Beneath the Breaking Waves: A Novel of Underwater Kingdoms, Lost Magic, and the War for Two Worlds

What would you sacrifice to end a thousand-year war? Mira Kaine never wanted to be a hero. As a warrior of the mer, she fought humans because that's what her people had always done—kill or be killed in an endless cycle of genocide beneath the waves. But when a desperate alliance offers one chance to end the bloodshed, Mira must make an impossible choice: bind herself to an ancient magic that will consume everything she is, or watch both species destroy each other completely. The covenant will enforce peace—but the price is her humanity, her identity, and her soul. Twenty years of isolation. Eternal vigilance. Memories dissolving like salt in water. As Mira transforms from warrior to weapon, from person to principle, she discovers that saving two species might mean losing herself entirely. Meanwhile, the woman she loves builds a new world that Mira can watch but never touch, protected by the very magic that's slowly erasing who she was. In the depths where bioluminescent cities rise and ancient powers awaken, one truth becomes clear: peace demands a champion. But champions pay in blood, tears, and everything that makes life worth living. Can love, survive when one person becomes the law itself?