Mira
Chapter eighteen
Drowned Truths
We’re headed to Wonder Lagoon, Anya’s home. I stare out at the sea, endless, full of secrets. Anya, my aunt. Today, I forced myself to keep reading. My mother’s journals and truths. She once wrote that if she died in her human form, she’d return to her original form in the ocean.
Her death is imprinted in my mind. My father cradling her lifeless body, holding her like it was the last piece of him that still made sense. And then, placing her into the sea with this reverence. He stood there for years. Years. Staring out like he was waiting for a ghost to rise from the waves.
I can’t be a siren. I refuse to be. There’s no way.
If I were, why would the ocean choose me?
Why would she bless something so vile, so feared, to become her soul?
Sirens are cruel. Cold. Heartless. Their souls are twisted, dark things wrapped in terrifying beauty and wicked lies.
Mine can’t be. Can it? Even though they’ve protected me my entire life, this is not what I want.
The thought makes my skin crawl. My chest tightens like it’s caving in around my heart. Would Kai still want me if he found out? If he really knew what I am, what I might be? Or does he already know?
The questions slice like knives through my sanity one by one. My mind is spinning, thoughts crashing like a storm against a rocky shore. But through the chaos, one fear rises louder than the rest, sharp and unrelenting: What if I lose him?
He’s my anchor. My constant. The one I’m tied to, in more ways than I can explain.
But I don’t want to be bound to someone who might come to hate me.
Who might look at me and see only the blood he despises most. Desperate for answers, I reach for one of my father’s journals, the oldest one I can find, dated years before I was born.
The black leather is soft and fraying at the corners, pages brittle from salt and time.
I didn’t expect much. Honestly, I didn’t think he’d written anything at all.
He was a pirate, after all. Most of them can’t read. And almost none of them write. But my father was never like most men.
A thin leather cord holds it shut, wound tight like a secret. I untie it carefully, but the strap disintegrates in my fingers.
Inside, the pages are yellowed and soft, edges curling like they'd once been damp. Some were stained, the ink blurred and bleeding, and for a moment I wondered if the sea had gotten to them… or if something else had. But it wasn’t tears.
My father didn’t cry. He was a storm. A myth. A man made of salt and steel. Most of the pages were blank, like he’d meant to say something but couldn’t find the words or never dared to write them down.
Until I found it. One single page. Half-filled in his unmistakable, rough handwriting, like each letter had been carved instead of written. As if even his thoughts had weight.
Sirena.
Queen of the bloody sirens.
She came to my ship like a ghost, quiet, glowing.
Stars in her hair. Death in her voice.
I didn’t fight it.
Didn’t want to.
She looked me in the eye. Said,
“Captain Bleu, I’ve waited a long time. Let me show you a world you’ll love.”
I stepped off my ship. Willing to go.
Into the black.
Her hand in mine, pulling me under.
Could breathe. Somehow.
Felt like she gave me her soul just so I wouldn’t drown.
Couldn’t see at first. Water like tar, black and thick.
Then it cleared.
She was floating. Watching me.
Eyes glowing like moonfire.
Skin pale. Shining.
She touched my face.
“I want you to live with me here. You would be happy here. Let me take you with me when you are ready.”
Then she took my hand again, pulled me up to the surface…
…and vanished like mist.
I waited.
Gods, I waited every damn day. Starin’ at the sea, hopin’ to see her again.
I knew then—she was mine. Whatever the cost.
My mother is the queen of sirens? The thought settles in like an anchor in my chest, dragging down everything I thought I knew.
It would explain everything, the reason why sirens never came for me.
They tore through crews without mercy, left nothing but bones and blood in their wake. But me? They never laid a hand on me.
Even as a child, I remember one of them, her face just above the waterline, watching me with something close to concern. She wasn’t trying to harm me. She was making sure I was okay.
They weren’t attacking. They were protecting. Watching over their queen and her heir. But my father. I saw him die dragged under by a siren.
Or…
Was that her? Was it my mother? Had she come back to take him home? Had the sirens revived their queen from the dead? Was it a final reunion, or a punishment?
And Taika. Gods, Taika. What kind of dark, ancient magic did she twist to make it happen?
“What’s wrong, treasure?” Kai’s voice cuts through my thoughts, low and full of concern. He’s watching me closely, too closely. He always feels it when my heart starts to race. I quickly slip my father’s journal back into my bag, trying to steady my breath.
“It’s nothing,” I lie. “Just reading some of my father’s entries.”
His eyes narrow, jaw tightening. “You don’t have to lie to me, Mira.
” His voice softens, but there’s something sharp beneath it.
Worry. Maybe fear. “I can feel your heart beating out of your chest.” My chest tightens even more.
I look away, staring anywhere but at him.
“You wouldn’t understand,” I murmured. “I can’t tell you. ”
He steps closer. “Why not?”
“Because,” I swallow hard, “if I do, you might never look at me the same again.” Silence falls between us. Then, barely above a whisper I add, “You’d kill me.”
My heart pounds faster with the realization, Kai has spent his entire life hunting sirens.
They’ve taken his crew, his family… everything.
“Kill you?” His voice is quiet, but it hits me like thunder.
“Are you mad?” I feel a sudden bolt of pure anger rush through me, his emotions running wild through my veins. I finally look up, startled.
“I would never be the one to put a dagger through your heart.” His eyes search mine, steady and unwavering.
“If you’re scared I’ll find something out, Mira, I already know.
I’ve just been waiting for you to say it.
” He kneels in front of me, soothing me with his presence.
I try to hold his gaze but end up looking down, picking at my nails.
I feel like a helpless child again. Kai gently takes my hand.
“I’m here for you. When you’re ready.” He starts to stand, but I grip his hand tighter, the words flying from my mouth before I can stop them.
“Am I a siren?” Silence. I brace myself for disgust. For rage. But instead, Kai exhales, and for the first time, I see relief flash across his face.
“Yes,” he says softly. “The blood that runs through your veins is part siren.” I blink, stunned. “And that’s not a curse, Mira. It’s a gift. It’s a good thing that you know.”
I let out a shaky breath at his words. My voice cracks as I glance back at him. “But this doesn’t bother you?” I ask. “I have the blood of the creatures you hate coursing through my veins.”
Kai kneels again, his hand rising to caress my cheek. His touch is gentle. Steady. “If it bothered me,” he says softly, “I would’ve left you the second you boarded my ship.” His thumb brushes across my skin. “I knew, Mira. I knew when Veyra bound our souls together.”
His eyes lock with mine, unwavering. “I’ll be by your side.
Always. No matter who you are. No matter what you are.
Nothing you say, nothing that runs through your veins, could ever scare me away.
” Gods, he always knows exactly what to say.
A smile slips across my lips, small but real.
He kisses me, sealing the promise between us.
“Thank you,” I whisper, the words catching on a breath I didn’t know I was holding. My chest feels lighter, like an anchor has finally been lifted. Kai studies me, then reaches up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“One more thing,” I murmur.
He tilts his head. “Yes?”
“My mother.” I pause. “She’s the queen of them.
The sirens.” Kai doesn’t flinch, but the air shifts between us, taut and heavy.
“I think she’s still alive,” I breathe. “And maybe… maybe my father is too.” The words feel foreign as they leave my mouth.
Even now, I’m struggling to believe them myself.
His brow lifts with a flicker of surprise. “You’re sure?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not sure. But I feel it. Deep in my gut.” I clutch the edge of the table, trying to keep myself grounded. “I know she’s the queen. That much, I’m certain of.” He stays silent, listening.
I hand Kai my father’s journal. “Be gentle,” I say quietly, my thumb brushing over the worn spine before letting go. He takes it like it’s something sacred, his fingers careful, reverent even. I point to the first sentence my father ever wrote.
Kai’s eyes widen as he reads, the sun setting his hazels ablaze. His jaw tightens, a slow exhale slipping through his lips as if the words are sinking in too deep to ignore. “I see,” he says finally, his voice low. He's processing.
“And my mother’s journal says that if she dies in her human form, she returns to her original one.
” I meet his gaze. “When my father placed her body in the ocean, her blood turned black.” Kai’s eyes narrow slightly, piecing things together.
“And we both know,” I continue, my voice firm despite the quake in my heart, “Sirens bleed black, just like the water they swim in.”
“And what happened after?” Kai asks quietly, his voice dipping low. “Where did her body go?”
I look down again, my voice small. “I was so young. I just remember her body slipping into the ocean. It was peaceful. Like the sea was welcoming her home. And my father, he never stopped staring out at sea, always looking for her.”
Kai’s eyes darken with thought. He glances away for a second, jaw tightening. “Hmm,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me.
“I know it sounds insane,” I say quickly, trying to fill the silence. “But I think they’re alive. Both of them. I don’t know where, or how, but”—I press my hand against my chest, right over my heart—“I feel it. Like a tide pulling me somewhere.”
I hesitate, then say quietly, “There’s something else.
Anya, she's my mother’s sister.” Kai’s head snaps toward me.
I catch the flicker in his eyes, the realization setting in.
The pieces aligning. “That makes her my aunt,” I add, barely above a whisper.
“I’m only just starting to make sense of it, but it changes everything. ”
“I believe you,” Kai says without hesitation. “We’ll find your parents. Or they’ll find us first. With the ocean blessing you like she did, creatures will talk. If your mother really is the queen…” His gaze locks with mine. “She’ll feel it. She’ll come.”
I nod slowly, the weight in my chest beginning to lift, just a little. Then he smirks softly. “Also, Mira, nothing you say will ever sound insane to me.” I feel my face grow warm, and a small smile tugs at my lips.
I glance at him. “With your father killing my mother the way he did,” I say carefully, “you and he might’ve been targets this whole time. From both sides. The sirens and the mermaids.”
The words hang between us, heavy with implication.
Confusion swirls beneath the surface of my thoughts. How could my mother and Anya be sisters, one a siren, the other a mermaid? It doesn’t make sense. But maybe it’s not supposed to. Not yet. It seems that hybrids run in the family.
Kai doesn’t flinch. He just steps closer. “Then let them come for me. I’ll handle whatever comes at us. Sirens don’t scare me, treasure,” he adds.
I’m not sure he fully understands what he’s saying, not really. Sirens aren’t just deadly, they’re nightmares. A glance at his arm reminds me that he should know this better than I do.
But Kai’s fear isn’t of them. “What scares me,” he says, standing now, “is knowing how unsafe you are. You’re a massive target, Mira.
Every creature, every pirate, anyone worth their salt, is looking for you.
One mermaid whispering in the wrong ear is all it takes.
And there are too many cursed ears to whisper into. ”
He moves to the door. “We should see how close we are to Wonder Lagoon. And Mira, never, ever trust a mermaid. Their beauty blinds, their words deceive, and their loyalty is paper-thin. That includes Anya. Family ties or not, they are untrustworthy. Veyra sent us to her for a reason. We find it and then we leave.”
I rise, following him toward the door. “We’re not just looking for answers about me,” I say, voice calm but certain. “We need help finding the fountain.” I pause, glancing out at the waves. “And something tells me Anya won’t give it up so easily.”