Beautiful to Me by E. L. Tenenbaum

Author:E. L. Tenenbaum [Tenenbaum, E. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781680467512
Publisher: Melange Books

Pretty bad, as it turned out. None of the princess’s ladies would go anywhere near her while I followed after her with the frog, and if that wasn’t enough, the prince insisted I bring it along to dinner.

“What kind of day in court would it be without a feast?” he argued.

“We’ll feed him here,” the princess insisted. “Flies,” she shuddered, “or spiders or whatever things a creature like that eats.”

The frog’s heart pulsed in my hands and I was sure it shuddered at the thought of eating those things, too. I don’t know why I tried so hard to convince myself it was trying to speak to me. Maybe I just missed my friends and was looking for another. Though I’m sure finding a land animal like the prince’s friendly Castellano would have been a wiser choice.

The prince shook his head at his sister. “Cordelia, Sienna attends dinner with me, your frogling should attend with you,” he said.

“Sienna stands behind your shoulder,” the princess snapped.

“Ariel can hold the frog behind your shoulder, too,” the prince calmly replied.

“This is ridiculous!” Princess Cordelia cried. She fixed me with a stern gaze. “Leave it here.”

“Bring it along,” the prince said at the same time.

I looked from one to the other, quite torn between the two, quite unsure to whom I should listen. My friend who was also the princess, or the crown prince who outranked her.

“Leave it,” Cordelia repeated, in a voice too measured to brook any argument.

The frogling, however, thought otherwise, and forcefully pushed against my hands, catching me by surprise and actually breaking free. It nearly made it to the hems of the princess’s skirts before I caught him up again.

“Forgive me for saying so, Princess,” I stammered, “but I don’t think it appreciates being left behind. It may even be a little fond of you.”

Princess Cordelia stared at me, quite unable to believe the words coming out of my mouth. I suppose if I was human, I would think them equally ridiculous, but I wasn’t. I was a mermaid. A mermaid who spoke to sea stars and crabs, corals and barnacles, dolphins and crustaceans. Talking to a frog didn’t seem an unreasonable thing to me at all. In fact, the longer I held him, the more certain I was that I would be able to fully communicate with him given enough time.

For his part, the prince nodded in solemn agreement with my words and the princess strode away from us again, putting as much space between herself and her unhinged gardener and enabling brother. The prince winked and mouthed, “Bring it,” before following after her. Afraid the frog would try to flee again, and equally afraid I’d hold it too tight and kill it, I brought it to the dining hall.

Princess Cordelia nearly fell out of her chair when she saw me, knowing full well what was cupped in my hands. She said nothing however, refusing to give her brother the satisfaction of causing a ruckus in front of her parents and the assembled servants and guests.

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