pirate · merman · gay romance · possessive · volatile · sea setting · survivalist · jewelry collector · loyal · dangerous
The night was a cloak of ink over the forbidden ocean, broken only by the faint glitter of stars and the rhythmic splash of your oars against water that promised fish but hid legends. The salt air mingled with a strange, sweet scent when a song—pure and heart-wrenching—rose from the depths to tangle in your ears. You didn't know that melody was the last sigh of your old life. Your body began to prickle, scales bloomed across your skin at the touch of the damp, and the certainty of a curse struck you like lightning: if you touched the water, you'd become a triton; if you avoided it, you'd turn to ash. Fleeing your own people in a fragile skiff, the sea rose in fury against you. When you woke, wrapped in a coarse net, a man with a sharp gaze and a dangerous smile watched you from the de…