“Do note that this exercise is an optional one. To reveal who you truly are is always a risk, but perhaps the reward will be beyond what you could ever imagine.”
The queen dipped her head ever so slightly and then vanished once more through the pearl walls.
“The sooner we’re done with this, the faster we can leave,” said Edmea, pinching her nose as she reached for some flowers.
Ursula shuddered. “That’s true enough—Demelza! Demelza, what about your perfume?”
“You heard the queen! It’s only an optional exercise, which I’m choosing not to exercise!” said Demelza as she hastened to the exit.
Talvi called after her, but by then, Demelza was too far away to hear what she’d said. She needed to get out of that room. Inside that chamber of pearl, all she could hear was a storm full of whispers.
Little bird little bird, what do you want?
Your past is a hunger and your future is a taunt…
Little bird little bird, you want all you can get
You and your reflection have only just met…
Demelza had not been the only one affected by the pearl chamber, but the whispers had revealed that she could never answer the question of who she was… and in truth, there was no need for her to do so. It wasn’t as though she was a real contestant, anyway.
Outside the pearl chamber, Demelza tried to forget the whispers, but they scuttled about in her mind. Annoyed, Demelza tried to sing them away. She continued singing as she stared at the water, watching the lace of sea-foam that the waves knitted one second only to unravel the next. Her voice rose higher, matching the ocean’s chaos until—
“This is either a fortuitous or dangerous meeting,” said a familiar voice.
Not far away stood Prince Arris. He was attired rather informally. The sleeves of his ivory shirt were rolled to his elbows and his trousers were cuffed to his knees. His vest, black silk embroidered with silver stars, was unbuttoned. As usual, he was barefoot. Less usual, he looked thoroughly rumpled and creased, as if he had not slept well in ages. When he saw her, he broke out into a huge grin, which immediately annoyed her.
“What are you doing?” demanded Demelza.
Arris did not look as though he wished to answer, but the truth magic of Demelza’s song was impossible to withstand.
Arris looked mortified. He clamped his lips shut, but the words snuck out anyway:
“Daydreaming.”
Demelza wasn’t going to push the question any further,but perhaps her magic felt as if it had been improperly utilized, because Arris gasped for breath and, in a rush, declared:
“For some reason I have been daydreaming about being cursed and turned into a statue that women from all over the world weep over and kiss in an attempt to bring me back to life, but it’s to no avail and then hundreds of years later a beautiful woman says she longs to know who I really was and kisses me and that’s when I come back to life and all this stone and rubble falls off my arms as we embrace and birds sing and everyone I ever wooed feels terrible about having tried to kill me.”
Arris blinked. His face turned red. He heaved and gasped for more air before holding up his hand:
“Demelza, I beg of you, please do not ask any more questions. My daydreams are a theatrical and depressing realm and they are bad enough to wander through without the embarrassment of divulging them to anyone else.”
“Fine,” said Demelza.
She almost crossed her arms, but didn’t want to look upset. There was no reason for her to be angry.
“What are you doing there?” asked Arris.
“Avoiding your mother’s optional trial of fragrances,” said Demelza.
“Ah,” said Arris. “I take it you had no interest in distilling Essence of Demelza?”
“It’s intended as an exercise for the future queen and, as you know, I am not a real contestant.”
Arris’s grin fell. “Yes. True. I keep forgetting that.”
Demelza was clearly in a mood to torture herself, for she then added:
