Consumed By The Ocean💙

3. Dangerous And Evil

The council of Lord Triton was summoned and in front of all those wise looking men and women, I stood being the center of attraction. My Mom and Dad standing in the middle with me while others were seated with Dad's permission.

'What are you, Dad?' was the very first question that came to my mind and that I voiced out to him. I wasn't a fool to comprehend that these people who lived underwater and spoke to Sharks were humans. These people radiated power. My Dad radiated power. 

When I remembered our fall in the water, I came to the conclusion that I didn't faint due to not being able to breathe. But I fainted due to fear. And besides, what do they mean me being a child of land and ocean? Though the real question was what was I had to start from who was my Dad?

'I am Triton.........Lord of the Northern Court.' he said with a voice filled with pride. 

'Northern Court?' I was confused. 

An old man from the council rose and said 'Ionia is the primitive Kingdom, spread across the whole globe, underwater. The Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern courts are it's power hubs while the absolute monarchial power rests right in the middle.........in the city of Atlantis from where the Ionian King controls all the seas and Oceans.......and the creatures living in it. No one, except the Royals of Atlantis, are allowed to associate with humans.'

'And yet here I am.' I mumbled with a sigh looking at my parents. 'So you guys are not allowed to associate with humans and yet you did and when Mom found out that she was expecting me she ran away. Right?'

'Almost.' replied Mom and Dad gazed at her, waiting for her to tell what was her part of the story. What was the reason that he didn't know he had a daughter?

Flashback

Her story went something like this.

Caroline Reynolds, my Mom, 22 at that time, was first time given a project of utmost important and she was excited for it. She worked for it whole heartedly. 

One evening, while on the beach, enjoying a little break with her friends, a wave crashed against her feet and with it brought a beautiful necklace made of sea-shells. She had picked it up and wore it for all her time on the beach.

At night, when she was preparing to sleep in a newly made reception of her resort which was still under construction, she saw a man come out of water looking all suspicious as he first roamed here and there and then started eyeing the building of resort.

Mom, with emergency number ready in her phone, walked out to inquire for his problem. But he was too handsome to be inquired and she was too beautiful to not to fall in love with. He was Dad and the necklace of was his mother.

Mom obviously skipped the particulars of their love life and just came to the part where she directly came to know about who he was and about the world of Ionia. She was surprised but soon recovered the shock with Dad's help. Dad was almost 4 years older than her.

I was surprised when they mentioned that they were actually married and did not just hook up and had me. She was hidden from everyone. The secret Lady of the handsome Lord of Northern court. This is what they all knew and Mom was okay with it. But one day she learnt the result of it.

That day Kind Orion's  trusted men visited the Northern Court to clear the suspicion of a their King about someone in the North associating with a human. The men were well wishers of Dad and they talked about the death sentence given on associating with a human if not royal and God forbid if there is a union that results in a child of Land and Ocean, the punishment of the child. 

She was worried for Dad and tried to persuade him to break off the marriage and change their ways but he just wouldn't care for his own life. And exactly in that period she got to know she was with a child. Not brave enough to kill her own seed or let the man she loves be punished for his love for her, she left the Northern court with the help of one of Dad's man who wished well for him. 

She gave him a piece of her cloth and her necklace and asked him to drench it in blood and show it to him. Tell him that she tried to escape for God knows what reason and was eaten by a shark or something, which didn't even leave the body.

She came to the shore and then gave birth after nine months to a daughter whose eyes never let her forget the man she left in misery. She was afraid for me that what if I someday go near water and Dad or any enemy recognizes me but that didn't happen........I was a severe case of thalassphobia.

Never did she ever though that she'll sing those lines again and call for him........but it did happen.

Flashback Ends

'My lady, the situation and problem is much more severe for your daughter than it was back then.' said the same man from the council.

'What is that supposed to mean?' asked Mom, question directed to Dad.

'I am literally the most unwanted thing right now in the whole ocean, the King of whole Ionia may execute me if he knows about me and you guys are saying there could be much more severity in the situation?' Maybe it's rude to talk to strangers like that but......I hope you guys understand right?

'Yes, there can be, Sweetheart.' for the first time I was called sweetheart by Dad and that too with a seriousness that sent shivers down my spine.

'A predator lurks in the depth of this Ocean......' Dad said with his eye looking out in the water, as if fearing about something in particular showing up.

'......And you are exactly the prey he's looking for, my child.' he said while looking at me with concern.

'Who exactly are we talking about?' I asked no one in particular.

The man from before spoke with hardened expressions 'The dangerous and evil........exiled Prince of Ionia.'