- 9 hours ago
My Sister Took My Serpent Mate：The Phoenix Lord Claimed Me
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00:00My sister Sarah and I chose our mates on the same day.
00:03She chose the Phoenix Lord Kale, leaving me the sea serpent Draven.
00:06Draven was cruel, dissolute, and merciless.
00:09I survived by enduring everything he did to me.
00:11To him, I was nothing more than a toy.
00:13Kale spent most of their marriage on the battlefield,
00:15leaving my sister alone in the palace for years.
00:18She cried, raged, and spent her days in tears.
00:22Years later, Draven awakened the dragon bloodline and claimed the throne.
00:25Through it all, I was the one by his side, so he took me with him.
00:28Sarah went mad.
00:29She stabbed me through the heart, then pulled me off the palace tower.
00:33And I opened my eyes again.
00:34My sister and I were back on the day we chose our mates.
00:36This time, she seized the sea serpent first, and shoved me toward the Phoenix Lord.
00:41I exhaled.
00:42This nightmare finally belonged to her.
00:44The moment she snatched the sea serpent's token, I knew she had been reborn too.
00:48My sister was the legitimate heir.
00:50I was born to one of my father's mistresses.
00:52My father carried an ancient supernatural bloodline, but her mother was human.
00:56Sarah inherited only half of his power.
00:58My mother, however, was also from a shifter bloodline.
01:00I had inherited my father's power in full.
01:03In our previous life, our father died young.
01:05But before he passed, he arranged marriages for both of us to take effect when we came of age.
01:09As the rightful heir, she always ruled the household and stayed in her mother's favor.
01:13Little sister, the Phoenix Lord's bloodline is noble.
01:16A girl of your standing could never catch his eye.
01:18The sea serpent is reckless and depraved.
01:20He suits you perfectly.
01:21And in this life, she still looked down at me from the same height.
01:25Ivy, the abyss is a place without light.
01:28I can't bear to see you suffer there.
01:30The Phoenix Lord is powerful enough to protect you.
01:33This time, you will be his mate.
01:35Her mother startled and turned sharp.
01:37The serpent is not a good match.
01:38My sister dabbed at her eyes, then leaned in and whispered to her,
01:41I received a sign.
01:42The serpent clan will one day awaken and rise above every other bloodline.
01:46Their voices were careful not to reach me, but I didn't need to hear them.
01:49I already knew exactly what they were saying.
01:51I lowered my eyes and forced a reluctant expression.
01:54What if I refuse?
01:55Her eyes turned red instantly.
01:57Her mother slammed her cup down.
01:59How can you be so ungrateful?
02:00Your sister is giving you a powerful match and you still complain.
02:04It's all right, Sarah.
02:06I ran out in distress, pretending to accept my fate,
02:10and pretended not to see the flash of triumph in my sister's eyes.
02:13In a corner where no one could see me, I smiled.
02:15The abyss serpent clan kept themselves apart from the world.
02:18Wanton. Corrupt.
02:19Sarah, you are passing up a queen seat beside a Phoenix Lord,
02:23only to rush headlong into becoming someone's toy.
02:25Let's hope he doesn't break you too badly.
02:27That was how it was in the previous life, too.
02:29Whatever was good, Sarah always had first pick.
02:31I was left with what she rejected, what she grew tired of.
02:35After she married the Phoenix Lord, she believed she stood above everyone else.
02:38But in the Phoenix court, rank and bloodline still ruled everything.
02:42The purer the bloodline, the higher the standing.
02:44She was arrogant.
02:45Even as the Phoenix Lord's mate, she offended everyone around her.
02:49In the end, Kale stopped visiting her entirely.
02:51He returned to the battlefield and never shared a single night with her again.
02:55My sister, humiliated and furious, tried to break the mate model.
02:58She threatened her own.
03:00Wept.
03:01Screamed.
03:02Made herself unbearable.
03:03Until he finally had her confined to the palace.
03:06Meanwhile, I entered the abyss.
03:07Years later, the sea serpent awakened his dragon blood in me,
03:10and rose as the dragon king.
03:12He took me as his queen.
03:13When Sarah learned that the man she had once discarded had become the dragon king,
03:17and that he loved me to his very core,
03:19she lost for my life.
03:21She and her mother killed me together.
03:23But they had only ever saw the surface of my life.
03:26They never saw what it cost me.
03:28When I first entered the abyss, the sea serpent Draven locked me away.
03:32He bound my hands and forced my chin up, his serpent eyes cold and sharp,
03:37and he tormented me for a full month without pause.
03:40When I refused to submit, he poisoned me until my resistance finally cracked.
03:44I went numb by degrees.
03:46My pride wore down to nothing.
03:48I learned to survive by pretending to love him.
03:52He was suspicious by nature.
03:53It took me three years to make him believe I loved him,
03:56and only then did he allow me to move freely through the abyss.
03:59Even after he became the dragon king, he never left the deep realm.
04:03And I remained there with him.
04:05No freedom.
04:06No daylight.
04:06After my rebirth, my sister wasted no time taking the sea serpent for herself.
04:11I was glad to let her.
04:13I was careful to look reluctant, afraid she might see through me.
04:16Sarah, this life, the one locked away in the abyss, should be you.
04:20The first of the tenth month was the day Sarah and I were bound to our mates.
04:24The phoenix clan lived high in a mountain citadel, bathed in firelight and constant birdsong.
04:30It was nothing like the cold silence of the abyss.
04:32The phoenix lord's palace blazed with gold.
04:34I sat quietly in my chamber and waited, and at last Kale came.
04:38When he saw my face, a flicker of startled admiration moved through those blood-red eyes.
04:44But he said nothing.
04:45He pushed me down onto the bed.
04:46I watched his eyes go luminous with heat and couldn't help flinching.
04:50He noticed.
04:51He paused, his gaze falling to the tight crease between my brows.
04:55Then he reached out, gently running his fingers through my hair and fastened a small necklace around my neck.
05:00When I woke up the next morning, he was already gone.
05:03I looked at the deep crimson phoenix feather in my hand and stopped a maid to ask where he had
05:08gone.
05:08He had already left for the battlefield.
05:10My lady, you should begin your formal visits to the former royal women.
05:14I saw the sympathy in the maid's eyes as she said it.
05:17The former queen was Kale's stepmother.
05:19The phoenix clan carried an old tradition, by which a son could take his father's wives as his own after
05:25the father's death.
05:26When the old phoenix lord died and Kale took the throne, the former queen had assumed she would marry Kale
05:31and keep her rank.
05:32Instead, Kale simply arranged separate quarters for her and the other women of the old king's court, refusing to take
05:38any of them as his mate.
05:40None of these women were to be taken lightly.
05:42They tore at each other constantly.
05:43And now I had arrived as Kale's chosen mate, which meant I had stepped directly into their hostility.
05:49I went first to the chambers of the Hare clan matriarch.
05:52The Hare clan was a weak vassal clan, surviving for generations by surrendering early in conflicts and offering tribute brides
06:00in exchange for protection.
06:01When I entered, she was already seated in the place of honor, waiting for me to show respect.
06:06I poured the wine carefully and set the glass before her.
06:09She took a sip and erupted.
06:11You serve me this? A vintage gone to vinegar?
06:14She set the glass down with a sharp click.
06:16Lady Hare, the members of your clan have been far too bold of late out in the world.
06:20They've made themselves a thorn in many sides.
06:22If I were to bring this to the Phoenix Lord's attention, what do you think would become of your clan?
06:26The Hare Dowager stiffened. Her voice shot up sharply.
06:29How do you know about that?
06:31I said nothing. I only looked at her with a mild smile.
06:34We held each other's gaze. After a while, she broke first.
06:37It's just wine!
06:38She said through clenched teeth.
06:40Fine. I'll drink it.
06:41I smiled.
06:42Thank you for your cooperation, my lady.
06:44I had barely stepped out of her chambers before I heard something smash against the wall behind me.
06:49With the Hare Dowager made an example, the rest of the wine offerings went smoothly.
06:53Until the last one.
06:54The former queen.
06:56The most temperamental.
06:57The most volatile.
06:58I entered her palace and was told she had retired and I was to wait outside.
07:02I stood at the entrance for a full hour.
07:04The former queen still had not summoned me in.
07:07What a welcome!
07:08Since the former queen is still resting, I'll come again another day to pay my respects.
07:12I turned and walked away.
07:14The servant at the door panicked and rushed inside to report it.
07:17The former queen threw her teacup in fury.
07:19Low-born creature.
07:21And she dares play games in front of me!
07:23I paid it no mind.
07:25Squinting in the sun and savoring a kind of freedom I had never once had in my previous life.
07:29But the peaceful days didn't last long.
07:32Kale returned from the front.
07:33The moment Kale returned, he had already heard about what I did during the formal visits.
07:38I'm told you threatened the Hare Clan matriarch.
07:40Something curious moved in his eyes.
07:42When Kale returned, both the Hare matriarch and the former queen had already gone to him
07:47with their complaints.
07:48What threat?
07:49He paused at my innocent expression.
07:51My lord, you mean when I visited Lady Hare and mentioned that her clan has been using
07:56the Phoenix Clan's name to cause trouble outside the territory?
07:59I kept my gaze tilted up at him.
08:01I knew what that particular look did.
08:04The word, my lord, had barely left my lips before something deepened in Kale's eyes.
08:08Because last night I had been calling him that all night long.
08:12But he was clearly more interested in what I'd actually said.
08:15He caught the point with precision.
08:16Members of the Hare Clan have been using the Phoenix Clan's name to cause trouble?
08:20If my lord doesn't believe me, you're welcome to look into it and see whether I've lied.
08:25He studied me for a long moment, then spoke.
08:28You did well.
08:29The Phoenix Clan will be hosting the Grand Convite soon.
08:32All the clan lords have been invited.
08:34Seek out the former queen and the Doucher ladies.
08:36Spend time with them and learn what you must.
08:38If they give you trouble, handle it as you see fit.
08:41If anything goes wrong, I'll answer for it.
08:43When Kale said that, I knew my first step had succeeded.
08:46Even after the wedding night, even after I became his queen, he had never actually intended
08:51to let me manage the Phoenix Clan's affairs.
08:54He had left the very next morning.
08:55As the ruler of his clan, Kale cared far more about the Phoenix Clan's reputation,
09:00and what I said had shown him what I was capable of.
09:03And I needed power firmly in my own hands, so that no one could ever make me suffer again.
09:08The queen puts on quite a performance of dignity.
09:10You haven't even served me wine yet, and you're already looking to take over organizing the Grand Convite?
09:15The Convite is the Phoenix Clan's gathering once a century.
09:19What claim do you have to host it, girl of your standing?
09:22The former queen smiled coldly.
09:26Then I won't trouble you with it.
09:27I smiled at her, and walked out.
09:29The former queen's face went rigid with fury, but she said nothing.
09:33She was already certain I couldn't manage the conclave on my own, without her help.
09:37But in my previous life, after Draven's coronation as Dragon King, he held grand gatherings of his own.
09:43I organized every one of them, each far more elaborate than anything required here.
09:48After I'd raised the matter of the Hare Clan with Kale, he had already dealt with them.
09:52With her clan stripped away, and her secrets still in my hands,
09:55the Hare Dowager submitted to me in less than an hour.
09:58I used the same approach with the others.
10:00One by one, the remaining Dowager Ladies came under my direction.
10:04By the time I had arranged everything, the former queen finally realized she had underestimated me.
10:09It was too late.
10:10The grand conclave opened as planned.
10:12The day of the conclave, the Phoenix Clan's mountain citadel was alive with noise and movement.
10:17Powerful clans and lesser factions arrived, and took their places along the mountain slopes.
10:22As queen, I stood at the palace gates and personally welcomed each clan lord who had traveled far, as a
10:28gesture of good faith.
10:29The clans attending the conclave came from every realm.
10:32Among them were the Abyss Serpent Clan, my sister, and her mate, Draven.
10:36She was dressed well enough, and her power had grown considerably, but I could see she was holding herself together
10:42by force.
10:43And Draven, standing at her side, watched me with those cold serpent eyes.
10:48Something felt wrong.
10:49I slipped away alone to a side hall.
10:51Without warning, the ground and sky shook together.
10:54He took his true form.
10:55An enormous serpent body erupted from nothing, and an icy coiled tail slammed into me and wrapped around me, hauling
11:02me into the air.
11:03My eyes went wide.
11:04The familiar sensation crashed into my memory like a flood.
11:08I felt his cold chest pressed against me, his arms locking around my waist, his forked tongue grazing my neck.
11:15Ivy, it's been a long time.
11:19You were mine.
11:21How could you mate with someone else?
11:23The forked tongue traced lightly along my throat.
11:26Razor fangs pressed against my neck, as though the next breath might be the last moment before they sank in.
11:31If Draven bit me, the venom would be in me immediately.
11:35I recognized his intent.
11:36I kept my voice steady.
11:38I'm not sure how I've offended you, Lord Draven.
11:40But this is Phoenix Clan territory.
11:42If you intend to disrupt the Kongoat here, I doubt you'll leave in one piece.
11:46Draven paused.
11:47He had clearly thought through the consequences.
11:49He made no further move, but he still wouldn't release me.
11:52The rage in his eyes were unmistakable.
11:55No one had seen this coming.
11:56Not even my sister who had come with Draven.
11:59She hadn't expected him to do something this open.
12:01Darren, we are in the Phoenix Clan's territory.
12:03Her eyes burned with hatred.
12:05She was calling out to Draven, but she was looking at me.
12:08When Draven heard her voice, he only turned those cold serpent eyes on her for a moment.
12:12Her face went white.
12:13She hadn't forgotten what he had done to her since she arrived in the Abyss.
12:18Jealousy had made her forget for a moment.
12:20But now she remembered Draven's savagery.
12:23Inside the palace, Kale sensed the disturbance.
12:26He flew out and shifted into his true form at speed.
12:30A phoenix cry split the air.
12:33Draven had no time to react.
12:35Kale struck him down hard out of the sky.
12:37Draven's coil loosened.
12:39I dropped.
12:40Kale's wings caught me steadily and set me down on the ground.
12:43Then he turned and drove toward Draven.
12:45Ivy, you crawl your way up to become the Phoenix Clan's queen and that's not enough for you.
12:49Cira looked at me with cold fury.
12:51You have to seduce my mate too.
12:52Have you no shame at all?
12:54Darren will ascend to dragon form one day.
12:56I will be his dragon queen.
12:58Don't think you can take what is mine before I've even claimed it.
13:01Even after Draven's cruelty, even after everything he had done to her, she still held a fantasy.
13:06Herself as dragon queen, showered in power and worship.
13:09She was willing to endure him for the sake of that future.
13:12Once I was free of the danger, the tension in my chest finally eased.
13:16I hadn't known Draven remembered our previous life too.
13:19If I had known, I never would have been standing outside alone where he could get to me.
13:23Sarah, what you want is not necessarily what I want.
13:25I looked at her calmly and let the words settle.
13:27At that moment, Hale's furious voice thundered through the air.
13:31Darren, you are master of the abyss.
13:34Yet you have no sense of your boundaries.
13:36You dare attack my queen and my territory?
13:39After hitting the ground hard, Draven launched himself back into the air.
13:43His massive serpent tail lashed.
13:45His upper body dissolved back into serpent form, and he coiled against Kale.
13:49But he was visibly losing ground.
13:51In the end, Draven's form vanished into the air.
13:54He fled.
13:55Even my sister, who had been standing near me, disappeared along with him.
13:59But I felt it.
14:00In the last instant before he vanished, a cold gaze clung to me for two full seconds.
14:05And it sent a chill down my spine.
14:07Draven would not let this go.
14:09I was proven right sooner than expected.
14:11When I lost consciousness in the former queen's chambers, I knew I had walked into a trap.
14:17I hadn't imagined that the former queen would join forces with my sister.
14:20They had had me taken to the abyss.
14:22When I woke in the abyss, Sarah was standing in front of me with triumph she couldn't hide.
14:27The air around me was cold and damp and dark.
14:31A few luminous stones scattered weak light through the black.
14:34You wretched thing, you're finally in my hands.
14:37Draven is mine in this life.
14:39You will not take him from me.
14:40All his favor will come to me and no one else.
14:42I will become his dragon queen.
14:44You stay right here.
14:45I won't let you die quickly.
14:48I want you to live long enough with your eyes wide open and watch just how happy I'm going to
14:52be.
14:53Sarah laughed with open delight, the malice in her eyes completely unmasked.
14:57Sarah, does Draven know you've brought me here?
15:00I wasn't rattled by her words at all.
15:02I had caught the one thing that mattered.
15:05At my question, something flickered across her face.
15:07That told me everything.
15:09Draven didn't know.
15:10The moment I understood that, I breathed easier.
15:13As long as Draven didn't know I was being held in the abyss,
15:16I had a chance of waiting for Kale to come and get me out.
15:19Kale didn't love me.
15:20But he had a sense of duty.
15:22On our wedding night, he had given me the Phoenix Ember feather.
15:26His own feather, which could save my life in a crisis.
15:30And let him find me wherever I was.
15:34I just had to hope Sarah could hold out long enough.
15:37That she wouldn't let Draven find out about me too soon.
15:40Of course Draven knows.
15:41Give up.
15:42He will only ever love me.
15:43He doesn't care about you at all.
15:45There is no chance he will come to save you.
15:46As long as I help him awaken his dragon bloodline sooner,
15:49I won't just become a queen of dragons.
15:51I'll make him love me and revere me all the more.
15:53Sarah swept out with her chin high.
15:55But when I heard what she said, I went still.
15:58I understood at once what she was planning to do next.
16:01And I smiled.
16:02My sister and I were ordinary shifter born.
16:05But we both had a constitution suited to bonded mating rituals amplified power.
16:10Intimacy with a partner could accelerate a strength in a shifter's power rapidly's power rapidly.
16:15Our father, worried about the two of us, had arranged our betrothals early to secure us each a powerful allies.
16:21And in our family home there was a forbidden relic.
16:24An ancient catalyst artifact that could drive amplify power forward at tremendous speed.
16:29Advancing a person by what would otherwise take years.
16:33But after our father died, the relic passed to our mother.
16:37Given how much our mother doted on my sister.
16:39The relic had almost certainly been taken by her long ago.
16:43Darren already had the innate capacity evolve into dragon form.
16:46If he and my sister strengthened their bond over time, his transformation could succeed in two years at most.
16:52If the artifact was used, he could attempt the transformation within days.
16:56But haste is the enemy of strength.
16:58If the artifact was used to force claim his dragon form without the foundation of strength and power through intimacy,
17:03his power would not be stable enough to hold.
17:05Darrenister transformation would not just fail.
17:07It would destroy him entirely.
17:08The price of a failed transformation was death and the complete dissolution of the soul.
17:12My sister didn't know this.
17:13In our previous life, the artifact had never come into play.
17:17I had learned about it after our father died, reading through the annotated manuscript he left behind,
17:22where he had written his own notes on the relic.
17:24After I finished reading, I burned the manuscript.
17:27Not even her mother knew how the artifact had to be used in order to draw out its full effect.
17:32I was held for three days.
17:34Throughout those three days, Sarah came by at regular intervals to mock me,
17:38doing everything she could to humiliate me.
17:40She even brought several serpent males to try to shame me further.
17:43But each time, I kept them away.
17:45The phoenix ember feather gave me a protection my sister had no way to break.
17:49On the fourth day, I heard footsteps and assumed it was my sister again.
17:53I lowered my head and closed my eyes, not bothering to look up.
17:56Every time she came, it was the same flood of insults.
17:59And after three days of it, I had long since grown weary of listening.
18:02Ivy, so this is where you've been hiding?
18:06That cold, familiar voice made me shudder before I could stop myself.
18:10My head snapped up.
18:11Draven's face looked back at me, beautiful in that unsettling, too refined way of his.
18:16The moment I saw him, I felt it, immediately.
18:19The power radiating from him was stronger than the last time.
18:22There was already the faint pull of a transformation building beneath it.
18:25He had already used my sister's artifact.
18:27Ivy, why would you go and marry that fool Kale?
18:30But I don't blame your sister, that manipulative bitch.
18:33She was reborn with her memories from before and used them to keep us apart.
18:37Once I claim my dragon form, I'll restore your memories of the life before.
18:42The person you were always meant to love is me.
18:46Draven's cold fingers traced down my cheek.
18:48His voice carried longing, and beneath that longing, a deadly possessiveness he made no effort to hide.
18:54I let the confusion and shock show plainly in my eyes, visibly unsettled by what he had said about the
18:59previous life.
19:00He narrowed his eyes and watched my expression carefully, measuring my reaction.
19:04Then the abyss began to shake.
19:06The ground lurched, and it was nearly impossible to stand.
19:09I stumbled and went down.
19:11Draven was clearly not pleased to be interrupted at this particular moment.
19:14Damn it all.
19:15Let me see who dares disturb my domain.
19:18He swore under his breath, swept his gaze over me, and raised one hand to trap me in a web
19:23-like barrier.
19:24The web was both a protection and a cage.
19:27Once it was in place, he left without looking back, his serpent eyes cold as ice.
19:32After Draven walked away, I exhaled.
19:34The tenderness in his words had turned my stomach.
19:37All of it performance.
19:38All of it probing.
19:39He had realized my sister remembered her past life.
19:42He suspected I might be too.
19:44If I was reborn.
19:45If I carried memories of the previous life, and had still chosen to marry Kale.
19:49Then in his eyes I had betrayed him.
19:51If that were exposed, he would kill me without the slightest hesitation.
19:55The phoenix ember feather inside me began to stir and pulse.
19:58Restless.
19:59Reacting sharply to something.
20:01I realized it in the same instant.
20:03The disturbance had been Kale.
20:04Kale had come.
20:05Phoenix power thrived in flame.
20:07But the abyss was Draven's domain.
20:09Kale would not come out of this well.
20:11A dim unease crept through me.
20:13The image came unbidden.
20:15Kale's face on our wedding night.
20:16Sharp and yet, for just a moment, almost soft.
20:19If in the end Kale chose to leave me behind to save himself, I wouldn't blame him.
20:24I understood it better than anyone.
20:25If the cost of saving someone was losing yourself, I wouldn't make that choice either.
20:30But I hadn't expected that two hours later Kale would find me, covered in blood.
20:34He used what strength he had left and tore the barrier apart.
20:37Move.
20:38He swept me up and ran.
20:39I saw it clearly.
20:41He had fought his way through to reach me.
20:43Go east.
20:44There's a place Darren won't look for a while.
20:46I spoke quickly.
20:47He looked at me with those startled, blood-red eyes.
20:50But he didn't ask questions.
20:51He chose to trust me.
20:52He followed my direction and found a place where we could shelter and tend to his wounds.
20:57Kale had tracked me through the phoenix ember feather he had given me.
21:00When he fought Draven, Draven held the upper hand with his greater strength, and Kale couldn't match him head on.
21:06So he created a decoy, drew Draven's attention elsewhere, and slipped away to find me.
21:11The moment Kale broke the web-like barrier, Draven felt it.
21:14A short time after I was pulled free, Draven arrived at the place where I had been held, and found
21:19me gone.
21:19His fury was absolute.
21:21He sent every serpent in the abyss out to search for us.
21:24The phoenix clan's healing abilities was powerful, but not enough to restore full strength within a matter of days.
21:30Once we were settled, Kale collapsed.
21:32He was badly hurt.
21:33I took a slow breath, pressed close to him, and began to use the bond between our bloodlines.
21:38It didn't only build power, it could also accelerate healing.
21:42After half an hour, Kale's awareness began to return.
21:45The flush of heat reached the corners of his eyes, and he took control.
21:48Three days later, his wounds were gone.
21:50His power was greater than it had been before he entered the abyss.
21:54Then, just after Kale had gently helped me dress, the cavern around us collapsed.
21:58The ground heaved. Draven's voice filled the space above us, carrying a rage.
22:03I've found you.
22:05Just as Kale moved to set me aside, and hide me before going out to fight.
22:09I reached out, and gripped his hand, my breathing unsteady.
22:13After Draven forced his force the awakening of his dragon bloodline with the artifact, his weak point is still at
22:19the seventh coil.
22:20He looks fully transformed, but the transformation isn't complete.
22:23Beyond the seventh coil, his tail is also a fatal weakness.
22:30If you're willing to trust me, hit those two places.
22:34My voice had worn down to a rasp.
22:36Kale heard me, and went still.
22:38His jaw tightened.
22:39He grabbed me hard, and spoke through near-clenched teeth.
22:43My queen has quite the nerve.
22:45I gave you my phoenix emble feather, and you still thought I needed more proof that I trusted you?
22:49A phoenix lord's ember feather is my most precious thing.
22:53I give it only to my true mate.
22:55When I've killed Draven, I'm coming back to settle this with you.
22:59I stared at him.
23:00I hadn't expected that response.
23:02His blood-red eyes were burning with something that looked like anger.
23:06An unexpected guilt settled over me.
23:08He was furious enough that he bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.
23:12But the hands that hid me away were entirely gentle.
23:15He set a ward around me.
23:17Then he went out.
23:18Kale, today is the day you die.
23:22Draven caught the scent on Kale.
23:24The scent that belonged to me.
23:26His rage burned away the last of his reason.
23:28Kale laughed coldly.
23:30He deliberately drew Draven further away, keeping the fight from reaching where I was hidden.
23:35The battle between a phoenix and a serpent grew more savage by the moment.
23:38The entire abyss trembled.
23:40The water churned black and thick and impossible to see through.
23:44While I sat within the ward and watched the struggle above,
23:47Sarah appeared suddenly below, her face twisted, lunging at me.
23:51She didn't expect the ward.
23:52It threw her back.
23:53You filthy wretch!
23:55Her voice was a shriek.
23:56I looked at her properly for the first time.
23:59Her body was covered in wounds.
24:01Half her face was ruined.
24:03Beneath the ruin of that half, the scars ran deep and shallow and merciless.
24:08Did you scheme to make Draven remember the past life?
24:11Did you make him take my artifact and destroy my face?
24:13Why won't you just die?
24:14What right do you have to Kale's protection?
24:16I was supposed to be his queen!
24:18I should have been!
24:19Sarah wept and laughed at the same time, and I could see that Draven had not been kind to her.
24:23I had guessed this would be her fate the moment Draven found out she had secretly imprisoned me.
24:28To someone like Draven, he could torment me as he pleased, because I was his possession.
24:33Even when I became something more important to him, he had still never truly seen me as a partner, only
24:40something he owned with ferocious possessiveness.
24:43Sarah had moved against me on her own.
24:45She had crossed a line Draven would not forgive.
24:48And the moment she brought out the artifact, she had surrendered the only leverage she had over him.
24:52She had made herself someone he could discard without a second thought.
24:55My poor sister.
24:57Still believing that Draven would feel gratitude for her devotion, would reward her with endless obsession.
25:01What a thing to dream.
25:03Now she had finally given up on Draven.
25:05And instead of grief, there was only bitterness and resentment.
25:08And all of it aimed at me for becoming Kale's queen.
25:10Sister.
25:11Have you forgotten?
25:13You were the one who placed Kale in my hands, and told me to marry him.
25:18I smiled coldly.
25:19I had never felt more satisfied I knew exactly what saying that would do to her.
25:22As expected, she threw herself at me again in a frenzy, trying to break through the ward and get her
25:26hands around my throat.
25:27But it was useless.
25:29The ward Kale had set would not open for anyone but himself.
25:32And beyond him, only Draven at full strength could break it.
25:35No one else could force it open.
25:36And if anyone attacked the ward, it would strike back immediately.
25:40My sister came at it again and again in her madness.
25:42And each time it threw her off.
25:44Until she finally collapsed, blood spilling from her lips, barely alive.
25:48Her eyes fixed on me with pure hatred.
25:50When I had finished watching my sister exhaust herself, I looked back at the battle.
25:53Kale had been losing ground before.
25:55Now he was steadily overtaking Draven, because he had listened to me.
25:58He knew Draven's weaknesses now.
25:59And nearly every strike was aimed directly at them.
26:01Draven began to falter and dodge.
26:03Kale caught in the corner and landed on the tail of his tail.
26:06Draven went on the tail of his tail.
26:07Then he suddenly turned and dove straight toward where Sarah and I were.
26:11Damn it.
26:12He reversed direction and came after him.
26:14Everyone assumed Draven was coming for me, even my sister.
26:17She watched him descend and started to smile in triumph.
26:20Then it froze, because my sister's entire body ignited.
26:22The water of the Abyss couldn't touch the fire on her.
26:25The blood sacrifice of the Abyss Serpent Clan.
26:27Draven had used it on her.
26:28He was forcing her to become the sacrifice.
26:30Those consumed by the blood sacrifice rite of the Abyss Serpent Clan were destroyed entirely.
26:35Body and soul burned to nothing.
26:37No soul.
26:37No afterlife.
26:38Sarah screamed.
26:40Despair cracked open in her eyes.
26:41She beat frantically against my horn.
26:43Ivy! Ivy!
26:44Please!
26:45Help me!
26:46I don't want to die!
26:47I don't want to be sacrificed!
26:48I'm your sister!
26:49I'm your sister!
26:51Ivy, save me!
26:51Please!
26:52Her whole body burned like a torch.
26:54Each time she lurched toward the ward, it propelled her.
26:57Sarah, you brought this on yourself.
26:59There is nothing I can do.
27:01I watched her end from inside the ward.
27:03I didn't look away.
27:04In the end, my sister burned to ash.
27:06The sacrifice of her soul fed Draven's power.
27:08His power exploded.
27:09He let out a long, howling cry, and drove toward Kale and his fully awakened dragon fame.
27:14But Kale had already seen that Draven was burning the last of what he had.
27:17He pulled everything together, fainted wide, and drove straight for the seventh coil.
27:21Draven didn't flinch.
27:23He had completed the transformation.
27:25A serpent's seventh coil meant nothing to a dragon.
27:27He braced to take the hit and last Kale for it.
27:30Then his expression changed.
27:31Because when the seventh coil took the blow, Draven's dragon form vanished.
27:36What stood in its place was the original, ugly shape of a sea serpent.
27:39And every bit of power he had built was gone.
27:41Only after he became that serpent again did Draven understand.
27:44The transformation had failed.
27:45He tried to run.
27:46He was too late.
27:47Kale had anticipated the retreat.
27:49He pressed forward and seized Draven as he fled and killed him with a single decisive strike.
27:53The battle was over.
27:54The abyss slowly went quiet.
27:56Kale shifted back to human form, covered in wounds, and came to stand before me.
28:01He opened the ward.
28:03My queen, I'm injured.
28:06I took a step back.
28:07A familiar feeling of dread settled in.
28:09His hand traced across my cheek.
28:11His voice carried something unreadable.
28:13As payment for your lack of faith in me, you can tend to my wounds personally.
28:16The same way as the last few days.
28:18The seventh time I tried to slip out of the bedroom while Kale slept.
28:21He woke up and caught me again, unhurried as ever.
28:24My queen, where exactly are you trying to go?
28:27I gave up entirely, and fixed him with a look full of grievance.
28:31What do you think?
28:32At this rate, I was genuinely going to fall apart.
28:35After we returned to the Phoenix clan, Kale barely let me out of bed for ten straight days.
28:39Thinking about the former queen, and the other women who had fought over Kale from the very beginning,
28:43even trying to put me in my place, I gave him an amused look.
28:46You really do attract trouble, my lord.
28:48If it weren't for you, I might never have been taken to the abyss at all.
28:51At that, a trace of guilt crossed Kale's blood-red eyes.
28:54He was unusually serious when he answered.
28:57You have my word, my queen.
28:58I've easing had the former queen expelged it.
29:00She won't we come and near you again.
29:02And those dowager ladies, the former queen is their lesson.
29:05If any of them dare to trouble you, they'll be expelled as well.
29:09I made a small sound and looked at him with a smile.
29:12Then why did you leave the morning after our wedding night?
29:15Kale was quiet for a moment.
29:17Then he lowered his head and admitted it plainly.
29:19I was wrong.
29:20There was an emergency.
29:22Enemies were pressing at the Phoenix Clan's border, trying to take territory.
29:26I left without telling you first.
29:28He finished, then looked up and watched my reaction carefully.
29:31I laughed to myself.
29:32My face gave nothing.
29:34Until I forgive you, you're barred from the bedchamber for ten days.
29:38After everything he had put me through, I deserved at least that much time to recover.
29:41When Kale heard those words, he wilted immediately.
29:44Time moved quickly after that.
29:47Years passed.
29:48I helped Kale take the Abyss and bring the Abyss Serpent Clan to heal.
29:51Kale became the sovereign of the Shifter realms, his name known everywhere.
29:52Kale became the sovereign of the Shifter realms, his name known everywhere.
29:54players uwgest whose planet runningatus knew all the blood pressure to be confirmed,
29:54he's the only cause of the strong, his name known everywhere.
29:54And now, I care for sure, many many more.
29:54Please remember, I'll ask them, and see where the body changes.
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