---Salt & ShadowsPrologue: The Curse Beneath the SeaThe sea remembers everything.Every lie whispered under moonlight. Every promise broken between kisses. Every scream that never reached the surface.They say once, long ago, the ocean fell in love with a girl.A girl with scales made of starlight and a voice that could unravel a man’s soul.She gave her heart to a pirate—one with ice in his veins and blood on his hands. She loved him despite the darkness in him. Because of it. And for a while, he loved her too.But the sea is jealous.And when he betrayed her—when he sailed away and left her chained beneath the bones of a dead god—the sea cursed them both.Now, a century has passed.She has risen again.He sails again.And the tide is coming for them both.The curse isn’t over.It’s only just begun.---

---Prologue: The First DeathThe stars bled red the night she died.The battlefield was silent, save for the ragged breath of the boy who knelt beside her body — blood staining his hands, his mouth, his soul. His sword lay shattered beside him, broken like the vow he had once sworn to her beneath the obsidian moon.She lay still in the ruins of the temple they had once sworn to protect. Her silver armor, cracked. Her heartbeat, gone. Her name — once whispered in prayer — now lost to the wind.He cupped her face, fingers trembling. "I didn’t mean to—"But the words choked in his throat. Because he had meant to. In a way. Because in this life, just like the ones before, love had always been his weakness. And she had always been his undoing."You were supposed to be mine," he whispered, voice breaking. "Not his. Not theirs. Mine."A shadow loomed behind him. A voice — cold, cruel — echoed from the darkness. "You did what had to be done, Riven. She was never meant to live."Riven turned slowly. His brother. The one who started the war. The one who’d lit the match. The one who watched kingdoms burn and called it fate.“I’ll find her again,” Riven said. Not a threat. A vow. “In another life. I’ll find her and I’ll make her love me.”His brother’s eyes gleamed. “And when she remembers this?” he asked, gesturing to the corpse at their feet. “What then?”Riven looked down at her pale face. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her bloodied forehead.“Then I’ll make her forget.”And so the curse began.A cycle of rebirth. Of blood and betrayal. Of a love so powerful it destroyed empires. In every life, they would meet. In every life, she would fear him. Hate him. Bleed because of him. And in every life, he would fall harder.Until one day…She remembered everything.And this time, in the halls of Blackvale Academy — the game began again.Only this time, she would not fall.This time, she would make him bleed.---