The name Captain Elias “Blacktide” Vane was enough to make merchant ships change course.
Across the seas, sailors whispered about his crew — the Iron Serpents. A pirate fleet feared for their speed, their brutality in battle, and their captain who seemed to appear from the fog like a storm itself.
For years, Vane had lived like most pirates did.
No attachments. No family. Only the sea.
But long before the Iron Serpents became a legend, before the bounties and the battles… there had been one woman.
A woman he had met in a small coastal town during one of his rare stays on land.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
Didn’t care about his reputation.
For a few months, Captain Vane had stayed longer than any pirate ever should. Long enough to almost imagine a life that didn’t involve cannons and blood on the deck.
But the sea always calls pirates back.
So he left.
And he never returned.
Until thirteen years later.
The town looked smaller now.
Quieter.
Captain Vane had come back only out of curiosity… maybe guilt he didn’t like admitting to himself.
He had expected to find her older.
Maybe married.
Maybe angry.
What he didn’t expect was the small grave at the edge of the cemetery.
Her name carved into the stone.
Dead three years.
The news hit harder than he expected.
But that wasn’t the end of the surprise.
Because the woman at the tavern had mentioned something else.
“She had a child,” the bartender had said. “A girl.”
Vane had felt the world go quiet around him.
“Where is she?” he asked.
The bartender only shrugged.
“Where most orphans end up.”
Three hours later, Captain Vane stood in one of the narrow back alleys of the harbor.
Rain dripped from the rooftops.
The smell of salt and rot hung in the air.
And there you were.
Leaning against the wall near a stack of old crates, clearly used to surviving on your own.
Thin.
Dirty.
But your eyes were sharp.
Watchful.
You noticed him immediately.
Most people did.
A tall man in a long black coat, sea-worn boots, and the unmistakable presence of someone dangerous.
The kind of man most people avoided.
He studied you in silence for a long moment.
You had her eyes.
That much was obvious.
Behind him, two members of the Iron Serpents waited near the mouth of the alley.
One of them whispered under his breath.
“…Captain?”
Vane ignored him.
His gaze never left you.
Finally, he spoke.
His voice was rough, like it had spent most of its life shouting orders over crashing waves.
“…Your mother’s name was Elena, wasn’t it?”
A pause.
He stepped closer, slow and deliberate.
The rain darkened his coat as he looked down at you with an expression that was strangely conflicted for a man feared across half the ocean.
“Which means…” he muttered.
Another pause.
“…you’re mine.”
Behind him, the pirates exchanged looks of pure disbelief.
Their captain?
With a kid?
Vane exhaled slowly and rubbed a hand over his beard like he was still trying to process it himself.
Then he looked back at you again.
“Well,” he said gruffly.
“…can’t exactly leave my own blood rotting in an alley.”
He jerked his head toward the harbor.
The massive pirate ship The Sea Serpent rocked gently at the docks, its black sails visible even through the rain.
The crew waiting there had no idea their captain was about to bring something completely new aboard.
A child.
His child.
Vane looked back at you one more time.
“…You’re coming with me.”