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Whispers in the Dark Alpha's Bed #shortmax
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00:00I was a slave. Yet every night, I had to take Luna's place and sleep with the Alpha.
00:04On the bed, I begged him to mark me and make me one of his mates.
00:08Please, make me your wife.
00:11What are you thinking?
00:14You're nothing but a slave.
00:16I close my eyes. Every wolf in the pack knows,
00:19Kaylin doesn't just love Lady Vivian, he worships her.
00:22So the next morning, I walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her.
00:27I volunteered to marry her eldest son, Kaylin's dying brother.
00:30Firstly shocked, then the pack matriarch's eyes filled with tears.
00:35After the ghost marriage is done, you'll have to keep Widowsville for your mate forever.
00:40My good child, have you truly thought this through?
00:45I will have no regrets.
00:46Alpha Kaylin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
00:49On the full moon night, Kaylin came to Vivian's room again.
00:53I watched them through the crack in the door, his voice low and honeyed,
00:56her laugh like silver.
00:58Vivian left to wash up, cheeks ruined with wanting.
01:01Before she went, she killed every candle, as always.
01:05An hour later, I stepped into the dark.
01:07His scent hit me first, and my traitorous body answered,
01:10heart slamming, skin tight.
01:12Why are you so cold?
01:15I was outside, watching the snow.
01:18Truth is, I'd been shivering at the threshold in a thin slip for an hour,
01:22waiting for her signal, like a good little ghost.
01:26You smelled...
01:27A pause.
01:28My heart stopped.
01:29The tincture.
01:31So nice.
01:32His mouth found mine in the dark.
01:34His hardness reached my soul.
01:43Before dawn, I knelt at Vivian's feet and recited him.
01:47Every whisper, every mark blooming purple on my throat.
01:50Her expression curdled.
01:52Then she walked back into his arms.
01:54Kaylin caught her hair around one lazy finger.
01:57You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
01:59She swatted him, pouting prettily, as if she were the one.
02:03Vivian was beautiful, and chronically, devastatingly fragile.
02:07Kaylin saw her at the spring hunt gathering.
02:09He fell instantly.
02:10Offered her the first mate rank before the night was over.
02:13Perfect together.
02:14Everyone said so.
02:16As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
02:19Until their bonding night.
02:23Three nights in a row.
02:25No completed bond.
02:26No mating mark.
02:27Overnight, Vivian became the pack's favorite joke.
02:31Desperate, Vivian invented the switch.
02:33Every night, candles out, handmaid substitutes.
02:36Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
02:40Of all her handmaids, only I was a viable double.
02:43Vivian and I were built from the same blueprint.
02:46The same narrow waist.
02:48The same pale slope of shoulder and throat.
02:50Side by side in daylight, the resemblance was unsettling.
02:53In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
02:57his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
02:59What Vivian hadn't accounted for, I was not fragile.
03:03She broke under Kaylin's hands.
03:05I did not.
03:06What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:09Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:11Learning to anticipate it.
03:13Relax.
03:14Only three years.
03:16My body will recover.
03:17Then I will give you enough gold to live well outside the mansion.
03:21Think about it.
03:22My whole family's safety rested in her hands.
03:24I had no choice.
03:26One hour later, Vivian and Kaylin finally rose.
03:29I returned to my quarters briefly, then went in to lay out the morning meal.
03:36Why are you dressed like that?
03:38I didn't know how to answer.
03:39I pressed my lips together.
03:41Kaylin bit.
03:42Hard.
03:43Darling, you've forgotten.
03:45Selena is mute.
03:45I nodded quickly.
03:47Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Kaylin,
03:50and she was terrified of exposure.
03:53So she declared me mute.
03:54The entire pack believed it.
03:57Your little mute is striking.
03:58Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
04:00And what exactly does my alpha mean by that?
04:03Has she caught your eye?
04:04I haven't blamed you for anything yet, and you're already turning on me.
04:09Kaylin had pushed too far last night.
04:11I'd wept myself.
04:13Horse.
04:13Then bitten him.
04:14Hard.
04:15He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title.
04:19Scars mapping him from throat to hip.
04:21He wouldn't care about a few teeth marks.
04:24This whole performance was foreplay.
04:26I don't know how much time passed.
04:29You insolent thing!
04:30You dared bite him?
04:32Are you challenging me?
04:33I had no time to defend myself.
04:35Vivian had me bound.
04:36Dragged to the supply outbuilding.
04:38No food.
04:39No water.
04:40Kaylin had left for the border territories.
04:42However long he was gone, I stayed locked up.
04:45I was barely breathing when my sister found a way through.
04:49Briar had bribed the guard, slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
04:53She was my younger sister.
04:54Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
04:57Briar, when will Kaylin be back?
04:59The guards say tonight, and he's going straight to the ladies' room.
05:03What else was happening in the mansion?
05:05The alpha-haired, his wolf spirit is fading again.
05:07The pack healers say there's nothing left to do.
05:09They're preparing the rates.
05:10Lucian, the elder brother, cursed since birth, fading, never anchored to this world.
05:15He's never taken a mate.
05:17The matriarch doesn't want him to cross alone.
05:19She's looking for someone willing to complete a spirit bond.
05:22A spirit bond with a dying alpha heir meant grieving him forever.
05:26No high-ranking female would consent.
05:28Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
05:30At dusk, they released me.
05:32I'd be needed that night.
05:33Selina, I was impulsive.
05:35I meant to release you hours ago, but things got away from me.
05:39Don't hold it against me.
05:40Of course not, my lady.
05:42My lady, it has been three years.
05:44When will I leave the pack mansion?
05:46You want to leave?
05:47Yes.
05:47My body hasn't healed.
05:49Kaylin still needs you.
05:50If you insist on leave, I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:52Your sisters.
05:53The voice, the build.
05:54Close enough.
05:55How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then, could Kaylin at least give me a rank?
06:01Reaching for status now?
06:04If I wanted Kaylin to take a new mate, I have a hundred candidates.
06:08You would never make that list.
06:10Don't bother trying to go through Kaylin directly.
06:12You're a convenience to him.
06:16Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently,
06:19I could have you removed with a single word.
06:23But every un-mated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:27Eventually?
06:28Was I supposed to be her substitute?
06:30In bed?
06:31For the rest of my life?
06:33The gatekeeper's son is your age.
06:35When you turn sixteen next year, I'll arrange the match.
06:37The gatekeeper's son.
06:39A man with a child's mind.
06:41And fists like hammers.
06:43Hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:46Only by being bound to someone that broken would I remain useful.
06:50And too far gone to threaten her.
06:53Kaylin returned.
06:54To find me kneeling.
06:55You're home!
06:56You must be exhausted!
06:58This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
07:01I've had her kneeling.
07:03Kaylin stepped over me, without a glance.
07:06What's the status on my brother?
07:07I've asked every un-mated female in the pack.
07:10A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:12None of the young wolves will agree.
07:14What's there to agree about?
07:15Find a female, threaten someone she loves, and it's done.
07:18That kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother.
07:21Enough gold and fear will find a willing body.
07:25And, if you handle this well, my mother might finally look at you differently.
07:33Every time Kaylin came back from the border, he spent the whole night making up for lost time.
07:38He was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war.
07:41He came home hungry, and he made that hunger my problem.
07:46That night, I gave him everything.
07:48I pushed past my own limits to matching.
07:51Why so eager tonight?
07:52Did you miss me?
07:53I rarely initiated.
07:55He noticed.
07:57Good girl.
07:58Near dawn, I came back to myself in pieces.
08:03Trying to run again?
08:07My wolf has always been scent sensitive.
08:13I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:16No wonder.
08:17He grew bolder every time.
08:19Which meant he never held back.
08:21It was all for me.
08:23Then why won't you give me a rank?
08:25A rank?
08:27She's the one who brought you here.
08:28I'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid.
08:31That would fracture our bond.
08:33She was right.
08:34A she-wolf, taken for free.
08:36Why give her a title?
08:37What grows in the dark, stays small.
08:41Speechless with joy?
08:42Thank you for your generosities, Alpha.
08:44I'm afraid I don't have the kind of luck to deserve it.
08:47You've shared my bed for years.
08:49Don't get ideas above your station.
08:51He didn't like greedy she-wolves.
08:53He had others.
08:54Bonded females.
08:55All with bloodlines.
08:57Gifts from allied packs.
08:59And yet, since Vivian came, he never touched them.
09:02The pack praised him for devotion.
09:04And he wore that praise like armor.
09:07A handmaid, born to serve, was never meant to stand beside him.
09:12The colder I became, I was born low.
09:16I don't deserve a rank.
09:17And I don't belong in your quarters.
09:19I only hope you and the lady are devoted to each other until the end.
09:22The next morning, Briar heard of Vivian's plan to marry me off to the gatekeeper's son.
09:26We served her faithfully.
09:28How can she be this cruel?
09:29That brute would be a slow death.
09:32The thought lingered, then twisted, into something darker.
09:36If I couldn't escape fate, I would choose it.
09:39I will take the spirit bond with Lucien.
09:41The matriarch stared, then broke into astonished relief.
09:45She asked my name, my birthdate, my bloodline.
09:48The pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up, nodding.
09:51This female's spirit signature aligns with the heirs in a way I have not seen in decades.
09:56She was born into hardship, which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him.
10:02The bond will serve him well in the next life.
10:04Caelan and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
10:07They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet, working the tension from her ankles.
10:12Caelan's voice came first, amused, sharp.
10:15This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
10:17Whoever's handmaid she is, she has a rare heart.
10:20Mother, you must reward her well.
10:22I turned and faced them.
10:23Caelan went very still.
10:24It's me, Alpha Caelan, Lady Vivian's.
10:30You're supposed to be mute.
10:31I can speak.
10:32My lady simply prefers I don't.
10:35Vivian's face turned to chalk.
10:37I didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul.
10:40But once this bond is sealed, you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days.
10:44Are you certain?
10:45I will never regret it.
10:46The hand hanging at Caelan's side curled into a fist.
10:49He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
10:52Child, tell me what you want.
10:55Silver, land, titles, anything I can grant is yours.
10:59I turned and looked at Vivian.
11:01She held her smile together, but she took half a step back.
11:04After a long pause, I dropped my eyes.
11:07I have a younger sister.
11:08Briar.
11:08I asked that she be transferred to your personal household matriarch.
11:11She's already part of this pack.
11:13I'll see to her for the rest of her life.
11:15Vivian's smile pulled thin.
11:18Mother, Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:20She's my bonded household.
11:22I'd hate to be ungenerous, but...
11:23She's a handmaid.
11:24Mother wants her.
11:26Give her over.
11:26Caelan's voice cut across hers, flat and final.
11:29The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
11:32Bring the bond papers.
11:35I will find Briar a secure place before I pass.
11:39You don't have to worry about her ever again.
11:42I hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her entire future.
11:45Moved beyond words.
11:48Thank you, matriarch.
11:49I promise to care for Lucien with everything I have.
11:52When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son, she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
11:56I was pregnant with Lucien during the Dark Coven War.
12:01The fear marked him at birth.
12:03He came into the world without breath.
12:06Without a wolf spirit.
12:08His father had returned victorious that same night,
12:11and brought someone with him from the deep forest.
12:13A shaman.
12:14The shaman's methods were outside anything the pack had seen.
12:17He brought Lucien back from the edge of nothing.
12:20It should have been a miracle.
12:21But the shaman warned them.
12:23Pulling a spirit back across that threshold
12:25was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
12:28Lucien could live, but only for 30 years.
12:31No more.
12:31And so it had been.
12:33Lucien had grown up slight, unable to shift into warrior form.
12:36But razor sharp in mind.
12:38A natural strategist.
12:40A scholar.
12:40He'd won council honors young.
12:42But the older he got, the weaker his body became.
12:45Eventually, he stopped leaving his territory altogether,
12:48retreating to a lakeside cabin at the edge of the pack mansion.
12:51Since I had agreed to the spirit bond, I was to remain at his side.
12:55Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him.
12:58Just the shaman, who had stayed all these years.
13:01The shaman brought me into the cabin while Lucien was asleep.
13:03I looked at his face.
13:05His lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath.
13:07He was two years older than Kaelin.
13:0927.
13:10The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:12Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged from years of combat training.
13:16Lucien was fine-boned, pale as snow.
13:18Almost startlingly beautiful in a way that made you forget to breathe.
13:22I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
13:24When the sun touched the horizon, Lucien finally woke.
13:28It was time for his medicine.
13:29I'd spent the afternoon learning to brew it from the shaman.
13:31So you're the female who plans to bond with my corpse?
13:34Yes.
13:35Get up.
13:36He picked up the bowl calmly.
13:41I don't want it.
13:43What are you going to do about it?
13:44Lucien looked up, a thread of provocation in his gaze.
13:47The shaman had told me Lucien was a person of pure instinct, all feeling, no armor, earned
13:53honors at 15, and had the makings of something extraordinary ahead of him.
13:57Then one evening, a hunting trip with Kaelin ended with Lucien falling off the cliff and
14:03drowned in the water, his wolf spirit seizing, and three days of unconsciousness.
14:07The matriarch had broken every servant in his household for failing him and sold the rest.
14:12Lucien didn't treat servants like livestock.
14:15He'd read too much and thought too hard to do that.
14:19Alpha hair.
14:22I genuinely can't force you.
14:24But since we're going to be bonded eventually, perhaps...
14:27I looked down at the dark liquid.
14:29Perhaps I should start exercising a mate's authority now.
14:33Either you drink this...
14:35Or...
14:36Or what?
14:38The shaman had told me Lucien had refused medicine for six months.
14:42That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
14:44At this rate, he wouldn't survive to spring.
15:00When I looked at him again, vivid color had bloomed across his face, like dawn breaking on the frost.
15:06Those butterfly-winged lashes were trembling.
15:09With outrage, I thought, distantly, of every arrogant she-wolf Kaelin had ever teased into furious, helpless blushing.
15:16Lucien's expression was painfully similar.
15:19A prick of guilt moved through me.
15:21I forced my own pulse to slow, keeping my voice steady.
15:24If you won't drink, I'll be forced to do that again.
15:44Alpha hair, your color has improved over these past few days.
15:47Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
15:49That's the medicine working.
15:50Medicine is useless.
15:51The shaman works hard to brew it.
15:54If you pour it out every time, he'll be heartbroken.
15:57Watch.
15:59Testing the temperature alone takes constant checking to preserve the potency.
16:03I've only been doing it a few days and my hands already look like this.
16:07He pressed his lips together, said nothing, and drank the rest of the bowl without being asked.
16:13After that, he never made me beg him to drink his medicine again.
16:18Half a month later, the shaman gave the matriarch his report.
16:22Lucien had genuinely improved, no longer at death's edge.
16:27Could it be a final surge before the end?
16:29No, it's real healing.
16:32This one is responsible.
16:34I told you before, her wolf spirit signature is a natural compliment to his.
16:37She steadies him.
16:39The matriarch looked satisfied.
16:41When she turned to me, her eyes were almost tender.
16:44How has Selina been caring for you?
16:50She's been taking very good care of me.
16:55Alpha Lucien may not know, but when Selina was serving in my household, her skill at attending
17:00to Kaelin was quite exceptional as well.
17:03Such a good servant.
17:05The air went very still.
17:08Is that how you speak to your future sister-in-law?
17:11Vivian, you are young, but that is no excuse for ignorance of pack law.
17:18Shut up!
17:19Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:22Days later, did you hear about it?
17:25Vivian had found another substitute.
17:27She looked for a maid again?
17:28Not from the pack's own hand-haves.
17:29She'd bought a woman from outside, trained and shaped to match her voice and build exactly.
17:34How do you know?
17:34Because Kaelin lit every lantern in the room that night, and when he saw what he saw,
17:38he beat woman half to death and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:40Vivian had fainted.
17:41And then?
17:42He said if she refused to truly share his bed, he would never come to her rooms again.
17:46They're sleeping in separate dens now.
17:48Separate dens meant every wolf in the pack knew the bond was broken.
17:52No mate's devotion.
17:53No matriarch's approval.
17:55No pups.
17:56No wonder Vivian looked like she hadn't slept in a month.
18:03He looked fragile in the lake wind, unsteadying.
18:07I went back to get his clothes.
18:13Is it you?
18:18Was it always you?
18:21Answer me.
18:23You think you can play mute with me again?
18:31Silence won't save you.
18:34I don't need your voice to confirm it.
18:37One night, and I'd know for certain.
18:39Had he lost his mind?
18:42I spent three years with a woman, and she's going to be bonded to my brother.
18:47How dare you make fools of us both?
18:50Especially me!
18:51Would a rank at my side really be worse than grieving a dead man forever?
18:55Do you actually want a bond with a corpse?
19:00I just want to survive!
19:05If I didn't do this, she'd give me to someone who'd break me!
19:10A formal bond, even a broken one would have made me untouchable!
19:15Useful to no one.
19:18Forced to stay her shadow forever.
19:21Before he could recover, I stomped hard on his foot and ran.
19:24I was still stumbling when I rounded the corner.
19:27What took you so long?
19:31I smiled, walked over, and settled the cloak around his shoulders.
19:35But he simply brushed my hand away.
19:37Somehow he lost balance and fell.
19:38His chest had a severe bruise.
19:41Just leave me.
19:42I am not your burden.
19:46Lucian liked to sit there.
19:48Open a book in the shade.
19:49Why did you really agree to the spirit bond?
19:53I didn't want to be given to the given to the gatekeeper's son.
19:57I thought it would be something like that.
19:59What is it to guess that it would be like this?
20:02The shaman pressed a small wooden box into my hands.
20:05Should I start calling you mate of the Alpha?
20:07Please don't.
20:08My future, most likely, was a silent room in a shrine,
20:12grieving him in his name until I followed.
20:15With the shaman gone, I took on more responsibility,
20:18including helping Lucian bathe.
20:23I watched his ears and tried not to smile.
20:25Had no one ever helped him bathe?
20:27Cailin had always kept half a dozen female attendants for bathing.
20:31A younger version of me would have died of the blush alone.
20:34But I wasn't that innocent girl anymore.
20:37There was a phrase I'd found in one of his books,
20:39a broken moon, a she-wolf who'd been claimed and discarded.
20:43The text said that's what I was.
20:45What strange things are you reading now?
20:49I tucked it behind my back.
20:51I'd memorized a passage and presented it to him like a prize.
20:55Look at you. Impressive.
20:57You sound like you're humeering a child.
21:00How old are you?
21:02Eighteen.
21:03I have almost a decade on you.
21:05To me, you are a child.
21:08The shaman had introduced new compounds,
21:11performed old rituals at the edge of firelight,
21:14burned offerings, and whispered things I didn't catch.
21:17Speak a wish.
21:19You do it.
21:21I want you to be happy.
21:23What does that look like?
21:24Your body heals.
21:26You find a mate who deserves you.
21:27A pack of your own.
21:29A life that finally goes the way it should have.
21:32Do you mean that?
21:33Our eyes met.
21:34I looked away.
21:35Did I mean it?
21:36It didn't matter.
21:37What mattered was,
21:38the shaman's ritual apparently worked,
21:40because Lucian decided he wanted to leave the cabin.
21:43I asked him where he wanted to go.
21:45He studied me for a long moment.
21:47There's a moon festival gathering tonight.
21:49I've heard the town lights the whole river.
21:51Festival fires were always burning somewhere.
21:54Nothing special.
21:55But since coming into Vivienne's household,
21:57I hadn't been to a single one.
21:58The longing had been sitting quietly in me for years.
22:01That night, a young noblewoman arrived with her escort.
22:04They said, used to getting everything she reached for.
22:07In the river of lantern light and moving bodies,
22:09she found Lucian in seconds.
22:11Loser buys dinner at the finest inn in the city.
22:13What do you say?
22:14And she walked straight up and challenged him to a game of darts.
22:17I've forgotten who won.
22:18I only remember the brightness in her eyes.
22:21Lucian turned to look at me.
22:23If you'd like to go, I'll wait outside.
22:25I hadn't behaved like a servant in front of him in a long time,
22:29but there were others watching.
22:30She didn't wait.
22:31She stepped around me cheerfully and reached for Lucian's chair.
22:34I watched them move into the crowd,
22:36and I felt something leave me that I hadn't known was mine to lose.
22:39I stood in the cold for a very long time.
22:42Then I remembered.
22:43Today was my birthday.
22:44She was the regent's only daughter.
22:46Every door in the wolf world was open to her.
22:48When the regent and his mate arrived at the pack mansion to formally propose the match,
22:53the matriarch looked more shaken than pleased.
22:56Through Briar, I learned the truth.
22:57It wasn't love at first sight.
22:59She'd fallen for Lucian over a decade ago,
23:02back when he was a young scholar with fire in his eyes and a future everyone could see.
23:06She'd been carrying it ever since, refusing every other offer.
23:10Lucian's potential mating became the pack's entire focus.
23:13Even the news that Kaylin's quartermate had conceived was forgotten.
23:17If the match succeeded, the matriarch would have been overjoyed.
23:20But Lucian was already bound by the spirit bond.
23:23To take a living mate, the bond had to be dissolved.
23:25And so I knew exactly what I had to do.
23:28Just as I'd once knelt before the matriarch and volunteered,
23:31I came before her again.
23:34I'm willing to step aside.
23:36I want Lucian to have this.
23:39I'd had the shaman check their spirit signatures as well.
23:42They aligned perfectly.
23:43She was born to rank, polished in every art.
23:47And her love for Lucian had outlasted years of silence.
23:50If he died, she would grieve him faithfully.
23:52There was nothing more I could offer that she couldn't match.
23:55So, what do you want in return?
23:58Money?
23:59Is it still about status?
24:01The matriarch squeezed my hands and asked what I wanted in return.
24:04I pressed the gold I'd saved over two years into her palm.
24:08I asked to be released from the pack's bond records.
24:11I want to be a free wolf.
24:15Child, you could ask me for so much more.
24:19I held the bow and didn't move.
24:20Tears fell, one by one, onto the stone.
24:23Take me with you, okay?
24:26Outside the pack, Pausian, life was uncertain and hard.
24:30Inside, with the matriarch's protection, you would be safe.
24:33Stay, serve well, don't make enemies.
24:37The rest would come.
24:40Briar wept and pressed gold into my hands anyway.
24:43On the morning I left, many of the other handmaids came to see me off.
24:47The shaman also walked towards me in the crowd.
24:50May your ancestors guide your path.
24:54I patted my shoulder and then walked towards the crowd.
25:00I turned around and walked towards the door.
25:02But in the crowd, I saw Karen also there.
25:06Kaylin grabbed me to the corner.
25:07He caged me against the wall and looked at me like he wanted to devour me.
25:12Say the word and I'll take you as a formal mate.
25:17Serve me like you used to, and I'll give you rank above the others.
25:21I stared at him for a long time.
25:28Don't look at me like that.
25:31What?
25:32You think Lucian's gonna come running after you?
25:34You're deluding yourself.
25:38He's probably not even thinking of you.
25:40Once his body improved, he didn't need you anymore.
25:42You were useful and now you're spare.
25:44And don't expect him to remember you in a year.
25:46He didn't even come to see you off.
25:48That tells you exactly where you rank to him.
25:52Something in my chest seized.
25:54The truth was, Lucian and I had been in a cold war for weeks.
25:57It had started on the way home from the festival.
25:59If I was happy.
26:03Yes.
26:03The warmth vanished from Lucian's face.
26:06Happy about the fireworks?
26:08No.
26:09Watching you walk with her.
26:10You look like you belong together.
26:11My wish is starting to work.
26:12That made me happy.
26:13You see me with another female and that's what makes you happy?
26:16She's extraordinary.
26:17She might become the Pax Future First Luna.
26:18Of course I'm happy.
26:19Selina.
26:21I didn't know you could be so heartless.
26:24My parents had died years ago in the household where I was born into service.
26:27I had no home to return to.
26:29I'd planned to head south.
26:31Find a city where no one knew my name.
26:33But the second Kaylin's and Vivian's faces floated up behind my eyes,
26:37I was on my feet, booking passage on the first river ferry south before I'd finished the thought.
26:44Property deeds.
26:46Golds, a house, a plot of land.
26:48Somewhere in the south.
26:50I tried to remember when the shaman had touched my bag.
26:53He'd had his hands on it during the send-off.
26:56But where had he gotten this?
26:57The ferry listed suddenly.
26:59I nearly went over the rail.
27:02I scrambled upright and found boots surrounding me on three sides.
27:06Then I was bound, carried ashore, and pushed into a carriage.
27:11When the blindfold came down, Vivian, smiling.
27:20I couldn't stop the bitter laugh from escaping.
27:22Briar had been right.
27:24For all the years I'd served her, and this was still where we ended up,
27:27they brought out women with strong hands to deal with me.
27:30The blows were professional and thorough.
27:32She'd grown thinner since I last saw her.
27:35The delicate elegance that had once made her untouchable
27:37now just made her look breakable.
27:40What it didn't do was protect her inside the pack.
27:44I used your body as a convenience,
27:46and you had the nerve to find your own way out.
27:49Ungrateful.
27:50Traitorous.
27:51Have you forgotten what you swore?
27:53Loyal service.
27:55Always.
27:56Loyal service.
27:57She wasn't wrong.
27:58But loyalty is a two-way bond,
28:01and she had never honored her half.
28:03Waited for the anger to burn out so I could leave.
28:05I overestimated her capacity for mercy.
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