The Shell and the Star - Part 24

Happy August, everyone! Can you believe how fast the summer of 2022 is flying by? Wasn't it just Memorial Day last week?

I hope you've been enjoying this story as one of your summer reads. It's been a lot of fun (and sometimes a bit of aggravation or panic) working on it each week as I prep it to post. 

As always, if this is the first time you've stumbled on this aquatic SFR, you can follow this link to read all of story posted to date, or get links to the more recent posts. Glad to have you aboard!  

For those who've been following the unfolding story week-to-week, thank you! As always, your comments are welcome. 

This week, we join Jinn as she returns to the oceans of Veros--against both her father's command and the Imperator's demand--in an attempt to make reparations for a monumental culture clash...and the fallout from that disaster.

CHAPTER NINE

 

“You are no longer welcome in my realm.” The Imperator glared at her, his eyes twin slits of fury and his face set in deep lines. “How dare you return. Have you not caused enough harm to my family?”

Jinn bowed her head. “I need to talk to Trey, Your Eminence.”

“Impossible,” the Imperator snarled.

“But there’s been a terrible misunderstanding. They are things I must say to your son.”

With a thrust of his fins, the Imperator turned his back to her. His shoulders sagged, his breathing came in ragged catches. It was another moment before he spoke, his voice low and strained with grief. “You cannot speak to Trey because he is gone.”

Jinn’s heart stalled in her chest. “Wh--what do you mean by ‘gone’?”

The imperator took another deep, shaky breath. “He was beyond distraught by your denial. Beyond reason. I tried to repair the wound you inflicted by restoring his place in society, but I couldn’t heal his pain. He was broken. Destroyed. After I arranged his second bid, he left my household…”

Trey’s father turned back to her. His face was ashen and lined with grief. “He was last seen headed for the barrier to our bay. No one has heard from him since, not in two days. The Imperator lowered his head and continued, “I fear he has ended his life. Gone into the Deep, and to the certain death that awaits there.”

No! Jinn recoiled inside her bubble. If Trey’s heart no longer beat, then hers no longer wished to. Shock and distress overwhelmed her thoughts as she stared up at the Imperator’s face. “He couldn’t,” she choked.

The Imperator’s face reddened, his fists clenched and his body shook with pent up emotion. “My son’s heart has always beat strong and true,” the Imperator’s words emitted from her bubble’s translator, his voice cracking. “It took an act of utmost cruelty to break it. Your act!”

Jinn covered her face. What have I done?

“Go now,” the Imperator rumbled. “Return to your home. Let me honor my son’s memory in peace. Let me mourn the loss of everything he was, and would be. You are no longer welcome—or tolerated—among the Perling.”

Trey gone, her world destroyed, Jinn opaqued her bubble and fled the Imperator’s ire.

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So did Jinn and Trey's story just become Jinn's alone? How will she survive -- both physically and emotionally -- if Trey is gone. She burned all her bridges to return to him, but was her sacrifice in vain? Did she return too late?

Stop back next Monday to catch more of The Shell and the Star. 

Have a great week and keep enjoying your summer!