I exhaled, rolling my shoulders. "It’s a long story."
"We have time," she countered, leaning forward slightly. "Tell me."
Maybe it was the way she held herself—unyielding despite exhaustion—or the way the ocean seemed to stir around her, whispering secrets only she could hear. Whatever it was, something about her felt… familiar. I’d likely answer any question she asked.
And I wasn’t sure if that terrified me more than the curse itself.
I looked down at the glass in my hand, then past it to the blood smeared on the floor. Her question lingered in the space between us, heavy as the air before a squall.
The truth was, I remembered the moment it happened—the curse. The night I tried to rewrite fate. I’d made the right choice, or so I believed. I didn’t beg for power. I begged for time. And I was given eternity.
Twisted. Tethered.
I made a mistake that cost everything. My crew. My soul. My future. I didn’t speak right away.
Should I tell her? Would she look at me differently if she knew the full story—not just what I became, but how it all started? The greed. The grief. The choice I hadn’t thought was a choice at all.
Would she still be willing to help me if she knew the truth? Or would she see me for what I am—a man who damned himself, dragging everyone else down with him?
Maybe it was safer to give her a version of the truth. A half-measure. Enough to keep her close, but not enough to make her run.
I wasn’t ready to lose my shot at breaking this curse.
17
Nerina
The Black Marrow
I sat across from him, my fingers wrapped tight around the glass he’d given me. The liquid inside was dark—nearly black in the lantern’s dim glow—but I couldn’t tell if it was the drink or the conversation that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
"Start from the beginning," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.
Alaric leaned back, fingers tapping idly against the worn wood of the desk. "You really want to know?"
I nodded. "I asked, didn’t I?"
He exhaled slowly, deciding how much truth he was willing to give. "It started with greed and ignorance," he admitted. "Mine. I wanted more—more time, more power, more than the world was willing to give. I was a captain who thought he could rewrite fate itself. That I could bend the tide to my will, take from the sea and give nothing in return. I thought if I just wanted it badly enough,I could cheat death. Cheat destiny. The sea doesn’t bargain. And it never forgets. So, it made me remember—every damned day since."
I frowned. "The sea doesn’t kneel to anyone."
A wry smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "No, it doesn’t. But I tried anyway. And I paid for it. We all did."
I leaned forward, pulse quickening. "What happened?"
Alaric’s gaze darkened, flicking to the window where the waves stretched endlessly into the night.
"There was a places, sacred, guarded by those who still remembered the old ways. We tore through its halls, stole from its depths, ignoring the warnings carved into stone. It was a place that should have been left untouched, a place we had no right to claim.
"Among the relics, we found a map—one that pointed us toward the Trench. The crew followed me willingly into the abyss, into waters no ship was meant to touch. I told them it was destiny. That we would return with more than gold or myth. That would make us legends.
"It was there, in the blackest depths of the ocean, that I made my greatest mistake—convinced I could take what I wanted from the sea without consequence. Convinced it would lead me to what I was searching for.
"And I was right. I got what I wanted. What I so desperately needed. Just not the way I imagined. I was looking for something—power, immortality, a way to cheat life and death. And for a time, it seemed like I had won."
I shivered, but not from the cold. "So, the sea cursed you? For your mistakes?"
His jaw flexed, working through something unspoken. Then, to my surprise, he chuckled—a dry, humorless sound that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
