Then a figure rises from the waves, her presence unlike any other, but familiar. “You know who I am,” she says, her voice like silver threaded with moonlight. “I know you can feel it.”
And I do. My heart recognizes her before my mind does. Sirena. The Queen of Sirens. Mira’s mother. The storm swallows nearly everything around her, but she shines through the dark like the moon itself reborn in the water. Her long wavy hair floats around her, caught in the sea’s embrace. Her piercing blue eyes slice through the downpour and chaos, locked not on me, but on her daughter. She looks more inviting, more beautifuleven, than any other siren I have ever seen. Her skin glows faintly with bioluminescence, freckles scattered like stars across her collarbones, mirroring Mira’s. Of course it’s her. Of course the sea would call its daughter home through the woman who first belonged to it.
For the first time in all this madness, my legs give out. Because this is fate. It’s her bloodline and her legacy, and I can’t change that. Mira’s heartbeat, faint as it is, begins to echo louder in my soul.
“Sirena?” I choke out, my gaze fixes on the churning waters below. The storm rages around us, but it is nothing compared to the one tearing through me. I hold Mira tighter, as if my arms alone can keep the world from pulling her away.
But it’s too late. Gods, I know it’s too late.
Rage burns through my veins, at myself, for not getting to her in time. At him, for taking her from me. At the world, for letting this happen.
“Yes,” Sirena says softly. “Please. Let me heal her. Let me have her.” Her words echo in my skull, painful and sacred. “You will see her again,” she promises. “You’ve done your part. Let me do mine. She needs me now.” I don’t want to hear it.
I don’t want to believe it. “I need her,” I rasp, my voice shattering under the weight of everything I feel. I look down at Mira again.My Mira.Her skin is pale, her lips losing their color. The light in her eyes is gone. She’s slipping away again.
Sirena’s voice trembles now, thick with grief and something else only a mother can feel. “Please,” she says. “Let me help her… or you’ll lose her forever. You know this.” I clench my jaw, the fight draining from me. I want to scream. I want to demand that I be the one to save her. That I’m enough.
But I know Mira doesn’t just belong to me. She belongs to the sea, and she needs it more than she needs me. She needs her mother. She needs home. Even if I can’t bear to let go.
I look down at Mira. Her emerald green eyes are wide, unblinking, staring into me with a haunting intensity, like she is trying to memorize every part of my face. Black blood slips from the corners of her lips and eyes, streaking her skin like a goodbye she can’t voice. Even with the mermaid tears coursing through her, it isn’t enough. She is dying.
“Drop me, Kai. It’s okay,” she whispers, and my heart shatters. “Neressa… find her.” The words barely leave her lips. Neressa. Gods, she’s going to kill me. I promised to protect Mira and I failed.
“I will,” I say, and my voice doesn’t feel like mine. She gives the faintest nod, and I pull her closer, pressing my forehead to hers. “You will find me, okay? And I will find you. This is not the end.” My voice cracks, and I hate how broken I sound. “You’ll make it to the fountain. And when you do, don’t waste your wish on me. You hear me? You have to live. Youhaveto be okay.”
I kiss her forehead, my hands trembling as her warmth slips away. Her hand, slick with blood, rises weakly, brushing my cheek. “I love you, Kai Eldoris,” she whispers. “I will find you.”
Her gaze never wavers. I cling to it like it is the last anchor I have. “Is that a promise?” I ask, my voice breaking. And she smiles, faint and full of love.
“Promise. Remember… till the very end.”
I kiss her. One last time. Tasting her blood. Salt. Her goodbye.
“Don’t let them hurt you,” I say. “You are stronger than they’ll ever know.” I kiss her again, fiercer this time. One final prayer. “In every lifetime. Till the very end, treasure.” I whisper.
I look down at Sirena, her arms outstretched, waiting to catch Mira. Rain pours around her like silver, but she remains still, luminous in the dark.
For a brief, breathless moment, a rush of unshakable trust floods my chest.She will protect her. She will bring her home.With that, I let go.
My chest tears open as I watch Mira’s body slip from my arms. She falls slowly, weightless, a dream unraveling. Every second stretches into forever. Until Sirena catches her with grace. The Queen of the Deep cradles her daughter.
A dark figure catches my attention beside them.Anya.She rises with the storm and the black waters. Instant regret pools in my stomach. The worst possible creature to rise from the waves, and now she has my Mira.
Then they’re swallowed by the black abyss. The sea closes over them. And a hollow stillness spreads through me. She is gone.
But I feel it, her heart. That once-fragile rhythm is back stronger and steadier. Each beat blooms like a second chance. It is her.Alive. Somewhere in that endless, sacred sea, she is still with me.
The ocean begins to close, swallowing the remnants of the chaos as Mira disappears into the depths of the black water. The whirlpool, once a monstrous, devouring force, begins to lose its grip. Its violent pull softens. The storm quiets. Beneath the fading roar, the sea begins to reveal its true form, crystal blue, clear and serene. But there is nothing peaceful about it.
Mira is gone. Taken. The sirens and Anya dragged her beneath the surface, into the dark, into the unknown, toward the fountain. The very creatures I’d sworn to destroy, every last one, now hold the one person I couldn’t lose. My entire life, I’d vowed to wipe them out.
Then it hits me, sharp and sudden. The fountain isn’t hidden somewhere far away. It has been beneath us this whole time, under the very whirlpool that had threatened to tear us apart. Their cove. Their sanctuary, it lies at the bottom of the ocean, the deepest, most unreachable place in the world.
I didn’t see it before, but now I understand. The whirlpool isn't a chance, but a summons. The sirens called the storm and tore open the sea to take her.
In that moment, they control everything, the sea, the storm, my fate. The ocean obeys them. The tides bend to their will. And with a single thought, they close the whirlpool. Just like that, the tempest vanishes, swallowed by silence so thick it presses against my ears like a vice. I stand at the edge of the ship, staring down at the glassy water. Still, calm, and mocking me.
The sirens used me. Used all of us. They took the one thing I love more than life itself. The sea has claimed her, and I am left with nothing but the wreckage of what used to be hope.
