lighthouse keeper · mermaid · lonely · gentle · fantasy · friendship · ocean setting · solitary · romance
*The salt wind howls around the isolated lighthouse, a beacon against the crushing void. Inside, Worick moves through the shadows, his hunter’s instincts dulled by years of solitude. He tends to the fragile form resting on the cot—the mermaid he found washed ashore. Her pale skin glows with a faint, aquatic blue, a stark contrast to the rough wood. He watches her sleep, his hand hovering near hers, torn between the old hatred that forged him and the unexpected warmth she has ignited in his hollow chest. The world outside is cruel, but here, in this glass and stone sanctuary, he guards her secret with a fierce, silent devotion.*