00:00My sister chose the lionfish fae. She left the whale shifter, the one nobody wanted for me.
00:06It was fate, a drift born for a beast. Instead, I saved a shark lord by accident. He took me
00:14as
00:15his queen. After the bonding, I bore five heirs for the shark bloodline, a clan that had gone
00:21generations without children. I became a legend across the deep realm. My sister, bonded to the
00:27lionfish fae, was cast out for barrenness. I came home with my youngest. My sister poisoned my bowl,
00:34me and my child, both. And I woke. It was the day of the right again. Everyone present is a
00:41worthy son
00:41of their bloodline. Choose freely. The hall filled with glances, with offered flowers, with quiet
00:48negotiations between bodies and bloodlines. I didn't want any of it. In my last life, childbirth had
00:55nearly killed me. I wasn't doing it again. I stood alone. Then the doors blew open. He arrived in a
01:03surge of volcanic current. A shark lord in his full power. And he had his arm around my sister's waist.
01:10Thessaly saved my life. From this day forward, she is my true mate. A shark lord choosing one of ours.
01:17Choosing her as first and only. It hadn't happened in living memory. I knew then. She'd been reborn too.
01:25Now I looked at her. Draped against the shark lord. Already victorious. She thought she'd won.
01:31She hadn't thought through what it would cost her. Shark lords are of the volcanic current element.
01:37Their mates sleep in volcanic current. Bathe in volcanic current. Eat volcanic current food.
01:43For a bloodline like ours. Deep current by nature. That's not a marriage. It's a slow execution.
01:50Last time I had no choice but to pretend to like it. Every day. I smiled through the sacred thermal
01:55vent walks. Through the scalding baths. Through the meals that felt like swallowing coals. By the time
02:01I was pregnant, my core was already cracked. The children drew what was left. Thessaly was deep current
02:07too. She just didn't know what she'd agreed to yet. The whole keep celebrated. Every unmated girl in the
02:15order delayed her own bonding to help prepare Thessaly's. The gift list ran 10 feet long. The
02:21high warden nearly emptied the sanctuary's vaults. I was the only unmated woman left. That made me the
02:28obvious choice for handmaid. Thessaly stood over me and smiled. Before you were the elder,
02:34I deferred to you. How does this feel, sister? I said nothing. She stepped forward and struck my
02:39face. The high warden has already agreed. You belong to me now. I'll hit you when I want. Praise you
02:46when I want. You have no say. Start learning. A courier arrived from the shark lord. A volcanic silk
02:53mantle. Vita's seafoam. Heat resistant. Enchanted for speed. Thessaly touched it with both hands.
03:00I knew that mantle. For volcanic current bloodlines, it was a treasure. For deep current bloodlines,
03:07it was a punishment. I'd worn it every day of my first marriage. It had carved away at my core
03:13for years. Thessaly would find that out eventually. Then a girl came swimming fast. Volcanic current
03:19damage on the sacred reef! What an awful omen. Today of all days. I didn't wait. I swam. The sacred
03:28reef was burning hard when I arrived. Black clouds of silt screaming from inside the coral line. The
03:34covenant warden stood at the edge and wouldn't know. That volcanic current belongs to a shark lord.
03:40We interfere. We offend him. One of them said, your sister's bonding is today. Don't make trouble.
03:45They're only low rank faliliives. I looked at him for a long moment. Then I went in. The silt
03:51blinded me fast. The thermal current scorched my scales. But I was deep current. Wherever I moved,
03:58cold spread behind me. It slowed the thermal currents enough to matter. I remembered what my
04:03foster mother taught me. Clear a line. Deny the thermal current somewhere to go. I tide shifted to
04:09full form and called out. Shark. Manta ray. Swordfish. Sea turp. They came. They carried cold hardened
04:16vessels in their jaws. A whale used its mouth. Sea urchins and mantis shrimp worked the thermal
04:22breaks. We were losing. Then we worked. Then the reef shook. The seabed split open. A sea serpent came out
04:31of that black. Ancient
04:32large enough to block the light from above. He opened his mouth and cold water poured. The thermal
04:39current died. The sea serpent's voice didn't come from one direction. This reef is mine. Who damaged it?
04:47The covenant wardens said nothing. A thousand tidal cycles in this valley. And nobody had thought to
04:53check whether something older already lived here. Then Thessaly pointed at me. Look at her. Ash everywhere.
05:01Burned scales. It had to be her. Every eye turned. I was standing there with my hands at my sides.
05:07Charred. Bleeding in two places. The same hands that had just spent an hour fighting the thermal current.
05:13I was certain someone would say it. Any of them. They'd all seen me swim in. The covenant
05:17warden looked at me for a long time. Then he bowed. The sea rank and sovereign. Our wayward daughter did
05:25this. She is yours to punish. We offer her freely. I stood still. Not one of them.
05:30spoke for me. I had bent myself in half for these people in my last life. I had scalded from
05:37volcanic
05:37current. From the inside out. Carrying children for a clan that wasn't mine. For a man who never
05:45once made me warm. I'd done it for them. Kept them safe. Kept them proud. And now they were handing
05:52me
05:53to a sea serpent. Just to buy themselves quiet. I looked at the covenant warden. The volcanic current
05:59was shark made. Everyone here knows that. I'm deep current. How would I produce sacred thermal current?
06:07Thessaly cut in immediately. You're my handmaid. You had access to my husband's tide brands. Easy
06:12enough to steal a spark. Sea serpent sovereign. The evidence speaks for itself. She damaged your sacred
06:18wreath. I held up my hands. The skin had peeled back in places. If I started it, why did I
06:24try to stop
06:25it? To look innocent. I laughed. It came out wrong. Too much feeling in it. What do I have to
06:36gain?
06:36Any of it. What exactly do you think I wanted? The covenant warden stood. Sylvain. Just admit it.
06:45That was my name. Sylvain. I looked at him for a long moment. I'm done with this covenant. All of
06:53it.
06:53Every debt between us is settled. The sea serpent spoke again. Quieter this time. Enough.
06:59The girl comes with me. Whatever she is to you, she isn't anymore. The darkness rolled toward me. I
07:06closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was somewhere else. Bioluminescent light. Stone. A ceiling so high,
07:14I couldn't see the end of it. He was in surface form. Black robes edged in silver. He sat like
07:20someone
07:20who had never once needed anything from anyone. He was watching me with something almost like
07:26amusement. Go ahead. He said. Say what you want to say. I straightened. You knew. You knew the
07:34whole time what happened. Why play along with them? Because you needed a reason to leave. He tilted his
07:41head. And the abysmal palace considerably more comfortable than a tide pool. I thought you might
07:47prefer it. I thought about what he'd said. In my last life, he had sent me a tear pearl during
07:54my
07:54labor. He hadn't explained why then either. Only later did I understand. The wreath was his. I had
08:01defended it. He remembered. I knelt. Thank you, my lord. I'll serve faithfully. Don't do it again. Do what?
08:11Throw yourself at people who aren't worth it. He stood. Get dressed. We're going to watch the
08:16bonding ceremony. He handed me a gown. Black. Covered with shimmering scales. I put it on and stood
08:24beside him. And we looked like we matched. I felt my face go warm without meaning to.
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