I look away from Taika to find Mira, sitting quietly on the steps, waiting for me. She gives me a smile so soft and so full of understanding that it settles the storm in my chest.
She’s heard everything. I reach out my hand, and she takes it, her touch gentle and grounding. I pull her up, and she presses a kiss to my lips, light and full of quiet reassurance.
Together, we turn and climb the stairs, leaving behind my mother, my past, and the weight of a bloodline that never loved me back.
All of it, locked in the cold.
Chapter thirty-seven
Mira
The Cove Awakens
Kai has four siren claws strung around his neck, a silent declaration that he’s ready to make the wishes he’s been holding close to his heart. “You should probably hide those from the sirens,” I warn. “Wearing pieces of one of them might not sit well.” His intense gaze locks on mine and he wordlessly tucks the claws beneath his shirt.
“Thank you, treasure,” he murmurs. “Are you ready?” We can both feel it, an invisible pull tightening with each passing second.
The sun vanishes behind a wall of fog, a heavy veil swallowing the ship whole. It clings to the sails, curls around the rigging, and slips over the deck like ghostly fingers. The sea is eerily still, pressing against my chest.
We stand near the starboard side, just below the quarterdeck, where the railing curves outward toward the sea. The wood beneath our boots is damp with mist, the ropes around us slick. From here, the water looks endless, a sheet of silvery blue disappearing into the fog, like we’re sailing straight into the unknown.
“I am,” I say softly, then add with a smirk, “Are you? We can still make a run for it.”
He glances down at me, a tired smile ghosting across his lips. “You know I’d take you,” he says. “Don’t tempt me.”
He pauses, then leans in, his voice low, like a vow wrapped in salt and storm. “But once we finish what we’ve started, I want to marry you.”
My heart swells so fast it nearly hurts. He wants to marry me? A pirate? Pirates don’t get married. That’s for royals, for dreamers, for those who still believe in fairytales. For the common folk with simple lives and safe homes. This isn’t something I ever imagined I’d be worthy of.
Tears burn the backs of my eyes. One slips free, carving a silent trail down my cheek. Before I can even breathe a reply, he drops to one knee. My hand is already in his, steady and sure. In his other, he holds a small teak box, the same wood my ship is built from.
“Mira,” he says softly, “my treasure.”
His thumb traces slow, reverent circles across the back of my hand, anchoring me in the moment. His hazel eyes lock ontomine, rich with emotion, glinting with unshed tears. In that look is everything, love, devotion,home. He is wholly and completely mine.
Then he speaks. “Though our souls are bound, and that’s the rarest magic in all the seas… I need you to know something.” His voice trembles slightly, but his gaze is steady, full of quiet certainty. “I want you, not because of fate, not because the gods tied us together, but because you are everything. I choose you. Every day, I will choose you.”
My hand covers my mouth, trying to not let myself completely fall apart. He takes a breath, then continues, voice growing stronger, more certain with each word.
“I’ve lived a life of killing, of chasing treasures, of sailing through the fiercest storms, always hungry for the next thrill. But then… you.” The world stills. “You stole my heart the second I saw you in that pub. Within seconds, you became everything. You changed me, down to my very core. You’re the very blood that runs in my veins. You beat my heart. You, Mira, are a treasure. One I can’t live without.” His grip tightens, fierce but so gentle.
His voice cracks as tears and tears well. I never thought I’d see the infamous Pirate Lord down on one knee, tears spilling from those stormy hazel eyes, looking up at me like I am the only thing that has ever mattered. He lets go of my hand and slowly opens the box, revealing the ring nestled inside.
It steals my breath. The center stone is a rare blue diamond, cut in the shape of an emerald, glowing like ocean light caught beneath the surface. Smaller diamonds trail along the gold band, delicate as stars scattered across a midnight sky. My breath catches in my throat.
“My father gave me this ring years ago,” he says quietly, reverently. “I never knew why, until now. I love you, my treasure. Will you marry me?”
The tears come in waves, unstoppable, spilling silently down my cheeks as emotion swells in my chest.
I can’t stand above him for another second. I drop to my knees beside him, the weight of it all pressing into my bones. My hands find his face, cupping it gently, like I need to hold the shape of his love in my palms, to remind myself this is real. Thatheis real.
“I will marry you, Kai Eldoris,” I whisper, my voice trembling with the weight of everything we are and everything we’ve survived. “You already have me, my heart, my soul, my blood, my fire. You’ve had it from the beginning, even when I didn’t want you to. Even when I tried to fight it. You are my home in every lifetime. I choose you in this life and the next. In every version of the world, I’ll find you. I’ll love you through storms, through silence, through death. You have all of me. Forever.”
I reach up and gently brush the tear from his cheek with my thumb, treating it like something sacred, because it is. He exhales shakily, then pulls me into his arms, lifting me from the deck like I weigh nothing, but am everything.
He kisses me like a vow, like it is both the first and the last kiss we will ever share. The world disappears. There is no past, no prophecy, no war waiting beneath the waves. Only us and the vow we make beneath a haunting sky.
“Aye, Kai got himself a bride!” Jay calls out as he leans on the railing. The crew stops what they’re doing and erupts into cheers, their voices echoing across the deck like waves crashing against the hull. Kai slides the ring onto my finger, and it fits like it knew my hand before I was ever born. Laughter, whoops, and shouts of celebration surround us, and for a fleeting, perfect moment, it feels like we’ve won. Like maybe pirates can have happy endings after all.
