Chapter 46: Only Half The Battle

"How about this?" Beck asked after a while. "Gliding through the water like an eel, smooth and slippery, is the way your beauty makes me feel."

It was so terrible everyone burst out laughing, Zale included. "That's horrible! I love it."

"Happy to be of assistance."

"Who should I use it on this time? I can't always go for the same mermaid or she will think I have designs on her. Worrying about having a spy planted in the coral palace is the last thing I need."

"You do realize you're going to have to get married once you become the merking, don't you? You're going to need a queen. Concubines too," Taron pointed out.

Zale shuddered. He didn't even want to think about that yet. Harem infighting was what led to his mother's death. He didn't want to have to worry about multiple mermaids and the potential of getting his children killed because of jealousy.

If not for the fact that he would need an heir, he would stick with solely a queen. But he didn't want to think about that either. He would need someone who actually cared about the state of the ocean and wasn't a shark in disguise.

"Don't even bring that up," he moaned as he ran a hand down his fae. "That is a problem for another day."

"Why not try Lady Aila? She only recently debuted in society so you haven't tried your false charm on her yet," Cyreus suggested.

Lady Aila…her father was a rather influential noble. It wouldn't hurt. Everyone already thought he was an idiot. Adding one more mermaid to that list wouldn't make a difference.

"She will do," Zale said with a sigh. "Who here is willing to spar with me?"

"I am," Beck replied.

Everyone swam over to the training grounds and he was able to enjoy a decent sparring session where he thrashed all of his mermen as usual. It did make him feel better though. This was his true self. Not the idiot that spouted bad poetry and flirted with nobles he couldn't care less about.

Only those who worked in the coral palace and Talori knew the truth about him. He was certainly going to have an interesting time explaining it was all an act and he was actually shrewder than anyone in the kingdom when he was able to accomplish his goal.

Not that anyone's opinion truly mattered to him aside from those already in the know. If anyone had a problem with him being on the throne, they could fight him and lose.

That oddly cheerful thought kept him going as he had to go around acting stupid at the banquet as usual. False laughter, false smiles, and spouting nonsense. Nothing he hadn't done hundreds of times before but it was more difficult tonight since Talori wasn't here.

Not that they ever really interacted much at banquets to maintain the illusion of distance between them. But seeing her out in the crowd had been comforting. He could use that tonight. And her laughter about how ridiculous he had been afterward. They always had a good laugh about how he acted stupid and she acted crazy. It was a special joke between the two of them.

Zale couldn't let his poor mood show on his face. Not when he was here with a mission to accomplish.

He spotted his target after a while and was sure to approach her with his usual affected tone, tossing his hair dramatically to best show off the hair ornaments he had made. "Lady Aila! What a pleasure to see you tonight. Gliding through the water like an eel, smooth and slippery, is the way your beauty makes me feel."

He accentuated his point by dramatically bowing and kissing her hand. She looked rather taken aback. Had no one warned her about him? He was the scourge of the nobility.

"…hello, Prince Zale. Thank you for the compliment."

"Any time, my dear! I do love to share my poetry with anyone willing to listen," Zale said airily with a wave of his hand.

It seemed that Aila was struggling to find a way to compliment him in return for the sake of politeness but simply couldn't bring herself to lie and say that Beck's ridiculous poem was good. He could respect that. She hadn't been out in society long enough to have been corrupted by it yet.

"You have the most…interesting…jewelry on tonight. What is it made of?"

"Oh, this old thing? I made it myself! There is so much that drifts down into the coral reef from the surface. I saw these a while back and knew it would start a trend. I am considered a leading expert in fashion, you know," Zale said, hoping that someone with more influence than Aila overheard as well.

"This all came from the surface? But what is it doing here?" Aila asked with a slight frown.

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"Who knows? There are all sorts of things from the surface that end up in the coral reef. I may as well use them! Their loss is my gain. They're no pearls but they have a certain shiny quality that I find appealing."

"…I see. It must have taken quite some time to find all of these."

"Not at all! They're everywhere, really. You find all sorts of surface objects out in the coral reef. They usually don't make it quite this far but I've seen a lot near the borders of the kingdom as well," Zale told her.

Someone here had to be listening in and would take the bait. He never lacked an audience because the nobility thought of him as cheap amusement. Sure enough, there was a group of merfolk trying not to act like they were listening in though they clearly were. Excellent.

"What are you prattling on about now?" Merrick asked with disdain.

After a while his audience had grown large enough that the crown prince himself condescended to speak to his supposedly idiotic half-brother. The surface waste he had picked up was rather eye-catching. As he intended. He excelled at making a scene wherever he went. It helped enforce his false persona.

"The lovely surface items I made my jewelry with! Isn't it stunning?" Zale asked, dramatically showing off his bracelets.

"This came from the surface?"

"Indeed! All of it. I'm thinking of starting my own jewelry line using surface items because there are so many of them lying around. They work as well as any pearls."

"It looks stupid to me," Merrick scoffed.

"Ah!" Zale cried, clutching his heart. "You have never been able to properly appreciate high fashion, brother! It's going to take off. You'll see. I'm going to start a phenomenon then you'll be eating your words!"

"…highly doubtful. Carry on with your little fashion show."

Merrick sneered as he swam away but he had actually been surprisingly helpful. Everyone's eyes were always on the crown prince. His audience had grown even bigger because of Merrick's interference.

Zale had to hold back a devious grin. This evening had ended up going exactly as he wanted it to. He wished he had a way to thank Aila for unwittingly being the perfect accomplice. Maybe he could send her a necklace or something.

She did seem rather bewildered throughout the whole thing. Poor thing. Barely out in society and had to deal with the idiot prince right off the bat.

"I think that went perfectly, don't you?" Zale asked Beck cheerfully once they were nearly to the coral palace.

"As well as it possibly could have. Well done."

"Why thank you. My acting was especially good tonight. I do believe I scared Lady Aila with how over-the-top I was. She seems to be rather sheltered. Not surprising considering she barely turned 150. She was rather polite to me even though she was thrown off."

When they arrived back at the palace Zale took off his jewelry and handed it to Beck. "Get someone to deliver these to her. She was probably lying but she at least pretended to like them. It's the sort of thing an idiot would do to show his appreciation."

"Are you truly trying to show your appreciation?"

"I would like to but I can't break character. This will have to do."

"I see," Beck said blankly.

He took the jewelry and went off in search of someone who could deliver it in the morning. Zale flopped backward onto his bed and sighed. Tonight had gone as well as it could have. He simply needed to keep doing this to make the nobles realize there was a problem.

They would bring it to the merking, who wouldn't care, and would begin to see what they should have all along. That he had been on the throne for too long and was unfit to rule.

Unfortunately, that was only half the battle. The other half was dealing with Queen Nerida and Merrick. Merrick wasn't all that smart but he had his evilly cunning mother backing him. She would be a formidable opponent.

Zale knew this would take a while. How long…he wasn't sure. At least he wanted to know his sister was doing alright. That would make their separation a lot easier to deal with.. He hoped that one of the witches was able to understand his message.

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