POV: Nerina
The sea called to me again.
This time, not in soft whispers but in surges that pulsed through my veins like a second heartbeat.
I stood barefoot at the edge of the ocean, my fingers trembling, breath caught somewhere between awe and fear. The waves responded to me. They rose and shimmered when I raised my hand — not wildly, but with reverence, as if I were something sacred they had waited centuries to touch.
"I don't understand," I whispered, staring at the liquid tendrils curling toward me like they wanted to wrap around my ankles and pull me closer.
"You're beginning to," came a deep voice behind me.
Kaelen.
I turned. He stood a few feet away, arms folded across his broad chest, hair tousled from the sea breeze, the ever-present silver in his eyes glowing faintly beneath the moonlight.
"You knew," I said, my voice barely a breath. "You knew I had something in me."
"I didn't know what form it would take," he admitted, stepping closer. "But the mark on your arm… it's the Sign of Thalor. The sea answers to you. And only one other ever bore that symbol."
"My mother," I said.
A beat of silence. The ocean hushed.
Kaelen nodded.
"I'm going to lose my mind," I muttered, laughing shakily. "First I'm dragged to an underwater kingdom, then a boy with gills and secrets tells me I'm part of a prophecy, and now I'm some—what? Ocean princess?"
"Not a princess," he said, eyes locked on mine. "A force. And that's why you need to understand what you carry inside you, Nerina."
Lightning cracked in the sky above us. In the next instant, a sharp gust whipped through the beach—and the tide turned violently.
A towering wave began to rise, faster than I'd ever seen, crashing toward me with terrifying speed.
"Nerina!"
I didn't even have time to scream.
Kaelen tackled me just before the wave hit, pulling me against his chest and flipping so that his body shielded mine. The water slammed into us like a wall of ice, knocking the air from my lungs—but I didn't drown.
Instead, it felt like I belonged there. Even as Kaelen's arms tightened around me, the storm above us calmed, and the ocean seemed to pull back at my silent plea.
We lay tangled on the wet sand, his face inches from mine.
"Are you okay?" he breathed, voice raw.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. His body was warm despite the cold sea, and I could feel every inch of him pressed against me—his breath uneven, matching mine. His hand was on my waist, holding me still.
And his lips…
They were so close.
I leaned in slightly, unsure if I meant to kiss him or just needed something to anchor me. Either way, he didn't move. His eyes flicked to my mouth.
"Nerina…" he murmured, like a warning.
Or a prayer.
My hand touched his jaw, and for a heartbeat, we hung there — suspended in a moment that could ruin us or remake us.
But then he pulled back.
"Not yet," he said, voice hoarse. "If I kiss you now, I won't stop. And you're not ready."
I stared at him, heart crashing harder than the waves had.
"What are you so afraid of?" I asked.
"I'm not afraid," he said. "I'm bound. The prophecy—" He stopped himself, jaw tightening. "It ties me to you. To protect you. But if I let myself want more… I won't be able to protect anything. Especially not you."
Silence hung heavy between us.
Then he stood, offered me his hand, and when I took it, he pulled me to my feet without looking at me again.
But his fingers lingered on mine longer than they needed to.
And in that silence, I realized something dangerous:
I wanted him to lose control.
Even if it destroyed us both.