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Cry For Me: Fox Updating New
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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
00:06there 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.
00:33The truth is clear, I had returned to the day father had brought us to the black market to choose.
00:37Pax unspoken bloodlawed.
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.
00:54A puppet's love was to prevent a bonded beastman from growing into a resentful predator, but I had never fully
00:59understood why.
01:01Beastmen ranked beneath humans, caged and passive, waiting to be claimed like livestock.
01:06So why would our bloodline insist on binding us to them?
01:11Weren'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.
01:18The 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 of my chest, and looked around.
01:29The 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.
02:24I 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.
02:48The 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.
03:02A question stirred in my gut.
03:04Serafina gave a small smile, drifted away, and began her own careful selection.
03:09Just as in my last life, she chose the powerfully built Shadow Wolf.
03:13Now I was the only one who hasn't chosen.
03:16Few 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.
03:32But 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.
04:04Yes.
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.
04:17Behind 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.
04:28Silas pressed a palm to the floor, crawled toward me.
04:30He stopped at my feet.
04:32I 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.
04:43Why 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 and snapped around Kale like a
04:54whip.
04:55Kale hit the wall hard enough to rattle the iron bars.
04:58Silas's eyes were cold-slit.
05:00Come closer again, and I'll kill you.
05:03Watching Kale clutch his ribs, I felt something close to joy rise in my chest, and I rewarded Silas with
05:09an 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 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, and, as if deeply inconvenienced...
05:29He's so irritating.
05:31Understood.
05:33I let the corner of my mouth curl.
05:35In the black market, every unchosen beastman was sent to the fighting pit, a place where survival was measured in
05:41blood and screaming iron.
05:43I was very much looking forward to that.
05:44The good mood carried me all the way home.
05:47Father spared no resources on beastmen care.
05:50Manuals, 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 crawl.
06:00It made me only more curious.
06:02How had he survived the fighting pit in his last life, dragging that broken body through it all?
06:07My 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
06:21Serafina.
06:22Being called mistress had a strange, particular weight to it.
06:25I tossed the medicine kit onto his lap.
06:29Dress your own wounds.
06:30Silas 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.
06:42Beastmen really did grow at an inhuman pace.
06:45That morning, father tracked me down.
06:47A beastmen healer had come to the city, he said.
06:49A merkin named Mira.
06:51She could treat both beastmen and humans.
06:55Father 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.
07:14Our bloodline status over beastmen is absolute.
07:17So 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.
07:59Stall signs, storefronts, passing vehicles, with wide, hungry eyes.
08:04Mistress, what's that?
08:06An amusement park.
08:07Mistress!
08:08When we get back, I'll teach you to read, then 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.
08:23While 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.
08:37Of course he is, I thought.
08:38We arrived at the address father had given me.
08:41I had expected something imposing.
08:43A high-rise, gilded 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 expression
09:19that begged without words.
09:20Then a hand closed over my eyes.
09:23Don't look at him.
09:24Glamour rat.
09:26I laughed and pulled his hand down.
09:29Get 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 named
10:05Talia, making her desperate to buy him.
10:08Her father was a business partner of father's.
10:10And when the black market saw how badly she wanted Kale, they drove the price up.
10:15Talia didn't have enough, went home to scrape together the rest.
10:18And spent several days doing it.
10:20During those days, on the bodyguard's quiet instruction, every beast man Kale faced in the pit was as brutal as
10:27they 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.
10:48He never does change.
10:49Suddenly, Kale tore free of Talia's grip and lurched toward me.
10:53Hey, where are you going?
10:55Talia 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.
11:04Revulsion.
11:04The specific kind reserved for things that 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, and I set my jaw.
11:17Silas's 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.
11:26His 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?
11:44So, 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.
11:57The next second, I drove my boot into the center of Kale's chest with every bit of force I had.
12:03He flew back out 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.
12:18What do you think you're doing?
12:19He's my beastman, even if he's mischaving, that's between us.
12:22Who gave you the right?
12:24I tilted my head.
12:26You can't control him.
12:27And I don't like fox beastmen getting too close to me.
12:30They carry a certain musk.
12:32Kale coughed up another mouthful of blood and stared at me with the expression of someone
12:37whose world had just inverted.
12:39Talia flushed scarlet.
12:41There's no, there's no musk.
12:42You're making that up.
12:43That's beastman discrimination.
12:45Careful.
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.
13:01Otherwise, 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, and marched straight
13:16for the door.
13:20Out of the way!
13:21Can't you see he's dying?
13:22Everyone in the queue had been waiting far longer, and 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.
13:34Miss Mira!
13:35Please!
13:35I'm begging you!
13:36Save him!
13:37He really is!
13:37From inside the room came a voice, smooth as river water.
13:44He won't die!
13:45Wait your turn!
13:46I raised an eyebrow.
13:48I liked this Mira already.
13:50Talia 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?
14:06The 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, the fallout would
14:20be 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!
14:38Your beastman isn't worth it!
14:39I won't let you say that about him!
14:41He's weak!
14:42Yes, 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, mercifully,
14:53Kale's turn.
14:53I had arrived later and stood behind them.
14:56By the time Talia helped Kale out of the treatment room, an hour had passed and his
15:01color had returned.
15:02He looked at me and the wounded helplessness was gone, replaced by something close to resentment.
15:07You're heartless, Alaksa.
15:09I made a dry sound.
15:10I can't compete with you.
15:12Stop wasting breath on her.
15:14Let's go.
15:16Steering Kale away with a huff in my direction.
15:18Behind me, Silas spoke quietly.
15:21You know them?
15:22I know them.
15:24I 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 mercant were extraordinary.
15:37No instruments, no diagnostic tools, only a touch, and she already knew.
15:42I said it without thinking.
15:44That'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, and 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, and it will shorten his lifespan.
16:06The hand resting at Silas' side closed into a fist, and his voice came out tight.
16:11Please, help me.
16:13Then he turned to me, and the look in his eyes said everything.
16:17Money is no obstacle.
16:19But Mira shook her head, her smile faint and tired.
16:23A 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.
16:34He turned to leave, and Mira looked at me.
16:36If you happen to know Lucian, Miss Alara, there may still be a chance.
16:41I was caught off guard, not only because Mira had recognized me, but because of the name itself.
16:46Lucian 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, and he'd withdrawn from classes years ago.
17:03We hadn't spoken since.
17:04Does Lucian keep someone gifted near him?
17:07The Merkin are born with healing in our blood.
17:10It's simply a matter of degree.
17:12Even the least gifted of us can mend our own bodies through instinct alone.
17:16But 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! I've never heard of anything like it!
17:26It 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 twenty years, one Merican was born, carrying that gift from her very first breath.
17:39Something clicked into place at the back of my mind.
17:41What is her name?
17:43Lyra.
17:44Of course.
17:46I understand. Thank you, Myra.
17:49I 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, 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.
18:26What happened after that, I didn't know.
18:29Because by that point, I was already dead.
18:32Given Lucian's erratic temperament, approaching him directly, and asking for Lyra, would be met with a flat refusal, no matter
18:40how I framed it.
18:41The better path was to go around him.
18:44Reach Lyra herself.
18:45Silas must have sensed my hesitation, because some of the heat faded from his expression.
18:52Mistress 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.
19:02A flush crept up the back of my neck.
19:04I cleared my throat twice.
19:07In public?
19:08You don't have to use that.
19:09Just call me by my name.
19:11Silas adapted without hesitation.
19:13Alright, Lyra.
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.
19:27It 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.
19:38Which 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 Alotta!
19:48Something's wrong!
19:49Silas, Simus, and Raven are fighting!
19:52Raven was Serafina's beast man.
19:55I was on my feet before the sentence finished.
19:57I followed the servant to the garden outside the morning, where Silas had been pinned beneath
20:02the flowering hawthorn tree, and Raven's massive fists were falling on him again and again,
20:08each blow landing like a hammer.
20:10Miss Alotta, please!
20:11You have to help him!
20:12He'll be beaten to death!
20:14The servant pulled at my arm.
20:16I raised a hand.
20:18Silence.
20:18My eyes stayed fixed on Silas.
20:21After days of recovery, his body was mostly healed.
20:24And this was the Silas who, in his last life, had survived the fighting pit on a broken frame.
20:29Which meant there was no possible world in which he was simply being dominated by Raven right now.
20:35He was hiding what he could do, because he didn't trust me.
20:38So 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, he would have to be the one to take it.
20:47Silas still didn't move.
20:49Arms 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, and through the gap in the flowering branches,
20:59saw me.
21:00Disbelief in his eyes.
21:02Hurt.
21:02A silent, furious question.
21:04Why aren't you coming?
21:05My hand clenched at my side, and my jaw locked.
21:09Raven, scenting blood, found the animal in himself rising to the surface.
21:14Both ears pushing through his hair.
21:16Every muscle lit up with predatory excitement.
21:19Barely a step from the edge of a full, feral shift.
21:22I held my breath.
21:23My entire body strung tight as a wire, and stared at Silas.
21:27Just take this one step towards me, and I swear I will never stop protecting you.
21:32Silas' pupils elongated, the calm human iris collapsing into serpent slit.
21:38In the moment before Raven lunged to bite himself, Silas moved.
21:42His legs dissolved into a white serpent tail that coiled around Raven's body in one fluid
21:47motion, and then his fangs, long and curved and appearing from nowhere, drove into the
21:53side of Raven's neck without hesitation.
21:55Raven screamed and thrashed, every muscle in his body convulsing.
21:59Silas' tail contracted like a closing vice.
22:02I watched Raven's face shift from red to violet in the span of seconds, and understood instantly,
22:08Silas' fangs were venomous.
22:10So he's a viper, I thought.
22:12Serafina arrived then, late and unhurried, and when she saw what was happening...
22:17Simus!
22:18You dare kill him!
22:20I stepped forward without hesitation.
22:23What if he does?
22:25Serafina's fierce expression shifted through several versions of itself when she saw me.
22:30She drew a breath, steadied herself.
22:33Allara, tell 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.
22:46Allara!
22:47Serafina finally snapped.
22:49One finger leveled at me.
22:50Aren't you afraid father will punish you for this?
22:53I 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!
23:09Enough!
23:09Everyone stop!
23:11Father's voice rolled through the garden from somewhere behind me, heavy with displeasure.
23:15Before Serafina could arrange her face into something pitiable, I got there first, and
23:20let tears spill down my own.
23:22Father!
23:23She started it, and 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, spared Serafina one flat look.
23:35A lesson he needed to learn.
23:37And you, don'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.
23:49I was wrong, father.
23:50Serafina.
23:51Raven is going to be your mate.
23:53Your work isn't only to tame him, it's to build him.
23:56Otherwise, his gaze cut across her, cold and quiet, and said nothing more.
24:01Serafina 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, please, save 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, 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 bought 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,
25:01Will the venom kill him?
25:03I don't make problems for myself.
25:06Look 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
25:24had 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
25:35him.
25:36Silas stared at me, startled into actual surprise, a 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 goose bumps down my arms.
26:02When the physician finished and left with a list of instructions, I looked at the pale
26:07expanse 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.
26:26He was asking why I'd stood there and watched.
26:29I smiled.
26:30Have 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.
26:38After 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
26:55something 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,
27:21every alarm in me silenced.
27:23I wouldn't have died so stupidly.
27:24Speaking of which, I wonder how Kale is doing in the Talia household.
27:29I asked, and promptly had to swallow a laugh.
27:32The Talia patriarch had been putting Kale's fox allure to work, entertaining guests with
27:36it, men and women alike, sparing no categories.
27:40Kale 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.
27:50And every time, he had one thing to say, that's what you're here for, that's what I'm here
27:55for.
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.
28:07Serafina's voice, all warmth and remorse.
28:10Silas, I'm so sorry.
28:12I 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, 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.
28:35Serafina had clearly caught a glimpse of what Silas was capable of, and immediately wanted
28:40to 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,
28:53eyes dark and steady, looking at me.
28:55I was genuinely surprised.
28:57He'd looked critically wounded moments ago, and he was already on his feet?
29:01Beast Man healing was fast, but not that fast.
29:05Something you need?
29:06You said you'd teach me to read.
29:07I'd completely forgotten about that.
29:10Ha, sorry.
29:10We can start now.
29:12Silas pressed his lips together and stepped inside.
29:14I started from the very beginning, the phonetic alphabet.
29:18And we sat across from each other until he looked up and said,
29:21Am I what you expected?
29:22I blinked.
29:23Hmm.
29:24Silas 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.
29:32Silas's brow drew together immediately.
29:34He looked genuinely displeased.
29:36The question in his voice coming out sharper than he probably intended.
29:40You 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.
29:47Yes, that history.
29:48He was quiet for a moment.
29:50I 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?
30:06Trust for trust was one thing.
30:08But I hadn't done anything to earn it yet.
30:10A flicker of tension moved through his expression.
30:13I want Lyra to treat me.
30:14If I had a body that worked the way it should,
30:18I wouldn't have had to spend today looking as pathetic as I did.
30:21I softened my voice.
30:22There's anything but pathetic today.
30:24In your last life, you survived the fighting pit using exactly that.
30:29Fain weakness, let them close in,
30:31then coil and bite through their throats.
30:33Thinking that, I reached up without meaning to,
30:36and touched my own neck.
30:37Learn what you need to learn first.
30:40Lyra, I'll find a way.
30:43Okay.
30:43For the first time, the usually cold boy let a genuine smile break across his face.
30:49A 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.
30:58Because of the garden incident, father took only me and left Serafina behind.
31:03Beastmen were barred from formal events, so I left Silas at home.
31:07In the banquet hall, I found Talia, beaming at guests with practiced ease,
31:12until 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.
31:23This is all your fault, you know.
31:26Talia, 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.
31:35Only with Kale.
31:37If you don't believe me.
31:42I don't believe he'd do that to me.
31:46Then test him.
31:48While the crowd was distracted,
31:50Talia 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, gripped 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,
32:26he 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.
32:45You came to get me out?
32:47I can't get you out yet.
32:49My father is still angry.
32:50He's still angry.
32:53Then she rushed to add it.
32:56But I promise,
32:59I'll come back for you.
33:00I will.
33:02Talia, look at me.
33:03Just look at me.
33:04I'm begging you.
33:06Get me out,
33:07the way you did,
33:08in the fighting pit.
33:12You were everything to me then.
33:13You were the only light.
33:15Please, just look at me.
33:16Talia kept her chin down,
33:18listening.
33:18Kale ran out of patience fast.
33:21Talia.
33:23Get 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.
33:33Why is now any different?
33:35You're blaming me?
33:36When you were the one begging me to save you?
33:40Who 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?
33:51You've done this to her to save you!
33:53Nooder!
33:53What harm mine can you?
33:53What harm none of them!
33:54Also harm you!uais!
33:55Yes!
33:55that concern. What harm
33:56me has learned? What harm
33:56youại przypadku do?! What harm
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