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Like a seed dropping into soil and sprouting, a memory flourished behind her eyes—one that did not belong to her.

He was transferring the image to her through the connection of their kiss.

In the memory, he was a child—maybe twelve—standing at his father’s side. A man who wore the same deep-set gaze and ebony strands curling from beneath a cap. The years of sun exposure had etched deep wrinkles into his skin, but his physique mirrored Ronin’s tall and lithe frame.

The misty morning hour provided a serene backdrop as they cruised on a fishing boat.

“You hold a fishing pole like this, Ronin.” His father guided him. “No, you’re still not doing it right. Here, let me show you. Every Kahale boy needs to know how to hold a fishing pole. Yes, good. Just like that. Now, look at the sunrise. Isn’t it beautiful?”

It was dutifully obvious Ronin, full of pre-adolescent angst and displeasure shown by a not-so-subtle eye roll he gave his father, did not wish to learn the art of fishing.

He moved across the boat’s deck.

“Ronin, be careful. That part of the deck stays slippery. Ronin!”

Headfirst, Ronin plunged into the waves. The current swallowed him, the water brutally cold against his sun-kissed skin. Saltwater crammed up his nose and filled his lungs. His arms thrashed in the water as he tried to resist the forceful tide.

The sound of silence enveloped him as he sank deeper into the abyss of the sea.

A set of arms cradled his body.

His cheek rested on her chest.

Sleek, silver strands as luminescent as the moonlight floated around her face. She had lips as pink as cherry blossoms, eyes as green as a rainforest—an unnatural shade of green. An inhuman shade.

She brought her lips to his.

His eyes widened in response, causing him to jerk away, but she kept a firm hold on his chin. The burning sensation in his lungs slowly subsided. It was then when he understood what she was doing—transferring oxygen into his mouth.

She was trying to save him.

He blinked through the bubbles and stinging of salt water. Everything about her was surreal and lovely, but the one finite detail he couldn’t shake out of his mind was her eyelashes. They were like little shards of ice that froze off the ledges of roofs and the bottoms of vehicles, and they were the same shade of silver as her hair.

A goddess.

Naia broke their kiss to look at him, cutting the string of his memory in her mind.

They’d met before.

She had to delve into the deepest corners of her mind and sort through years of memories to find her own recollection of that day. Until now, it had not been significant.

After Cassian cursed her to Kaimana, it became a hobby to explore the scape of Mira’s sea in her shape-shifted form as a mermaid. She’d perch on sea rocks and watch in fascination as the mortals sped by on their boats or crowded the beach line with fold-up chairs and blown-up loungers, in funny shapes of animals or food items, floating on the water.

Whenever she needed an outlet for her frustration, she took pleasure in tormenting the marine biologists who explored the shallow coves in search of intriguing sea creatures or organisms. Her favorite game, though, was to intentionally expose herself to the tourists, relishing in their excited squeals as they jumped around and pointed in her direction.

“Mermaid! Look, do you see?”

The particular day in Ronin’s memory, she just so happened to be nearby sunbathing on a cluster of sea cliffs with her hand lapping the water, forced to keep one of her limbs connected to the place she was chained to, when she heard the splash of a small child’s body in the water, followed by the shouting of a frantic man as he attempted to untangle himself from his fishing lines to dive in.

Naia had not hesitated to save the boy.

After returning him to the boat, she remained out of sight where his father could not see her. Peeking through the bottom railing, she held herself propped up on its edge, unwilling to leave until she saw him conscious with her own eyes.

The boy sprung up and coughed out the river of water caught in his lungs.

Realization dawned on him as he swiftly turned his head to find her.

Their eyes met for a brief second.