Mira #2
My gaze snags on a shape at the foot of the desk, hidden beneath a cloth. I sink to my knees, the teak floor cool against my skin, my hands trembling as I pull the fabric back. Dust billows upward like ash, and beneath it lies something he never meant me to find.
Journals. Dozens of them. I didn’t even know he owned journals, let alone kept them.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure he could even write.
Each one is worn, leather-bound, stuffed with notes, half-formed thoughts, and maybe secrets I was never meant to see.
My heart thuds as I flip through the pages, then stops when I find another pile.
Smaller. Softer. More delicate. My mother’s diaries.
I pause, fingers tracing the worn edges, the faded ink of her handwriting peeking out like a whisper from the past. Carefully, I begin stashing everything, his journals, her diaries, old maps, and anything he ever seemed oddly protective of, into my largest bag.
I don’t have time to process what any of it means. But I will.
Then I find them, tucked inside a small velvet pouch, as if they've been waiting for me all along. My mother’s jewelry.
Rings. Bracelets. Necklaces. Her wedding ring.
The aquamarines and diamond catch the moonlight streaming through the window, scattering light across the floor like waves dancing in the tide.
The diamond shimmers so fiercely it looks like it holds captured starlight.
I slide the ring onto the ring finger of my right hand. It fits perfectly. Aquamarine stones hug a round blue diamond, the colors mirroring the sea. If I remember right, the ring was designed to reflect the ocean and its beauty. And on my hand, it gleams like it was always meant to be there.
When I look into it, I see her. My mother.
The most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. No wonder my father fell in love with her.
Long, curly black hair. Bright blue eyes, like staring straight into the sea.
Freckles scattered across her face and shoulders.
Petite and graceful. Everything about her radiated warmth.
She had a voice that made people feel seen.
Heard. Understood. It was nurturing and wise.
I wish I’d inherited that part of her. But I didn’t.
Still, I hope… someday, I can become her in my own way.
Smith agrees The Siren would be safest left on Magda, our home away from the sea.
With Neressa. The ship creaks every time Neressa steps foot on her, like she recognizes her, trusts her.
This ship means everything to me. I grew up sprinting across her decks, sneaking into the crow’s nest, memorizing every creak and groan in her bones.
She’s the last piece I have of my parents, my home.
Leaving her behind feels like carving out a piece of my heart. My last known family member.
But this alliance, this merging of crews, it’s the right move.
I need every ounce of help I can get. My crew’s been off since my father died.
The fight is still in them, but the spark has dimmed.
He was an incredible captain, better than I’ll ever be.
Still, some part of me knows I’m meant for more than a captain’s title.
But the blood in my veins keeps me bound to both my crew and my ship. That bond doesn’t break. Not even now.
Kai followed directly behind us the entire two-day trip back to Magda. He’s making this transition easier than I expected, too easy maybe. Still, I can’t help wondering what comes next, what it’ll really be like sharing quarters with him.
Every time he touches me, something sparks.
It’s maddening how attractive he is. But it’s more than that.
He doesn’t treat me like I’m fragile, like I’ll crack under pressure.
Even when his words are rough, they feel honest. Unfiltered.
He also doesn’t take any shit from me. That part is irritating.
Kai watches me from his deck. Always. I feel his eyes on the back of my head like a second shadow.
I can’t tell if it’s because he feels what I feel, or if he just doesn’t trust me yet.
Maybe it’s both. But one thing’s clear, when we arrived, his crew showed me respect within seconds. Because he made them.
When I returned to The Leviathan to speak with Kai about docking The Siren in more detail, his entire crew nodded in unison, saluting me, calling me “Captain.” I never thought I’d hear that from his crew.
From Captain Eldoris’s crew. Given our parents’ history, it felt impossible.
The chill that crawled up my spine wasn’t from the wind.
It was the weight of that name. The history behind it.
Captain Eldoris once ruled the sea, but not like some hero in a song.
He was the pirate mothers warned their children about.
The nightmare beneath every bedtime tale.
His name alone could silence a tavern, not out of reverence, but fear.
He was brutal, cunning, and relentless. I remember the stories.
I remember the screams. I remember the blood.
When Kai took over as captain, he made it his mission to succeed where his father failed, to find the fountain and finish what Eldoris never could.
But what the old man doesn’t know is that I’m the key.
Me. If he’d killed me like he wanted all those years ago, every twisted dream he ever had would’ve died with me.
Funny, isn’t it? The one thing he hated the most is the only thing that could have led him to what he wanted.