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Just as he would always remember her. Because this was how she looked the first time he’d met her, and it was that first glimpse that had filled his soul with sunlight.
She was so beautiful that it was hard to breathe when he looked at her.
And her? She bolted toward the glass the moment she saw him. Ran for him, moving faster than he’d realized her kind could until she was right there. So close he could have touched her if there wasn’t a barrier between them.
Just like the first time they’d seen each other, she lifted her hand and pressed it against the glass. So he mirrored her, wishing he could actually touch her.
He wanted to hold her and make sure that she was still really alive. He wanted to feel her against his chest, to know without a doubt, she wasn’t broken. She wasn’t still injured.
Though she still looked a little tired, she was now with him. He thought perhaps it had been days on end that he’d been here. His people must be wondering where he was, but he...
It didn’t matter. He was with his mate.
All of his gills flared wide, and he knew his tail was already lighting up. He took a risk that someone might see him, but he wanted her to know without words that he was happy to see her. He wanted her to know that he’d waited for her. And he would continue to wait until the very end of time if that was what it took.
Her father stood awkwardly behind her. Though there was a muffled quality to their voices, Imber could still make out what they were saying.
“So this is him?” her father asked.
“This is Imber, Dad.”
“Imber,” her father repeated, as though trying to press the name into memory. Then he did something that Imber didn’t expect. The professor walked right up to the glass and cleared his throat. “We haven’t been officially introduced, but hello. My name is Jasper Fairweather, and I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”
He blinked at the old man, surprised that he was so bold when the last time he’d seen him, the man had run up the stairs, tripping as he went. “Any family of Alys’s is family of mine. If they’re brave enough.”
Alys eyed him before repeating the words to her father, word for word. Even the last bit that he had intended to be nothing more than intimidation.
Jasper swallowed hard, his throat working before he nodded. “It’s not as easy as you make it sound, I’m afraid. There are more people at risk here than just you or I. I’m sure you know about the city we intend to build.”
“My home was destroyed, old man. I think we know your people are out to kill mine.”
Again, Alys repeated it, although she gave him a glare before adding on, “We were there when the droids started clearing and flattening for Alpha. His people were living there, Dad. Morethan that, there were some of his people who were injured. It’s not right what is happening.”
“I already told you I cannot stop it.” Her father staggered over to a large box covered in paper and sat down behind it. “There is little I can do. I could sabotage the architectural plans, but all that would succeed in doing is murdering countless people. The city would implode, and their home would still be gone. But on top of it, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of our own people dead.”
“You shouldn’t have designed it in the first place,” Alys hissed.
“I know.” Her father looked first at her, then at Imber on the other side of the glass. His gaze lingered where their hands were still pressed together, his voice shaking as he replied. “I know there was so much I could have done differently. It’s why I’m not suggesting that I go back with you. My darling, there is nothing I can do now. I have to go down with my own ship.”
“You aren’t a captain, Dad.”
“No, but I am the person who created the destruction. I’m not going to ask him or his people to forgive me. I have done something that is unforgivable.” Her father leaned forward, his fingertips pressed together against his lips. “But perhaps there is still something I can do for my daughter. The only person I have ever really loved.”
Silence fell then.
Imber wanted to ask what the old man was talking about. How could he help Alys? The ocean would forever wear at her body, and though he suspected there was some form of magic to what the achromos did, he didn’t think it was possible to change her body into something else.
Alys let her hand slip from the glass as she turned to her father. “What do you mean?”
“You cannot stay here.” The old man looked defeated as he said it. “The General has already heard about your sub returning, ripped apart and without its pilot. There are too many variables at your return, and the man is already ridiculously suspicious about your friends coming and ruining his new city. You cannot be here. No one can know that you are.”
“I know that,” Alys replied, taking a step closer to her father. “I just didn’t know where else to go.”
“You need somewhere safe to live.”
Of that, he agreed. Imber swam to the window closer to her father, a little farther from Alys. “I agree with that. The ocean will kill her, old man. So what are you suggesting?”
Alys made a grumpy noise at him and then did not translate what he had just said. “Dad, I tried to live with him under the water. You, of all people, know what the ocean can do to our bodies. It’s just not possible for me to live there.”
