The eastern border of the known world was said to end at the Sea of Shards — a vast ocean glittering with broken light, where the stars were said to fall when they died.
It was there, beyond the waves, that Aelira and her companions now sailed.
The air smelled of salt and storm. The ship creaked beneath their feet, forged from starwood and bound by spells older than time.
Kaelen stood at the bow, wind in his hair. "This doesn't feel like running anymore."
"It isn't," Aelira said beside him. "It's returning."
The Call Beyond
At night, Aelira dreamed.
A temple beneath the sea.
A voice she couldn't name, whispering: "You are not the only one who was reborn."
When she woke, she found the Mirror King already watching the horizon.
"The gods know what you carry now," he said. "And not all of them are pleased."
"Good," Aelira replied, brushing windblown hair from her face. "It's time they were shaken."
Ashar appeared on deck with a scroll in hand, soaked with seawater but glowing faintly.
"We're near the place the maps forgot," he said. "The Lost Shore."
"Where no magic lasts," Riven added. "And no lies survive."
The Island of Salt and Silence
The ship struck sand as gently as a whisper.
The shore was white and glimmering, but the sky above it dimmed — as though the island swallowed light. Nothing moved. No birds. No waves. Just stillness.
"I hate it," Riven muttered.
But Aelira felt something pulling her inland — toward a temple sunken half into the earth, wrapped in coral and shadow.
She walked ahead, steps certain.
Inside the ruins, runes sparked beneath her feet. A voice echoed through the stone.
"You left him behind. But he never forgot."
The First Husband
At the heart of the temple, beneath a dome open to the dying sky, stood a man — cloaked in ocean-blue robes, long dark hair tied back, and a silver trident strapped to his back.
Aelira's heart stopped.
His back was to her. But she knew that stance. That energy.
"Vaelen," she breathed.
He turned, slowly.
His eyes — storm-silver and sharp — met hers with an unreadable gaze.
"You've come," he said. "Finally."
Kaelen stepped forward, tense. "Who is he?"
Aelira swallowed hard. "He was… my first husband. In Seraiya's time. He died in a storm meant for me."
"I didn't die," Vaelen said, voice low. "I was taken. Changed. Bound to the sea by the gods you betrayed."
The Broken Vow
Vaelen approached her. "And now you wear the crown again."
"Not the same crown," she said. "Not the same soul."
"Maybe not," he said, softer. "But the pieces still remember how to break me."
The tension between them hummed with old grief and something almost like love.
"I didn't ask you to wait," Aelira whispered.
"You didn't have to," he replied. "I still do."
The Price of Reunion
A great wind howled outside.
The temple walls shook.
The sea began to rise, called by Vaelen's pain — and power.
Ashar's voice rang out. "He's become a sea-binder! If we don't calm him, he'll drown the island — and us!"
Aelira stepped forward, hand on her chest.
"Vaelen. I don't want forgiveness. Just truth."
"Truth?" he murmured. "Then here it is…"
He reached out — and placed his hand over her heart.
Their memories bled together, swirling into the runes around them.
A kiss under the stars.A promise whispered in salt.A goodbye never meant to last.
When he let go, the sea fell silent.
"I will come with you," he said finally. "But not as your past."
"Then as what?" she asked.
He looked to the sky.
"As your anchor. Or your storm."