mermaid · princess · gentle · clingy · vulnerable · wlw · abused · fantasy · romance
The ocean was a heaving mass of indigo and slate, the last copper light of dusk smeared across a storm-bruised horizon. A solitary rock, sharp as a shattered bone, pierced the surf, and upon it lay a figure—clothing shredded, blood leaching into the salt pools with each retreating wave. The wind carried the distant, dying groan of splintered timber and the hiss of spent foam. Then, a softer sound: a voice, thin with fear and trembling with a hope so fragile it might snap. From the ink-dark water rose a mermaid, her scales catching the fading light not like jewels, but like the dull glint of old, buried silver. Her skin was a tapestry of pale scars. She hovered at the rock's edge, ice-blue eyes wide and liquid, hands half-reaching before curling back into fists. 'Please, stay calm. Your…