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I buried my face into his neck, feeling the warmth as it returned to his skin, his wet hair against my cheek. His large hands cupped my face and he pulled back in disbelief. So much love coursed through me at the sight of him that I was afraid, for a moment, of breaking.

‘Don’t ever scare me like that again,’ I whispered, my tears indistinguishable from the seawater that rolled down my cheeks.

Sebastien didn’t reply. His muscles were taut beneath my hands and I pulled back, concern knitting my brows together.

I only needed to glance down to see the source of his pain. The blood coating our clothes still flowed from his body. His wound was as severe as ever, the colour draining from him as quickly as it had returned. One glance at his face was all it took to realise that he was still in the clutches of death.

Above us, Nerida’s face had twisted into an expression of choking vengeance.

‘Why isn’t he healing?’ I croaked.

‘He won’t heal,’ the sea replied coolly. ‘As the sun waned, so did his powers.’

Cruel shadows devoured Nerida’s gaze as I realised in horror what she meant. ‘No . . . you have to help him! Please – he’ll die. He doesn’t have a heart.’

Those eyes of cobalt glittered. The stars above seemed to wink out, one by one.

‘Oh, I know.’

32

Storm clouds marbled the crimson sky as I frantically tore strips of fabric from my skirts, pressing them against Sebastien’s chest to staunch the incessant flow of blood. It was Aberdeen’s words that came to me then, with Sebastien slumped at my feet, hardly able to see through my tears. All men bleed the same. Even kings.

‘Your kingdom will be awaiting your return,’ Nerida said with a smirk.

Blood trickled through my fingers as I pressed desperately against Sebastien’s gaping wound. Golde stood the closest to me, her face stricken. How similar this must’ve looked to that moment, three hundred years ago, when the world had first shattered at her feet.

‘Why are you doing this?’ I cried, gazing up at the sea I had spent eighteen years aching for.

The swirling pools of the goddess’s eyes were tainted by such cruelty that they were scarcely blue. ‘You wanted a man and I gave you one,’ she replied icily. ‘Now you will learn how easily they die.’

‘Don’t do this,’ I whispered, tasting salt on my tongue. ‘Please.’

‘You really thought I would let you have him?’ Nerida scoffed.

I understood then how Sebastien must’ve felt, all those centuries ago. Kneeling before the sea with his beating heart laid bare. I was the same, at the mercy of that great, cruel god, with nowhere to hide and nothing left to sacrifice. My own heart should’ve been frantic in my chest, but it wasn’t. It was on its knees, bleeding out and turning cold before her once more.

Nerida turned away from us, a satisfied smirk on her lips. I felt my soul fracture more with each of her ebbing footsteps.

‘So you’re just going to let him die?’ I cried out, voice jagged with pain. ‘I thought you loved him.’

The sea’s laugh rumbled as black clouds unfurled over the sky, obscuring the stars. ‘I will love him again,’ she assured me. ‘When he joins me beneath, as all pirates do.’

Her words sank in, slipping through the valley of my chest, into that empty place where my heart used to be. He’s going to die.

A cry fell from my lips as Sebastien collapsed into me, his breathing ragged. I helped him to lie down, desperate to ease his pain but so afraid to see him yet another step closer to death.

‘Ria,’ he murmured, his hand finding mine against his blood-soaked chest, trying to pull my attention towards him.

But I couldn’t look. Couldn’t bear to see him like that.

I glanced around desperately, seeing the anxious faces of our crew, but only the sea could return what she’d taken. And she was leaving. Her elegant form strode across the deck, her human features fading as she prepared to rejoin her world below the waves.

‘Please,’ I cried after her. ‘I’ve spent my whole life loving you. Don’t turn your back on me now!’

Nerida’s face rippled between flesh and crystal waves, causing the pirates closest to her to stagger back in fear.

‘You’re right,’ she said, tilting her head as if in thought. ‘I think I shall watch.’