- il y a 11 heures
Cry For Me Fox dives into a dark and intense romance filled with obsession, secrets, and emotional conflict. When love turns into control and desire blurs the line between pain and passion, the characters are forced to confront their deepest fears and hidden truths. With gripping twists and addictive storytelling, this series delivers a powerful mix of drama, romance, and psychological tension that keeps viewers coming back for more.
#CryForMeFox #darkromance #emotionaldrama #obsessionlove #shortmaxseries #dramaseries #plotTwist #romanticdrama
#CryForMeFox #darkromance #emotionaldrama #obsessionlove #shortmaxseries #dramaseries #plotTwist #romanticdrama
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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.
00:27Vendors shouting in the black market, voices clashing with the snarls 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.
00:37Pack's 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.
00:49No 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.
00:58But I had never fully understood 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?
01:13Suddenly, I locked with Kale's eyes, still young and naive.
01:16Memory of my past life resurfaced.
01:17The stinging pains of my throat being slipped are so vivid, I bit it back and steadied myself with a
01:25fist, pressed hard against the pain in my chest, and looked around.
01:28The massive holding cage ahead contained no fewer than 20 beastmen.
01:33Unsurprisingly, every one of them bore fresh wounds.
01:35My 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.
02:24I 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.
03:18A 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, he had dismantled the black market, led a mass exodus of captive beastmen,
03:43and years later stood across a negotiating table from the humans,
03:47and won equal rights for every last one of his 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, and the blood-streaked serpent tail uncoiled
04:52and snapped around Kale like a whip.
04:54Kale hit the wall hard enough to rattle the iron bars.
04:58Silas'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, and I rewarded
05:08Silas 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, Kale's voice chased me
05:20out of the black market, shouting my name with a fury that echoed off the iron.
05:24I glanced sideways at the bodyguard beside me, and, 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, every unchosen beastman was sent to the fighting pit, a place where
05:39survival 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 beastman care.
05:49Manuals, medicinal compounds, and supply crates flowed into my room like a tide.
05:54Silas's wounds weren't deep, but a congenital defect in his body slowed his recovery to a
05:59crawl.
06:00It made me only more curious.
06:01How had he survived the fighting pit in his last life, dragging that broken body through
06:06it all?
06:06My stare must have been too obvious, because a slow flush crept up Silas's neck.
06:11Mistress?
06:14Do you need something?
06:16In my last life, Kale had never once called me anything but my name, saving reverence for
06:21Seraphina.
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.
06:29Silas caught it and nodded, docile as still water.
06:33A few days of rest, and Silas had reclaimed his fully human form.
06:37Taller, too.
06:38His frame filling out overnight like a plant after rain.
06:42Beastman really did grow at an inhuman pace.
06:45That morning, father tracked me down.
06:47A beastman healer had come to the city.
06:48He said, a 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, the strength of which scaled with individual
07:02talent.
07:03Even the weakest among them could mend their own bodies.
07:05But the most gifted could restore life to the near dead.
07:09Father 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 pack law bind us to them as mates?
07:20He paused, let out a long breath.
07:23Alara, remember this.
07:24A beastman's loyalty is something no human being can replicate.
07:28Whether you earn that loyalty, that 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, rare felt like a polite word for impossible.
07:45Wasn't this just gambling with our lives?
07:47I watched father go, then turned back and called Silas from his room, leading him out
07:52into the city for the first time.
07:54Mistress, what's that?
07:56Ice cream.
07:57He cataloged everything.
07:58Stall signs, storefronts, passing vehicles, with wide, hungry eyes.
08:04Mistress, what's that?
08:05An amusement park.
08:07Mistress!
08:08When we get back, I'll teach you to read.
08:10Then you'll figure it out yourself.
08:12Okay.
08:13Silas beamed, falling into step just behind my shoulder.
08:17Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him eating the ice cream with total indifference.
08:21He didn't like it at all.
08:22While his gaze moved in quick, methodical sweeps across the street around us, the carefully
08:28performed helplessness had cracked.
08:30Just for a second.
08:31He didn't trust me, not even close.
08:33And beneath the docile surface, he was calculating.
08:36Of course he is, I thought.
08:38We arrived at the address Father had given me.
08:40I had expected something imposing.
08:42A high-rise.
08:43Gilded signage.
08:45Because a beast-man healer of rare power commanded human respect as much as fear.
08:50Instead, I found the most unremarkable courtyard I'd ever seen.
08:54Identifiable only because it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people waiting.
08:58Inside, I spotted Kale.
09:00He was slumped against a girl's shoulder, barely breathing, more absent than present.
09:05As if he sensed me, Kale opened his eyes and found mine instantly.
09:10That one look was packed with a lifetime of grievances.
09:13He pushed himself upright from the girl's arms, eyes red-rimmed, and fixed me with an
09:18expression 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.
09:35But 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.
09:47Then 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, he had weaved his fox allure around a girl
10:05named Talia, making 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, they drove the price up.
10:14Talia didn't have enough, went home to scrape together the rest, and spent several days doing it.
10:19During those days, on the bodyguard's quiet instruction,
10:23every beast man Kale faced in the pit was as brutal as they came.
10:28Taria had come back just in time to pull him out at death's door.
10:31I understood now.
10:33Kale was wounded badly enough that Talia had brought him here.
10:36I took a proper look at Talia.
10:38Peach bloom skin, wide eyes, all open sincerity.
10:42Not a calculating bone in her body by the look of it.
10:45No wonder Kale had reeled her in so easily.
10:47He never does change.
10:49Suddenly, Kale tore free of Talia's grip and lurched toward me.
10:53Hey, where are you going?
10:54Talia reached for him, and he shoved her hand away viciously.
10:58Don't touch me!
11:00He glared at her with an expression I knew by heart.
11:03Revulsion.
11:04The specific kind reserved for things that had already served their purpose.
11:08He was certain Talia couldn't live without him, so he treated her with careless cruelty.
11:13Something sour moved through me, and I set my jaw.
11:16Silas' brow creased.
11:18His weight shifted.
11:19I stopped him with a look.
11:21Kale staggered to me in a few short steps, those steps costing him everything.
11:25His legs gave.
11:27He dropped to one knee, barely catching himself before he hit the ground entirely.
11:31He forced his chin up, and his eyes were sincere in a way that made my skin crawl.
11:36I'm sorry.
11:38I know what I did.
11:40He reached out, small and careful.
11:42Can you forgive me?
11:43So, he'd guessed I'd been reborn, too.
11:46I didn't move, and 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, I drove my boot into the center of Kale's chest with every bit of force I had.
12:03He flew back there and crashed through a low stone table in the courtroom.
12:07A choked sound, then a mouthful of blood hit the flagstones.
12:11Kale sat in the wreckage, white-faced, hand 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.
12:27And I don't like Fox Beastmen getting too close to me.
12:30They carry a certain...
12:31Musk.
12:32Kale coughed up another mouthful of blood,
12:34and stared at me with the expression of someone whose 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 beastmen.
12:49Silas looked at Talia, then let his gaze drop to the barely breathing Kale.
12:53You should be grateful it was my mistress who hit him.
12:56He said, his voice carrying the disinterest of 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, then whipped around to stare at me.
13:10At last, she made a disgusted sound, hoisted 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, Kale 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, smooth as river water.
13:43He won't die.
13:45Wait your turn.
13:46I raised an eyebrow.
13:48I liked this Mira already.
13:49Talia had no choice but to stand there, seething.
13:53Kale was losing his grip on his human form.
13:55The fox ears and tail slipped free, trembling.
13:59She glared daggers at me.
14:00This isn't over!
14:01I looked at her.
14:03Does 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.
14:22Do you 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.
15:21You 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.
16:51The 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 Merkin are born with healing in our blood.
17:09It's simply a matter of degree.
17:11Even 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 Merkin as a gesture of protection.
18:11Her extraordinary healing talent, the price of her bloodline's safety.
18:16And with her, Lucian had finally been free.
18:19She seemed to care for him, or so the rumors said.
18:22Lucian 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 Lucian's erratic temperament,
18:34approaching him directly and asking for Lyra
18:37would be met with 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,
18:47because 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,
18:59turned 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.
19:13Alright, Alara.
19:14When I got home, I sent Talia's father an anonymous letter.
19:18A quiet, detailed account of exactly how 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.
19:29Mr. Lara, the news is here.
19:30Talia had been confined to the house.
19:32But the money was already spent,
19:34and 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.
19:42The Talia household would be its own kind of hell.
19:45I was still turning that over when a servant came running.
19:48Miss 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.
20:12He'll be beaten to death.
20:14The servant pulled at my arm.
20:16I raised a hand.
20:17Silence.
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.
20:38So I wouldn't save him.
20:39I had no use for a beastman 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
20:52cutting through the garden like a gunshot.
20:54He turned his head,
20:55spat blood onto the flagstones,
20:57and through the gap in the flowering branches,
20:59saw me.
21:00Disbelief in his eyes.
21:01Hurt.
21:02A silent, furious question.
21:04Why aren't you coming?
21:05My hand clenched at my side,
21:07and my jaw locked.
21:08Raven, scenting blood,
21:11found 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.
21:22I 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.
21:32Silas's pupils elongated,
21:34the calm human iris collapsing into serpent slit.
21:37In the moment before Raven lunged to bite him,
21:40Silas 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 crashed,
21:57every muscle in his body convulsing.
21:59Silas's 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's fangs were venomous.
22:10So he's a viper,
22:11I 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?
22:25Serafina's fierce expression
22:26shifted through several versions of itself
22:29when she saw me.
22:30She drew a breath,
22:32steadied 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,
22:40Serafina.
22:40I glanced at Raven's stillening 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?
23:03My 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.
23:26Serafina went pale.
23:27I didn't, father.
23:28Please, save Raven.
23:30He'll die.
23:31Father let out a cold sound,
23:32spared Serafina one flat look.
23:35A 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,
23:56his gaze cut across her,
23:58cold and quiet,
23:59and said nothing more.
24:01Serafina dropped to her knees.
24:02Yes, father.
24:03As Raven finally went still,
24:05the desperation broke through Serafina's composure,
24:08and tears ran down her face.
24:10Father.
24:11Please.
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.
24:19Let him go.
24:19Silas released the coil.
24:21Raven's limp body hit the earth beside the hawthorn tree,
24:24scattering petals across the flagstones.
24:27I moved quickly to catch Silas.
24:29He had burned through everything he had,
24:31the serpent tail refusing to retract,
24:34his legs unable to carry him,
24:35his full weight dropping into my arms.
24:38Father made a sound of pure displeasure.
24:40I bought you beast men to bond with,
24:41not 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,
25:15the slit pupils unmoved.
25:17This is who he actually is.
25:19Then Silas went boneless against my shoulder,
25:21head lolling,
25:22as if the last of his strength had left him at once.
25:25But I didn't believe it.
25:26Then again,
25:27a performance was only worth running to its end.
25:29So I slid an arm around that ice-cold tail,
25:32settled my other hand at his waist,
25:34and lifted him.
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,
25:46where the physician was already waiting.
25:48The broken ribs were set.
25:50Silas endured it with his face gone paper white,
25:53the scales along his tail rippling open and closed with every wave of pain,
25:57until 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,
26:05I looked at the pale expanse of serpent tail.
26:10Silas pressed his lips together,
26:12and under my gaze,
26:13drew it back in,
26:14the tail dissolving into human legs again,
26:19and met those still unrecovered slit pupils,
26:23blinking at me without looking away.
26:26He was asking why I'd stood there and watched.
26:28I smiled.
26:29Have you ever heard the saying,
26:31which one?
26:32Real trust is earned in kind.
26:34You didn't trust me,
26:35so don't expect me to trust you first.
26:37After I left Silas' room,
26:39I 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,
26:47and he'd been spending idle hours beneath it.
26:50He'd had the misfortune of crossing paths with Raven,
26:53who was wound tight and looking for something to hit.
26:56Serafina's standard for a beast man was raw power,
26:59and since a beast man who had learned to suppress their feral instinct lost much of that,
27:03she had never taught Raven to pull back from the edge.
27:06Instead, she trained him to his limits,
27:08and then patched him up herself with careful, gentle 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,
27:19heart given over to him,
27:21every alarm in me silenced,
27:22I wouldn't have died so stupidly.
27:24Speaking of which,
27:26I wonder how Kale is doing in the Talia household.
27:28I asked,
27:29and promptly had to swallow a laugh.
27:31The Talia patriarch had been putting Kale's fox allure to work,
27:35entertaining guests with it,
27:36men and women alike,
27:38sparing no categories.
27:39Kale had always been beautiful.
27:41With his glamour on top of that,
27:43more than a few people had wanted him in my last life.
27:46To protect him,
27:47I had taken on damage I never should have absorbed.
27:50And every time,
27:51he had one thing to say,
27:52that's what you're here for,
27:54that's what I'm here for.
27:55As if I were furniture,
27:56a plan began to form in the back of my mind.
27:59I was humming to myself on the way back to my room,
28:02when I heard voices inside Silas's,
28:04and pressed myself quietly to the wall.
28:07Serafina's voice,
28:08all warmth and remorse.
28:10Silas,
28:10I'm so sorry.
28:11I should have kept Raven under control.
28:14You're hurt so badly.
28:15Can I help you with your bandages?
28:17I 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,
28:27isn'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.
28:35Serafina had clearly caught a glimpse
28:37of what Silas was capable of,
28:38and immediately wanted to pull him into her orbit.
28:41When it didn't work,
28:42she said a few perfunctory words of concern,
28:45and prepared to leave.
28:46I moved quickly back to my own room.
28:48But the next second,
28:49there was a knock on my door,
28:50and Silas was standing in the frame,
28:52eyes dark and steady,
28:54looking at me.
28:55I was genuinely surprised.
28:56He'd looked critically wounded moments ago,
28:59and he was already on his feet?
29:01Beastman healing was fast,
29:03but not that fast.
29:04Something you need?
29:06You said you'd teach me to read.
29:07I'd completely forgotten about that.
29:09Sorry.
29:10We can start now.
29:11Silas pressed his lips together and stepped inside.
29:14I started from the very beginning,
29:16the phonetic alphabet,
29:17and we sat across from each other
29:19until he looked up and said,
29:20Am I what you expected?
29:22I blinked.
29:23Hmm.
29:23Silas raised his eyes.
29:25Earlier.
29:26Was it worth watching?
29:27He meant,
29:27Why didn't you come in?
29:29I smiled.
29:30Honestly, it was.
29:31Silas's brow drew together immediately.
29:34He looked genuinely displeased,
29:36the question in his voice coming out sharper
29:38than 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.
29:50I can-
29:50That one, I genuinely hadn't seen coming.
29:52And 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?
30:06Trust 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,
30:30and coil and bite through their throats.
30:33Thinking 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.
31:19Where'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.
32:05I 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.
32:34He opened his eyes slowly,
32:35and when he saw her,
32:37something 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, listening.
33:18Kale ran out of patience fast.
33:21Talia.
33:22Get me out.
33:24Now!
33:26Why not?
33:27Why can't you?
33:28You did it fine at the fighting pit.
33:30You were falling over yourself to help me then.
33:32Why 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.
33:47Alara.
33:49You've done this to her too?
33:56You've done this to her too.
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