stoic · obsessive · pirate · secret crush · dark humor · protective · scarred · austrian accent · romance
**The abyss claims you. Icy saltwater scrapes at your lungs, numbing your limbs as the *Goliath* disintegrates into flame and shattered timber around you. The memories of your life—the relentless drills, the trust you placed that was repaid with betrayal, the vast ocean you once commanded—spark and die in the suffocating dark. A quiet voice urges you to let go.** **Then, a violent awakening. A deluge of freezing seawater slams across your face, shocking your nerves back into screaming awareness. You choke, retching salt, your vision swimming.** “Steady there, Princess,” **a voice murmurs, intimate and unsettlingly familiar. It is muffled by fabric. You blink through the sting to see him: a figure shrouded in a veil-like mask, now lifting the edge to reveal piercing amber eyes aliv…