Chapter 7
When Orion–my brother–pulled me from the shattered chamber, I hovered between life and death.
They said later that when I was carried into the Abyssal Realm, I was barely recognizable. My scales had been ripped away, my body torn open. Even the final Heartscale that protected my chest was cracked beyond healing.
I would not have survived, had Orion not given me his own. A brother’s final gift: he tore free his Heartscale to save me, knowing it would plunge him into a century–long slumber.
“Seraphina, you must live.” Those were his last words before he closed his eyes.
I lived because he demanded it.
Days bled into one another beneath the sea. I cradled the last remnant of my daughter–Liora’s small shimmering scale–and laid it gently among the Coral Grove. By our people’s law, I would remain three days and three nights at that place, singing the soul–song for my child’s passing.
“Liora, forgive me. Forgive your mother.”
My voice was hoarse with regret. Again and again, I replayed the moment when I had chosen to shed my tail, to wed Damien in gratitude. That choice had cost my daughter her life.
The mermaids who had once known me as lively, laughing Seraphina no longer recognized the hollow shell I had become. They tried, with soft words and kind gestures, to draw me back. Each dawn they urged me to swim to the shallow reefs, to chase the darting fish. But my tail only stirred the water listlessly. My eyes fixed on the surface, seeing nothing but ghosts.
“Seraphina, the sunlight is gentle today,” one cousin coaxed. “Come with us to the rocks. It may ease your heart.”
I only shook my head, bubbles spilling like sighs.
That was when I heard it.
A voice, muffled yet distinct, filtered through the water. It was raw, desperate.
“Seraphina–!”
My body froze. That voice… I knew it, though I wished I did not.
Compelled, I followed the sound upward. The nearer I swam to the surface, the clearer it became.
“Seraphina, I know you’re here. Please–please show yourself. I beg you.”
Breaking the surface, I hid behind the curve of a jagged reef. On the sand stood a man unrecognizable from the proud lord I had once known.
Damien.
His shirt was wrinkled, his hair unkempt, his steps stumbling as if he had walked a thousand miles. He collapsed to his knees, pressing his head into the waves.
“I know you can hear me! Seraphina, give me a chance to atone. I was wrong–I was so wrong!”
His words scattered with the tide, his sobs fractured by the surf.
I watched in silence. My heart was still, untouched.
“Seraphina…”
He suddenly lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot, and for a terrifying moment I thought he had seen me. His gaze fixed on the reef, frantic with hope.
Chapter 7
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“I saw your silver hair!”
Barefoot, he sprinted across the rocks, his feet tearing open against the jagged shells, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
I dove instantly, my body cutting into the water. Behind me, his voice ripped through the air, hoarse and broken.
But I never looked back. I swam deeper and deeper, leaving his cries to be swallowed by the sea.
Chapter 7
