Sirens Cove (The Sirenborne Chronicles #1)

1. Mira

Chapter one

Mira

Bruised

When I was a little girl, my father used to whisper stories of the Fountain of Wishes like a prayer.

It was his greatest dream to bring my mother back from the dead, then wish for eternal youth so we could remain together, forever unchanged.

Every moment he spent chasing the cursed fountain was stolen from me.

Life aboard a pirate ship carved loss into my bones at an early age.

I knew he wanted a son, an heir, not a daughter.

But I still tried to become the legacy he longed for.

And now that the sea has claimed him too, I have only one purpose left: bring them both back.

And gods help anyone who stands in my way.

I took command of my father’s ship, The Siren, a vessel born of old magic, feared across the seas, with a will of its own and a name spoken in equal parts awe and envy.

They said the sea wasn’t meant for women, that no woman should ever captain a crew of pirates, let alone a ship like this.

But I became captain at nineteen, the youngest in our history, and one of the only women to ever claim the title.

I didn’t inherit the role. I bled for it.

After my father, Captain Bleu, was ripped from me during an expedition just a year ago, there was no one else worthy enough to take the helm.

The irony? It was the ship’s namesake that killed him.

We were fighting for a fragment of the map when the sirens rose from the water, not women, not monsters, but something in between.

Shadows spun from ocean song, cloaked in beauty, sharpened by death.

Their voices weren’t just a lure, they were a curse.

Haunting. Fatal. Designed to seduce men into the depths and silence them forever.

My father had always been immune to their charms, too clever to fall under their spell.

But that day was different. The sirens weren’t alone.

Sea wraiths poured from the trenches, soulless creatures with hollow eyes and claws that dripped venom.

I watched from the quarterdeck as crewman after crewman fell, torn apart in a single slash of those claws.

The first sound was always a scream, raw, animal, ripped from the soul.

The rest… too gruesome to stomach. Whatever god birthed such creatures was no god of mercy, only one of cruelty.

It was chaos. I didn’t know who was fighting who.

Maybe we were never their enemy. Maybe we just arrived at the wrong time.

But in the confusion, my father stepped too close to the shore. His biggest mistake.

That’s when she reached for him. A siren, rising from the waves, her arm slick with seawater, her blue-black scales shimmering in the moonlight.

Her fingers were long, claw-tipped, webbed at the base, and inhumanly strong.

She coiled her hand around his ankle like a serpent and yanked him into the sea.

He didn’t fight. Not from what I saw. I watched him vanish beneath the black surface, the ocean swallowing him whole.

A scream ripped from my throat, echoing across the shore and out into the endless sea.

The sound of a girl who loved her father, but hated him just the same.

And in the end, I could do nothing, only watch as he died before me, helpless. Leaving me to carry on the Bleu name.

The water turned red with blood as the battle raged on. We lost so many that night. I gathered what was left of my crew and fled, half alive, wholly heartbroken.

When we finally returned to port, after licking our wounds and counting the dead, the crew made their choice. With no son to inherit the title, I became the next best thing. Or so they thought. I was nineteen, just a girl in their eyes, but I took the helm anyway.

I know I’m small for a captain. I’ve heard the whispers.

But I was trained from the cradle to fight, to survive, to command.

I’ve taken down men twice my size without blinking and slain creatures that crawl from the deepest parts of the sea.

Strength doesn’t just come with size; it comes with guts and training.

As the sun warmed my olive-toned skin and the salty breeze stung my face, I watched the crew hand me my father’s hat and his title.

I wasn’t nervous. I’d known this day would come.

My father had always been reckless, too consumed by his own madness to care about much, especially after my mother was taken from us.

He fought recklessly against his greatest rival, Captain Eldoris.

The two of them were always chasing the same treasures, their clashes leaving one or both bleeding before the day was done.

Their feud burned for years, a fire neither man could put out, until the day Captain Eldoris committed the unthinkable.

From that moment on, my father lived for only one purpose: to slaughter Eldoris’s son, as payment for what had been stolen from him.

Kai Eldoris. Infamous Pirate Lord. Feared across every sea.

The youngest, most powerful captain to ever sail and the only pirate known to wield real magic.

Not borrowed from a witch. Not stolen or cursed.

Magic that pulses in his veins. It belongs to him.

A mortal man who should’ve never been given that kind of power.

They say he was born for war. That he held a blade before he could speak, fired a pistol before he could ride the tide.

That he’s been fighting alongside his father since he could walk.

Now he commands The Leviathan, a ship said to vanish into fog and reappear miles away, faster than wind, cursed by the sea itself.

While Captain Eldoris rots from illness, too weak to even stand, he remains shut away on Kai’s ship.

Guarded by Kai and the few crewmen he trusts, no one ever lays eyes on him.

If I could, I’d make him bleed myself, but he’s too well guarded.

And unlike my father, I don’t have an itch for a death sentence.

Good. Let the bastard wither where he lies.

But I haven’t forgotten. And I’ll never forgive. No matter what power Kai holds, no matter what title sits on his shoulders, he is still my enemy. And one day, I’ll make him pay for what his father did.

“Captain, we’ve hit port. The men are heading out for supplies before we set sail again,” Smith says.

I’ve known Smith since I was a baby. He taught me everything that made me who I am: how to fight and when to hold back, how to splice a rope and tie a knot that won’t give, how to load a pistol cleanly, and how to grip a cutlass so it lands true.

He showed me where to strike a man so he never rises again and how to live with the cost. He turned a headstrong little girl into a captain. I owe most of what I know to him.

He was my father’s first mate, and now, he’s mine.

He’s a middle-aged man with shaggy brown hair streaked with gray, chestnut eyes sharp as broken glass, and a scar slicing down the right side of his face.

He’s a force in battle, can face down three enemies at once and walk away with nothing more than a scratch.

My father trusted him with his life. And so do I.

However, ever since I took the role of captain, I’ve felt his resentment simmering beneath the surface, though he hides it well.

But there was never a world where he could claim my ship.

The Siren answers only to blood, my bloodline.

Without that bond, I fear the crew would have chosen him long ago.

My father would never have passed her to someone who doesn’t carry that legacy in their veins.

The Siren chose me. Smith never had a chance.

I couldn’t imagine life aboard The Siren without him here to help run it.

“Aye, I’ll be down in a minute,” I call back, perched in the crow’s nest, the ship and sea laid out below me.

It’s where I go when I need a breath. When the weight of everything, this journey, this war, this map, settles heavy in my bones.

I keep waiting for answers to surface. For fate to speak.

Especially with Kai Eldoris out there, chasing the same legend as I am.

We’re all chasing the Fountain of Wishes for one reason or another, but if his father’s legacy is any indication, Kai’s reason is bound to be dark, hungry, ruthless, maybe even diabolical.

He still has his father. Still has Eldoris guiding him, even if the man is a shell of what he once was. But Eldoris is sick, not silent. He’s still speaking, still scheming. And I can’t afford to fall behind.

I make my way down to the dock, where I meet our dealers. Finally, the sweet scent of Magda hits me, the rich, smoky aroma of bonfires laced with laughter, mingling with the salt spray on my skin. The sun warms my face, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I feel at home again.

I hand the silver to Corvin, a well-known trader on Magda’s docks. He’s young but always has just what everyone needs. He is quite wealthy and very trustworthy. Would never tell another soul what you bought, as long as you don’t ask where he got it.

“Thank you, Corvin. I always appreciate doing business with you,” I say with a slight smile.

His sea-blue eyes catch the sunlight beneath the brim of his worn straw hat, freckles scattered across his sun-browned skin like grains of sand.

A gold chain glints at his throat, hinting at wealth he doesn’t flaunt but can’t quite hide.

“Anything for you, Mira,” he answers, his voice slick with charm. He’s always had a little thing for me, one I have no interest in. I nod, turning back toward the ship to steal a moment’s rest before the night unravels.

Word’s already spread that I’m recruiting, so we’ll be docked here until morning. One night. Just enough time. It’s important to let the crew stretch their legs, do what they please and who they please. I’m not that soulless of a captain.