The Starless Sea Novels & Stories

The sea was not meant to be still. But as Elira's ship neared the Isles of Mourning, the water beneath the hull grew unnaturally calm—so smooth it reflected the clouds like a blackened mirror. Not a single gull flew overhead. Not a single wave dared rise. Only silence and the heavy scent of salt and sorrow. She stood at the bow of the vessel, her hair pulled back in braids woven with moonthread, the Starlight Crown and the Glass Pendant of Truth both tucked beneath her hooded cloak. Beside her stood the Crimson Mage, who had grown unusually quiet since they set sail.

With great difficulty, Zach reached out and wanted to touch my head, but he only touched air. Feeling dejected, he lowered his arm and looked at my rotten head. “I’m sorry, Starling.” [Please live. You can still turn back.] “It’s too late, silly.” Zach hugged my head and sat beside the pool of sulphuric acid. He threw the kidney he removed from Catherine into the sulphuric acid. Then, he turned and gave my head a gentle kiss. “I can’t turn back anymore. I only have one star in my life, but I lost her.

The scene is filled with a heavy silence as i stared out at the sea, my mind reeling with the sudden turn of events. The only sound that breaks the stillness is the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore. The air is thick with the smell of salt and seaweed, and the only movement is the occasional seagull flying overhead. The water is a deep blue, almost black in some places, and the waves are choppy and restless. In the distance, a storm is brewing, and the sky is darkening with ominous clouds. It's as if the world itself is mourning the loss of Dr. Ingres.

Tiny glittering dots of starlight began to shimmer above us, like they were telling us Hello in their own way. Thane slowed the boat and turned off the engine. “So..?” I began. "Look," he whispered, I followed his gaze and...good lord. I gasped, twice. The water around us was glowing. Thane dipped his hand into the water and that spot began glowing with small otherworldly blue specks. It’s…” I breathed, struggling to find words. “It’s the Sea of Stars.” A smug grin played on Thane's face. “You didn't think I'd bring you to Maldives and leave without seeing one of its wonders, did you?”

**KELLY THOMPSON'S POV** The moon's corpse hung low, a bloated specter leaching color from the sky. Its craters pulsed like open wounds, and the sea beneath it had gone still, a black mirror reflecting its rot. The *Kinslayer* cut through the water, its heartstone hull groaning as if mourning the world it sailed toward. Selene's wolves clustered at the bow, their star-metal blades glinting like shards of dead constellations. Rhydian stood apart, his serpents restless beneath his skin, their scales shimmering with a light that matched the moon's sickly glow.

His lips dragged along my jaw to the scar on my neck, and the heat of it echoed back through the bond and hit me like a slap. Somewhere behind us, Bastian told his mother he’d fed the goats. He didn’t have goats. I didn’t care. Dominic rolled me under him, my hands finding their way up the back of his sweater, and over his shoulder the star was watching us— The star. I blinked at the door. The buttons swam in and out of focus, creating a pulsing, living scene. Waves cresting against the beach. A band of trees along the shore. Mountains above the trees. The wolf standing on the peaks. And the star shining in the sky.

“And you are going to listen and really think about this. But before he does, I am going to tell you that this is a fated mate. You know how rare that is. I was there when they met, and I could feel the magic in the air. The Moon Goddess put these two men together, and she did it for a reason. You will understand that reason when Jasper tells you about his mate.” Sebastian took a mouthful of whiskey and then set it down. He looked from Charlotte to Jasper. “Fated,” he sneered. “How could this be fated?” Charlotte met his gaze and held it until, surprisingly, it was Sebastian who broke the lock of their eyes, looking instead to Jasper. “Fine,” he said resentfully. “Explain how this is fated,

I'm disappointed by the sudden loss of the warmth his body created against mine. I wait before opening my eyes, hoping he will continue his assault. When nothing happens, I peek through the slits in my eyelids to the sight of him shirtless, staring at me with lust-filled abandon. I can't decide where to look, what to take in. His chest is as glorious as his arms, but the way Mason's eyes have turned heated, focused on me, wins out. The brown of his irises have gotten so dark they're almost black, a yummy dark chocolate.

The very deep did rot: O Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs, Upon the slimy sea. About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue and white. And some in dreams assurèd were Of the Spirit that plagued us so; Nine fathom deep, he had followed us From the land of mist and snow.

Instead, it welcomed me as prey. The deeper I went, the darker the water became — black silk folding over my body, layer by layer. I clawed my way upward, but the current curled around me with almost tender cruelty. Each stroke felt like swimming through honey, slow and useless. My lungs burned, my heartbeat roared in my ears, and the only light came from the silver moon rippling far, far above… smaller with every second. This was the Forbidden Sea. The sea that kept its dead. The sea that cradled the worst of the realm — fallen kings, unrepentant murderers, traitors whose names had been erased from every book. The ocean was their prison and their grave, its depths lined with the bones of th