Cosmas burst into the room.
"So now you show your face. How long as it been? Three weeks?" Ursula drawled.
"I know what you're doing, Ursula, and I don't appreciate it."
"The girls want training. I'm coordinating that."
"You're assigning four individuals to me, two of which don't even want to study divination!"
"I never really wanted to study it either, but that never dimmed your enthusiasm."
Cosmas furrowed his brow. "Then why did you tell Ephram you did?"
Ursula dismissed his question with the flick of a hand. "So when do they start?" she asked loftily.
"Alice and Wilhelmina can begin tomorrow, but I'm not forcing Bernhardina and Wemegreth to do anything. Especially when I suspect you'll claim to Ephram that I was too preoccupied with four students to teach you."
"Oh, please. This has never been about you being too busy," Ursula said, rolling her eyes. "Do I really have to explain to you that I'm in the midst of coordinating training and work schedules for almost 50 new practitioners? That I have to find space which doesn't actually exist in the temple to accommodate everyone? That I must take stock of our supplies and get approval from the royals for more resources? If your soothsaying were worth a damn, you'd have known I wouldn't have time to train with you while fulfilling this role!"
To his credit, Cosmas ignored the insult. He spoke in a controlled tone. "In the beginning I saw you working around the clock, so I understood. But now, you leave work at the same hour every afternoon. Let's be honest here. You have ample time to train with me and teach two cuttlemaids some healing spells."
"Don't presume to know what I have time for or what I'm doing outside the temple! Even if I'm choosing to rest, that's not something I have to justify to the likes of you."
"Rest? Ursula, great power comes with great responsibility—"
"Spare me, Cosmas. Spare me the lecture on a topic about which you know nothing."
Cosmas crossed his arms in front of his chest and sighed wearily. "I'm glad Ephram will be back soon. Maybe he can talk some sense into you."
"I'm glad too! I want to move on with my life."
"Meaning?"
"I don't want to be High Priestess forever. What, and have everyone think they can lay claim to my every waking hour? Ha! I don't think so. It's been fun, but—"
"You—you're not planning to remain High Priestess once Ephram returns?" Cosmas was shaking.
"No. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that."
"On the contrary..." Cosmas trailed off as he stumbled backward toward the door. "I hope you'll change your mind." Still trembling, he turned and fled.
Ursula rubbed her forehead. "Everyone's so dramatic today," she muttered.
***
After the fight with Cosmas, Ursula spent even less time at the temple. During her fifth month as High Priestess, it was hard to catch her at all—not that anyone wanted to. Word had spread about her temper and tentacled folk steered clear of her as much as possible. In a weird twist that annoyed her to no end, Bernhardina and Wemegreth decided to stay on with Cosmas.
Ursula instead spent time working with the nautilus and trying to win over Galataye; time truly was running out on that front. She also invested more time in the royal mother's closest confidantes: her daughters. The twins were already warm and friendly, but would Halimede and Psamanthe advocate for her once she and Triton announced their intentions? Ursula wanted to improve her odds. At least she could be certain that Ganeon would support her and Triton. He was one of her best friends by now.
Amazingly, Ursula and Triton had managed to conceal the true nature of their relationship from everyone despite living in the palace together and seeing each other daily. Only Sebastian, Flotsam, and Jetsam were privy to the truth, and that was because they kept watch for the lovers at night. Sebastian still relayed messages from time to time, as well. Ursula wasn't about to speak to Triton through the eels and frighten him.
On the last night of the fifth month, Ursula summoned all her courage and told Triton that which she had put off speaking about for as long as possible.
She waited until he was sated and comfortable, then said "My love, there's something you need to know."
"Oh?"
She took his hands into her own. "Part of me is inside you." Dammit, I should have rehearsed this.
Triton smiled. "Well, sure. You're forever in my heart."
"Great, but—I mean it literally. When I operated on you after that attack, I used parts of my own tentacle to rebuild your organs. I was told my flesh contained healing magic, and it turned out to be true. Look at you...you're better than ever."
"Your tentacle? You managed to keep one of the tentacles Alphon severed from you?"
"I managed to keep both, actually, but that's irrelevant. What you need to know is that this binds us together for eternity."
"Then I shall thank you twice for doing it." Triton pulled her in for a smoldering kiss. When she tried to speak, he kissed her a second time.
"Is that all, my dear?" Triton smiled.
"I'm not sure. What I think it means is that we cannot hurt one another without feeling pain ourselves. Our bodies have been linked by this process. And strange things might happen over time..."
"Like what?"
"There's no way to know." Ursula crammed Siddikah's warning about his trident into some compartment of her brain so that she didn't feel as if she was lying. She squirmed. "But if something odd should occur, please come to me first."
"I come to you with everything."
"Good. I'm relieved you're not upset with me."
"Upset?! Ursula, I owe you everything. I owe you my position and my very life. I love you more than you know, and could never harm you. There is nothing to fear." He was gazing into her eyes with adoration, and Ursula wished she could preserve the moment forever. She wanted to replay his words again and again. How cleansing it was to have the secret washed away for good, for her doubts to be banished by his speech.
The nautilus felt warm against her skin. "I feel the same, Triton," she said. "There really is nothing to fear." She pulled him to her lips, and he jumped when the pendant brushed against his neck.
"That thing is hot!" he yelped.
"It does seem strangely warm."
"It's glowing!"
Ursula looked down; light was streaming from the spiral. She clutched it excitedly. Something was about to happen.
"Ursula, I owe you everything. I owe you my position and my very life. I love you more than you know, and could never harm you."
Triton's voice was coming from the shell! It had a faraway sound, but it was a perfect replication of the words he had just spoken—the words she longed to preserve forever.
She whooped with excitement as she danced around the room, a kind of victory lap that disturbed her sleeping pets. Another power unlocked! Triton watched her with a thunderstruck expression.
"Aren't you full of surprises tonight?" he said weakly.
"Oh darling, I'm as surprised as you are! I hope I can hear your voice again and again, saying you love me. I'll never tire of it. But I'm not sure exactly how this thing works yet."
"You are so cute right now, all bubbly...but the hour is getting later and I need to tell you something too. I hope it doesn't kill your mood."
"What is it?"
"The morning of your birthday, I want to ask Dismas for his blessing."
Ursula swept her king into an embrace. "How wonderful of you. He will appreciate that."
Triton spoke quickly. "And I want us to receive my mother's blessing the same morning. Then we can announce the news at your birthday celebration that night!" Though he was smiling, his crystalline eyes anxiously searched her face for a reaction.
Ursula tried to return the smile, but faltered. "What if she refuses to give it?"
"We'll wear her down. And even if that takes more than a day, you are going to have an epic birthday party and we shall not let anything spoil it. Agreed?"
"Yes," Ursula said softly. He guided her onto her back once more, and she surrendered to sweet repose, pinned beneath him. She looked up at him through her lashes. "Triton, do you miss having me as a mermaid?"
He chuckled. "What's this about?"
"Do you?"
"That was fun, but I don't miss it. I fell in love with you in your authentic form. And after what I've learned tonight, your tentacles mean even more to me. Why do you ask?"
"Sometimes I still believe I shall have to change to make this—us—acceptable to your mother. And then there's the issue of heirs—"
"I think we've done enough for the kingdom. Some exceptions can be made for us. That's what I plan to say, anyway. Let Ganeon produce heirs! My sisters will too." He shot her a disarming lopsided grin.
"Will I really be enough for you?"
"You already are."