Mira
Chapter fourteen
Sealed & Tied
All the blood drains from my face, my body frozen in pure shock.
How does she know me? How do I respond without misspeaking, without offending someone so clearly not of this world?
“You are just like me, child,” Veyra says, her voice soft and melodic, each word falling like dew.
“Can you not feel it?” Kai’s grip tightens gently around my wrist. I anchor myself to that touch, steady, protective, familiar.
“I’m sorry, Veyra… I don’t know what you mean,” I say carefully, layering my voice with all the sincerity I can gather.
She tilts her head slightly. Her eyes glow. But her expression remains unreadable, still, serene, timeless. “You do not know? You truly do not know who you are?”
I shake my head, just slightly. A sting rises behind my eyes. “I don’t,” I whisper. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”
Veyra turns without a sound, gliding toward a nearby pond. A small turtle flails helplessly on its back. She kneels beside it, and with a single touch, graceful, instinctive, she rights it. The gesture ripples through the earth itself, subtle but undeniable. Then she turns back to me.
“Is that why you came to find me?” she asks, her voice like wind through the trees. “To remember what the world has made you forget?”
“I’ve been searching for guidance,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. “To understand who I am and why I’ve always been told I’m different. Special. But no one has ever told me why.” Veyra moves with a grace that doesn’t seem human, her bare feet touching silently on the moss-covered earth.
She kneels by the edge of the pond again, where the small turtle drifts away in calm water.
With a gentle touch, she trails her fingers through the surface.
The ripples shimmer around her, like the water itself acknowledges her presence.
She rises, turning back to me with a gaze that cuts through skin and bone.
Like she sees everything. Everything I’ve hidden, even from myself.
“Child,” she says. “You are a soul. A rare soul. A balance between what is and what was.” Her eyes flick to Kai, her tone soft and steady. “And this young man”—she gestures—“is a part of that soul.”
I glance up at him, my heart thrumming in my chest, eyes narrowing at Kai, at what I’m hearing.
If she’s saying what I think she is, then maybe, just maybe, these overwhelming feelings I’ve had all along weren’t just mine alone.
Kai’s eyes meet mine, steady, warm. That familiar pull between us intensifies.
The silence hums with meaning. The very blood in my veins starts to burn at his glance. His hazel eyes glow softly.
Anger surges through me. If Kai knew and said nothing, then he’s been playing me from the start, using me like a pawn in whatever twisted game he’s winning. “Did you know?”
He meets my stare. “No,” he says, the word rough, honest—or close enough to make me want to believe it. “I just found out at the same time as you,” Kai defends himself.
My eyes narrow. I don’t fully believe him. Veyra continues, her words falling like sacred truth. “You feel it, don’t you? The current between you both, it’s ancient. It’s powerful. The strongest energy I’ve felt in a pair in centuries.” We’re not a pair. But now is hardly the time to say that.
Kai steps forward. “There is an undeniable pull toward Mira,” Kai says, his voice steady, reverent. “The connection I feel to her… it’s unlike anything I’ve ever known.”
Veyra tilts her head, gaze otherworldly, knowing. “She is the breath in your lungs? The hush of moonlight and the gleam of stars? She is the weight of gold and the warmth of flame?”
Her hand floats through the air in a graceful arc, as if painting the shape of my soul into existence.
Kai’s fingers slip from my wrist and interlace with mine.
The moment his skin touches mine, something ignites, a spark that rushes through my blood like fire and salt and sunlight. And the anger I felt is just gone.
“She’s everything I didn’t know I was missing and everything I don’t think I could survive losing,” he says without hesitation, his hazel eyes shining with something fierce.
Like a vow. Like truth. He looks at me like I’m something rare and irreplaceable.
All the feelings inside me make sense now.
We’re bound by blood and prophecy. Something so much bigger than both of us.
The flutter in my chest is impossible to ignore. I’ve never wanted to kiss him more than in this moment. Veyra shifts her gaze to me. “And you?”
I pause, swallowing the storm inside me. “I feel the bond, the pull towards him.” I admit. “But my walls are still up.” Veyra’s expression softens into something even more divine.
“There is no need for walls here. He is your shield, your storm. He was made to find you. To see you. You are safest with him. And he” —she flicks her eyes to Kai— “is safest with you.” Her words melt something inside me I didn’t realize was still frozen.
“I will trust you,” I say quietly, lifting my eyes to Kai’s.
His gaze never wavers. He leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead.
The touch is gentle but burns at the same time.
And something in me shifts. For the first time, I’m not repulsed by the intensity between us.
I don’t flinch away from it. I welcome it.
He makes me feel safe, like no one in this world could ever take me from him.
“Then you have my blessing,” Veyra says, her voice like wind over water, soft, slow, eternal.
“And my blessing is sacred. Do not break it. Do not bend it. You are tied together for eternity. Do not sever it. Not even death will unbind what I now seal.” She extends her glowing hands, one toward Kai, one toward me.
We place ours into hers. Her hands make both mine and Kai's hands glow brighter.
Instantly, warmth floods through me. I feel it all.
His breath. His heartbeat, crashing in my ears like waves. His thoughts. His fear. His love. And his pain. She’s connected us, body and soul. For a moment, it feels like I’ve absorbed a piece of him. Even his magic hums beneath my skin. The tether is complete. Eternal.
“You are now bound,” Veyra says, her voice low and final. “Nothing can break this bond. Not even death.”
Kai pulls his hand from hers but holds tightly to mine. “And what of death?” he asks, his voice shadowed with something heavy. “What if one of us dies?” Veyra’s eyes, bright as starlight, turn to him.
“Then the other will die of heartbreak,” she replies without hesitation.
“There is no life without the other. And as for life after death, that is for you both to discover. You must find your way back to each other. In every lifetime. It is written.” A hush falls around us. Thick with the weight of her words.
A strange peace seeps into my bones, though along with it comes fear.
This life we lead is a dangerous one. Death isn’t a distant threat, it’s a constant shadow.
And now, with our souls tied, if one of us falls, we both fall.
We’ve become a target. Me, for whatever I am.
And Kai, the Pirate Lord, now bound to me.
Kai nods slowly, steady as ever. “Understood,” he says, voice quiet but resolute.
“Mira,” Veyra says, her voice as soft as rain, yet each word lands with weight, “with the blood that flows through your veins, you are in danger. The witches whisper. The pirates plot. Even the mermaids stir beneath the tides. They are beginning to sense what you are. And a dark threat, the nyx, can smell your blood.” My breath catches. I meet her gaze, heart pounding.
“My blood?” I ask. “What’s in my blood?”
She shakes her head slowly. A serene sadness shines in her glowing eyes.
“It is not what’s in your blood, child. It is what your blood is.
Who you are. What you were blessed with before your first breath.
You are a very rare gem.” She steps closer, her presence calm, but charged with something ethereal. Electric.
“Your blood carries a rare gift. One unseen in centuries. And because of that, your soul, your very essence, is the most important soul in existence. You’re the balance between light and dark.
” The air around me grows heavier. The weight of her words settles into my bones like stone.
My pulse stutters, uneven. I swallow hard, but the lump in my throat doesn’t move.
I was told I was special my whole life. But no one ever told me why. Not like this. “You must find the fountain,” Veyra continues, her voice wrapping around me like silk. “It holds the answers. And if it falls into the wrong hands…” She doesn’t need to finish the sentence.
“What I was blessed with?” My voice cracks under the weight of confusion and frustration.
My blood feels like it’s on fire, boiling with unanswered questions.
Rage builds in my chest. Not at Veyra, but at the unknown.
At the way every answer always seems just out of reach.
Like each question I ask is always answered with more riddles for me to figure out.
Kai moves behind me, his hand gently pressing against the small of my back.
His touch alters me. He must feel the anger pulsing off me, but his presence softens it, just enough.
Veyra doesn’t flinch. Her glowing gaze remains calm.
Celestial. “You will find your answers soon,” she says, her tone airy but firm.
“I cannot give them to you. I can only offer guidance, to lead you to the right waters.” She turns and begins walking back toward her moss-covered home. But then she pauses and faces us fully.
“Seek out a mermaid named Anya. You will know her when you see her. She resides in the southern lagoon. Half the year, she calls it home. She can point you to those who know where to find the fountain.” A flicker of something unreadable crosses her face.
“But do not fully trust her,” she adds. “Take what you need and leave. Immediately.”
I glance at Kai, seeking stability in the storm. His expression shifts, serious and protective. I expect him to ask about the fountain. But instead, his voice is low and steady.
“How do I keep Mira safe? What can I do to protect her?” His question hits me like a tidal wave. He could’ve asked literally anything. Could’ve demanded a shortcut to the power he’s been chasing. But instead, he chose me.
Veyra’s face softens with something close to sorrow. Something sacred. “You protect her heart,” she says, her voice like a vow. She locks eyes with Kai, deep, knowing, ensuring the weight of her words roots itself in his soul. Kai dips his head respectfully.
“Thank you for your time, Veyra,” he says.
“I know it’s valuable. We’ll be on our way.
” She offers a soft nod and turns, her glowing figure retreating toward the moss-covered doorway of her home.
But a storm brews in my chest. We came for answers.
Real answers. And now it feels like we’re leaving with more riddles.
I step forward, unable to hold back. “Wait,” I call out.
“Veyra, is there anything else you can give us? Anything that might help us find the fountain?” She pauses mid-step.
Slowly, she turns back, her eyes luminous beneath the dappled canopy light.
Kai steps in front of me, slow and sure, like he isn’t afraid to face a god-like being like her.
“Child,” she says, her voice airy and ageless, “I have given you all that I can. Follow what I’ve said. Anya is your next step. And find out who you are. The sooner, the better.”
Then, without another word, her form shimmers, flickering like a flame caught in the wind, and vanishes. Gone. I stare at the space where she stood, the hush of the jungle pressing in. Just like that, she was finished speaking.
“That went as well as it could have,” I mutter to Kai, though the words taste bitter on my tongue. He looks at me with a sincerity that disarms me, jaw sharp, hazel eyes catching the faint glow of the jungle light.
“How do you feel?” Kai asks.
I snap my gaze to him, the humid air clinging to my skin like a second layer.
“How do I feel?” My voice cuts sharp. “That I was just blindsided into having my soul tied to someone who’s been my enemy since I could walk on a damn deck?
” I let out a short, humorless laugh that tastes like anger.
“Great. Just great. Now, let’s go find that mermaid. ”
He opens his mouth, but I lift my hand before he can speak—a silent warning. The jungle hums around us, thick and alive, every sound too loud in the silence between us. I need a moment before my temper turns in a bunch of words that I’ll regret.
We keep walking through the jungle, the air heavy with rain and the scent of earth. Leaves drip around us in a slow rhythm.
“I know you don’t want to talk, and that’s fine,” Kai says, his voice low, careful. “But, Mira, you had to have felt it too—the reason we’re so drawn to each other.” His words carry softly through the mist. “I know I’m not the only one who felt the pull.”
I stop and turn toward him. “I felt it.” My fingers brush a rain-soaked leaf, gathering the small beads of water until they merge into one trembling drop. “I just… I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“That’s fine,” he says gently. “It’ll take time.”
I meet his gaze, unflinching. “Why are you so okay with this?” I ask. He smiles faintly, eyes glinting with something I can’t quite name. “I don’t get to pick and choose who I’m bound to. But if I have to be tied to someone, I’m glad it’s someone as fearless as you.”
Heat creeps up my neck and cheeks. I turn away before he can see it and keep moving through the dripping green. “How do you suppose we’re going to find Anya?” I ask, pushing a branch out of our path.
“Well luckily, I know a few mermaids who can help guide us.” Now I wish I let that branch hit him.
Of course he does. Mermaids, bewitching, elusive creatures. It’s effortless to fall in love with one, yet nearly impossible to truly hold them. They choose who is worthy of their touch, and only the rarest hearts earn that trust. And that tattoo on his arm is burned into my brain, mocking me.
“I can feel your anger, Mira,” Kai says, his voice dipping into a low laugh. “No need to be jealous, I know a few mermaids. I am a pirate, after all.” His laugh is infuriatingly warm and as much as I hate to admit it, part of me likes it. But this isn’t the time.
I forget he can feel everything now. Veyra’s bond didn’t just connect our souls, it bound our emotions. He knows my irritation, my walls, my flare of jealousy before I can even hide it. “It doesn’t bother me,” I snap, too quickly.
“If you say so,” he replies with that maddening smirk. Then his hand finds the small of my back, steady, sure, guiding me gently through the underbrush. My traitorous body leans into him without resistance, betraying the storm still raging in my chest.