Part of Your World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,100

bringing in hot tea. It was served the traditional Tirulian way, with lots of sugar and cinnamon and cardamom.

Eric sighed. The other man had still been distant and, well, grim, since the prmce had ordered him to stop helpmg.

"Grimsby old boy, someday; you're gomg to have to forgive me for trying to protect your life. It's what prmces do. Well, good ones, anyway."

"Of course, sir," Grimsby said crisply. He put down a napkm and the saucer and eyed Eric's drawing. "Oh, you're still working on the opera. I daresay you have a lot else on your mmd right now...." "No kidding. And no, this isn't for the opera. I should really just put that on hold for a while, until other thmgs.. .clear up."

"I wouldn't necessarily do that. Your Highness. Everyone is lookmg forward to the show. Now may not be the best time to ostracize your subjects. And it's a convenient way to keep certain people thinking you're, well, thinking about other things. Distracted, you know, when your keen mmd is focused elsewhere..."

"That's not a bad point, Grims. All right, then! The show must go on!"

"Good for you, sir. You know...I must really get the carpenters and seamstresses to redo the royal box at the amphitheatre. Apparently, it's been quite...decorated by seagulls and the like. We don't want to upset the...er... refined sensibilities of Princess Vanessa. You know how she likes everything around her to look perfect when she's the center of attention. Probably have to add some gold flourishes or something, too..."

"Yes, she...wait ...What?" Eric suddenly looked up at his butler. "What did you just say? What did you really just say? About Vanessa?"

"The prmcess enjoys flaunting her questionable taste and wealth?" Grimsby stammered.

"Grimsby, old man, you're a geniusV Eric kissed the confused butler on both cheeks, the Tirulian way, and ran out of the room. "Thank you?" the Bretlandian said, dabbmg at his cheek with the napkm. "Whuff?" Max asked, watching the prince go. "No idea," Grimsby said with a sigh.

"Sssso, which one did she wind up choosing to send to Ibna: in Triton's place?"

The two eels-become-men were walking side by side: shoulders touching, making their rounds of the castle. Paying out the spies, threatening servants who wouldn't snitch, stealing bits in the kitchen m front of everyone and snickering about it....the usual afternoon's work.

"GarahieL" Jetsam answered, thin lips pulled back over a toothy grin. Neither one of them opened their mouths very far when they spoke; they were all teeth and tongue.

Flotsam laughed a long, hissmg strain of laughter. "Excellent choice! I always hated him. Of course, I always hated all of them."

"Oh, but he was a pretty one. He is ssso fit to be in the zoo of a king!"

"Well, he was a pretty one," Flotsam amended. "And lucky fellow, too, escaping what Ursula has planned." "He'll be the only one!"

They both laughed and laughed, and when a maid looked at them m disgust, they couldn't quite hold back from snapping their necks and jaws at her like the predators they were. Transformations only went so far....

It was a puzzle.

Not unlike the puzzle of finding the right member of the Kravi to sing the story of Proserpine in the Equinocturnal Celebrations, but far more important.

(She decided, as Attina had suggested, to have the younger sister smg it, and make the older brother Director of the Celebrations. It was an honor in name only. Everyone already knew what to do and where to stand; they had been performing the Rites for thousands of years.)

How could they expose Ursula's true nature to as many humans as possible?

She signed bills, listened to complaints, chose chariots, finally worked out an equitable payment plan with the pesky- barracuda, and considered the possibilities.

Ursula could... review all the troops. She could give a speech about the prowess of Tirulia as a military force while striding up and down in front of the rank and file of soldiers. But...by the sea! And then a giant wave could come and splash her....And her tentacles and true form would be revealed!

Ursula could...have a new warship built and take it out to christen it! Didn't humans do that silly thing where they wasted a bottle of wine, breaking it over the prow of the ship? And while Vanessa was there, surrounded by her crew, a wave could lap over the side and...

What if Ursula had a birthday party, and the chef baked a giant three-tiered cake, and Ariel was hiding inside, and when the sea witch