- 1 day ago
Rejecting the Phoenix, Taming the Dragon
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00:00agreeing to bond with me. I finally understood that too. It was just a reflex, a moment of
00:06wounded pride after she chose the dragon instead of him. I showed up on the appointed day. I stood
00:12at the bond altar from sunrise. He never came. The crowd that gathered grew larger the longer I waited,
00:18not to support me, but to watch. The flowers in my arms had died. I kept my chin down and
00:25my eyes
00:25on the ground. How could the phoenix ever want someone that ugly? He was obviously playing her.
00:32She's the only one who didn't know. Any other day, I would have put my fist through the face of
00:36whoever
00:37said that. Today, I just pushed through the crowd, silent, trying not to dream. Someone shoved me from
00:43behind. I hit the ground hard, but I caught the nest tree sapling before it could break, cradled it like
00:48it mattered. Then someone stomped on the pot. The clay exploded. The sapling went gray and dead
00:55in seconds. Shattered, I walked home and heard Sienna's voice floating out of Finn's room,
01:01bright, delighted. Finn, this dress is beautiful. You actually made this with your own hands?
01:08Sienna, as long as you like it. Finn's voice was as flat as always, but the upward curl at the
01:14end,
01:14that small, involuntary warmth, exposed him completely. The door swung open and Sienna walked
01:21out in a red dress. Red feathers lined the hem. Finn's tail feathers. The feathers a phoenix only
01:28plucks for someone they love. So that was why he'd rushed me out of the house last week. He didn't
01:35want me seeing him make her a dress. He'd pulled his own feathers, the most sacred part of a phoenix's
01:41body, just to get the color right for her. He didn't come to my ceremony because of Sienna.
01:47All those years. Every glance Finn ever threw across a room always landed on her. Even Samara.
01:55They were right. Every bit of this was you lying to yourself. I made up my mind. I would dissolve
02:01the bond before it was complete. I wasn't going to wait around to be discarded with an audience.
02:06I started looking for an available beast man. Anyone willing to bond with me before my birthday.
02:11I finally tracked down Riven, a low-rank lizard in the Outer Territory, and he agreed. I ran home,
02:18told Finn. He didn't look relieved. He looked furious.
02:24Samara, you're serious? You'd bond with that low-rank lizard instead of me?
02:31I didn't show up that day, but I had a reason. You saw-
02:35I stopped listening. I already knew the reason. Sienna's ceremony was approaching. He was busy.
02:40Too busy for me. Never too busy for her. Because of my face. Because I was the ugly one. Because
02:47apparently being born with a birthmark means I deserve to be stood up, mocked in public,
02:53and made to feel grateful for scraps. I closed my eyes. Yes, Finn. I'm bonding with Riven.
03:02Fine, Samara. Don't come crawling back. He said it like I was the one abandoning him.
03:07I genuinely could not locate his logic. I had no time to figure it out. My birthday was three days
03:14away. The next morning, I went to find Riven. Somehow, he'd changed his mind overnight. Apparently,
03:21someone had introduced him to a girl last night, and they'd already scheduled their ceremony for
03:25that afternoon. You think I would take someone else's reject?
03:30Then closed his door in my face. I stood there, lifted my hand to knock again, let it fall. People
03:36like me aren't meant to survive in a world like this. If I had maybe three days left alive, fine.
03:42I was
03:43going to spend them eating well. I walked to Mayfair Garden Cafe, the expensive coffee house I'd never
03:48dared enter before, and ordered everything that looked good. I was halfway through a plate of honey cake
03:53when I caught the conversation behind me. Heard the phoenix is giving Sienna the thousand-year
03:58heartwood? The one with healing properties? Healing? If it can heal, why didn't Finn use it
04:03years ago on Samara's face? Oh, wait. Obviously, because Sienna matters. Samara never did.
04:10He had a cure. He had a cure for my birthmark. He watched me get beaten, ridiculed, spat on my
04:18entire
04:18life, and he had the antidote in his pocket. He chose to give it to Sienna as a backup plan
04:24instead
04:25of giving it to me. Tears ran down my face, and I bit my lip until it bled to keep
04:30from making a
04:31sound. Tomorrow was my birthday. I was going to die. They would laugh at the way my body destroyed
04:36itself, so I would not cry. Not tonight. Not where anyone could see. I went home, nowhere else to go
04:43in
04:43this world. The house was blazing with light. The crowd had packed the main hall, shouting over each
04:49other. Alaric, Sienna's dragon, had gone. Holy rogue. The feral curse had taken hold. Without a
04:55completed bond to tether him, Alaric wouldn't just hurt Sienna. He'd tear through the entire city.
05:01Dragons in rogue state always did. Everyone was screaming at Sienna to go through with the bond
05:06immediately. Only Finn was standing in her way, blocking her, keeping her back. But Finn couldn't
05:12hold the crowd forever. I looked at him one last time. But Sienna is sheltered behind his back like
05:17she was made of glass, and walked to my room. His footsteps came fast. He threw open my door.
05:22Why was he here? His priority was right down the hall.
05:25Samara, you're the only one who can save her.
05:28Me? The dragon bonded with Sienna, not me.
05:31You and Sienna are identical, except for the mark. No one will know the difference.
05:35I opened my mouth to ask how I was supposed to remove a birthmark on three seconds notice.
05:40And then I remembered the conversation at Mayfair Garden. He already knew.
05:45Finn raised his hand. His expression showed something I might have called regret. But his
05:50arm was completely steady as it swung toward my throat.
05:53Samara, I'm sorry. But Sienna once saved my life. I can't let her-
06:00Those were the last words I heard before the darkness took me.
06:04Finn, even now, not one word about me.
06:07I came back to consciousness in a moving carriage, dressed in red. Finn's dress. The one he made for Sienna.
06:14On the night before my meeting ceremony-
06:17As long as you're safe, my queen.
06:19I didn't know their swapping plan.
06:21In a world where spiritual beasts are gods, I am the lowest thing breathing.
06:25It's simple, really. Beastmen are drawn to beauty.
06:28But I was born with a black birthmark on my left cheek.
06:31I thought by the time I turned 18, my body will explode for not finding a mate.
06:37But then Finn, the phoenix, rarest creature alive, chose me.
06:42I actually believed I was special to him.
06:46I wasn't.
06:47I only knew that until my sister Sienna's bonded dragon went rogue and lost control.
06:53Finn shoved me to bind with that monster without blinking.
06:57Here's the thing.
06:59Sienna and I are identical twins.
07:02Identical, except for the mark on my face.
07:04I wasn't chosen.
07:06I was kept as a spare.
07:08In the spiritual beast world, every human must complete a bond before their 18th birthday,
07:13or their body tears itself apart from the inside.
07:16Sienna and I came into this world together.
07:18I was born with the mark.
07:20She was born a masterpiece.
07:21Every beastman in the territory fought to bond with me, and she chose the most dangerous one alive.
07:28Alamuk, the dragon.
07:30The most powerful being in our realm.
07:32Beastmen carry a sickness called the Feral Curse.
07:35When it takes hold, they hunt their bonded by memory alone, drag them into a shared nightmare, and torture them.
07:43I always knew Sienna would pick Alamuk.
07:45Power calls to power.
07:47What I never saw coming was Finn choosing me.
07:50The day he announced our bond in front of the whole territory, I felt like I was drowning in honey.
07:56The air tasted sweet.
07:58Even the people who had spent years spitting on me blurred into background noise.
08:04I stopped hearing the insults.
08:06I forgot every bruise they'd left.
08:08I thought everything I'd survived was just the universe clearing the path to him.
08:13Except he never touched me.
08:16He never showed me his true form.
08:18When a beastman reveals their animal form to their bonded, it means love, trust, everything.
08:25Finn never once shifted in my presence.
08:27I couldn't find a single feather in the entire house.
08:31I told myself it was just his nature.
08:33That he was private.
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