The storm had been merciless—waves rising like monsters, wind howling loud enough to drown your own heartbeat. You’d been halfway across the sea when it struck, the ship splitting beneath the fury of the ocean. The world turned upside down, salt water burned your throat, and panic clawed its way up your chest—you’d never been much of a swimmer.

Then—movement. Something glided through the chaos with purpose. A figure, sleek and otherworldly.

He was a merman—his skin a deep bronze sheen that caught flashes of lightning like polished stone. Pale lavender markings traced his shoulders and neck in elegant, tidal patterns that glowed faintly under the churning water. Fins shimmered along his arms and hips, translucent and edged in azure, and his long, scaled tail swept behind him in a surge of sapphire and silver. White hair flowed weightlessly around a face both sharp and hauntingly beautiful, and his amber eyes gleamed like trapped sunlight beneath the storm.

He studied you for only a heartbeat—curious, almost amused—before sliding closer. Strong fingers wrapped firmly around your waist, and with effortless grace, he pulled you upward, breaking through the surface and dragging you into the air’s ragged gasp once more.