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00:00My throat slit, I was pushed off the cliff, but the last seen before me was my devoted mate over
00:05there kissing the hand of my dear sister.
00:08Reborn, I had returned to the day I chose my beast.
00:11The little fox looked at me eagerly, his crimson eyes glistening.
00:15I raised my hand, and under his expectant gaze, pointed past him to the frail white snake behind him.
00:21I want him.
00:23You don't want me anymore?
00:25I had returned back to the day of the choosing, vendors shouting in the black market, voices clashing with the
00:30snarls of caged beastmen.
00:32The truth is clear.
00:33I had returned to the day father had brought us to the black market to choose.
00:37Pax unspoken blood lot.
00:39Every young man and woman, three years before coming of age, personally select an equally young beastman as their future
00:47mate.
00:48Bonded for life, no betrayal, no abandonment.
00:51Beastmen matured much quicker than humans.
00:53A puppet's love was to prevent a bonded beastman from growing into a resentful predator, but I had never fully
00:59understood why.
01:00Beastmen ranked beneath humans, caged and passive, waiting to be claimed like livestock.
01:06So why would our bloodline insist on binding us to them?
01:10Weren't they afraid of us being betrayed?
01:12Suddenly, I locked with Kale's eyes, still young and naive.
01:16Memory of my past life resurfaced.
01:18The stinging pains of my throat being slipped are so vivid.
01:22I bit it back and steadied myself with a fist, pressed hard against the pain of my chest, and looked
01:28around.
01:28The massive holding cage ahead contained no fewer than 20 beastmen.
01:33Unsurprisingly, every one of them bore fresh wounds.
01:36My gaze locked instantly on Kale, hunched in the corner, arm torn by bite marks, his fox ears and tail
01:42no longer able to stay hidden.
01:44He caught my gaze, and something lit in his eyes.
01:47Then he moved toward me.
01:48Alara, which one do you like?
01:50Serafina appeared at my shoulder, her smile perfectly gentle.
01:54She was father's daughter from his first wife, a woman who had bled out in labor and never held her
02:00child.
02:00Father had remarried, and my brother and I came after.
02:03For years, Serafina had maintained a flawless image, gracious and elegant to the outside world, warm and devoted sister within
02:11the walls.
02:12In truth, she burned with rabid jealousy, convinced that my brother and I had stolen father's attention and her birthright.
02:19So she had delayed her own choosing.
02:21Father, I'd like to wait a bit before choosing an orc.
02:23I want to go with my sister.
02:28Laying a trap she'd been tightening for years.
02:30Watching Serafina now, poised as a flower, I understood perfectly.
02:35This was the moment Kale had first set his sights on her.
02:38Serafina spotted Kale too and murmured,
02:41You've always had a taste for pretty things.
02:43That fox suits you.
02:45Pretty, and nothing else.
02:47The color drained from Kale's face.
02:50In my last life, those words had fallen from Serafina's lips, and they had shattered him on the spot.
02:56This time was no different.
02:58He stared at me, ashen, his eyes flooding with disbelief.
03:01A question stirred in my gut.
03:03Serafina gave a small smile, drifted away, and began her own careful selection.
03:08Just as in my last life, she chose the powerfully built Shadow Wolf.
03:13Now I was the only one who hasn't chosen.
03:15Few beastmen remained in the cage.
03:17A quick sweep found Kale watching me with naked hope.
03:21My gaze moved past him and settled on the beastman behind, half human, half serpent, coiled and utterly still.
03:28If memory served, no one had chosen him in my last life.
03:31But a beastman had risen in this city after that.
03:34A name that made even hardened predators go still.
03:37Silas.
03:38Single-handedly, who had dismantled the black market, led a mass exodus of captive beastmen,
03:43and years later stood across a negotiating table from the humans, and won equal rights for every last one of
03:49his kind.
03:50I had crossed paths with Silas once, and that white serpent tail was burned into my memory.
03:55Right now, Silas could barely hold his human form, every inch of him fragility.
04:00Made up your mind?
04:01Father's voice cut through the noise.
04:03Yes.
04:07I want him.
04:08Kale's expression cracked.
04:10He spun around to stare at the frail serpent in disbelief.
04:14You're not choosing me?
04:15I didn't acknowledge Kale.
04:16Behind him, Silas cracked open his eyes.
04:19A pair of serpent-slit pupils fixing on me without a flicker of warmth.
04:23I held that gaze, my voice steady with conviction.
04:26Come with me, and I'll heal you.
04:27Silas pressed a palm to the floor, crawled toward me.
04:30He stopped at my feet.
04:31I crouched down and pressed a palm to his cheek.
04:34I'm taking you with me.
04:36Kale lunged forward and seized my wrist.
04:38Choose me.
04:39You're supposed to choose me.
04:41He's half-dead already.
04:42Why would you pick him?
04:44That settled it.
04:45Kale had been reborn, too.
04:47Before I could react, Silas's brow furrowed,
04:50and the blood-streaked serpent tail uncoiled and snapped around Kale like a whip.
04:54Kale hit the wall hard enough to rattle the iron bars.
04:57Silas's eyes were cold-slit.
04:59Come closer again, and I'll kill you.
05:02Watching Kale clutch his ribs, I felt something close to joy rise in my chest,
05:07and I rewarded Silas with an approving pinch of his cheek.
05:10That was impressive.
05:12Silas's lashes trembled.
05:13He dropped his gaze fast.
05:15After Father paid and sent us home with our chosen beastmen,
05:18Kale's voice chased me out of the black market,
05:21shouting my name with a fury that echoed off the iron.
05:24I glanced sideways at the bodyguard beside me,
05:27and, as if deeply inconvenienced,
05:29He's so irritating.
05:31Understood.
05:32I let the corner of my mouth curl.
05:35In the black market,
05:36every unchosen beastman was sent to the fighting pit,
05:39a place where survival was measured in blood and screaming iron.
05:42I was very much looking forward to that.
05:44The good mood carried me all the way home.
05:46Father spared no resources on beastmen care.
05:49Manuals, medicinal compounds,
05:51and supply crates flowed into my room like a tide.
05:54Silas's wounds weren't deep,
05:56but a congenital defect in his body slowed his recovery to a crawl.
06:00It made me only more curious.
06:01How had he survived the fighting pit in his last life,
06:05dragging that broken body through it all?
06:07My stare must have been too obvious,
06:08because a slow flush crept up Silas's neck.
06:11Mistress?
06:13Do you need something?
06:16In my last life,
06:17Kale had never once called me anything but my name,
06:20saving reverence for Serafina.
06:22Being called Mistress had a strange, particular weight to it.
06:25I tossed the medicine kit onto his lap.
06:28Dress your own wounds.
06:30Silas caught it and nodded,
06:31docile as still water.
06:33A few days of rest,
06:34and Silas had reclaimed his fully human form,
06:37taller too,
06:38his frame filling out overnight like a plant
06:41after rain.
06:42Beastmen really did grow at an inhuman pace.
06:45That morning,
06:45father tracked me down.
06:47A beastmen healer had come to the city.
06:48He said,
06:49a merkin named Mira.
06:51She could treat both beastmen and humans.
06:54Father wanted me to take Silas to see her.
06:57The merkin carried innate healing gifts from birth,
07:00the strength of which scaled with individual talent.
07:03Even the weakest among them could mend their own bodies,
07:05but the most gifted could restore life to the near dead.
07:08Father turned to leave.
07:10I stopped him with a question that had been sitting in my chest for days.
07:13Our bloodline status over beastmen is absolute.
07:16So why does the PAC law bind us to them as mates?
07:20He paused,
07:21let out a long breath.
07:22Elara,
07:23remember this.
07:24A beastman's loyalty is something no human being can replicate.
07:28Whether you earn that loyalty,
07:29that depends entirely on you.
07:32He waved the conversation closed and walked away.
07:35I knew as well as anyone how rare a beastman's loyalty was,
07:39but in the mess I'd inherited from my last life,
07:42rare felt like a polite word for impossible.
07:44Wasn't this just gambling with our lives?
07:47I watched father go,
07:48then turned back and called Silas from his room,
07:51leading him out into the city for the first time.
07:54Mistress,
07:55what's that?
07:56Ice cream.
07:57He cataloged everything,
07:58stall signs,
08:00storefronts,
08:00passing vehicles,
08:01with wide,
08:02hungry eyes.
08:04Mistress,
08:04what's that?
08:05An amusement park.
08:07Mistress!
08:08When we get back,
08:09I'll teach you to read,
08:10then you'll figure it out yourself.
08:12Okay.
08:13Silas beamed,
08:14falling into step just behind my shoulder.
08:17Out of the corner of my eye,
08:18I caught him eating the ice cream with total indifference.
08:21He didn't like it at all.
08:22While his gaze moved in quick,
08:24methodical sweeps across the street around us,
08:27the carefully performed helplessness had cracked.
08:30Just for a second.
08:31He didn't trust me,
08:32not even close,
08:33and beneath the docile surface,
08:35he was calculating.
08:36Of course he is,
08:37I thought.
08:38We arrived at the address father had given me.
08:40I had expected something imposing,
08:42a high-rise,
08:44gilded signage,
08:44because a beast-man healer of rare power
08:47commanded human respect as much as fear.
08:50Instead,
08:50I found the most unremarkable courtyard I'd ever seen,
08:54identifiable only because it was packed
08:56shoulder to shoulder with people waiting.
08:58Inside,
08:59I spotted Kale.
09:00He was slumped against a girl's shoulder,
09:02barely breathing,
09:04more absent than present.
09:05As if he sensed me,
09:07Kale opened his eyes,
09:08and found mine instantly.
09:09That one look was packed with a lifetime of grievances.
09:13He pushed himself upright from the girl's arms,
09:15eyes red-rimmed,
09:17and fixed me with an expression that begged without words.
09:20Then a hand closed over my eyes.
09:22Don't look at him.
09:24Glamour rat.
09:26I laughed and pulled his hand down.
09:28Get in line.
09:31Of course I could feel Kale's fox allure threading through the air,
09:34but it couldn't touch me now.
09:36Not with only hatred and wariness where softness used to live,
09:40and not when his glamour was still this juvenile.
09:44Silas gave me one more uncertain look,
09:46then moved to join the queue.
09:48What was Kale even doing here?
09:50But I wasn't the only one questioning it.
09:52A fox and an heiress whose family treats beasts like dirt?
09:56The pair drew everyone's attention.
09:58Someone gossiped among the crowd.
10:00On Kale's first day in the fighting pit,
10:02he had weaved his fox allure around a girl named Talia,
10:06making her desperate to buy him.
10:08Her father was a business partner of fathers,
10:10and when the black market saw how badly she wanted Kale,
10:13they drove the price up.
10:14Talia didn't have enough,
10:16went home to scrape together the rest,
10:17and spent several days doing it.
10:20During those days,
10:21on the bodyguard's quiet instruction,
10:23every beast man Kale faced in the pit
10:25was as brutal as they came.
10:28Taria had come back just in time
10:30to pull him out at death's door.
10:31I understood now.
10:33Kale was wounded badly enough
10:34that Talia had brought him here.
10:36I took a proper look at Talia.
10:38Peach bloom skin,
10:39wide eyes,
10:40all open sincerity.
10:42Not a calculating bone in her body
10:44by the look of it.
10:45No wonder Kale had reeled her in so easily.
10:47He never does change.
10:49Suddenly,
10:50Kale tore free of Talia's grip
10:51and lurched toward me.
10:53Hey, where are you going?
10:54Talia reached for him,
10:56and he shoved her hand away viciously.
10:58Don't touch me!
11:00He glared at her with an expression
11:02I knew by heart.
11:03Revulsion.
11:04The specific kind reserved for things
11:06that had already served their purpose.
11:08He was certain Talia couldn't live without him,
11:11so he treated her with careless cruelty.
11:13Something sour moved through me,
11:15and I set my jaw.
11:16Silas's brow creased,
11:18his weight shifted.
11:19I stopped him with a look.
11:21Kale staggered to me in a few short steps,
11:24those steps costing him everything.
11:25His legs gave.
11:26He dropped to one knee,
11:28barely catching himself
11:29before he hit the ground entirely.
11:31He forced his chin up,
11:33and his eyes were sincere
11:34in a way that made my skin crawl.
11:36I'm sorry.
11:38I know what I did.
11:40He reached out,
11:41small and careful.
11:42Can you forgive me?
11:43So,
11:44he'd guessed I'd been reborn too.
11:46I didn't move,
11:47and a flicker of relief crossed his face.
11:49He was almost close enough to take my hand.
11:52I looked past him at Talia instead.
11:54Let me show you how to handle a beastman who won't behave.
11:56The next second,
11:57I drove my boot into the center of Kale's chest
12:00with every bit of force I had.
12:03He flew backward
12:04and crashed through a low stone table in the courtroom.
12:07A choked sound,
12:08then a mouthful of blood hit the flagstones.
12:11Kale sat in the wreckage,
12:12white-faced,
12:13hand pressed to his chest.
12:15Talia sprinted over and rounded on me.
12:17What do you think you're doing?
12:19He's my beastman,
12:20even if he's mishaving that's between us.
12:22Who gave you the right?
12:23I tilted my head.
12:25You can't control him,
12:26and I don't like fox beastman getting too close to me.
12:30They carry a certain musk.
12:32Kale coughed up another mouthful of blood
12:34and stared at me with the expression of someone
12:37whose world had just inverted.
12:39Talia flushed scarlet.
12:40There's no,
12:41there's no musk.
12:42You're making that up.
12:43That's beastman discrimination.
12:44Careful.
12:46Statements like that tend to offend my beastman.
12:48Silas looked at Talia,
12:50then let his gaze drop to the barely breathing Kale.
12:53You should be grateful it was my mistress who hit him.
12:55He said,
12:56his voice carrying the disinterest
12:58of someone announcing a weather forecast.
13:00Otherwise, I would have killed him.
13:02The undisguised kill intent sat in the air like a blade.
13:06You-
13:07Talia sputtered at him,
13:08then whipped around to stare at me.
13:10At last,
13:11she made a disgusted sound,
13:12hoisted Kale up with visible effort,
13:14and marched straight for the door.
13:19Out of the way!
13:21Can't you see he's dying?
13:22Everyone in the queue had been waiting far longer,
13:25and had no interest in being cut.
13:27Talia ended up wedged at the entrance,
13:29Kale sagging against her.
13:31She raised her voice in desperation.
13:33Miss Mira!
13:34Please, I'm begging you, save him!
13:36He really is!
13:37From inside the room came a voice,
13:39smooth as river water.
13:43He won't die.
13:45Wait your turn.
13:46I raised an eyebrow.
13:47I liked this Mira already.
13:49Talia had no choice but to stand there,
13:52seething.
13:52Kale was losing his grip on his human form.
13:55The fox ears and tail slipped free,
13:58trembling.
13:59She glared daggers at me.
14:00This isn't over!
14:01I looked at her.
14:02Does your father know how much you paid for that beastman?
14:05The Talia family and mine were nothing alike.
14:08Our bloodline maintained some measure of regard for beastmen.
14:12The Talias treated them like livestock.
14:14If her father found out she'd spend a small fortune on a useless fox,
14:18the fallout would be spectacular.
14:21Talia blinked.
14:21You know my father?
14:23Then her eyes went wide.
14:24You're threatening me!
14:25I just smiled.
14:27Talia's lip trembled.
14:28Tears spilled down her face and she cried openly, chest heaving.
14:32I hadn't expected the waterworks.
14:34A headache bloomed behind my eyes.
14:36Stop crying.
14:37Your beastman isn't worth it.
14:39I won't let you say that about him.
14:41He's weak.
14:41Yes, but to me he's worth a thousand times more.
14:44Right.
14:45I had nothing left to say to that.
14:47The queue crawled forward for several more hours before it was finally,
14:51mercifully, Kale's turn.
14:53I had arrived later and stood behind them.
14:56By the time Talia helped Kale out of the treatment room,
14:59an hour had passed and his color had returned.
15:02He looked at me and the wounded helplessness was gone,
15:05replaced by something close to resentment.
15:07You're heartless, Aloksa.
15:09I made a dry sound.
15:10I can't compete with you.
15:11Stop wasting breath on her.
15:13Let's go.
15:15Steering Kale away with a huff in my direction.
15:18Behind me, Silas spoke quietly.
15:20You know them?
15:23I pointed toward the treatment room door.
15:26Your turn.
15:29Silas pressed his lips together, said nothing, and stepped inside.
15:33I followed and watched Mira work.
15:35The Merkin were extraordinary.
15:36No instruments, no diagnostic tools, only a touch, and she already knew.
15:42I said it without thinking.
15:43That's remarkable.
15:45Mira looked at me with a faint smile.
15:47Nothing special.
15:48There are dozens in my bloodline more gifted than I am,
15:51and the greatest among them is...
15:53Her expression dimmed.
15:54A shadow of grief crossed her face, and she let the sentence die.
15:58His body has a congenital gap.
16:01It's why he appears far weaker than other beastmen,
16:04and it will shorten his lifespan.
16:06The hand resting at Silas' side closed into a fist,
16:09and his voice came out tight.
16:11Please, help me.
16:12Then he turned to me, and the look in his eyes said everything.
16:17Money is no obstacle.
16:18But Mira shook her head, her smile faint and tired.
16:22A congenital gap is beyond my reach.
16:26I can't mend what was never formed.
16:28Silas' face fell in a way that was visible to the naked eye.
16:31Thank you anyway.
16:33He turned to leave, and Mira looked at me.
16:36If you happen to know Lucien, Miss Alara, there may still be a chance.
16:40I was caught off guard, not only because Mira had recognized me,
16:44but because of the name itself.
16:46Lucien was the most gifted, and most ungovernable of the Vos bloodline.
16:50The family's golden heir, known to everyone as their little crown prince.
16:55We had attended the same school once.
16:57I knew him after a fashion, but his health had declined,
17:00and he'd withdrawn from classes years ago.
17:03We hadn't spoken since.
17:04Does Lucien keep someone gifted near him?
17:07The Merican are born with healing in our blood.
17:09It's simply a matter of degree.
17:12Even the least gifted of us can mend our own bodies through instinct alone.
17:15But the rarest among us, the ones born with song,
17:20they can restore the dead to life.
17:22I stared at her.
17:23That sounds impossible.
17:24I've never heard of anything like it.
17:25It isn't surprising.
17:27Our bloodline hasn't produced that level of gift in centuries.
17:30Then her voice shifted, quiet, deliberate.
17:33But in the past 20 years,
17:34one Merican was born carrying that gift from her very first breath.
17:38Something clicked into place at the back of my mind.
17:41What is her name?
17:43Lyra.
17:44Of course.
17:46I understand.
17:47Thank you, Mira.
17:48I set a payment card on the table and left with Silas.
17:52The moment we were outside, he asked, barely containing himself.
17:56Are we going to find Lyra?
17:58His eyes were bright with something almost desperate.
18:01If it's possible, I'll take you to her.
18:03I had heard Lyra's name once, in my last life.
18:06Lyra.
18:07She had been offered to the Vos bloodline by the Merican as a gesture of protection.
18:11Her extraordinary healing talent, the price of her bloodline's safety.
18:16And with her, Lucien had finally been free.
18:19She seemed to care for him, or so the rumors said.
18:22Lucien cared for someone else entirely and treated her accordingly.
18:25What happened after that, I didn't know.
18:29Because by that point, I was already dead.
18:32Given Lucien's erratic temperament, approaching him directly and asking for Lyra would be met
18:38with a flat refusal, no matter how I framed it.
18:41The better path was to go around him.
18:43Reach Lyra herself.
18:45Silas must have sensed my hesitation, because some of the heat faded from his expression.
18:51Mistress doesn't need to worry.
18:53I'm fine as I am.
18:55That word, mistress, spoken aloud on a public street, turned heads up and down the block.
19:01A flush crept up the back of my neck.
19:04I cleared my throat twice.
19:06In public?
19:07You don't have to use that.
19:09Just call me by my name.
19:11Silas adapted without hesitation.
19:13All right, Alara.
19:14When I got home, I sent Talia's father an anonymous letter, a quiet, detailed account of exactly
19:21how much she had spent on kale at the black market.
19:24I didn't want Talia to become what I had been.
19:26It took less than two days before the news reached me.
19:30Talia had been confined to the house.
19:32But the money was already spent, and her father was too proud to return kale to the black market,
19:37which meant he would find ways to extract that investment from kale's skin.
19:41The Talia household would be its own kind of hell.
19:45I was still turning that over when a servant came running.
19:47Miss Alara, something's wrong.
19:49Silas, Simus, and Raven are fighting.
19:52Raven was Seraphina's beast man.
19:54I was on my feet before the sentence finished.
19:57I followed the servant to the garden outside the mirror,
20:00where Silas had been pinned beneath the flowering hawthorn tree,
20:03and Raven's massive fists were falling on him again and again,
20:08each blow landing like a hammer.
20:10Miss Alara, please, you have to help him, he'll be beaten to death.
20:14The servant pulled at my arm.
20:16I raised a hand, silence.
20:18My eyes stayed fixed on Silas.
20:20After days of recovery, his body was mostly healed.
20:23And this was the Silas who, in his last life,
20:26had survived the fighting pit on a broken frame,
20:29which meant there was no possible world
20:31in which he was simply being dominated by Raven right now.
20:35He was hiding what he could do,
20:36because he didn't trust me so I wouldn't save him.
20:40I had no use for a beast man who might drive a blade into my back.
20:43This first step towards trust,
20:45he would have to be the one to take it.
20:47Silas still didn't move,
20:48arms folded over his head,
20:50the crack of breaking bone cutting through the garden like a gunshot.
20:54He turned his head, spat blood onto the flagstones,
20:57and through the gap in the flowering branches,
20:59saw me, disbelief in his eyes,
21:01hurt, a silent, furious question,
21:04why aren't you coming?
21:06My hand clenched at my side,
21:07and my jaw locked.
21:09Raven, scenting blood,
21:10found the animal in himself rising to the surface,
21:14both ears pushing through his hair,
21:16every muscle lit up with predatory excitement,
21:18barely a step from the edge of a full, feral shift.
21:21I held my breath,
21:23my entire body strung tight as a wire,
21:25and stared at Silas.
21:27Just take this one step towards me,
21:29and I swear I will never stop protecting you.
21:31Silas' pupils elongated,
21:34the calm human iris collapsing into serpent slit.
21:37In the moment before Raven lunged to bite himself,
21:41Silas moved,
21:42his legs dissolved into a white serpent tail
21:44that coiled around Raven's body in one fluid motion,
21:48and then his fangs,
21:49long and curved and appearing from nowhere,
21:52drove into the side of Raven's neck without hesitation.
21:55Raven screamed and thrashed,
21:57every muscle in his body convulsing.
21:59Silas' tail contracted like a closing vice.
22:02I watched Raven's face shift from red to violet
22:05in the span of seconds,
22:06and understood instantly,
22:08Silas' fangs were venomous.
22:10So he's a viper, I thought.
22:12Serafina arrived then,
22:13late and unhurried,
22:15and when she saw what was happening,
22:16Simus,
22:18you dare kill him.
22:20I stepped forward without hesitation.
22:23What if he does?
22:24Serafina's fierce expression shifted through several versions of itself when she saw me.
22:30She drew a breath,
22:31steadied herself.
22:33Alara,
22:33tell Silas to stop.
22:35Raven will die.
22:36I smiled.
22:37My brother keeps his head.
22:39Don't worry, Serafina.
22:40I glanced at Raven's stoning body with meaning.
22:43I won't let my sister become a widow this early.
22:46Alara!
22:47Serafina finally snapped.
22:48One finger leveled at me.
22:50Aren't you afraid father will punish you for this?
22:52I put on an expression of perfect innocence.
22:55Silas has always been fragile and obedient.
22:58He wouldn't provoke Raven without reason.
23:00This was self-defense and you know it.
23:02Why would father punish me?
23:04My voice cooled.
23:05Shouldn't the punishment fall on the one who started it?
23:08You.
23:08Enough.
23:09Everyone stop.
23:10Father's voice rolled through the garden from somewhere behind me,
23:14heavy with displeasure.
23:15Before Serafina could arrange her face into something pitiable,
23:18I got there first.
23:19And let tears spill down my own.
23:22Father.
23:22She started it.
23:23And now she's turning it around on me.
23:25Serafina went pale.
23:27I didn't, father.
23:28Please.
23:29Save Raven.
23:30He'll die.
23:31Father let out a cold sound.
23:32Spared Serafina one flat look.
23:34A lesson he needed to learn.
23:36And you.
23:37Don't think I don't know what you've been doing.
23:39The handbook I gave you covers how to suppress a beast man's feral instincts.
23:43What exactly have you been doing with it?
23:45Father's voice rose.
23:47Serafina's chin dropped.
23:48I was wrong, father.
23:50Serafina.
23:51Raven is going to be your mate.
23:52Your work isn't only to tame him.
23:54It's to build him.
23:56Otherwise, his gaze cut across her, cold and quiet, and said nothing more.
24:00Serafina dropped to her knees.
24:02Yes, father.
24:03As Raven finally went still, the desperation broke through Serafina's composure, and tears
24:09ran down her face.
24:10Father.
24:10Please.
24:11Save him.
24:12He's still going to be my husband one day.
24:14Please.
24:15Only then did father look at me.
24:17I nodded at Silas.
24:18Let him go.
24:19Silas released the coil.
24:21Raven's limp body hit the earth beside the hawthorn tree, scattering petals across the flagstones.
24:27I moved quickly to catch Silas.
24:29He had burned through everything he had, the serpent tail refusing to retract, his legs
24:34unable to carry him, his full weight dropping into my arms.
24:38Father made a sound of pure displeasure.
24:40I don't want you beastmen to bond with, not to put them against each other.
24:43If it happens again, you're both out of this bloodline.
24:48Understood, father.
24:51Quick, carry Raven inside!
24:57I looked at Raven's violet face and asked,
25:00Will the venom kill him?
25:03I don't make problems for myself.
25:05Look at him, and found his face stripped of everything he usually wore around me.
25:10The deference, the careful performance, all of it gone.
25:13What remained was cold and still, the slit pupils unmoved.
25:17This is who he actually is.
25:19Then Silas went boneless against my shoulder, head lolling, as if the last of his strength
25:23had left him at once.
25:25But I didn't believe it.
25:26Then again, a performance was only worth running to its end.
25:29So I slid an arm around that ice-cold tail, settled my other hand at his waist, and lifted
25:34him.
25:36Silas stared at me, startled into actual surprise.
25:39A flush climbing fast up his neck.
25:41Hold still.
25:44I carried him back to his room, where the physician was already waiting.
25:48The broken ribs were set.
25:50Silas endured it with his face gone paper-white, the scales along his tail rippling open and
25:55closed with every wave of pain, until the sight made my own skin crawl.
25:59I turned away and rubbed the goosebumps down my arms.
26:02When the physician finished and left with a list of instructions, I looked at the pale
26:06expanse of serpent tail.
26:10Silas pressed his lips together, and under my gaze, drew it back in, the tail dissolving
26:15into human legs again, and met those still unrecovered slit pupils, blinking at me without looking away.
26:25He was asking why I'd stood there and watched.
26:28I smiled.
26:29Have you ever heard the saying, which one?
26:32Real trust is earned in kind.
26:34You didn't trust me, so don't expect me to trust you first.
26:37After I left Silas' room, I did a quiet round of inquiries and pieced together what had happened.
26:43Silas had developed a fondness for the hawthorn tree in the garden.
26:46It was full bloom, and he'd been spending idle hours beneath it.
26:50He'd had the misfortune of crossing paths with Raven, who was wound tight and looking for
26:54something to hit.
26:56Serafina's standard for a beastman was raw power, and since a beastman who had learned
27:00to suppress their feral instinct lost much of that, she had never taught Raven to pull
27:05back from the edge.
27:06Instead, she trained him to his limits, and then patched him up herself with careful,
27:11gentle hands.
27:12Two sessions of that, and Raven was completely devoted to her.
27:15If I hadn't been blinded by Kale's fox allure in my last life, heart given over to him,
27:20every alarm in me silenced, I wouldn't have died so stupidly.
27:24Speaking of which, I wonder how Kale is doing in the Talia household.
27:28I asked, and promptly had to swallow a laugh.
27:31The Talia patriarch had been putting Kale's fox allure to work, entertaining guests with
27:36it, men and women alike, sparing no categories.
27:39Kale had always been beautiful.
27:41With his glamour on top of that, more than a few people had wanted him in my last life.
27:46To protect him, I had taken on damage I never should have absorbed, and every time, he had
27:51one thing to say, that's what you're here for, that's what I'm here for.
27:55As if I were furniture, a plan began to form in the back of my mind.
27:59I was humming to myself on the way back to my room, when I heard voices inside Silas's,
28:04and pressed myself quietly to the wall.
28:07Seraphina's voice, all warmth and remorse.
28:10Silas, I'm so sorry.
28:11I should have kept Raven under control.
28:13You're hurt so badly.
28:15Can I help you with your bandages?
28:16I raised an eyebrow and leaned closer.
28:19Silas's voice came back flat as a locked door.
28:22Get out.
28:23Where's Alara?
28:24Didn't she stay with you?
28:25With injuries this serious, isn't this your future husband's work?
28:29Silas said.
28:30And the chill in his voice could have frosted glass.
28:32I bit down on a laugh hard enough to hurt.
28:35Seraphina had clearly caught a glimpse of what Silas was capable of, and immediately wanted
28:39to pull him into her orbit.
28:41When it didn't work, she said a few perfunctory words of concern, and prepared to leave.
28:46I moved quickly back to my own room.
28:48But the next second, there was a knock on my door, and Silas was standing in the frame,
28:52eyes dark and steady, looking at me.
28:55I was genuinely surprised.
28:56He'd looked critically wounded moments ago, and he was already on his feet?
29:01Beastman healing was fast, but not that fast.
29:04Something you need?
29:05You said you'd teach me to read.
29:07I'd completely forgotten about that.
29:09Sorry, we can start now.
29:11Silas pressed his lips together and stepped inside.
29:14I started from the very beginning, the phonetic alphabet, and we sat across from each other
29:19until he looked up and said, am I what you expected?
29:22I blinked.
29:23Hmm.
29:23Silas raised his eyes.
29:25Earlier, was it worth watching?
29:27He meant, why didn't you come in?
29:29I smiled.
29:30Honestly, it was.
29:31Silas's brow drew together immediately.
29:33He looked genuinely displeased.
29:36The question in his voice coming out sharper than he probably intended.
29:39You have history with her.
29:41He'd picked up on the tension between Serafina and me.
29:44Of course he had.
29:45I let my lashes fall.
29:46Yes, that history.
29:48He was quiet for a moment.
29:49I can-
29:50That one, I genuinely hadn't seen coming.
29:53And then my father kills you in return?
29:55Silas's gaze didn't waver.
29:57You said it yourself.
29:58Real trust is earned in kind.
30:00For the first time, I saw it.
30:02Actual sincerity in his eyes.
30:04But still, why?
30:05Trust for trust was one thing.
30:07But I hadn't done anything to earn it yet.
30:10A flicker of tension moved through his expression.
30:12I want Lyra to treat me.
30:14If I had a body that worked the way it should,
30:17I wouldn't have had to spend today looking as pathetic as I did.
30:21I softened my voice.
30:22You were anything but pathetic today.
30:24In your last life, you survived the fighting pit using exactly that.
30:28Fain weakness, let them close in, then coil and bite through their throats.
30:32Thinking that, I reached up without meaning to and touched my own neck.
30:37Learn what you need to learn first.
30:40Lyra, I'll find a way.
30:42Okay.
30:43For the first time, the usually cold boy let a genuine smile break across his face.
30:48A few days later, word came that the Voss family's grandmother was turning 80,
30:53and the Voss household had sent a formal invitation to ours.
30:57Because of the garden incident, father took only me and left Serafina behind.
31:02Beastmen were barred from formal events, so I left Silas at home.
31:06In the banquet hall, I found Talia, beaming at guests with practiced ease,
31:11until she caught sight of me and her expression went flat as stone.
31:15I fell and stepped beside her after the gift presentation.
31:20Where's Kale?
31:21You have a nerve asking.
31:22This is all your fault, you know.
31:25Talia, do we have a problem?
31:30I don't know.
31:31You're the one who's had it out for me from the start.
31:33I've never had a problem with you.
31:34Only with Kale.
31:37If you don't believe me.
31:42I don't believe he'd do that to me.
31:46Then test him.
31:47While the crowd was distracted,
31:49Talia guided me quietly toward the cellar below the manor.
31:54Go in, and remember,
31:57don't look directly at his eyes.
31:59Talia wrinkled her nose,
32:01gripped her composure,
32:02and clicked into the cellar on high heels.
32:04I slipped in behind her.
32:06It took a while before the light reached Kale's cage.
32:09He was chained at the neck like livestock,
32:12locked behind bars,
32:13filthy and broken looking.
32:15A picture of wreckage.
32:16I stayed back around the corner,
32:18out of sight.
32:19Kale had his eyes closed,
32:21the fox ears flat and still.
32:23If his chest hadn't been faintly moving,
32:25he could have passed for dead.
32:28Kale.
32:30Kale.
32:31Talia's voice barely reached a whisper.
32:33He opened his eyes slowly,
32:35and when he saw her,
32:36something electric came back into his face.
32:40The chain snapped and rang at his sudden movement.
32:44You came to get me out?
32:46I can't get you out yet.
32:48My father is still angry.
32:50He's still angry.
32:53Then she rushed to add it.
32:56But I promise,
32:58I'll come back for you.
33:00I will.
33:01Talia, look at me.
33:02Just look at me.
33:04I'm begging you.
33:06I'm get me out,
33:07the way you did,
33:08in the fighting pit.
33:11You were everything to me then.
33:13You were the only light.
33:15Please, just look at me.
33:16Talia kept her chin down,
33:17listening.
33:18Kale ran out of patience fast.
33:21Talia.
33:22Get me out.
33:24Now!
33:26Why not?
33:26Why can't you?
33:28You did it fine at the fighting pit.
33:30You were falling over yourself to help me then.
33:32And why is now any different?
33:34You're blaming me?
33:36When you were the one begging me to save you?
33:39Who even gave you permission to be that gullible?
33:42You were practically throwing yourself at me.
33:44Just like Alara.
33:46Alara?
33:49You've done this to her too?
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