The Mermaid Lord Drowns in His Regret

Episode 1

Once every hundred years, the mermaids spin a wheel to choose a bride for Austin, the monster who rules the Abyss—a place so vile even the gods abandoned it. When the wheel lands on Chloe, she refuses to go. Her family turns on Aria instead, calling her a curse and demanding she take her sister's place. Chloe has been protected her whole life; Aria is the one who's impossible to kill. Cornered and guilted, Aria finally agrees to go into the Abyss in Chloe's place. The sacrifice is set—but nothing about this bargain is as simple as it looks.

Episode 2

Aria agrees to the swap on one condition: she wants Lucas's moonstone, the only thing left of the friend who died saving her. Her family balks, but they hand it over. Then Aria's memory turns back three years—to mermaid hunters who caged her and forced her to sing until her throat tore. Ethan came for her then, promising she was his mate and that no one would ever touch her again. She believed every word. But the truth surfaces: the woman Ethan truly loves is Chloe. The swap must stay secret, or Chloe is as good as dead.

Episode 3

The secret of the switch has to hold until the wedding—no one outside the room can know. Aria keeps replaying Ethan's old promises: that she was his mate, that what was his was hers, that anyone who wanted to hurt her would go through him first. She gave him her whole heart on the strength of those words. Now the memory curdles, because the truth lands like a blade—it was always Chloe. The devotion she thought was hers was never real. Aria has agreed to marry a monster in the deep, and the man she loved is the reason why.

Episode 4

Ethan's public devotion to Aria is a performance, and he finally says it plainly: she carries siren blood, and her voice can drive wraiths and enemies mad. She was never anything more than the shield he put in front of Chloe—let every assassin come for her instead. In private, all his warmth vanishes; he can't even stand to look at her. Aria pieces it together: the tenderness in public, the coldness behind closed doors. A single photograph of Chloe is all it takes to prove where his heart lives. She gave him everything, and that was her mistake.

Episode 5

With mermaid hunters closing in, Ethan gives a chilling order: pull every elite guard—shadow guards included—and send them to Chloe's residence. Aria is in far greater danger, but a shield is meant to take the hit. Then word arrives that Chloe has drawn the sacrifice mark and is being sent to the Abyss in seven days. Ethan's plan is cold: marry Aria, use her voice to lure the wraiths, and bring Chloe back. Aria confronts him with everything—the lies, the gamble on her life. And she reveals what Chloe really did: she took a knife to Aria's rainbow fin and made it her own.

Episode 6

Ethan recalls the volcanic eruption that should have killed him years ago. Someone pulled him out—he never saw her face, but he remembers a rainbow fin, and only one mermaid in these waters has one. He believes it was Chloe, and he owes her his life. Meanwhile, Aria quietly clears out her belongings, preferring the emptiness. When Ethan finds her crying and presses to know who hurt her, she names Chloe and dares him to keep his promise. The circus arrives in the Central District, and Ethan reserves the best seats—for Chloe.

Episode 7

Ethan insists Chloe would never hurt anyone on purpose, and Aria's accusation becomes a misunderstanding he'd rather drop. He gifts her rare glowing seagrass to keep the sun off—except it makes her violently ill, something he somehow forgot while remembering everything Chloe loves. When Chloe arrives, the same seagrass appears again, and Aria recalls a month of hives from the last time. Ethan apologizes, promising not to forget again. The cracks in his devotion are showing, but Aria is still the one left hurting while Chloe glides through untouched.

Episode 8

At the circus, Ethan coaxes Aria to stop being angry, but the crowd's whispers cut deeper—some marvel that he's softened for her, others call her shameless for making him chase. Then Chloe strikes: she reminds everyone that Aria was once a star attraction in a human circus and demands she perform. Aria waits for Ethan to defend her. Instead he calls Chloe blunt and tells Aria not to overreact—then asks her to sing, just one song, for him. Humiliated in front of everyone, Aria is pushed toward the stage she swore she'd never mount again.

Episode 9

Aria performs, and the fallout is brutal. Ethan swears no one will ever make her sing again—but the damage is done, and she tells him every promise he made meant nothing. Chloe and the crowd mock her ruined tail and her caged past, yet Ethan can't tear his eyes away from her song. Chloe seethes: maybe she won't truly have him until Aria is dead. Then the wraiths attack. In the chaos, Ethan runs to Chloe first. Aria sees it clearly—when it truly matters, he chooses Chloe, always. She's nothing but a shield he no longer needs.

Episode 10

Aria is left in critical condition after the wraith attack, and Ethan's reckless rescue of her leaves him shaken. Chloe demands to know if Aria means enough for him to risk his life—and he insists she's reading too much into it. But privately, the thought of losing Aria terrifies him. When Aria confronts him—you had a choice, you chose Chloe—he offers excuses about reacting to whoever was closest. She orders him out. Then, thinking of Lucas and everyone who died so she could live, Aria makes a decision: no more being trapped in what happened. It's time to start living again.

Aria's finally choosing herself—and the Abyss is waiting. Dive into the next episodes to see what she becomes.