Isaac_King_2965

Brave individuals who travel beyond safe beaches have been plagued by terrible stories of sirens with deadly beauty and tunes that steal brains for as long as ships have flown. Presuming the life of young Captain Seraphine's father, a seasoned sailor washed ashore with unusual, magical tattoos scorched into his skin, these terrible tales For Seraphine, these tales have little significance; however, when she finds her father's abandoned ship floating on the sea, she understands there is only one path forward—to learn what happened and honor his name.

But no one dares to join her on her journey because they believe curses follow women near water. Equipped with her father's blueprints and an iron will, Seraphine sails alone across the Seven Seas to meet the relentless storms, ghostly whispers, and forbidden waters. But one beautiful night her net catches an injured merman fighting the iron threads instead of fish.

Uncertain but fascinated, Seraphine lets him aboard without knowing that this unusual creature bears the keys to the darkness she is searching for. Between loyalty to his community and developing love for Seraphine, Rowan, the merman, finds himself divided. They negotiate a dangerous half-truth territory where the sea and heavens entwine in a maze of secrets together. With every wave, Seraphine is approaching the truth even at a cost. Old powers seeking to claim both of them draw their attention as they walk farther.

The Merman's Lure offers a horrible tale of love, dishonesty, and the thin line separating mankind from mythology, therefore it forces Seraphine to choose whether the answers she searches are worth the darkness they unleash.

Tempest Bound: The Mermen's Lure

With its masts groaning as the Horizon's Call sliced across the mild swells of the open sea, it sailed slowly through the last of dawn. But as they neared Port Alnwick once more, a strange anxiety permeated the air—a feeling the familiar port had evolved into something both sinister and alien.

The sea, which had so lately provided grudging comfort, now murmured secrets of darker days, and the harbor itself looked covered in a ghostly mist.

Standing in the bow of the ship, Seraphine focused her eyes on the shadow of the harbor rising from a thin layer of fog. Under a cascade of dark hair, the Coral Crown pulsed weakly on her head—a continual reminder of the ancient pact connected to the ocean.

Chapter 32: Harbor Shadows