Maren's POV - Present Day
The stars disappeared.
One moment they blazed overhead, lighting my path across the dark water. The next, they winked out like candles being snuffed. One by one, until the sky turned completely black.
My boat rocked violently. The wind died. The air turned so cold I could see my breath.
"This is it," I whispered, my heart hammering. "The Starless Sea."
The water around my boat changed color. Not gradually—instantly. Like someone had dumped a barrel of ink into the ocean. Black spread in all directions, swallowing the normal blue-green water until I floated in absolute darkness.
I pulled out Coral's dagger and pressed it against my palm. My hand shook, but I forced it steady. This was what I came for. What I'd spent three months preparing for.
"I'm not afraid," I lied to myself.
I dragged the blade across my skin. Pain flared, but I welcomed it. Blood welled up, bright red against my pale skin. I held my hand over the water and let three drops fall.
They hit the black surface and spread like crimson flowers blooming in darkness.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the water began to move.
Not waves—the water itself moved, swirling in a circle around my boat. Faster and faster, creating a whirlpool that pulled me toward the center. My tiny boat spun like a toy in a bathtub.
"No, no, wait!" I grabbed the sides as the boat tilted dangerously. "I'm not ready—"
A lie. I'd never be ready for this.
The whirlpool widened, deepened. I looked down and saw nothing—just black water spiraling down into infinite darkness. My boat tipped toward the edge.
This was it. The entrance to the abyss.
I stood on shaking legs and shouted the words Coral taught me: "Serpent of the Starless Sea! I come willingly into your domain! I am Captain Maren Stormbourne, and I have nothing left to lose!"
My voice echoed across the empty water.
"I offer you my soul!" I continued, my throat tight. "Take me in place of Lira Stormbourne! Let her go, and I'll pay whatever price you demand!"
Silence.
Then—
BOOM.
The water exploded.
Something massive erupted from the center of the whirlpool. Water cascaded down in sheets as a giant form rose higher and higher, blotting out what little light remained.
The serpent.
He was bigger than I remembered. Bigger than my ship. Bigger than ten ships. His body coiled and twisted, rising up from the depths like a nightmare made real.
His scales glowed with eerie blue-white light—millions of them, covering his impossible length. Each scale was as big as my hand. They pulsed with their own inner fire, casting strange shadows across the black water.
But his eyes—oh god, his eyes.
He had too many. Dozens of them running down both sides of his massive head, each one burning with cold intelligence. They fixed on me, pinning me in place like a moth on a board.
When he opened his mouth, I saw rows and rows of teeth. Each tooth was the size of a sword.
"FINALLY."
His voice wasn't a sound. It was a feeling—a vibration that shook through my bones and rattled my skull. I clapped my hands over my ears, but it didn't help. The voice came from inside my head.
"After two thousand years of waiting, someone fulfills the conditions."
The serpent's massive head lowered until one huge eye was level with my boat. The eye was bigger than I was, glowing with that same cold fire. It studied me like I was an interesting insect.
"You come willingly. You have nothing left to lose. You offer your soul for another."
"Yes!" I shouted, finding my voice. "Yes, I offer myself! Take me and let my sister go! That's the deal!"
"Deal?" The word rumbled with dark amusement. "You think you can bargain with a god, little captain?"
"I don't care what you are!" Tears streamed down my face. "Just give her back! Please! Lira is innocent—she never did anything wrong! If you need a soul, take mine!"
The serpent's form began to shrink. His massive body condensed, scales melting together, shifting and changing. Within seconds, where a giant monster had been, a man now floated above the water.
My breath caught.
He was beautiful. Terrifyingly, impossibly beautiful.
Silver-white hair flowed around him like he was underwater even though he hung in the air. His skin was pale as moonlight. His eyes—now just two, thank god—were the deep blue-black of the ocean's darkest places.
But it was the chains that made my heart stop.
Glowing chains wrapped around his wrists, his neck, his bare chest. They looked like they were made of light, but where they touched his skin, they burned. I could see the raw, angry marks they left behind.
"I am Vaelen," he said, and this time his voice was normal. Almost human. "The god you've come to bargain with."
He lowered himself until he stood on the water's surface like it was solid ground. Then he walked toward my boat, each step sending ripples across the black sea.
"And you, desperate captain—" He smiled, and it was cruel and sad at the same time. "—have just activated an oath sworn in blood and sacrifice."
He reached out faster than I could see and grabbed my wrist. The one I'd cut. The one still bleeding.
Pain exploded through my entire body.
I screamed as fire raced through my veins. It felt like my blood was boiling, like every nerve was burning. A mark appeared on my skin—glowing lines spreading from where Vaelen touched me, racing up my arm and across my chest.
A serpent coiled around a drowning star. The same mark appeared on Vaelen's chest, right over his heart.
"What—what did you do?" I gasped when the pain finally faded.
"I didn't do anything. You did." His grip tightened on my wrist. "The oath required one who comes willingly with nothing left to lose to offer their soul for another. You spoke the words. You shed your blood in my waters. The bond is sealed."
"Bond? What bond?"
"Your soul is tied to mine now, Captain Maren Stormbourne." His eyes glowed brighter. "Your life force feeds into me, and mine into you. We are connected. Permanently."
Horror crashed over me. "No. No, that's not—I just wanted to trade places with Lira!"
"And you have. She lives. You take her place." Vaelen pulled me closer, until I could see the ancient pain in his eyes. "Welcome to the abyss. Welcome to my prison. You'll be staying forever."
My boat began to sink. The black water rose around my feet, my knees, my waist.
"I can't breathe underwater!" I panicked, trying to pull away. "I'll drown!"
"Not anymore." Vaelen dragged me under the water as the boat disappeared above us.
I tried to scream, but water rushed into my mouth—
Except I didn't choke.
The water filled my lungs, but it felt like air. Cool and breathable. I could see perfectly in the darkness. I could move without effort.
"What's happening to me?" My voice worked underwater, clear as if we were standing on land.
"The bond changes you." Vaelen still held my wrist, pulling me deeper and deeper into the black. "You wanted to save your sister? Congratulations. You condemned yourself instead."
We sank past rock formations covered in glowing moss. Past schools of transparent fish with too many eyes. Past coral that reached out with finger-like branches.
And finally, I saw it.
A palace carved from black stone and coral, sitting on the ocean floor. Towers and spires covered in bioluminescent plants that pulsed with light. It was beautiful and haunting and completely impossible.
But what made my heart sink were the spheres.
Dozens of clear spheres, each one containing a person. They floated throughout the palace like bubbles, and inside each one, someone hung suspended. Frozen. Their faces twisted in fear or pain or both.
"The offerings," Vaelen said quietly. "Every soul sacrificed to keep me chained. They're alive, Captain. Conscious. Aware. Trapped for eternity."
My eyes searched frantically, moving from sphere to sphere—
There.
Dark hair. Nineteen years old. Eyes wide with terror.
"LIRA!" I screamed, fighting against Vaelen's grip. "Let me go! LIRA!"
My sister's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Her hand pressed against the inside of her sphere, reaching for me.
"I'm here!" Tears mixed with the water around my face. "Lira, I'm here! I came for you!"
But she couldn't hear me.
"Please," I turned to Vaelen, begging. "Please let her out. I'm here now—you don't need her anymore!"
"I can't." For the first time, real emotion flickered across his face. Pain. "The chains require the souls to remain. They feed on life force to keep me bound. If I release even one, the imbalance could kill everyone else trapped here."
"Then break the chains!"
"If I could break them, do you think I'd still be here after two thousand years?" His voice turned sharp with rage. "I've tried everything, Captain. Magic, force, bargaining with gods who stopped answering centuries ago. These chains are absolute. Only the ones who forged them can release me."
"The Maritime Guild." The pieces clicked together. "The Drowning Court my father mentioned."
Vaelen's eyes narrowed. "Your father knows about them?"
"He's one of them." The words tasted like poison. "They're all in on it—Marcus, Selene, my father, probably the entire Guild leadership. They've been sacrificing people to keep you imprisoned."
"Yes." Vaelen's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "And using my stolen power to fuel their ships and weather magic. I'm the monster in their stories while they commit atrocities in my name."
We stared at each other—a broken captain and a chained god. Both of us betrayed. Both of us trapped. Both of us victims of the same conspiracy.
"Teach me," I said suddenly.
"What?"
"The bond gives me access to your power, doesn't it? I felt it—I'm breathing underwater. I can see in the dark." I grabbed his arm, ignoring the chains that burned between us. "Teach me to use your power. Help me understand the chains. And I swear on everything I have left—I'll find a way to break them."
Vaelen stared at me for a long moment. Then he laughed—a broken, bitter sound.
"You want me to trust you? You're human. Thessaly was human. Every human who swore to help me eventually—"
A massive boom echoed through the water, cutting him off.
We both froze.
"What was that?" I whispered.
Vaelen's face went pale. "Ships. On the surface. They're coming." He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes wide. "They found you faster than I thought. Your father's fleet is here."
"Already?"
"They're dropping something." He tilted his head, listening to sounds I couldn't hear. "Something big. Something magical." His grip tightened painfully. "Your father isn't here to rescue you, Captain."
"Then why—"
"He's here to kill you." Vaelen's voice turned deadly cold. "And use your death to seal me permanently."