Mira
Chapter twenty-four
Still Waters
My bare feet touch the deck of the ship. My crew and Kai’s were all here. Kai was right. They were smart enough to make it back. “Cap’n,” Nate calls, stepping forward. “You okay?”
I don’t answer right away. My eyes cut across the deck, my hand instinctively brushing the hilt of my cutlass. Staying close to the ship’s edge, where the sea waits, comforting, deadly, mine. It’s a strange thing, realizing you trust the ocean more than the wood beneath your feet.
“I’m fine,” I say, voice steady. “What the fuck happened?”
Nate hesitates, taking a cautious step forward.
“That’s far enough,” I warn, sharp and sure. He freezes, hands slightly raised.
“They hit the island hard. We couldn’t find you or Cap’n Kai.
We thought the safest move was to regroup here.
The town’s gone, torched. They were looking for you.
” His voice falters as he glances around the crew.
“Smith… he was paying someone off. Last time we made port. They’ve been tracking us since. ”
A cold, slow fury rises inside me. “You knew Smith paid someone off and didn’t tell me?” I growl. “Did you think we wouldn’t find out?”
“I didn’t know until tonight,” Nate replies quickly, eyes wide.
“If I had, I swear I would’ve said something.
Most of us thought he was paying off a prostitute, as usual.
” I narrow my eyes at him, searching for a crack, a tell, anything.
But there is nothing. His eyes, clear and sea-blue, give nothing away.
Still, something in me stays on edge. My trust, once given freely, now has thorns. And I don’t plan on bleeding for anyone ever again.
I look up at the rest of the crew. Every one of them wears the same haunted expression, concern etched deep into their features.
Before I can speak, Kai vaults back onto the ship.
The second I see him, the tension in my chest loosens.
Relief crashes over me, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Just knowing he’s been out there, onshore with too many ill-intentioned pirates to count, has my stomach churning, bile rising in my throat.
After what we just shared, the thought of losing him now makes something inside me claw to the surface.
But a part of me also knows that Kai rarely loses. He is the first and only Pirate Lord for a reason. He carves that title out of blood and grit. Pirates worship him for it.
Kai steps toward me, slipping an arm around my waist to turn me. Then both of his hands come to rest on my arms, steadying me in place. He searches me, eyes burning gold beneath the moonlight. His gaze drags over every inch of me, inspecting.
When he sees the dried blood at my chin, he brushes it away with his thumb, gentle, yet fierce with intent. His touch lingers for a second, as if trying to take the pain from me.
He has a long gash down the left side of his face, slicing from his brow to the edge of his jaw. My breath catches. I reach up and touch the cut, fingertips brushing away flecks of sand, the gesture tender but filled with worry.
He has blood all over him. I can only pray it isn’t his. “I’m okay,” I say softly, offering the words before he can even ask. He gives a slight shrug, eyes already scanning the crew.
Then his voice cuts through the silence.
“If any of you is a traitor,” he says, low and deadly, “I’ll kill you in front of everyone.
I’ll make sure they all watch you die a pitiful death.
If that’s you, I suggest you walk the damn plank now.
And pray to whatever god you believe in that I don't catch you.”
He starts pacing the deck, each step deliberate. His hair is soaked, dripping seawater onto the wood. His jaw ticks as the rage in him boils. I wonder briefly how his swim with the sirens went, what they said and what they showed him. Did he even swim with them at all?
Under the moonlight, he looks carved from vengeance itself. His fury stretches him taller, makes the air around him hum with menace. Every muscle is tight with restraint, but only barely. He's livid, at Smith, at the betrayal, at how close danger had crept to me without him seeing it first.
I look around the deck. His crew looks terrified, as if they’ve seen what he can do before and have no desire to see it again. My crew, while tense, is calmer. They haven’t yet witnessed the full extent of Kai Eldoris’s wrath. But they will understand it soon enough.
“Jay, come with me. I want a full report. Everyone else, back to work,” Kai orders, his voice like steel against the crashing waves.
He turns without waiting for acknowledgment, walking with the confidence of someone who’s already made up his mind.
Jay follows close behind, both of them disappearing into a part of the ship I haven’t explored yet.
A war room, I assume. Which then leads me to the thought, where does Kai keep Captain Eldoris stored away?
For a moment, I consider going after them. But something tells me to give Kai space, to let him cool off and strategize. He needs that, and frankly, so do I.
What I want is simple: to strip out of my salt-stiffened clothes, crawl into bed, and watch the waves slap against the hull while I bite into something sweet. Chocolate. I always have a secret stash.
But the ache in my chest doesn’t fade. Smith’s betrayal leaves me feeling hollow.
His words sting like a box jellyfish, sharp and venomous.
I can understand his grief, maybe even his bitterness.
Watching crewmates die protecting me isn’t easy.
But he knows what he signed up for. He knows what this life demands.
Smith was the closest thing I had to a father.
He helped raise me. Protected me. Watched over me when no one else would.
He taught me how to tie my boots when my fingers were too small to get the knots right.
He was there when I cracked my ribs in a training match and said I took it better than most grown men do.
He trained me for battle, taught me how to fight smart, taught me how to survive.
If he truly had been my father’s first mate, then he knew everything about my mother, about the choices my father made.
About the risks of protecting someone like me.
He was supposed to be my ally. Now I’m starting to see why Neressa slaughtered all of her mentors. So no one alive knows her next move.
When my father was off chasing some cursed treasure, it was Smith who trained me and who watched over me. Smith who told me to never let anyone take me, not even him. But that man is gone. And now, so is the lie he wrapped around me.
His betrayal will weigh heavy in my heart. But his death will float, light as a feather, now that I know who he truly was.
I’m left uneasy, haunted by Smith’s final words. Power, he said, like it was worth more than life itself. Worth more than the crew, than me. Does no one realize that killing me would shatter the ocean’s balance? That my death wouldn’t just end a life, it would unravel everything?
I’m still trying to understand the weight of what’s been placed on me. To make peace with it. But I know I have to live. Not for myself, but for the sea and for Kai.
The poisoned Soul of the Ocean has grown sick, twisted by greed, betrayal, and ancient rot.
I am the only thread left holding it all together.
The only hope to restore what’s been lost. Every step I take from here on out is for the creatures who swim beneath the waves.
For peace, for this war that is being built from the deep trenches to be stopped.
For Kai. And for the sirens, creatures I once feared, now deeply tied to me.
Misunderstood, mythologized, and feared for all the wrong reasons, but they are not monsters.
They are fiercely loyal and they’re my home now.
I want to know them for what they truly are.
I can only pray Kai finds it in his heart to open up to them too.
To see that they were there the moment I needed them most. It was as if they could feel my fear, my rage, the betrayal in my heart.
Read my intent. They knew exactly what I was doing when I lured Smith closer to the water’s edge.
I wasn’t scared, not then. Because when the sea turned that haunting, beautiful shade of obsidian black, I knew I wasn’t alone.
Kai made it back to the ship safely, through black waters that would’ve swallowed any other man whole. The sirens must have escorted him. I want to know what happened out there. What was said and what wasn’t. I want to be a fly on the wall during his conversation with Jay.
I haven’t made it back to our quarters. I wander instead, my thoughts swirling like the tide.
Staring out at the ocean, the moonlight glittering across the surface, I feel the ache of everything.
My mind unspools at sea. I wonder if the sirens are silently gliding through the night water beneath the ship.
The water always does that to me, wraps around my soul and pulls at all the knots I’ve tucked away.
Very like me, I suppose, to be lost in the sea’s beauty.
I am a Pisces, after all. And Kai is a Scorpio.
Of course he is. Born in the season of storms, tethered to secrets, shadows, and the pull of deep waters.
He once told me his favorite part of our quarters is the windows, not just for the view, but because he likes to watch the sunrise break over the sea.
He said it reminds him that no matter how dark things get, the ocean always finds its light again.
We’re both water signs. It makes sense now, why I feel everything so deeply, and why he hides everything he feels like it’s a weapon. He is the storm, and I am the tide, pulled to him no matter how far I try to drift. Dangerous, beautiful, and impossible not to love.
“Cap’n?” Nate’s voice breaks through the hum of my thoughts.
I turn to face him. He stands a respectful distance away, hands loose at his sides.
He’s maybe ten years older than me, but his presence carries a calm authority that makes men listen.
Salt-and-pepper strands streak through his dark blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck.
A deep scar curves along his jaw, a faded reminder of battles long past. He joined my crew a few years after I was born.
“I want you to know, Smith never told any of us what he planned. Not about leaving. Not about hurting you,” Nate says, his voice low but firm.
“I’ve watched you grow from a wild little girl into a captain men will follow into the storm.
The crew on this ship, your crew, they’re here because they believe in you.
We’ll protect you with our lives. That’s what your father would want. ”
He pauses for a breath, the flicker of something unspoken passing through his expression. “I can’t speak for Captain Kai’s men,” he adds, “but we’re with him too. Anyone who has your back the way he does earns our respect and loyalty.”
His words settle in my chest like warmth after a long, cold swim.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear them.
“Thank you, Nate,” I say. “Your loyalty is all I could ask for.” He gives a short nod, the kind shared between people who’ve been through hell and still keep going.
Then I turn and make my way to my quarters.
I undress, peeling off the soaking wet clothes and letting the sting of the cold night air bite at my skin.
The lantern flares to life, its soft glow casting shadows across the room as I sink into our bed.
A long-sleeved shirt lies draped over the chair—lightweight, worn, and saturated with the scent of tobacco and sea salt.
I curl beneath the satin blankets, facing the long window. The sea shimmers in the dark, and I let the sound of waves lull me. I must fall asleep waiting for him, because I wake to sunlight kissing my face, warming my skin like a promise.
I roll over, sensing him before I see him.
“Morning, treasure.” Kai’s voice is low and raspy, gravel laced with heat, the kind of sound that sends goosebumps down my spine.
I turn and see him standing at the door in nothing but his underwear, a cup of coffee in one hand.
The steam curls around his face in delicate swirls, catching the morning light.
His hair is damp, tousled from sleep or sea, I can’t tell.
I don’t care. He looks like sin and salvation all at once.
“Morning,” I say, my voice soft but with worry. “Are you okay?”
He sits beside me, the mattress dipping beneath his weight. “Yeah. Just… figuring out a plan.”
I narrow my eyes. “A plan? For what?”
He reaches for my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine. “To protect you. Mira, you’re not safe. You need to go somewhere, somewhere no one can find you. To train, to strengthen. Not that you need it, but it could help you protect yourself in battle.”
I pull my hand back, holding his gaze. “First off, I can protect myself. Never bring that up again. Second, I’m not leaving you.
I’m not leaving my crew. And I will never abandon this mission.
We are going to find that fountain together.
We’re going to make our wishes together.
We are going to save you.” I glance at the black veins spreading down his arm and his hand.
“Do you understand?” My voice doesn’t waver.
I need him to know there’s no version of this story where I run.
He exhales slowly, nodding. “Understood. But we need better ways of keeping you safe.” He hesitates, just long enough to make my heart skip.
I meet his gaze, steady and unflinching. “We’re pirates, love. Nowhere’s safe.” A slow smile tugs at his lips.
“Luckily, I had a conversation with the sirens last night.”
My eyes widen. “And?” I ask, my pulse already racing. Unlike Kai, I’ve never been good at keeping calm when it matters most.
“They’re going to help us,” Kai says. “They’ll show us where Sirens Cove is.” He pauses. “But like everything else… it comes with a price.”
A chill slides down my spine. “What do they want?”
He walks to the desk, grabbing the black long sleeve slung over the chair. As he pulls it on, my heart pounds louder in my ears. “They want the all-powerful witch,” he says, buckling his belt, attaching each weapon with careful precision. “And they want you to help them get her.”
My blood runs cold. “Taika?” He doesn’t answer right away.
He just crosses the room slowly until he stands at the edge of the bed.
The morning sunlight pours in through the window behind him, casting a golden glow across his face.
It catches the flecks of green and gold in his eyes, turning them into wildfire.
“Yes,” he says. “It’s time the witch burns.”