His fingers trembled as he clutched at his head, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His heart pounded wildly, as if trying to escape his ribs. How am I alive?

The dim glow of his surroundings finally registered. His gaze darted around the cavern, the walls slick with moisture. Strange, ethereal fungi clung to the stone, casting the chamber in an eerie bioluminescent glow. The air was thick with the scent of salt and something else—something ancient.

His hands flinched as they brushed against something wet and strange beneath him. He looked down, his stomach twisting. A bed of kelp and seaweed. He was lying in it.

Jace’s breath hitched. His fingers dug into the slimy vegetation, crushing it in his grip, grounding himself. This is real.

That’s when he saw it.

His skin.

Patches of soft, luminescent light clung to his bare chest and abdomen, casting his body in a ghostly glow. His stomach churned. He ran a trembling hand over the glowing substance, peeling it off with the tip of his finger. It felt… alive.

“You should not remove them.”

The voice was like a whisper of summer wind—gentle, melodic.

Jace’s breath caught in his throat. His entire body tensed. His heart slammed against his ribs as his eyes darted through the cavern, searching.

Then he saw her.

Perched on a smooth stone, bathed in the eerie glow of the cave, she watched him with luminous eyes—eyes that shimmered like stars against the midnight sky.

Jace’s pulse roared in his ears.

But then—his gaze drifted downward, and his blood turned to ice.

Where in the Seven Hells are her legs?!

Instead of legs, iridescent scales cascaded down her body, glistening in the dim light. And where there should have been feet—there was a tail.

A tail.

Like the sirens of legend.

Jace’s mouth went dry. His jaw went slack, disbelief choking him. He had heard the stories—the whispered myths of creatures that lured men to their deaths beneath the waves. Beautiful. Deadly.

His hands curled into fists, his breath unsteady.

Gods… a mermaid.