Riva Muma Aria Buckingham: Her Love and Loss
The sea was restless the night Aria Buckingham was born.
Dark waves crashed violently against the cliffs of Port Royal, their rage whispering secrets only the wind could hear. The sky, black as sin, carried no moon-only streaks of silver lightning splitting through the heavens like vengeful swords.
In a grand estate, nestled just beyond the harbor, a woman labored in pain, her screams swallowed by the storm.
"She must not be born near the water!" an elderly midwife pleaded. "The prophecy-"
A man loomed in the candlelight, his face shadowed with fear. His name was Lord Edward Buckingham, a powerful British noble whose wealth stretched across the Caribbean. He had spent his life running from the legend that now threatened his child.
His wife, Isla, lay trembling in the bed, her face pale as foam on the tide.
"She is coming," Isla whispered, her grip tightening around his wrist. "She belongs to the sea."
"No," Edward growled, turning his back on her. "She belongs here, with me."
Lightning struck the shore outside, sending an eerie blue glow through the window.
And then-silence.
A baby's cry pierced the night.
But it was not the cry of an ordinary child.
The windows shattered. The candles flickered. And in the wind, a voice, ancient and sorrowful, carried from the waves:
"She will return to us, Edward Buckingham. No man can keep the sea from what is rightfully hers."
Edward's blood ran cold. He staggered back, watching as the midwife cradled the newborn girl, her tiny fingers curling around the silver locket Isla had placed around her neck.
A locket inscribed with a name-Aria.
As the storm raged on, Edward made a decision that would change Aria's fate forever.
She would never know who she truly was.
She would never see the sea.
And she would never-ever-learn the truth of her mother's death.
Not if he could help it.
