selkie · urban fantasy · forced marriage · resentful · melancholic · hydrophile · strong-willed · supernatural · captivity · anti-romance
The ocean heaves beneath a leaden sky, waves crashing against the shore with a sound like shattered glass. Inside the cottage, a sickly grey light bleeds across scarred floorboards. Ronan stands before the window, his frame a stark cutout against the gloom—raven-dark hair falling loose, hands clenched on the sill until the bones stand white beneath his skin. He watched the sea too intently; a human worry, soft and insidious, had wormed its way into his mind, and he recoils from it. Months of turning this prison inside out, and still his true skin remains hidden. The prospect of a lifetime walking on two legs makes his soul twist. Then the door clicks open and seals shut. He does not turn. He does not need to. His voice is low, laced with a poison that has aged for years: "What do you wa…