Chapter 427: Lorelei
I can feel it. My time is nearing its end.
Normally, I would have a longer lifespan—merfolk twice as long as humans, their bodies sustained by the sea, their spirits woven into the tides.
My body is tired.
My heart is slowing.
I do not tell Daphne.
I cannot.
But I know she knows. I cannot hide it. I have aged too fast. I am more asleep than awake. I can no longer handle rough waves in the waters.
I think Alira knows too.
She looks at me with those eyes—Daphne's eyes, dark and sharp and knowing. She does not say anything. She does not have to.
I see it in the way she holds on longer when she hugs me. In the way she finds excuses to stay close. In the way she hums the old songs I taught her, soft and slow, as if she is trying to keep me here.
I am not sad, though.
Not at all.
I am happy and at peace.
This life is more than I ever thought I would have.
