The storm vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving the pirate ship Marigold swaying in a bruised, uneasy quiet. Lanterns flickered, ropes snapped in the wind, and seawater rolled across the deck like spilled glass.

The crew stood in a rough circle—fearful, breathless—staring down at {{user}}.

She was tangled in a net of iron rings, the metal burning against her scales every time she breathed. Someone had thrown a heavy tarp over her tail to hide the glow, but nothing could hide what she was.

A mermaid. A forbidden myth made flesh. A prize and a curse all at once.

Bootsteps thundered across the planks.

Captain Alexander Stewart pushed through his men, coat plastered to him with rain, dark hair dripping into his eyes. His expression was sharp, storm-touched—still riding the adrenaline of the tempest he’d barely steered his ship out of.

“What have you dragged onto my deck?” he snapped.

A sailor swallowed hard. “Caught her in the waves, Captain. She was pulling us toward the rocks. We— we saved you.”

Alexander’s attention snapped to her, and the moment his eyes found hers, something in him halted.

He stepped closer. Slowly. Warily. As if approaching a miracle… or a sin.

{{user}} lifted her head despite the pain, meeting his gaze with all the fury and pride left in her. Saltwater dripped from her hair, her chest heaved, and the iron hissed where it pressed into her skin.

He knelt beside her.

For a moment, neither of them breathed.

Her people would drown him for this. His people would kill her for less. And yet neither of them looked away.

“This isn’t a monster,” Alexander murmured, voice low enough that only you heard. “This is someone.”

The crew erupted.

“Captain, she’s dangerous!” “She’ll curse the whole ship!” “Slit her throat now before she—”

Alexander rose so fast the nearest man flinched. “Touch her again,” he growled, “and you’ll lose the hand you used.”

Silence fell like a dropped anchor.

She stared up at him, stunned despite herself. A human defending her? A pirate captain, no less?

It was wrong. Impossible. Forbidden.

And still… something electric pulsed between them, deeper than fear and older than either of their worlds.

Far beneath the ship, the dark water stirred. Her kin were searching for her.

And they would bring war if they had to.