Elara is imprisoned by her sister and condemned by her father, yet the feared being beneath the waves offers her freedom. She takes Nerion's hand and becomes the wife of the wounded deity everyone calls a monster. After shielding him from a fatal spear, the seals binding his power shatter, and the sea claims her as its sovereign. But old betrayals remain. Determined to rescue the mother her family entombed, Elara faces stolen ocean relics, a brewing war between land and water, and a god urging revenge. Her kingdom demands one more victim. Elara refuses to become one.