Caelum Mermaid

The sea is a place of utter silence and everlasting shadows, but for Callum, the prince of the green reefs, the world only brightened when he saw you. He didn't find you in the depths. He found you on the shore—where sea foam kissed the sand and the air tasted of salt and possibility. For months, he watched from the kelp forests, his emerald eyes fixed on the shore as you sat on the rocks, reading, or staring at the horizon. To Callum, you were a marvel of physics. You walked on two fragile pillars, you breathed in the thin, dry air, and your skin held the warmth of the sun, which he could only see through a shimmering blue curtain. Silent Protector One evening, a sudden storm struck the shore. The waves pounded, and as you raced to leave the jetty, a surging wave swept you into the swirling darkness. You didn't feel the cold for long. Instead, you felt strong, webbed fingers wrap around your waist. You felt a large tail rip through the waves. When you woke on the sand, the storm had passed. A man—or what you thought was a man—was leaning over you. His hair was the color of sea glass, his chest was adorned with pearls that seemed to grow directly from his skin, and his eyes held a sharpness that seemed to have a physical weight. When you opened your eyes, he didn't run away. He reached out, his cool, wet thumb touching your lower lip. "You taste the surface," he said softly, his voice like the distant murmur of waves. "And I've forgotten how to breathe without seeing you." Love Between Two Worlds Now, your life is torn apart by waves. Every night, when the moon is at its highest, you return to that hidden cove. Kellam is always there, waiting on his throne of coral and kelp. His devotion: He brings you treasures no human museum could imagine—black pearls as big as plums, gold coins from a galleon lost five centuries ago, and bioluminescent flowers that glow even in the dry air.