Mira
Chapter thirty-two
Every Breath
The siren’s words pulse through me like thunder. Disbelief drowns out everything else, and Kai grabs my hand as we make our way back to the ship.
“She’s alive,” I whisper, as if saying it aloud might shatter the illusion.
I had a feeling after reading the journals, but hearing it, knowing it as a fact, feels like my heart shattering all over again.
I don’t remember the walk back. I black out everything around me, my thoughts hijacked by memories of her.
Her lullabies and her warmth. The way she used to brush the salt from my hair.
For a moment, I feel like a little girl again, standing on the deck of The Siren, safe under her shadow.
But the joy is short-lived. Uncertainty creeps in like a rising tide. What if she’s not the same woman I remember? What if the years or her grief have changed her? What if she never knew what became of my father? Or worse, what if he didn’t die that night?
We leave the island and set course for Alek. It’s about a day away now. “Are you okay?” Kai asks as he sits beside me on our bed. I’m wearing nothing but his long-sleeved green shirt, which drapes over me like a dress.
“Shocked,” is all I manage to say.
“We’ll find her,” he says gently, reassuring me.
“If she’s been alive all this time, why hasn’t she come for me?” My voice cracks a little.
He shakes his head. “I could ask the same question,” he replies, a half-smile tugging at his lips. “You're not alone,” he says with the gentlest tone, and for some reason, as twisted as it is, it’s the most comforting thing he could have said to me.
I smile, leaning into the comfort of him. My back rests against the headboard, and he shifts, laying his head across my lap. I run my fingers through his curls. He smells of sea salt and tobacco, like home. His hand strokes my thigh slowly, grounding me.
“She might not remember me,” I whisper. “Or maybe she’s been watching. Every time there was a siren attack, they never came near me. Never touched me.” I pause. “Not even once.”
Kai looks up at me with those piercing eyes and a soft smile.
“You’re unforgettable, treasure. She remembers you.
” His words wash over me like warmth sinking into frozen skin.
“She probably couldn’t come near you. It would’ve put you in danger,” he says softly.
“Look how many are after you already. If she revealed herself too soon, you’d be dead.
Watching from afar, that might’ve been the only way she could keep you safe.
And if you’d never stepped foot on my ship…
” He trails off, his jaw tight. “I don’t even want to think about it. ”
His emotions shift like he’s been pulled under ice. His jaw tightens and ticks. The thought of losing me makes him feel sick. But he’s right, without Kai and the crew, I wouldn’t have survived. I’d be a ghost drifting through the sea.
“What happens if I die?” I ask softly, the question trembling out of me. “What happens to the ocean? Its soul?”
Kai’s expression changes to a look I haven’t seen yet, heartbroken and confused at the same time.
“I ask myself this question every day. I don’t want to find out.
” He sits up, to look in my eyes. “It looks like we have a clear path to the fountain, but we have to turn the witch in…” He stops to take a breath and gather his thoughts.
“Have you thought about what you’re going to wish for? ”
The thought hasn’t left my mind since we set out to find the fountain.
“I’m still trying to figure it out. I know that's bad, but a lot has changed in my life. My original wish was to bring my parents back but that’s changed.
Now you’re sick, that’s the number one reason why we have to get to the fountain. ”
He smiles at me, caressing my face with his hand “I can wish for my own health. Don’t waste your wish on me,” Kai says.
“It’s not a waste of a wish if it saves your life.” I smile down at him. “Which, as you know, saves mine too.” He lets out a soft laugh.
“You can pick your own wish at your own pace, treasure, there’s no pressure for you. I pulled out two more siren claws from my arm, so we have four wishes now.” He moves to reach for his neck and pulls out a necklace with four siren claws on it. “Whatever your heart desires, you’ll get.”
“What’s your wish?” I ask quietly. “Your scar?”
He nods. “To be cured of this siren curse,” he says, sighing. “Originally it was for your safety, but now I think saving me is what is going to keep you alive longer.”
My heart sinks. I hate that this scar has poisoned him. My eyes find the black veins trailing down his arm, slowly starting to take over his chest.
He watches me look at the curse, a smile playing on his lips. “Don’t worry,” he says with reassurance.
“How could I not be worried? It’s spreading.”
He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Because we will get there. It will be okay, even if I’m sick for a little while.” He’s just so sure and confident all the time that it bothers me. If I had a dark curse running through my veins, I would be worried sick every second of every day.
“Okay, do you promise we’ll make it there?” I ask, knowing that he can’t promise me that fully, but it helps take away some of the unsettling feelings arising.
“I promise, Mira. I won’t let us die.” His words linger, suspended between us. “There is no world without you in it,” he finishes, his gaze locked with mine. “We will make it through this.”
“I love you.” It’s all I can get out.
He smiles, then sits up, and kisses me. “I love you, my treasure.” And then he takes me, again and again, until sleep finally claims us, tangled in each other’s arms. Naked beneath the moonlight, the soft flicker of the lantern painting golden fire across our skin.
Just us against the world and everything that stands in our way. But together, we’ll take it all on.
Because together, we are everything. In a world so vast, we’ve become the center of it, our bond eternal, beyond any end we could ever fathom.