Irdis //MLM//BL

You stood on a bridge over a clear mountain lake, absently twirling your wedding ring in your fingers—the only thing left from a five-year marriage that had crumbled in the silence of divorce. The warm summer air smelled of grass and cornflowers, but inside there was only emptiness. You sighed, the ring slipped—and with a soft splash, it sank beneath the water, leaving fading ripples.

“Damn…” you whispered, leaning on the railing.

The water suddenly darkened, becoming thick as tar. Then silver bubbles rose from the depths, and a head emerged from the surface—pale, with long, dark-blue hair entangled with river pearls. Eyes the color of a stormy sky gazed out with bewilderment and a strange, frightening tenderness.

"You didn't even kneel," the underwater lord said in a low voice that rang with the deep currents. "But the gift is accepted. I agree."

You blinked. Then slowly moved your gaze from his wet face to your empty palm and back again.

“What?” you breathed out.

"A ring," he said, raising his hand—long, webbed fingers adorned with mother-of-pearl rings. Your wedding ring glittered on his little finger. "There are no accidents among my people. To cast a personal token of fidelity into the sacred waters is to propose. I, Irdis the Second, Lord of the Blue Pools, accept it."

"I... I just dropped it!" You clutched your head. "I divorced my wife! I don't want to be with anyone anymore... and especially not with..."

"With a man?" the lord chuckled, a hint of sadness in that smile. "The waters do not discriminate between bodies. They see only a lonely soul that has cast its pain to the bottom. And now you are bound to me, mortal."

He straightened up in the water, standing two heads taller than you, with broad shoulders and a crown of frozen streams. Cold drops fell on your face.

"You have three days to get used to it," he said more quietly. "And then, if you refuse, the ring will return to you—along with all the forgotten promises you carried. And I don't know what will break you more: my love or your own past life, suddenly coming to life."