in Ursula's voice. "A package, perhaps?"
"Very amusing, Ursula. You're so...funny," Ariel said, trying not to let her anger show.
"Thank you. Nice legs, by the way."
"Thank you," Ariel said. "I made them myself."
"Oh, yes...you're 'Queen of the Sea' now. With all the powers and privileges thereof. And the trident." Her eyes flicked greedily over Ariel, looking for some sign of the weapon. "Isn't it funny...? Your father could have turned you into a human any time he wanted to. But he didn't. Withholding his abilities so selfishly...trying to keep you locked up at home...."
"He was trying to protect me," Ariel said flatly. "It's not the choice I would have made in his position, but he thought he was domg best."
"But you are in his position now," Vanessa said, eyes wide and innocent. "Are you telling me that if you had a daughter, you would just—let her go?"
"If I had a daughter I would make sure she had every opportunity to do what she wanted to enrich her life. Sometimes being a good parent means knowing when to let go."
"Well, well, isn't that a thoughtful and mature philosophy," Vanessa said, looking at her nails. "Never really had the inclination for children myself—except as dessert."
Ariel just gave her a look, and it wasn't one of horror. One of the most tiring aspects of Ursula wasn't even her villainy; it was her constant bid for attention, for shock value, for turning the conversation back to herself. "I believe you took somethmg of mine/ Ursula said. "I believe you took somethmg of mine," Ariel retorted.
"I believe I traded that from you fairly, m return for somethmg of mine. My magic to help you win your man." "It wasn't a fair trade. You were preying on my desperation and knew that I would fail."
"I believe you were, as they say, of sound mind and body when we made the deal. No one forced you into it and you knew exactly what you were doing." "I was a dumb, innocent girl!" Ariel snapped, disappointing herself.
You 're a queen now, not that innocent girl. Do not sink to her level. She is beneath you.
"And it's been—what? Five or six years since then?" Vanessa asked innocently. "Nothing in the span of a mermaid's life. The tiniest fraction of a percentage. But I suppose you're all grown up now?"
"I have grown," Ariel said frostily. "And I am queen. And I suspect that if we were to go back and reexamine those three days from all sides, like a god, we would see that you had cheated somehow. Even before you used my own voice and someone else's body and your magic to steal Eric from me!"
"There was no noncompete clause," Vanessa said, almost reasonably. "I never said I couldn't go after the same lovely human. He is lovely, by the way."
Ariel knew the witch was trying to get a rise out of her.
...and she was succeeding; the mermaid could feel warmth rismg to her cheeks.
"Please. He has no tail or tentacles. I doubt you find him attractive at all. He's just a pawn m an elaborate game to pumsh me and my father."
"You got me there," Vanessa sighed dramatically.
"Thank you. Now give me my father."
"He's not in the carriage, sweetest. He's not anywhere you can get him. I have other plans for the King of the Sea—none of which involve you or the zoo of the king of Ibria. Both of you fooled... It's quite delicious, really. The king is getting a gift, a lesser member of my pretty polyps. Not that the stupid human could tell the difference."
"Very cleverly done," Ariel said coldly. "I suppose you have to resort to plain trickery since your powers don't work on land."
"Well, perhaps my magic doesn't. Not yet," Vanessa allowed—but a quick twist of fury that came and went like lightning across her face spoke of something that irked her deeply. That definitely merits further investigation later. "But I have other powers, you know. Power over the infinite corruptibility of humans. Power over absolute sacks of gold—which you and I couldn't care less about, but these people worship more than their gods. Power over life and death m that castle where your darling prmce lives."
"Ursula. I know Father exiled you from the kmgdom, and you wanted revenge on him. But why involve me?"
"Well, you were a pawn, dear, of course. Another lovely pawn," Vanessa said with a sensual shrug. "The best way to get at Triton was through his favorite daughter."
"I'm not—"
'Please,