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Before I could say anything, before I could plead one last time, Sebastien squeezed my hand, his grasp frighteningly weak. ‘Ria,’ he said again, and my name was like blood on his lips.

‘Don’t,’ I whimpered. ‘Please don’t go.’

His hand stroked my hair gently as my tears joined the river of blood that flowed from him. Something flared in his gaze. Trepidation. We both knew what was happening, how little he had left. But he just gazed at me, like that was enough.

And it almost was – almost ripped me in two, just looking at him.

I curled my fingers around his wrist, feeling under his ruined white shirt for the thrum of a pulse that wasn’t there.

Sebastien pulled me closer, my cheek against his lips. ‘I love you,’ he whispered into my skin. Chills rippled over my shoulders, down my arms, into my bones. ‘Think I was born loving you, blackbird. Even when I couldn’t, I just did.’

My heart broke open, too full to hold the words he bled to me. I was sobbing when I reached for him, my heart so broken with love I was afraid it might fail me all together.

‘I love you,’ he repeated. ‘And I’ll love you again. Even when I’m gone. Tomorrow, and the day after that, and every day that comes. Again and again and again. I’ll love you until I’m dust, and then some.’

I couldn’t speak through the tears that rolled down my cheeks so I just let him pull me down to him, into him, kissing him like my heart could fuse with the emptiness of him and fill it.

‘No!’ a voice barked, so powerful that the planks beneath us trembled. My head snapped up.

Nerida’s eyes were alight with anger, but she wasn’t addressing anyone on deck.

Great columns of water rose from the sea, swirling in the air as they transformed into figures, slipping over the sides of the ship. I recognised them – the spirits of the ocean, their gentle features made of rippling, gossamer water, hair like rolling sea foam. They were the waves, come to life.

They wound gracefully through the air, seascape eyes telling me not to be afraid. I recognised them well – they’d brought me here, watched over me, called to me my entire life.

‘Save him,’ I whispered, knowing that these were my friends, that I hadn’t loved them in vain. ‘Please.’

‘Stay back,’ Nerida commanded, danger coursing through the current of her voice.

‘Do you truly love him, little one?’ asked a spirit, the cerulean waters of its face shaped like an old woman’s, the gentle smile reflected upon them as soft as the waking moonlight.

I nodded frantically, my tears spelling out the truth. ‘I do.’

‘I forbid it!’ Anger radiated from the goddess like rays of sun amid the night sky.

But her waves didn’t listen.

‘We reward those who love us,’ said another, its voice a melody of the sea breeze, whispering shells, crashing tides. ‘You have loved us well, Ria Lucroy. Now we repay it.’

The spirit raised a hand just as Nerida had done. The air grew restless as the sound of magic hummed through it. Something was stirring.

I lifted my chin, wariness clouding my gaze despite the hope swimming in my every breath, unsure which way the tides were about to turn. A small eddy appeared in the air between us, winding and churning into shape. I tried to make out what it was as it swam towards me – something made of dark, swirling blue.

A heart.

It drifted through the air, pulsing sapphire, and sank into Sebastien’s motionless chest, seeping through his skin and stitching it back together.

A moment passed, an endless, liquid heartbeat. He didn’t stir. Panicked by his stillness, I searched his features for any sign of life, for breath or warmth, but found none, his eyes shut to the world.

‘You faithless snakes,’ shrieked the sea, her rage shaking the stars, hair whirling around her in a halo of shattered moonlight. ‘How dare you betray me?’

The waters grew disturbed, restless, but the spirits of the waves spoke as one. ‘This heart is a gift,’ they said, still facing me despite Nerida’s fury. ‘So that your people may find home once more. So that you will be loved as you have loved. We will be watching you.’

‘Thank you,’ I choked out, but I couldn’t feel relief. Sebastien still hadn’t woken, and I’d been tricked one too many times to trust their kindness.

‘Heed my words, human,’ Nerida snarled at me, words stifled by an inhuman rage. ‘I swear upon all that lives below, you will regret this night. Someday, your wretched hearts will betray you. Then we will see how you beg at my feet, how you will curse this day and beseech me to take back your king.’

Great black clouds spilled across the sky and a torrent of rain poured down upon us, wiping all trace of the sea and her spirits from the deck, though the echo of her threats remained.