Read Online Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch by Serena Valentino - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Serena Valentino
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from her sorrow and fear.
“Now, my little angel cake, I trust you won’t go flinging yourself off any more cliffs for the love of a man who doesn’t deserve you. And I daresay if another man does fall in love with you, you’ll know he loves you for yourself and not how your beauty reflects upon him, and, my sweet cheeks, if that day comes, I will return to you your voice.”
Tulip answered Ursula with a weak smile, and Ruby looked to her sisters, who were intently watching the scene. “This is the day Ursula saved Tulip from drowning after the Beast prince broke her heart. Where is Triton? We asked to see the last time brother and sister spoke, not this nonsense!”
Martha looked panicked. “I think you did the spell wrong, Lucinda. I told you the meter was off! This isn’t even the right time period!”
Lucinda looked as though she might strangle her sisters. She could see herself taking their skinny little necks in her bony hands and squeezing the life from them.
“Well, that’s a pretty scene you’ve conjured, Lucinda, I must say!”
Lucinda looked at Ruby as though she were a strange bug. “‘I must say’? Since when do you say things like ‘I must say’?” She scoffed and continued. “Sisters, please! I’m sure Triton will show eventually.”
In the flames Ursula sighed as she watched Tulip walk the path that led to her father’s castle; then the sea witch disappeared beneath the water. She actually felt bad for the poor little princess, not because she had lost her beauty, but because she had never truly appreciated it when she had it. Ursula was swimming home, feeling sullen, for her own losses as well as Tulip’s, when a tightening grip seized her stomach at the sight of Triton’s shell chariot outside her entrance. A deep anger swelled within her as she thought of him in her home.
How dare he enter without my permission!
He had often taken those liberties with her, not because they were kin, but because he saw it as his right. He had forsaken her long before, when he had banished her from his kingdom—not that he’d ever accepted her into his life during her time at the palace. He had never really tried to love her as a sister.
But that was a lifetime ago,
she thought. Those days when she’d lived in his kingdom were like a faded nightmare now, hazy and out of reach. Now she lived in her own waters, the Unprotected Waters, far from Triton and his sycophantic subjects. Only the most desperate of those subjects came to Ursula’s realm, and she was more than happy to oblige them.
Triton had painted her as a creature capable of only evil and wrongdoing. He would never dare admit that she had something to offer his people, despite the fact that together they could have ruled far better than either of them could alone. Surely that was what their mother and father had planned when they were alive. That was why they split their power between them, putting his into his trident and hers in the golden shell necklace Triton had taken from her when she was sent from his kingdom. He couldn’t use her power even if he wanted to, not without her permission. Only she could wield her power, but he’d rather hoard it than let her have it, her rightful inheritance, and her rightful place at his side.
If she were able, she could reclaim that power, and with a little help from the sister witches, she might easily dethrone her brother. Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha listened intently to Ursula’s musings while watching her in the enchanted flames.
“Ah, there is the tyrant king,” said Lucinda as the sisters watched Ursula slither into the gaping-maw entryway of her home. They heard the little cries and pleas for help from the creatures in her garden of lost souls. Ursula smiled at Harold. He had been the first of her victims and therefore with her the longest; she had come to look at him as one of her favorites. There was something about his sorrowful gaze that made her smile.
“Hello, Harold, my
“Now, my little angel cake, I trust you won’t go flinging yourself off any more cliffs for the love of a man who doesn’t deserve you. And I daresay if another man does fall in love with you, you’ll know he loves you for yourself and not how your beauty reflects upon him, and, my sweet cheeks, if that day comes, I will return to you your voice.”
Tulip answered Ursula with a weak smile, and Ruby looked to her sisters, who were intently watching the scene. “This is the day Ursula saved Tulip from drowning after the Beast prince broke her heart. Where is Triton? We asked to see the last time brother and sister spoke, not this nonsense!”
Martha looked panicked. “I think you did the spell wrong, Lucinda. I told you the meter was off! This isn’t even the right time period!”
Lucinda looked as though she might strangle her sisters. She could see herself taking their skinny little necks in her bony hands and squeezing the life from them.
“Well, that’s a pretty scene you’ve conjured, Lucinda, I must say!”
Lucinda looked at Ruby as though she were a strange bug. “‘I must say’? Since when do you say things like ‘I must say’?” She scoffed and continued. “Sisters, please! I’m sure Triton will show eventually.”
In the flames Ursula sighed as she watched Tulip walk the path that led to her father’s castle; then the sea witch disappeared beneath the water. She actually felt bad for the poor little princess, not because she had lost her beauty, but because she had never truly appreciated it when she had it. Ursula was swimming home, feeling sullen, for her own losses as well as Tulip’s, when a tightening grip seized her stomach at the sight of Triton’s shell chariot outside her entrance. A deep anger swelled within her as she thought of him in her home.
How dare he enter without my permission!
He had often taken those liberties with her, not because they were kin, but because he saw it as his right. He had forsaken her long before, when he had banished her from his kingdom—not that he’d ever accepted her into his life during her time at the palace. He had never really tried to love her as a sister.
But that was a lifetime ago,
she thought. Those days when she’d lived in his kingdom were like a faded nightmare now, hazy and out of reach. Now she lived in her own waters, the Unprotected Waters, far from Triton and his sycophantic subjects. Only the most desperate of those subjects came to Ursula’s realm, and she was more than happy to oblige them.
Triton had painted her as a creature capable of only evil and wrongdoing. He would never dare admit that she had something to offer his people, despite the fact that together they could have ruled far better than either of them could alone. Surely that was what their mother and father had planned when they were alive. That was why they split their power between them, putting his into his trident and hers in the golden shell necklace Triton had taken from her when she was sent from his kingdom. He couldn’t use her power even if he wanted to, not without her permission. Only she could wield her power, but he’d rather hoard it than let her have it, her rightful inheritance, and her rightful place at his side.
If she were able, she could reclaim that power, and with a little help from the sister witches, she might easily dethrone her brother. Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha listened intently to Ursula’s musings while watching her in the enchanted flames.
“Ah, there is the tyrant king,” said Lucinda as the sisters watched Ursula slither into the gaping-maw entryway of her home. They heard the little cries and pleas for help from the creatures in her garden of lost souls. Ursula smiled at Harold. He had been the first of her victims and therefore with her the longest; she had come to look at him as one of her favorites. There was something about his sorrowful gaze that made her smile.
“Hello, Harold, my
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