Part of Your World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,49
off the trail of findmg her father. ..cementing our relationship with Ibria so I can proceed with our military plans. ...But right now I have to deal with a petitioner. Ridiculous, really."
Her receiving room was little more than a large study with a few bookshelves and a partially hidden door m the back that led to the library proper. Taking up most of the space was a large naval-style desk strewn with the books she was currently reading, sheaves of notes, a log for meetings, and a small burner for the teas and tisanes she told people she enjoyed for their ...medicinal properties.
Which was not entirely a lie. While being princess gave her a different land of power than she was used to—power over people rather than mystical forces—well, call her old-fashioned, but magic was still magic. Its potential for destruction surpassed everything else.
And she had none in the Dry World.
So she set to work researching magic of the land. Among the many occult trinkets she kept hidden were bloodstamed crystals; the tongues of several extinct beasts; a curvy: evil-looking knife with a shiny black blade—and several books bound m strange leather that did not smell very good. They explamed many things, from the proper sacrifice of small children to the use of certain herbs.
In one of these she ran across a particularly interesting spell known as a circuex that could potentially and permanently imbue her with magic that she could wield in the Dry World. Unfortunately it was a bit messy and bloody, involving lots of sacrificial victims, and it required one very rare component. Fortunately this component was something she just happened to have—because, as said, she was a bit of a hoarder.
She played with the new golden chain around her neck and considered.
No, not yet. Casting the circuex required an awful lot of work and commitment. And an end to her fun with Tirulia! She had such plans for the little nation.... Maybe she would pursue the matter later. For now she would work with her rather prodigious non-magical powers: manipulation, deception, and all the gold in the coffers of the kingdom.
And as for the kingdom, right then she had to deal with more pressmg princess duties. She settled herself primly mto a tiny, very ornate golden chair with delicate curled legs that ended m the sweetest little tentacles.
Flotsam took a polished brass urn from a shelf and carefully tapped out leaves that resembled ashes more than tea. Jetsam decanted water from a crystal jug into a tiny copper kettle and set it on the burner. How he lit it would have been unclear to any human watching the scene.
One never knew when a tea like this would be needed...,
"You may let m the first," Ursula announced grandly—only remembermg to whisper at the end.
"Lucio Aron, of the St. George Fishermen's Cooperative," Flotsam said snidely. Ursula tried to not roll her eyes. She was a princess. She did not have time for fools such as this.
A small man with clothes noticeably shabbier than the metalworkers' came in, bowing as he went. He clutched his cap and seemed generally uncomfortable.
"Thank you for seeing me. Your Highness." One hand went from his cap to his mustache, a plain, albeit thick, salt-and-pepper affair. His brown eyes were almost fully shaded by woolly eyebrows. "I wish my daughter could have come. She loves all the...royal things, you know. Prmcess things. Gowns, teacups, golden spoons. She's even mooning over several of the Drefui boys—sons of the duke, you know I told her, 'You'll always be my princess, but don't set your sights above your station. "
"What is it you want?" Ursula whispered, barely able to contain her irritability.
"Beg pardon?" he asked, leaning forward.
"What," she whispered as loudly as she dared. "Do. You. Want."
"Oh." He blinked, surprised at what he saw as an odd change m the conversation. He took his cap off and twisted it in his hands, dark skin cracking mto white lmes around his knuckles and wrists and palms and scars. "It's just... we need a new fishing trawler. Your Highness. I mean, I would like us to get it, of course, but one of the other companies would be better than nothing. We've been short one since the Chanderra sank."
"We're in the middle of a number of military campaigns," Ursula whispered haughtily. "I can't be throwing money around willy-nilly."