Ursula rolled her eyes. She could almost pity her brother for ruling over such imbeciles. Almost.
The guards lumbered past. Ursula resumed her escape, only to pause again when she turned the nextcorner. There, standing at the far end of the hall, was Triton himself.
Her big brother was the only one who could see through her illusions. No matter how carefully she masked her appearance, her brother’s piercing eyes would always find her. Luckily, he was distracted now.
King Triton stood at the edge of the coral dais, his massive frame coiled with tension. Muscles corded along his arms as he gripped his golden trident—a weapon of legend, crackling faintly with restrained power. His sea-blue eyes were stormy, his heavy brow furrowed beneath the weight of his crown. Salt-crusted strands of silver hair floated around his head like a mane, giving him the appearance of a sea god carved from wrath and stone. The long sweep of his tail, opalescent and edged with a sharp fin, flicked restlessly as he paced.
Before him hovered a much smaller figure. Sebastian stood upright on two jointed legs, the carapace of his shell polished to a lacquered red gleam. His pincers tapped together with an anxious rhythm, and his eyestalks twitched as he tried to keep pace with the king’s agitation.
“She’s still missing?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Sebastian’s voice carried the clipped, proper cadence of someone used to bearing bad news—and the bite of royal tempers.
Triton’s grip on his trident tightened. “I want every current searched.”
“Yes, sire.” Sebastian bowed low, though his voice muttered under his breath, “As if we haven’t already turned the ocean inside out…”
Triton didn’t hear. Or perhaps he did and simply chose not to respond. His gaze had already drifted, scanning the endless blue as if sheer force of will might summon his wayward daughter back to him.
Of course, it was Ariel that was missing. All of her sisters were bound to other mermen in different seas across the world. Each one an alliance that merged the waterways under Triton's command. It was Ariel, the youngest and the most spoiled, who thought she could do as she pleased and go wherever she fancied.
“I don’t understand why the princess keeps disappearing,” said a lady's maid whom Ursula somewhat recognized. The woman had been in attendance to her when she was the jewel of the crown.
"It's likely bridal nerves," suggested another. "She's set to meet her betrothed tomorrow."
Betrothed? So big brother had gone and gotten his last daughter on a hook. Ursula wondered with which sea.
"This alliance with the King of the Coastlands is vital," barked her brother.
The Coastlands? That was no sea. So that was theprice of peace? Ursula had wondered how her father and brother had gotten the Coastal King to cave. Now she knew.
If she hadn't have been banished, would that have been her fate? An arranged marriage to the Prince of the Coast? Better Ariel than her. Ursula had no interest in being any man's pawn.
“Send out a search party. We cannot afford a delay. My daughter must meet Prince Eric at the docks tomorrow morning or the trading agreement could collapse. This alliance is vital to the kingdom. She must be present. Sebastian, go and stall the prince while the guards search.”
Poor, precious Ariel. So adored, so sheltered—and so utterly incapable of handling the pressures of royal life.
Ursula had tried to warn her father. She'd told him that Triton's guppies didn't have the mettle to rule. And what had she gotten for her troubles? Passed over by her father and banished by her brother.
Well, this was them all getting their just desserts.
“Princess Ariel?”
Ursula froze for half a heartbeat before her lips curled into an amused grin. The guard’s mistake was delicious. She and Ariel shared the same dark hair and sharp features. The resemblance had always beenuncanny—a source of bitterness during her years in the court.
The guard frowned, confusion creeping into his gaze as he looked closer. “Wait... you’re not?—”
Before he could finish, Ursula straightened, her voice taking on a low, hypnotic hum as she began to sing. “You saw nothing,” she said, her words rippling through the water, melodic and irresistible. “You will not go out to look for the princess. You will go and get drunk instead. Do you understand?”
The guard’s expression went slack, his earlier suspicion dissolving under the weight of her siren’s song. “Get… drunk.”
Ursula smiled, her teeth glinting in the dim light. “Good boy. Now off you go.”
The guard swam past her, dazed but determined, his earlier mistake already forgotten.
Ursula lingered in the corridor, her mind alight with a new idea. For too long, she'd been reduced to sneaking around these waters that should've been hers. She'd been the one that had to go around hiding who she was to survive.
That would all stop. She would sneak onto the coast and meet the human prince face to face. It would be her face that he looked upon. But it would be Ariel's name that she gave him.
