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
00:15as
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
00:42of 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
00:56nearly 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.
01:11Thessaly saved my life. From this day forward, she is my true mate. A shark lord choosing one of ours.
01:18Choosing 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.
01:32She 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.
01:49Last time I had no choice but to pretend to like it. Every day. I smiled through the sacred thermal
01:55vent
01:55walks. Through the scalding baths. Through the meals that felt like swallowing coals. By the time I was
02:01pregnant, my core was already cracked. The children drew what was left. Thessaly was deep current too.
02:08She 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 ten feet long.
02:21The high warden nearly emptied the sanctuary's vaults. I was the only unmated woman left.
02:27That made me the obvious choice for handmaid. Thessaly stood over me and smiled.
02:32Before you were the elder, I deferred to you. How does this feel, sister? I said nothing. She stepped
02:38forward and struck my face. The high warden has already agreed. You belong to me now. I'll hit you
02:45when I want. Praise you when I want. You have no say. Start learning. A courier arrived from the
02:51shark lord. A volcanic silk mantle. Vida's sea foam. Heat resistant. Enchanted for speed. Thessaly touched
02:58it with both hands. I knew that mantle. For volcanic current bloodlines, it was a treasure. For deep
03:06current bloodlines, it was a punishment. I'd worn it every day of my first marriage. It had carved
03:12away at my core for years. Thessaly would find that out eventually. Then a girl came swimming fast.
03:18Volcanic current damage on the sacred reef! What an awful omen. Today of all days.
03:25I didn't wait. I swam. The sacred reef was burning hard when I arrived. Black clouds of
03:31silt screaming from inside the coral line. The covenant warden stood at the edge and wouldn't
03:37know. That volcanic current belongs to a shark lord. We interfere, we offend him. One of them
03:42said, your sister's bonding is today. Don't make trouble. They're only low rank phalilius. I looked at
03:48him for a long moment. Then I went in. The silt blinded me fast. The thermal current scorched my
03:55scales. But I was deep current. Wherever I moved, cold spread behind me. It slowed the thermal currents
04:01enough to matter. I remembered what my foster mother taught me. Clear a line. Deny the thermal
04:07current somewhere to go. I tide shifted to full form and called out. Shark. Manta ray. Swordfish.
04:14Sea turnt they came. They carried cold hardened vessels in their jaws. A whale used its mouth.
04:20Sea urchins and mantis shrimp worked the thermal breaks. We were losing. Then we worked. Then the
04:26reef shook. The seabed split open. A sea serpent came out of that black, ancient, large enough to block the
04:34light from above. He opened his mouth and cold water poured. The thermal current died. The sea serpent's
04:41voice didn't come from one direction. This reef is mine. Who damaged it? The covenant mordents said
04:49nothing. A thousand tidal cycles in this valley. And nobody had thought to check whether something
04:55older already lived here. Then Thessaly pointed at me. Look at her. Ash everywhere. Burned scales.
05:02It had to be her. Every eye turned. I was standing there with my hands at my sides. Charred. Bleeding
05:08in
05:08two places. The same hands that had just spent an hour fighting the thermal current. I was certain
05:14someone would say it. Any of them. They'd all seen me swim in. The covenant warden looked at me for
05:19a
05:19long time. Then he bowed. The sea rank and sovereign. Our wayward daughter did this. She is yours to punish.
05:27We offer her freely. I stood still. Not one of them spoke for me. I had bent myself in half
05:33for these
05:34people in my last life. I had scalded from volcanic current. From the inside out. Carrying children for
05:42a clan that wasn't mine. For a man who never once made me warm. I'd done it for them. Kept
05:49them safe.
05:50Kept them proud. And now they were handing me to a sea serpent. Just to buy themselves quiet. I looked
05:57at
05:57the covenant warden. The volcanic current was shark made. Everyone here knows that. I'm deep current.
06:04How would I produce sacred thermal current? Thessaly cut in immediately. You're my handmaid. You had
06:10access to my husband's tide brands. Easy enough to steal a spark. Sea serpent sovereign. The evidence
06:16speaks for itself. She damaged your sacred reef. I held up my hands. The skin had peeled back in
06:22places. If I started it, why did I try to stop it? To look innocent. I laughed. It came out
06:33wrong.
06:33Too much feeling in it. What do I have to gain? Any of it. What exactly do you think I
06:40wanted?
06:41The covenant warden stood. Sylvain. Just admit it. That was my name. Sylvain. I looked at him for a long
06:49moment. I'm done with this covenant. All of it. Every debt between us is settled. The sea serpent
06:56spoke again. Quieter this time. Enough. The girl comes with me. Whatever she is to you, she isn't
07:03anymore. The darkness rolled toward me. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was somewhere else.
07:11Bioluminescent light. Stone. A ceiling so high, I couldn't see the end of it. He was in surface form.
07:17Black robes edged in silver. He sat like someone who had never once needed anything from anyone.
07:24He was watching me with something almost like amusement.
07:28Go ahead. He said. Say what you want to say. I straightened. You knew. You knew the whole time
07:35what happened. Why play along with them? Because you needed a reason to leave. He tilted his head.
07:42And the abysmal palace considerably more comfortable than a tide pool. I thought you might prefer it.
07:48I thought about what he'd said. In my last life, he had sent me a tear pearl during my labor.
07:55He hadn't
07:55explained why then, either. Only later did I understand. The wreath was his. I had defended it.
08:02He remembered. I knelt. Thank you, my lord. I'll serve faithfully.
08:08Don't do it again. Do what? Throw yourself at people who aren't worth it.
08:13He stood. Get dressed. We're going to watch the bonding ceremony.
08:18He handed me a gown. Black. Covered with shimmering scales. I put it on and stood beside him.
08:25And we looked like we matched. I felt my face go warm without meaning to.
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