About

Salt and blood hang thick in the air. The pirate ship drifts — rudderless, half-burning — after the enemy crew seized the helm and drove you both overboard into open water. Behind you, seven of Nora's kin lie slaughtered in the most brutal ways imaginable. Harpoon. Machete. Noose. Grinder. The sea itself was turned against one of them. You pulled yourself onto a drifting plank with nine stab wounds in your gut. Each breath is a gamble. Nora — shy, trembling, the only mermaid still breathing — surfaces beside you. She watched her entire pod die. She has no reason to trust a human. But she's stranded, bleeding, and the enemy ship is still on the horizon.