- 33 minutes ago
Whispers In The Dark Alpha's Bed
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I was a slave, yet every night I had to take Luna's place and sleep with the Alpha.
00:05On 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.
00:18Every wolf in the pack knows Kaelin doesn't just love Lady Vivian, he worships her.
00:23So the next morning, I walked straight to the pack matriarch and kneeled before her.
00:27I volunteered to marry her eldest son.
00:30Kaelin's dying brother.
00:31Firstly 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.
00:41My good child, have you truly thought this through?
00:45I will have no regrets.
00:47Alpha Kaelin and Lady Vivian had gone deathly pale.
00:50On the full moon night, Kaelin came to Vivian's room again.
00:53I watched them through the crack in the door, his voice low and honeyed, her laugh like silver.
00:58Vivian left to wash up, cheeks ruined with wanting.
01:02Before 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.
01:11Heart 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, waiting for her signal like
01:24a good little ghost.
01:27You smelled.
01:28A pause.
01:29My heart stopped.
01:30The tincture.
01:31So nice.
01:33His mouth found mine in the dark.
01:35His hardness reached my soul.
01:44Before dawn, I knelt at Vivian's feet and recited him.
01:47Every whisper.
01:48Every mark blooming purple on my throat.
01:51Her expression curdled.
01:52Then she walked back into his arms.
01:54Caelan caught her hair around one lazy finger.
01:57You've been sneaking out to find yourself another wolf.
02:00She swatted him, pouting prettily.
02:02As if she were the one.
02:03Vivian was beautiful.
02:04And chronically, devastatingly fragile.
02:07Caelan saw her at the spring hunt gathering.
02:09He fell instantly.
02:11Offered her the first mate rank before the night was over.
02:14Perfect together.
02:15Everyone said so.
02:16As her bonded handmaid, I was genuinely happy for them.
02:19Until their bonding night.
02:24Three nights in a row.
02:25No completed bond.
02:27No mating mark.
02:28Overnight, Vivian became the pack's favorite joke.
02:31Desperate, Vivian invented the switch.
02:33Every night, candles out, handmade substitutes.
02:37Masking tinctures rubbed into my skin until I smelled like her ghost.
02:41Of all her handmaids, only I was a viable double.
02:44Vivian 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.
02:54In total darkness, with the masking tinctures working through my skin,
02:58his wolf couldn't tell the difference.
03:00What Vivian hadn't accounted for, I was not fragile.
03:03She broke under Caelan's hands.
03:05I did not.
03:07What she couldn't endure, I simply survived.
03:09Body learning the architecture of his need.
03:11Learning to anticipate it.
03:14Relax.
03:15Only three years.
03:16My body will recover.
03:18Then I will give you enough gold to live well outside the mansion.
03:22Think about it.
03:22My whole family's safety rested in her hands.
03:25I had no choice.
03:26One hour later, Vivian and Caelan finally rose.
03:30I returned to my quarters briefly,
03:31then went in to lay out the morning meal.
03:37Why are you dressed like that?
03:38I didn't know how to answer.
03:40I pressed my lips together.
03:42Caelan bit.
03:43Hard.
03:44Darling, you've forgotten Selena is mute.
03:46I nodded quickly.
03:48Serving Vivian meant constant proximity to Caelan,
03:51and she was terrified of exposure.
03:53So she declared me mute.
03:55The entire pack believed it.
03:57Your little mute is striking.
03:59Sad, almost, how pretty she is.
04:01And what exactly does my alpha mean by that?
04:03Has she caught your eye?
04:05I haven't blamed you for anything yet,
04:06and you're already turning on me.
04:10Caelan had pushed too far last night.
04:12I'd wept myself hoarse,
04:14then bitten him hard.
04:15He'd walked through silver and hellfire to earn his title,
04:19scars mapping him from throat to hip.
04:22He wouldn't care about a few teeth marks.
04:24This whole performance was foreplay.
04:27I don't know how much time passed.
04:29You insolent thing!
04:31You dared bite him?
04:32Are you challenging me?
04:33I had no time to defend myself.
04:35Vivian had me bound,
04:37dragged to the supply outbuilding.
04:39No food, no water.
04:41Caelan had left for the border territories.
04:43However long he was gone,
04:45I stayed locked up.
04:46I was barely breathing
04:47when my sister found a way through.
04:49Briar had bribed the guard,
04:51slipped a bowl of broth under the door.
04:53She was my younger sister.
04:55Sister, what did you do to make the lady so angry?
04:57Briar, when will Caelan be back?
04:59The guards say tonight,
05:00and he's going straight to the ladies' room.
05:04What 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,
05:12cursed since birth,
05:13fading,
05:14never anchored to this world.
05:16He'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.
05:23A spirit bond with a dying alpha heir
05:24meant grieving him forever.
05:27No high-ranking female would consent.
05:29Not even the lower-ranked handmaids.
05:31At dusk, they released me.
05:32I'd be needed that night.
05:34Selina, I was impulsive.
05:36I meant to release you hours ago,
05:38but things got away from me.
05:39Don't hold it against me.
05:41Of course not, my lady.
05:42My lady, it has been three years.
05:45When will I leave the pack mansion?
05:46You want to leave?
05:47Yes.
05:48My body hasn't healed.
05:49Kaelin still needs you.
05:51If you insist on leave,
05:51I'll simply use Briar instead.
05:53Your sisters.
05:54The voice, the build.
05:55Close enough.
05:56How old is she?
05:56Thirteen or fourteen?
05:58Then,
05:59could Kaelin at least give me a rank?
06:02Reaching for status now?
06:04If I wanted Kaelin to take a new mate,
06:06I have a hundred candidates.
06:08You would never make that list.
06:10Don't bother trying to go through Kaelin directly.
06:13You're a convenience to him.
06:17Even if you ended up in his quarters permanently,
06:20I could have you removed with a single word.
06:24But every unmated female is supposed to be matched eventually.
06:28Eventually?
06:29Was I supposed to be her substitute?
06:31In bed?
06:32For the rest of my life?
06:33The gatekeeper's son is your age.
06:35When you turn sixteen next year,
06:37I'll arrange the match.
06:38The gatekeeper's son.
06:40A man with a child's mind.
06:42And fists like hammers.
06:44Hitting because it was the only thing he knew.
06:46Only by being bound to someone that broken,
06:49would I remain useful.
06:50And too far gone to threaten her.
06:53Kaelin returned.
06:54To find me kneeling.
06:56You're home.
06:57You must be exhausted.
06:59This girl broke the crystal chalice from the Western Alliance.
07:01I've had her kneeling.
07:03Kaelin stepped over me,
07:04without a glance.
07:06What's the status on my brother?
07:08I've asked every unmated female in the pack.
07:11A spirit bond sounds like a curse to them.
07:13None of the young wolves will agree.
07:14What's there to agree about?
07:16Find a female,
07:17threaten someone she loves,
07:18and it's done.
07:19That kind of coercion would be hard to hide from your mother.
07:22Enough gold and fear will find a willing body.
07:25And,
07:26if you handle this well,
07:28my mother might finally look at you differently.
07:33And?
07:33Every time Kaelin came back from the border,
07:35he spent the whole night making up for lost time.
07:39He was an alpha who'd spent weeks at war.
07:41He came home hungry.
07:43And he made that hunger my problem.
07:46That night,
07:47I gave him everything.
07:49Pushed past my own limits to match him.
07:51Why so eager tonight?
07:52Did you miss me?
07:54I rarely initiated.
07:56He noticed.
07:57Good girl.
07:58Near dawn,
08:00I came back to myself in pieces.
08:04Trying to run again?
08:08My wolf has always been scent sensitive.
08:14I've known about your lady's little switch since the beginning.
08:17No wonder.
08:18He grew bolder every time,
08:20which meant he never held back.
08:22It was all for me.
08:24Then why won't you give me a rank?
08:26A rank?
08:28She's the one who brought you here.
08:29I'm not going to be the one to claim her handmaid.
08:32That would fracture our bond.
08:33She was right.
08:34A she-wolf,
08:35taken for free.
08:36Why give her a title?
08:38What grows in the dark,
08:39stays small.
08:42Speechless with joy?
08:43Thank you for your generosities, Alpha.
08:45I'm afraid I don't have the kind of luck to deserve it.
08:48You've shared my bed for years.
08:50Don't get ideas above your station.
08:51He didn't like greedy she-wolves.
08:54He had others.
08:55Bonded females.
08:56All with bloodlines.
08:58Gifts from allied packs.
09:00And yet,
09:00since Vivian came,
09:02he never touched them.
09:03The pack praised him for devotion.
09:05And he wore that praise like armor.
09:08A handmaid,
09:09born to serve,
09:11was never meant to stand beside him.
09:13The colder I became,
09:15I was born low.
09:17I don't deserve a rank.
09:18And I don't belong in your quarters.
09:19I only hope you and the lady are devoted to each other until the end.
09:23The next morning,
09:24Briar heard of Vivian's plan to marry me off to the gatekeeper's son.
09:27We served her faithfully.
09:28How can she be this cruel?
09:30That brute would be a slow death.
09:33The thought lingered,
09:34then twisted,
09:35into something darker.
09:36If I couldn't escape fate,
09:38I would choose it.
09:40I will take the spirit bond with Lucien.
09:42The matriarch stared,
09:44then broke into astonished relief.
09:45She asked my name,
09:47my birth date,
09:48my bloodline.
09:48The pack shaman consulted the moon charts and looked up,
09:51nodding.
09:52This female's spirit signature
09:53aligns with the heirs in a way I have not seen in decades.
09:57She was born into hardship,
09:59which means she carries the kind of resilience that could anchor him.
10:03The bond will serve him well in the next life.
10:05Cailin and Vivian arrived quickly once word spread.
10:08They walked in together to find me sitting at the matriarch's feet,
10:11working the tension from her ankles.
10:13Cailin's voice came first,
10:14amused,
10:15sharp.
10:16This is the female who agreed to bond with my brother?
10:18Whoever's handmaid she is,
10:19she has a rare heart.
10:21Mother,
10:21you must reward her well.
10:23I turned and faced them.
10:24Cailin went very still.
10:25It's me,
10:26Alpha Cailin,
10:27Lady Vivian's.
10:31You're supposed to be mute.
10:32I can speak.
10:33My lady simply prefers I don't.
10:36Vivian's face turned to chalk.
10:38I didn't know your household contained such a loyal soul,
10:40but once this bond is sealed,
10:42you'll carry his grief for the rest of your days.
10:44Are you certain?
10:45I will never regret it.
10:47The hand hanging at Cailin's side curled into a fist.
10:50He stared at me like I had become something he didn't recognize.
10:53tell me what you want.
10:55Silver,
10:56land,
10:57titles,
10:58anything I can grant is yours.
11:00I turned and looked at Vivian.
11:01She held her smile together,
11:03but she took half a step back.
11:05After a long pause,
11:06I dropped my eyes.
11:07I have a younger sister,
11:09Briar.
11:09I asked that she be transferred to your personal household matriarch.
11:12She's already part of this pack.
11:14I'll see to her for the rest of her life.
11:16Vivian's smile pulled thin.
11:19Mother,
11:20Briar came with my dowie pack.
11:21She's my bonded household.
11:22I'd hate to be ungenerous,
11:24but she's a handmaid.
11:25Mother wants her.
11:27Give her over.
11:27Cailin's voice cut across hers,
11:29flat and final.
11:30The matriarch's expression had gone stone cold.
11:33Bring the bond papers.
11:36I will find Briar a secure place before I pass.
11:40You don't have to worry about her ever again.
11:43I hadn't expected the matriarch to think about her entire future.
11:46Moved beyond words.
11:48Thank you,
11:49matriarch.
11:50I promise to care for Lucien with everything I have.
11:53When the matriarch spoke of her eldest son,
11:55she couldn't stop the break in her voice.
11:57I was pregnant with Lucien during the Dark Coven War.
12:02The fear marked him at birth.
12:04He came into the world without breath,
12:07without a wolf spirit.
12:09His father had returned victorious that same night,
12:12and brought someone with him from the deep forest,
12:14a shaman.
12:15The shaman's methods were outside anything the pack had seen.
12:18He brought Lucien back from the edge of nothing.
12:21It should have been a miracle,
12:22but the shaman warned them.
12:24Pulling a spirit back across that threshold
12:26was a transgression against the laws of wolf and moon.
12:29Lucien could live,
12:30but only for 30 years,
12:32no more.
12:32And so it had been.
12:33Lucien had grown up slight,
12:35unable to shift into warrior form,
12:37but razor sharp in mind,
12:39a natural strategist,
12:40a scholar.
12:41He'd won council honors young,
12:43but the older he got,
12:44the weaker his body became.
12:46Eventually,
12:47he stopped leaving his territory altogether,
12:49retreating to a lakeside cabin
12:51at the edge of the pack mansion.
12:52Since I had agreed to the spirit bond,
12:54I was to remain at his side.
12:56Word was that he didn't allow anyone to serve him,
12:59just the shaman,
13:00who had stayed all these years.
13:01The shaman brought me into the cabin
13:03while Lucien was asleep.
13:04I looked at his face.
13:05His lashes trembled faintly with each shallow breath.
13:08He was two years older than Kaelin,
13:1027.
13:11The brothers looked nothing alike.
13:13Kaelin was bronze and hard-edged
13:15from years of combat training.
13:17Lucien was fine-boned,
13:18pale as snow,
13:19almost startlingly beautiful
13:21in a way that made you forget to breathe.
13:23I spent the afternoon learning his preferences.
13:25When the sun touched the horizon,
13:27Lucien finally woke.
13:28It was time for his medicine.
13:30I'd spent the afternoon learning
13:31to brew it from the shaman.
13:32So you're the female
13:33who plans to bond with my corpse?
13:35Yes.
13:36Get up.
13:37He picked up the bowl calmly.
13:42I don't want it.
13:44What are you going to do about it?
13:45Lucien looked up,
13:46a thread of provocation in his gaze.
13:48The shaman had told me
13:49Lucien was a person of pure instinct,
13:52all feeling,
13:52no armor,
13:53earned honors at 15,
13:55and had the makings of something
13:56extraordinary ahead of him.
13:58Then one evening,
13:59a hunting trip with Kaelin
14:01ended with Lucien falling off the cliff
14:03and drown in the water,
14:05his wolf spirit seizing,
14:06and three days of unconsciousness.
14:08The matriarch had broken every servant
14:10in his household for failing him,
14:12and sold the rest.
14:13Lucien didn't treat servants like livestock.
14:16He'd read too much
14:17and thought too hard to do that.
14:20Alpha hair,
14:23I genuinely can't force you,
14:25but since we're going to be bonded eventually,
14:28perhaps...
14:28I looked down at the dark liquid.
14:30Perhaps I should start exercising
14:32a mate's authority now.
14:33Either you drink this,
14:37or...
14:37Or what?
14:39The shaman had told me
14:40Lucien had refused medicine for six months.
14:43That was why he was hovering at the edge of nothing.
14:45At this rate,
14:46he wouldn't survive to spring.
15:01When I looked at him again,
15:03vivid color had bloomed across his face,
15:05like dawn breaking over frost.
15:07Those butterfly-winged lashes were trembling.
15:10With outrage,
15:11I thought,
15:11distantly,
15:12of every arrogant she-wolf
15:14Kaelin had ever teased
15:15into furious,
15:16helpless blushing.
15:17Lucien's expression was painfully similar.
15:20A prick of guilt moved through me.
15:22I forced my own pulse to slow,
15:24keeping my voice steady.
15:25If you won't drink,
15:26I'll be forced to do that again.
15:45Alpha hair,
15:46your color has improved
15:47over these past few days.
15:48Your skin isn't as cold as it was.
15:50That's the medicine working.
15:51Medicine is useless.
15:53The shaman works hard to brew it.
15:55If you pour it out every time,
15:56he'll be heartbroken.
15:58Watch.
16:00Testing the temperature alone
16:01takes constant checking
16:03to preserve the potency.
16:05I've only been doing it a few days,
16:06and my hands already look like this.
16:08He pressed his lips together,
16:10said nothing,
16:11and drank the rest of the bowl
16:12without being asked.
16:14After that,
16:15he never made me beg him
16:16to drink his medicine again.
16:19Half a month later,
16:20the shaman gave the matriarch his report.
16:23Lucien had genuinely improved,
16:25no longer at death's edge.
16:27Could it be a final surge
16:29before the end?
16:30No,
16:31it's real healing.
16:33This one is responsible.
16:34I told you before,
16:35her wolf spirit signature
16:36is a natural compliment to his.
16:38She steadies him.
16:40The matriarch looked satisfied.
16:42When she turned to me,
16:43her eyes were almost tender.
16:45How has Selina been caring for you?
16:51She's been taking very good care of me.
16:56Alpha Lucien may not know,
16:58but when Selina was serving in my household,
17:00her skill at attending to Caelan
17:02was quite exceptional as well.
17:04Such a good servant.
17:06The air went very still.
17:09Is that how you speak
17:10to your future sister-in-law?
17:13Vivian,
17:14you are young,
17:15but that is no excuse
17:16for ignorance of pack law.
17:19Shut up!
17:20Stop embarrassing yourself!
17:23Days later,
17:24did you hear about it?
17:26Vivian had found another substitute.
17:28She looked for a maid again?
17:29Not from the pack's own hand-aids.
17:31She'd bought a woman from outside,
17:32trained and shaped
17:33to match her voice and build exactly.
17:35How do you know?
17:36Because Caelan lit every lantern
17:37in the room that night,
17:38and when he saw what he saw,
17:39he beat woman half to death
17:40and threw her at Vivian's feet.
17:42Vivian had fainted.
17:43And then?
17:44He said if she refused
17:45to truly share his bed,
17:46he would never come to her rooms again.
17:47They're sleeping in separate dens now.
17:49Separate dens meant
17:50every wolf in the pack
17:51knew the bond was broken.
17:53No mate's devotion.
17:54No matriarch's approval.
17:56No pups.
17:57No wonder Vivian looked like
17:58she hadn't slept in a month.
18:05He looked fragile in the lake wind,
18:07unsteadying.
18:08I went back to get his cloak.
18:15Is it you?
18:19Was it always you?
18:22Answer me.
18:24You think you can play mute with me again?
18:32Silence won't save you.
18:35I don't need your voice to confirm it.
18:38One night,
18:39and I'd know for certain.
18:40Had he lost his mind?
18:43I spent three years with a woman,
18:45and she's going to be bonded to my brother.
18:48How dare you make fools of us both?
18:51Especially me!
18:52Would a rank at my side
18:54really be worse than grieving
18:55a dead man forever?
18:56Do you actually want to bond
18:58with a corpse?
19:01I just want to survive!
19:06If I didn't do this,
19:08she'd give me to someone
19:09who'd break me!
19:11A formal bond,
19:12even a broken one,
19:13would have made me
19:14untouchable!
19:16Useful to no one.
19:19Forced to stay her shadow forever.
19:22Before he could recover,
19:23I stomped hard on his foot
19:25and ran.
19:25I was still stumbling
19:26when I rounded the corner.
19:28What took you so long?
19:32I smiled,
19:33walked over,
19:35and settled the cloak
19:35around his shoulders.
19:36But he simply brushed my hand away.
19:38Somehow he lost balance
19:39and fell.
19:40His chest had a severe bruise.
19:42Just leave me.
19:43I am not your burden.
19:47Lucian liked to sit there,
19:49open a book in the shade.
19:50Why did you really agree
19:52to the spirit bond?
19:54I didn't want to be given
19:55to the given
19:56to the gatekeeper's son.
19:58I thought it would be
19:59something like that.
20:01What is it to guess
20:02that it would be like this?
20:03The shaman pressed
20:04a small wooden box
20:05into my hands.
20:06Should I start calling you
20:08mate of the Alpha?
20:08Please don't.
20:10My future,
20:11most likely,
20:12was a silent room
20:13in a shrine,
20:14grieving him in his name
20:15until I followed.
20:16With the shaman gone,
20:17I took on more responsibility,
20:19including helping Lucian bathe.
20:24I watched his ears
20:25and tried not to smile.
20:27Had no one ever
20:28helped him bathe?
20:29Kaelin had always kept
20:30half a dozen female attendants
20:32for bathing.
20:33A younger version of me
20:34would have died
20:35of the blush alone.
20:36But I wasn't that
20:37innocent girl anymore.
20:38There was a phrase
20:39I'd found in one of his books,
20:40a broken moon,
20:42a she-wolf
20:43who'd been claimed
20:44and discarded.
20:45The text said
20:45that's what I was.
20:47What strange things
20:48are you reading now?
20:50I tucked it behind my back.
20:52I'd memorized a passage
20:54and presented it to him
20:55like a prize.
20:56Look at you.
20:57Impressive.
20:58You sound like
20:59you're humeering a child.
21:02How old are you?
21:03Eighteen.
21:04I have almost a decade on you.
21:07To me,
21:08you are a child.
21:10The shaman had introduced
21:11new compounds,
21:12performed old rituals
21:14at the edge of firelight,
21:15burned offerings
21:16and whispered things
21:17I didn't catch.
21:18Speak a wish.
21:20You do it.
21:23I want you to be happy.
21:25What does that look like?
21:26Your body heals.
21:27You find a mate
21:28who deserves you.
21:29A pack of your own.
21:30A life that finally
21:32goes the way it should have.
21:33Do you mean that?
21:35Our eyes met.
21:36I looked away.
21:37Did I mean it?
21:37It didn't matter.
21:39What mattered was
21:39the shaman's ritual
21:41apparently worked
21:42because Lucian decided
21:43he wanted to leave the cabin.
21:45I asked him
21:46where he wanted to go.
21:47He studied me
21:48for a long moment.
21:49There's a moon festival
21:50gathering tonight.
21:51I've heard the town
21:52lights the whole river.
21:53Festival fires
21:54were always burning somewhere.
21:55Nothing special.
21:56But since coming
21:57into Vivienne's household,
21:58I hadn't been to a single one.
22:00The longing
22:00had been sitting quietly
22:01in me for years.
22:03That night,
22:03a young noblewoman
22:04arrived with her escort.
22:05They said,
22:06used to getting
22:07everything she reached for.
22:08In the river of lantern light
22:10and moving bodies,
22:11she found Lucian in seconds.
22:12Loser buys dinner
22:13at the finest inn
22:14in the city.
22:15What do you say?
22:16And she walked straight up
22:17and challenged him
22:18to a game of darts.
22:19I've forgotten who won.
22:20I only remember
22:21the brightness in her eyes.
22:23Lucian turned to look at me.
22:25If you'd like to go,
22:26I'll wait outside.
22:27I hadn't behaved
22:28like a servant
22:28in front of him
22:29in a long time,
22:30but there were others watching.
22:32She didn't wait.
22:33She stepped around me
22:33cheerfully
22:34and reached for Lucian's chair.
22:35I watched them move
22:37into the crowd
22:37and I felt something leave me
22:39that I hadn't known
22:40was mine to lose.
22:41I stood in the cold
22:42for a very long time.
22:43Then I remembered.
22:44Today was my birthday.
22:45She was the regent's
22:47only daughter.
22:47Every door in the wolf world
22:49was open to her.
22:50When the regent and his mate
22:51arrived at the pack mansion
22:52to formally propose the match,
22:54the matriarch looked
22:55more shaken than pleased.
22:57Through Briar,
22:58I learned the truth.
22:59It wasn't love at first sight.
23:01She'd fallen for Lucian
23:02over a decade ago,
23:03back when he was
23:04a young scholar
23:05with fire in his eyes
23:06and a future
23:07everyone could see.
23:08She'd been carrying it
23:09ever since,
23:10refusing every other offer.
23:11Lucian's potential mating
23:13became the pack's
23:14entire focus.
23:15Even the news
23:15that Kaylin's quartermate
23:17had conceived
23:17was forgotten.
23:18If the match succeeded,
23:20the matriarch
23:20would have been overjoyed,
23:21but Lucian was already
23:22bound by the spirit bond.
23:24To take a living mate,
23:25the bond had to be dissolved,
23:27and so I knew exactly
23:28what I had to do.
23:29Just as I'd once knelt
23:30before the matriarch
23:31and volunteered,
23:33I came before her again.
23:35I'm willing to step aside.
23:38I want Lucian to have this.
23:41I'd had the shaman
23:42check their spirit signatures
23:43as well.
23:44They aligned perfectly.
23:45She was born to rank,
23:47polished in every art,
23:48and her love for Lucian
23:49had outlasted years of silence.
23:51If he died,
23:52she would grieve him faithfully.
23:54There was nothing more
23:55I could offer
23:55that she couldn't match.
23:57So, what do you want
23:58in return?
24:00Money?
24:01Is it still about status?
24:03The matriarch squeezed
24:04my hands
24:04and asked what I wanted
24:05in return.
24:06I pressed the gold
24:07I'd saved over two years
24:08into her palm.
24:10I asked to be released
24:11from the Pax Bond records.
24:13I want to be a free wolf.
24:16Child,
24:18you could ask me
24:19for so much more.
24:20I held the bow
24:21and didn't move.
24:22Tears fell,
24:23one by one,
24:24onto the stone.
24:25Take me with you,
24:26okay?
24:28Outside the Pak Paosheng,
24:30life was uncertain
24:31and hard.
24:32Inside,
24:33with the matriarch's protection,
24:34you would be safe.
24:36Stay,
24:36serve well,
24:37don't make enemies.
24:39The rest would come.
24:42Briar wept
24:43and pressed gold
24:44into my hands anyway.
24:45On the morning I left,
24:47many of the other handmaids
24:48came to see me off.
24:49The shaman also walked
24:50towards me in the crowd.
24:52May your ancestors
24:53guide your path.
24:56patted my shoulder
24:57and then walked
24:58towards the crowd.
25:01I turned around
25:02and walked towards the door,
25:04but in the crowd
25:05I saw Karen also there.
25:06other than I saw Karen also.
25:06-
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