremely hypocritical if I demanded you tell me all of your secrets on our second day of knowing each other.”

She smiled, albeit sadly, and blew him a kiss.

“See, that’s safe,” he said. “I can kiss Max, too. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, I promise that I am fine. Don’t worry about me.”

She made a talking motion with one hand and peeked up at him, pointing to herself and then her heart.

“Ah, you got to be emotional, so now it’s my turn?’

She nodded, and a shot of affection ran through him when he saw her stretching out her bare toes. Talking was helping, but it wasn’t making his choices any easier.

“I need to get married, but I have kept myself separated from others for so long that I don’t even know how to begin to care for someone else,” he said, and after the first few words, it all came tumbling out of him. He had never discussed his fears about this with his mother. She had made up the rules to keep him alive; he couldn’t bear to make her feel guilty for that. “Love terrifies me. The concept of it. The reality. Every part of it. How can I replace it, enjoy it, want it, when my expression of love is warped by this curse? I know not being able to kiss someone doesn’t make me lesser, but still… the fear is always there.”

Ariel made a few gestures he couldn’t understand and huffed. She chewed on her bottom lip.

It warmed the cold part of him that felt separate from the rest of people that she was trying to understand and not fix him, though.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re thinking of an idea, right? That’s why you can’t draw it?”

She nodded and stared up at the sky. Then she covered her eyes with one hand and pretended to dive into the sand. Of course—why couldn’t he do the brave thing and love anyway? He wasn’t sure he could take a leap of faith he was always warned would kill him. She had so much more courage than he ever had.

“I would love to be brave,” he said, “but I admit to not knowing what that entails.”

What was the point of bravery if it killed him? He was supposed to be brave—that was what propriety and history and myth said. It was demanded of men over and over, but he didn’t want to be brave like that, closing his eyes and diving headfirst. He wanted to live.

What was so wrong with that? Why couldn’t everyone else be patient?

He took a deep breath. “I don’t know if any of this will even matter if we end up fighting Ursula. I don’t want her to take my choice away from me again. If we kill her, I’m free to choose whoever I want. I can exist without the threat of dying or the worry of choosing wrong. I heard her once, my true love, after she saved me when I was shipwrecked. It’s part of the curse. A true love with a voice as pure as her soul. How am I supposed to be happy not knowing her?”

Ariel’s head cocked to the side, and her hand drifted to her throat.

“I didn’t know about that part of the curse before. My mother never told me,” he whispered. “It already feels so personal. I’d know her voice anywhere. Is that selfish of me?”

It was his choice, but it was Ariel’s opinion he wanted. It was her he—

Eric shook his head. He couldn’t go down that path; not yet.

“Trust,” she mouthed.

Ariel took his face in her hands and turned him to look at her. She flicked his nose. Then, gently, she laid her hand over his heart. Eric nodded and covered her hand with his.

He could learn to be brave.

Eric and Ariel joined the rest of the crew on the quarterdeck a short while later. Most were staying on the ship—Nora was camping on the beach so that she could talk to Malek—and Vanni and Gabriella were eager to return home. Knowing that Ursula was on her way, everyone wanted a nice night of peace before whatever new issue the next day brought. They all planned to meet the next morning at the dining hall, and Eric wandered up to the castle with Ariel to tell Grimsby what happened. Carlotta swooped in and took Ariel away, insisting on a bath and a physician to look at the scratches left by the eels. Grimsby followed Eric to his quarters.

Their conversation lasted the better part of two hours, drifting from Ursula to the Isle to what had happened with his mother’s ghost, and it left Eric feeling far less confident than his talk with Ariel had. Explaining to Grimsby that he hadn’t killed the witch and that now she was heading toward the bay made him feel like a child again. At least he had all the letters and contracts from the Isle of Serein to back up his claims. They had plenty of evidence now that Sait was behind the storms and raids.

“I told you no good would come of this,” muttered Grimsby. “Do you know how to kill her, at least?”

“She can die like anyone else,” said Eric, looking away from Grimsby. “And I think evidence of Sait breaking our deals is good enough.”

“We’ll see.” The man scowled.

Eric had never even truly met Ursula, and yet she dictated so much of his life—how close he could get to his mother, how intimate his friendships could be, his love life, and his ability to serve Vellona. He had lived in fear for so long.

“It was always her, Grim.” Eric closed his eyes and turned back to his adviser. “Everything was her. Sait is paying her to ravage the coast with storms to weaken us, Altfeld promised her land if she could ensure they conquered Riva, and Glowerhaven is paying her to weaken Imber and us. Imber stuck by its deal with my mother, but how long will that last? She’s pinpointed what every kingdom wants and is giving it to them while also supporting their soon-to-be rival. No matter what happens to Vellona, she is set to ruin and rule these lands.”

“It is hard to imagine that there was a single person at the center of all of our troubles,” said Grimsby. “That everything she did from afar affected us so deeply.”

Eric stared out at the hushed night that had fallen over the bay. Even the birds were quieter, their calls warbling in the dark. Or perhaps Eric’s pounding headache was drowning out the normal bustle of the castle. The horizon was blessedly dark, filled with flickering lights and the soft glow of the lighthouse down the coast, and only Ariel’s windows were still the dim gold of candlelight. She flitted about behind the curtains for a while, dancing to some tune only she could hear. Every now and then, she leapt.

“Do you think the pure voice mentioned in my curse is literal?” Eric asked, more to himself than to Grimsby. Eric had not thought much about his mystery savior while out at sea. Before, he had been so excited to believe that his destined true love was out there, but now her existence felt like another weight for him to carry. He raised his flute to his lips.

The first few notes were sharp and sweet, but this time, he played his savior’s song. Grimsby’s shoes shuffled against the floor behind him, and Eric resisted the urge to turn and watch the unflappable man pace. Eventually, he came to rest next to Eric against the banister. Eric didn’t stop his lament of a song.

“Eric, if I may say—far better than any dream girl is one of flesh and blood, one warm and caring, and right before your eyes.”

He patted Eric on the shoulder and left Eric alone. Across the courtyard, Ariel paused her dancing before her window. She stared out over the bay, smiling, and slipped back through the curtains. The candlelight in her room faded. Eric let his song die.

What if he couldn’t kill Ursula? Or what if he did kill her, but his curse remained? Would he be stuck forever trying to replace his dream girl? Wouldn’t making a decision now be the bravest thing he could do?

Hang the curse and hang true love. He shouldn’t have been forced to question himself every waking moment and to live his life within the bounds of his curse. If he chose someone despite his curse, wouldn’t that be love? True love? No force—political or magical—could take that choice from him. He wasn’t even sure his savior was real.

If she was, she hadn’t stayed.

Eric backed up and took a running leap, tossing his flute as far as he could into the sea. He couldn’t let something that had happened to him before he was born dictate how he lived anymore.

Ariel had been brave. It was his turn.

If she would have him, together they could replace a way to break the curse in another way, kill Ursula, or live as happily as they could. Together, they—

A voice echoed out across the rocks, high and clear as a bell. The tune of his song, his savior’s song, broke through the crash of the waves against the beach, and all thoughts of speaking to Ariel slipped from his head.