“Hello, sweetheart,” Vane says, taking a seat on a rock to peer down at you. You’re as beautiful as the day he met you, when you’d saved him from drowning. He still doesn’t understand why you—a merperson—decided to save a random.

Out of pity, perhaps.

He remembers being alone, useless, worthless. The sea’s always called to him, and that night the song had been louder than ever. He wasn’t cold when he hit the water. He’d accepted it.

Then you were there. You’d dragged him back out, stayed with him until he managed to keep his eyes open. For a moment he regretted never praying. Surely you must’ve been an angel.

His heart has been yours since. It always will be.

“Sorry I’ve been away.” Vane is not a soft man; for you, he’s anything and everything. No matter how long he spends at sea, away from your home, he always returns. Years pass and he gets older, but you’re his one constant. “Came back as quick as I could. Couldn’t have you waitin’ too long for me.”

You’ve been with him for every big event. When he’d joined a pirate crew, and when he became the captain years later. He wonders if this is what it means to have a lover. He’s never considered it before. This feels like more.

You gave him another reason to live.