- 30 minutes ago
Welcome to Persian Drama - your ultimate premium destination for the hottest trending short dramas and the newest viral drama shorts in stunning HD quality!
Immerse yourself in powerful stories that deliver full emotional journeys in just minutes. From heart-pounding revenge plots, passionate romances, emotional family sagas to billionaire twists and thrilling betrayals – every short drama is crafted to keep you hooked from the very first second.
We bring you the most talked-about and newest short dramas from around the world, updated daily with the freshest viral hits. With seamless multi-language support (English, Spanish, Arabic and more), you can enjoy every moment without language barriers.
Perfect for your busy schedule or when you need a quick, powerful emotional escape. Join millions of viewers who start and end their day with the best short dramas on the platform.
Turn on notifications now so you never miss the latest viral sensation!
Immerse yourself in powerful stories that deliver full emotional journeys in just minutes. From heart-pounding revenge plots, passionate romances, emotional family sagas to billionaire twists and thrilling betrayals – every short drama is crafted to keep you hooked from the very first second.
We bring you the most talked-about and newest short dramas from around the world, updated daily with the freshest viral hits. With seamless multi-language support (English, Spanish, Arabic and more), you can enjoy every moment without language barriers.
Perfect for your busy schedule or when you need a quick, powerful emotional escape. Join millions of viewers who start and end their day with the best short dramas on the platform.
Turn on notifications now so you never miss the latest viral sensation!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00My cousin Sarah and I were both given to the Dragon Court.
00:03I went to the firstborn, Aldric.
00:05She went to the second son, Dorian.
00:07A year later, Sarah bore a white dragon.
00:09While I came out, nine, ugly, malformed, nothing resembling a dragon.
00:13The Dragon King cared deeply about appearances.
00:16He named Dorian his heir on the spot.
00:18Aldric, in his fury, handed all nine of my children to the Phoenix Court as blood catalysts, me along with
00:24them.
00:24If I marry Sarah, the throne will be mine.
00:28I couldn't survive the shame.
00:29I walked into the Sacred Flame and let it take me.
00:32He didn't know.
00:33Sarah was hybrid.
00:34I was pure.
00:35My children had been ugly because they took after him.
00:37When I opened my eyes, I was back on Selection Day.
00:40Aldric, Dorian, the Fox Clan has sent two.
00:43Each of you choose.
00:44I understood immediately.
00:45I had been reborn.
00:47This life, I could not let Aldric choose me.
00:49But as I stood there scheming, Aldric walked past me with a look of distaste and pulled Sarah forward instead.
00:54I understood immediately.
00:56Aldric had been reborn too.
00:57I reached for Sarah's hand, shook my head at her.
01:00The Dragon King wasn't a tyrant of these things.
01:02If she refused, she could go home.
01:04Sarah yanked her hand away.
01:06Liar.
01:06Satisfaction dripped from her voice.
01:08Don't tell me you're jealous that Aldric chose me.
01:11The Dragon Court passed its throne the same way most courts did.
01:14Bloodline first, then birth order.
01:16Aldric and Dorian were both sons of the Dragon Queen.
01:19Aldric had precedence.
01:20Sarah was blinded by the crown she thought she could see.
01:23I cursed her silently for a fool, then let her go.
01:26If Aldric took Sarah, that left me with Dorian.
01:29Except Dorian refused on the spot.
01:31Father, I'm not ready for a consort.
01:33I blinked, touched my face.
01:35I really wasn't that bad.
01:36Fine, go home.
01:37Find a fox-blooded man who actually deserved me.
01:40I was pleasantly imagining exactly that when a figure stepped out from the back of the hall.
01:44He wore a mask.
01:45Two short horns curled from his brow.
01:48Brother, did you forget I haven't taken a consort either?
01:51Brother?
01:51Was this Caelan?
01:52The Dragon King's youngest sibling?
01:54Rumor had it the Dragon King doted on him.
01:56Had even once considered naming him heir.
01:58But Caelan was wild, unpredictable.
02:01Refused to take consort or sire children.
02:03The idea was shelved.
02:04He hadn't appeared in my first life at all.
02:06Caelan strolled toward me, easy and unhurried.
02:09His dark eyes fixed on me.
02:11Brother, she's beautiful.
02:12You let your sons choose first and didn't think of me?
02:15Hardly fair.
02:15The Dragon King called him an insufferable wretch and waved his hand.
02:19I was given to Caelan.
02:20Aldric, still holding Sarah's arm, couldn't resist.
02:23Uncle, don't let her face fool you.
02:26Caelan's fingers locked around my wrist.
02:28His dark eyes sharpened instantly.
02:30Who I choose is not your business.
02:34Caelan brought me to his quarters.
02:35No intention of removing the mask.
02:37Not even that night.
02:38Alone, together.
02:39What surprised me more?
02:40He had no intention of sharing the bed.
02:42He placed a folded blanket down the center of the stone bed.
02:45Divided it precisely in two.
02:47You sleep on the inside.
02:48I'll take the outside.
02:50I sat there clutching my blanket.
02:52Genuinely confused.
02:53Dragon men were known for their appetites.
02:55In my first life, Aldric had been relentless.
02:57Illness didn't slow him.
02:59My discomfort didn't slow him.
03:00Was Caelan, perhaps, unable?
03:02He seemed to read my thoughts.
03:04His expression cooled.
03:05I married you because I pitied you.
03:07If I hadn't, do you know where you'd be right now?
03:09Aldric had planned to have me killed again.
03:11He wasn't going to marry me, but he wasn't going to release me either.
03:15The moment I stepped outside the dragon court unattached, I would have been bound and delivered to the Phoenix Lord
03:19as a gift.
03:20Aldric carried memories from our first life.
03:23He knew the Phoenix Lord wanted me.
03:24He intended to use that.
03:26The thought of what the Phoenix Lord did to the women in his court made me cold all over.
03:30That cold fear turned quickly into hatred.
03:32In our first life, Aldric had bled my nine children dry.
03:35He had cornered me into the flame.
03:37Now, reborn, he still wasn't finished.
03:39How could something so brutal claim the right to rule?
03:41The thought followed me into sleep.
03:43Dawn.
03:43Kaelin pulled me up to pay morning respects to the Dragon King.
03:46I was still yawning when we arrived.
03:48Aldric and Sarah were already there.
03:50Composed.
03:51Impeccable.
03:52Sarah looked radiant.
03:53Her legs were shaking slightly.
03:54Marks on her neck.
03:55A great many of them.
03:56I winced.
03:57That must have been brutal.
03:58Aldric was rough even when welcomed.
04:00For Sarah's first time, she probably needed help getting out of bed.
04:04She caught my expression and mistook it for envy.
04:06She tugged her collar and leaned close.
04:08How was your night, Lyra?
04:10Word is, he didn't touch you at all.
04:12I glanced pointedly at her inner thighs.
04:14Worry about yourself, Sarah.
04:16She drew back with a huff.
04:17Enjoy it now.
04:18Wait until the king finishes with you.
04:20Sure enough.
04:21The Dragon King's voice came cold and measured.
04:24Kaelin, explain yourself.
04:26Kaelin looked entirely unbothered.
04:28Thought she was interesting yesterday.
04:30Changed my mind by evening.
04:32The Dragon King hurled his crystal goblet into the courtyard.
04:35Disgraceful.
04:36After the morning audience, the Dragon King summoned me privately.
04:40He wanted to know what had actually happened.
04:42I told him I'd been too shy.
04:44He studied me for a long time.
04:46Told me to give Kaelin an air soon.
04:48Then sent me on my way.
04:49I returned to find Kaelin waiting, frost in his eyes.
04:52What did he ask you?
04:54I told him everything.
04:55He was quiet for a moment.
04:56Then he told me to avoid private meetings with the Dragon King going forward.
05:00If anything came up, redirect it to him.
05:02It only deepened the mystery.
05:04The dynamic between these two was as unreadable as the mask Kaelin never removed.
05:08Before I could untangle any of it, news swept through the entire court.
05:12Sarah was with child.
05:14A golden light surrounded her belly.
05:16Aldrich was beside himself.
05:17He invited the whole court to witness at dawn.
05:20I was invited too.
05:21Of course.
05:22Sarah opened with a performance.
05:23She dropped the Dragon Pearl on the floor and smiled at me sweetly.
05:26Leia, I'm carrying Dragon Young.
05:29Could you pick that up for me?
05:31She was barely a month along.
05:32She could bend perfectly well.
05:34This was theater.
05:35The court watched with amusement.
05:37Aldrich joined in, implying I was a pretty bird who couldn't lay eggs.
05:40I was about to respond when a sharp gust lifted the pearl,
05:43knocked it against Sarah's face, and dropped it neatly back into her hand.
05:47Kaelin lowered his wrist.
05:48He looked at Sarah with no particular expression.
05:50Did you lose the use of your hands?
05:52Sarah burst into tears against Aldrich's chest.
05:55Aldrich, humiliated.
05:56Redirected me.
05:57Uncle!
05:58She only asked her to pick something up.
06:00Why the outburst?
06:01Lyra's pretty, I'll give her that.
06:02But she can't even carry a dragon child.
06:04You're the only one who sees anything in her.
06:06Kaelin's response was immediate.
06:07She's beautiful, at least.
06:09The two of you are ugly and useless.
06:11That puts her ahead.
06:12Aldrich went white, then shifted into Dragon Pearl.
06:14He looked ferocious.
06:15He fought like a beginner.
06:17Kaelin played with him, barely tried.
06:19The court watched Aldrich crumble under what amounted to light sparring.
06:22And the question moved quietly through the room.
06:24Was this really the man meant to be king?
06:26Aldrich stopped before he could lose more thoroughly.
06:29He grabbed Sarah and walked out.
06:31When my white dragon is born and takes the throne, none of you will be laughing!
06:36Gone before anyone could point out he'd forgotten entirely about the golden light he'd summoned
06:40everyone to see.
06:41Aldrich didn't forget Sleight's.
06:43He waited until Kaelin was away and came for me.
06:46He wove mist across the back courtyard, trapping me on the hillside.
06:50Called wind and rain down until I was soaked through and shaking.
06:53Only then did he appear.
06:54He looked at me, drenched, and something greedy moved across his face.
06:58Lyra.
06:59He still hasn't touched you, hasn't he?
07:01He came toward me.
07:02I backed up.
07:03He seized my wrist.
07:04Your bloodline isn't quite right for a proper consort.
07:07But a secondary one?
07:09That could work.
07:10I slapped him.
07:11He grabbed me by the throat.
07:12I couldn't breathe.
07:13Then he let go.
07:14Even now, Kaelin's name keeps him from going all the way.
07:16When he finds out, the only things you can produce are malformed little monsters.
07:20Let's see how long he protects you.
07:22You're a low-clan princess, Lyra.
07:24When that day comes, I'll crush you like nothing.
07:26He didn't know.
07:27The clan he despised was about to ruin him completely.
07:30I cast my glamour.
07:31Between one breath and the next, we were standing in front of the Dragon King's council chamber.
07:35Every word Aldrich had just said had fallen on the Dragon King's ears, and the ears of every allied clan
07:41lord present.
07:42The Fox Clan was low-ranked, yes, but they were under Dragon Court protection.
07:46What Aldrich had said amounted to announcing, in public, that the Dragon Court held its subject clans in contempt,
07:52not something a future king could afford to say aloud.
07:54The Dragon King's crystal scepter cracked against Aldrich's knees.
07:57You have deeply disappointed me.
08:00Aldrich hit the ground.
08:01His shoulders trembled.
08:02The Dragon King stripped him of his privileges and confined him to quarters.
08:05The air presumptive, favored of the court one hour ago, became invisible by afternoon.
08:10I had won cleanly.
08:11Kaelin was furious.
08:13Do you understand how dangerous that was?
08:14What if he had actually killed you?
08:16He'd figured it out, of course.
08:17I had used an enchantment to lure Aldrich in deliberately.
08:20Revenge, yes, but also self-preservation.
08:23Aldrich wasn't going to leave me alone regardless.
08:25Better to move first.
08:26I hadn't consulted Kaelin because he didn't know about my first life.
08:30He looked at me, soaking wet, and couldn't bring himself to say much more.
08:33He exhaled.
08:34Don't do something like that without telling me.
08:36I'm your husband.
08:37Protecting you is my responsibility.
08:40Something warm moved through my chest when he said it.
08:42Something I hadn't expected.
08:43Time moved quickly after that.
08:45The night Sarah went into labor, a storm rolled in.
08:48Lightning, black clouds, golden light pouring off the palace walls.
08:52The court's ritual seers declared it the sign of a golden dragon's birth.
08:56The dragon king got out of bed and went to Sarah's chambers to wait.
09:00I wasn't going to miss this.
09:01Aldrich's bloodline wasn't pure enough for a golden dragon.
09:04If that light was real, it wasn't his.
09:06Sarah labored all night.
09:08Dragon young were large.
09:09She screamed until dawn.
09:10Then the screaming stopped.
09:12The child was not brought out.
09:13The dragon king went by himself.
09:15What followed was a silence somehow worse than the screaming.
09:18Then came his order.
09:19Seal it.
09:20Tell no one.
09:21Word leaked anyway.
09:22It always does.
09:23Sarah had delivered something golden.
09:25It was not a dragon.
09:26A one-clawed golden serpent.
09:28A common golden serpent could, with enough medicine and time, be coaxed into dragon form.
09:33A one-clawed one could not.
09:35Too weak.
09:35It would never transform.
09:37And across its face, a large, dark birthmark.
09:39Ugly and unmistakable.
09:41The dragon king took one look and left without naming it.
09:44The dragon court hadn't seen a birth to this poor in over a thousand years.
09:48In my first life, Sarah and Dorian produced a white dragon together.
09:51Sarah and Aldrich produced this.
09:53The bloodline failure was obvious.
09:55Aldrich's own lineage wasn't as pure as he'd always believed.
09:58The dragon king began arranging a match for Dorian the very next morning.
10:02He also issued a command.
10:03I was to produce a dragon child within the year.
10:06The entire court now understood exactly what Aldrich had fathered.
10:10Aldrich locked himself in his rooms.
10:12Sarah's situation was no better.
10:14Aldrich blamed her for everything.
10:15Threatened to cast her out with the child and start over.
10:18My father wrote asking me to help her.
10:20I went, reluctantly.
10:22Sarah was not grateful.
10:23Don't look so pleased with yourself, Lyra.
10:25You know why Kaylin wears that mask?
10:26Because he's curious under it.
10:28You'll end up just like me, producing nothing worth keeping.
10:31And even if you do manage something, it'll just be catalyst stock for the king's workings.
10:36Catalyst stock.
10:37My blood went cold.
10:39I thought of my nine children in my first life, their deaths, and my hand went to my stomach before
10:43I could stop it.
10:44Sarah refused to say more and threw me out.
10:47I went to Kaylin, asked him directly what was going on.
10:49He deflected, said it was to protect me.
10:52My hand was still on my stomach.
10:53I was done being patient.
10:55Kaylin, stop.
10:57I'm telling you I'm pregnant.
10:58He went very still.
10:59I held his gaze.
11:00That night, after the spiced plum wine, I'd caught a chill standing in Aldrich's rain.
11:06I'd demanded wine to warm up.
11:08Kaylin had relented.
11:09We'd both had more than intended.
11:11And somewhere in the middle of it, ended up on the same half of the bed.
11:15Why won't you let me see your face?
11:18I traced my fingers along his mask.
11:20He caught my hand and pressed his lips to my wrist.
11:23From my wrist, to my arm, then to my mouth.
11:28Dragons are creatures of desire.
11:30He said, voice low.
11:32I know.
11:33I reached up and pulled him closer by the back of his neck.
11:36Come here, Kaylin.
11:37I want this.
11:39Neither of us had expected it to matter.
11:41I took his hand.
11:42I'm this child's mother.
11:43I have every right to know what threatens him.
11:45Let's protect him together.
11:47Kaylin looked at me for a long time.
11:48Then the mask slipped from his fingers and fell.
11:51I stared.
11:52Kaylin was not ugly.
11:53He was, without question, the finest looking man in the dragon court or anywhere else I had
11:58ever been.
11:59Except for the scar.
12:00It ran the full length of his left cheek.
12:02Deep.
12:02Old.
12:03Terrible.
12:03I touched it.
12:05A wound that left a mark like this had been profound.
12:07That night he told me everything.
12:09Kaylin and the dragon king were not full brothers.
12:12Kaylin had been born to the true dragon queen.
12:15The dragon king was the son of a lesser consort.
12:18A concubine elevated to queen only after the true queen died in childbirth.
12:22By rights, Kaylin should have inherited.
12:24But he had no mother to protect him.
12:26And the new queen had no interest in his survival.
12:28So he did the only thing that kept him alive.
12:30He destroyed his own face.
12:32There was an old rule in the dragon court.
12:33Unwritten but absolute.
12:35The king must be unblemished.
12:37A scarred face was a sign of heaven's disfavor.
12:39It disqualified.
12:40That was why the dragon king obsessed over the appearance of his grandchildren.
12:43That was why he had demanded I carry Kaylin's child.
12:46And why he wanted that child as a ritual catalyst.
12:49Pure blood.
12:49Bound to the rightful bloodline he had stolen.
12:51No wonder Kaylin wore the mask.
12:53No wonder he hadn't touched me.
12:55He had been trying to make sure I never became pregnant at all.
12:57And now I am.
12:58I looked at him.
12:59Are we giving this child up?
13:01Kaylin gripped my shoulders.
13:02Lyra.
13:03This child chose us.
13:05I'm not letting go.
13:07Not of either of you.
13:09I'm done retreating.
13:11We decided immediately to conceal the pregnancy with glamour until we had a plan.
13:16The physical signs I could mask.
13:17The body's reactions I could not.
13:19At the dragon king's feast, I vomited in front of everyone.
13:23Sarah was at my side in an instant, rubbing my back, radiating delight.
13:27Lyra?
13:28You're not pregnant, are you?
13:30What wonderful news that would be.
13:31The dragon king's eyes lit up before I could speak.
13:34The royal physician was summoned at a near run, his fingers on my wrist before he'd fully
13:38stopped moving.
13:39I kept my expression neutral and thought, this is over.
13:43Kaylin was at the eastern sea, reaching out to his mother's people.
13:46I was alone.
13:47The physician looked up from my pulse with great solemnity.
13:50My lady is not with child.
13:52A digestive concern, I believe.
13:54Nothing more.
13:55He caught my eye.
13:56He was winking at me.
13:58I understood instantly.
13:59I arranged my expression into embarrassment.
14:02I did eat rather a lot of roasted chicken last night.
14:05Five, I think.
14:06The hall went silent.
14:07The dragon king dismissed me with barely concealed irritation.
14:10On the way back, I crossed paths with a physician, who had caught the king's displeasure
14:15as a side effect of his performance.
14:16He told me he was making amends.
14:18I could not save the queen.
14:20Let this be what I owe, Lord Kaylin.
14:21The true dragon queen had been killed by the dragon king's household too.
14:25I couldn't let myself think about what would happen to my child if we failed.
14:28I sent a sealed letter to my mother that same day, requesting the complete glamour grimoire.
14:32As the fox clan's legitimate princess, I had the right to inherit it.
14:36As a reckless child, I had only learned a fraction of it.
14:39Learn it fully, and I could deceive anyone.
14:41My mother sent it within days.
14:43The weeks that followed, drilling the grimoire by day,
14:45managing Sarah and Aldric's attempts to catch me out by night.
14:48Sarah appeared at my door daily.
14:50She was certain I was pregnant.
14:52Confirmation would earn her favor with both Aldric and the dragon king.
14:55My glamour held.
14:56Then Sarah arrived with a small, ornate box.
14:58Your clan's radiance elixir arrived.
15:00I brought it over for you.
15:02The radiance elixir was a staple among foxwomen.
15:04Most took several times a month.
15:06It preserved beauty and complexion.
15:07It also contained one ingredient that harmed unborn children.
15:11Every pregnant foxwoman stopped taking it immediately.
15:13Sarah knew this.
15:14I didn't reach for the box.
15:16You've looked exhausted lately.
15:18Has the elixir stopped agreeing with you?
15:20She tried to watch me take one on the spot.
15:21I showed her the door.
15:23My refusal, of course, looked exactly like guilt.
15:25Within the hour, she was back.
15:27With Aldric, the dragon king, and a clan priestess, Sarah pointed at me.
15:30The fox clan has a glamour craft that can conceal the truth.
15:35I believe Lyra is using it right now to hide her pregnancy.
15:39The dragon king's scepter tapped the floor.
15:41His eyes settled on me.
15:43Is that so?
15:44I burst into tears and said I had no idea what she was talking about.
15:48Sarah's patience snapped.
15:50Stop performing!
15:51I brought someone who can see through you!
15:53The priestess stepped forward.
15:55I recognized her the moment she entered.
15:56Sarah had gone all the way back to the fox clan and brought Nora, the most powerful ritual practitioner our
16:01people had.
16:02Nora raised her staff toward my face.
16:04My lady, forgive the intrusion.
16:06She was talented, genuinely.
16:09Her craft swept through the room in broad circles.
16:11What Sarah had apparently forgotten, the most talented practitioner in the fox clan was my mother.
16:15Under my mother's direct instruction, I had reached the highest level of glamour craft.
16:20Nora had not.
16:20She had no chance.
16:22Nora circled me three times, then three more.
16:24Her expression shifted from confidence to confusion.
16:27That's impossible.
16:29She used her last resort.
16:30Sacred flame bloomed in her palm.
16:32Pure foxfire.
16:33The kind that burned through all illusion.
16:36Using it costs enormous reserves.
16:38Whatever Sarah had promised her, it had been worth it to Nora.
16:41Nora stood holding the sacred flame.
16:42I quietly brought out my reflecting talisman.
16:45Her expression troubled.
16:47Your majesty, I find nothing irregular about Lady Lyra.
16:51It's possible she has reached the highest level of glamour craft.
16:54That is beyond my ability to penetrate.
16:57The dragon king's gaze moved me.
16:59His frown eased into something calculating.
17:01I underestimated Kaelin.
17:03Something in his tone made my skin tighten.
17:05Before I could respond, his hand moved.
17:07Everything went dark.
17:08I woke in a quiet wing of the palace.
17:10I didn't recognize.
17:11The dragon king sat above me.
17:13Studying my stomach with calm, unhurried interest.
17:15Awake.
17:16I have to say, you and Kaelin managed to hide it longer than I expected.
17:19I pulled my hands over my belly instinctively.
17:20No point in performing anymore.
17:22Is this what we're calling it?
17:23Imprisonment?
17:23He smiled the way people smile when they want you to feel stupid for asking.
17:26Imprisonment.
17:27I'm concerned for Kaelin's child, that's all.
17:29He's away.
17:29Someone should look after things.
17:30When he returns, you'll all be together again.
17:32He knew.
17:32He knew Kaelin had gone to the eastern sea to call in forces.
17:36I had to do something.
17:37After he left, I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
17:40The chamber was sealed tight.
17:42Warding circles on every surface.
17:44My glamour was useless here.
17:45Nothing living could pass in or out.
17:47Then, the next morning, two servants whispered outside my door and forgot how thin walls were.
17:52Lord Aldric is taking a new consort.
17:54Already?
17:55His last one just gave birth.
17:56And didn't she do something for the king?
17:58Doesn't matter anymore.
18:00She's been sent back to the Fox Clan.
18:03Terrible, really.
18:06The child went with her, they say.
18:08Sarah had been sent away.
18:09No.
18:10Aldric didn't send people away.
18:12That wasn't how he operated.
18:13I reached into the lining of my robe and found the feather whistle.
18:16My father had pressed one into each of our hands the day we left home.
18:19One for me.
18:20One for Sarah.
18:21So we could always find each other.
18:23I had never expected to need it.
18:25Through the whistle, I learned the truth.
18:27Sarah had been handed to the Phoenix Lord.
18:29Exactly as I had been in my first life.
18:31Her child was missing.
18:33Hearing my voice through the whistle, Sarah finally understood why I had tried to stop
18:37her from taking Aldric's hand that day.
18:39She was frantic.
18:40She begged me to save her.
18:41Save her child!
18:42I told her I couldn't do it alone.
18:44We had to work together.
18:45She went quiet.
18:46I started thinking of other ways to reach Kaelin.
18:49Then her voice came back through the whistle.
18:51Steady this time.
18:52She would help me.
18:53She would get a message out.
18:54Something had changed.
18:55She had found her child's body the night before.
18:57The one-clawed serpent had been too low-ranked for a blood catalyst.
19:00So they used it for something worse.
19:02A test subject.
19:03The body was covered in bruising.
19:05Dark purple from end to end.
19:06Sarah had looked at it.
19:08And something in her simply stopped functioning the way it used to.
19:10She would get my message to Kaelin.
19:12And after that, she wanted Aldric.
19:14We made our plan quickly.
19:15My part was simple.
19:16Wait.
19:17Kaelin came back faster than I thought he would.
19:20Lyra.
19:20It's me.
19:21He was suddenly there, his hand around my wrist.
19:23No time.
19:24We're leaving.
19:24Then the Dragon King materialized in the doorway like smoke given form.
19:28Kaelin.
19:29You return and don't come to greet your brother first?
19:31Kaelin put himself between me and the door.
19:33I reached past his arm and took his hand.
19:35I wanted him to know I wasn't standing behind him.
19:37I was standing with him.
19:39The Dragon King looked at our joined hands and something crossed his face I hadn't expected.
19:43Something that looked almost like grief.
19:44Kaelin.
19:45Why has fortune always favored you?
19:47Your father's regard.
19:49Your mother's love.
19:50That face.
19:51And now a wife who would walk into ruin beside you.
19:53His voice went flat.
19:55I refuse to accept it.
19:57He looked at me.
19:58Leave him.
19:59I'll see you safely delivered.
20:01Name you a lady of the court.
20:03Comfort for the rest of your life.
20:05What do you say?
20:07I almost laughed.
20:09Aldric had been disgusting.
20:10This old man was somehow worse.
20:12I looked at the lines of his face.
20:15Why would I leave him for someone who looks like you?
20:18The Dragon King's vanity was his deepest wound.
20:21In truth, he wasn't ugly.
20:22No man ruled the dragon court on an ugly face.
20:25But next to Kaelin, he had always known the difference.
20:27My words landed exactly where I meant them to.
20:30You've chosen the hard way.
20:33He gave the order.
20:34Armed guards poured in from every entrance.
20:37Take them both.
20:39Let's see how defiant they are after.
20:41But he didn't know.
20:42The soul-binding relic from the Eastern Sea was already pressed against his spine.
20:45Before his guards could reach us,
20:47Kaelin's forces had taken every one of them.
20:49The Elder Council entered from the outer hall and knelt.
20:51We welcome the return of our true king.
20:54The Dragon King stood very still.
20:55Then he shouted.
20:56Have you all lost your minds?
20:58I am king!
20:59This is treason!
21:01These elders had served the court before the Dragon Nord's time.
21:04They had always belonged to Kaelin's cause.
21:06They had simply been afraid for too long.
21:09The Dragon Nord had made too many enemies,
21:11pushed too many allies toward resentment.
21:13When Kaelin came to them, they did not hesitate.
21:16The Dragon King was forced to his knees.
21:18He kept his chin up.
21:19You're all blind!
21:21His face is damaged!
21:22A scarred king is no king at all!
21:23Release me or I'll have every one of you destroyed!
21:26I looked at him for a moment.
21:27Then I reached up and removed Kaelin's mask myself.
21:30The scar was gone.
21:31His face was unmarked, clean, because FoxClan women knew, above everything else, how to heal what had been broken.
21:38From the night Kaelin showed me the scar, I had been treating it.
21:40The mask continued after the healing for one reason only.
21:43To let the Dragon King believe nothing had changed, right up until everything had.
21:46I looked at the Dragon King.
21:48I should have mentioned.
21:50The FoxClan's greatest gift isn't glamour.
21:53I let him work out the rest.
21:58Facing the United Elder Council, Kaelin's forces, and a husband whose disqualifying flaw no longer existed,
22:03the Dragon King did the only thing left to him.
22:05He picked up the crystal seppler and drove it into his own throat.
22:08Blood crossed the throne room floor.
22:10Aldric collapsed.
22:11He scrambled to his knees and begged.
22:13Loudly.
22:13Repeatedly.
22:14Technically, his fate was mine to decide.
22:16But Cira's price for helping me had been simple and non-negotiable.
22:19She wanted Aldric.
22:19A deal was a deal.
22:20I glanced at him on the floor and patted Cira's shoulder.
22:23Don't disappoint me.
22:24Don't disappoint me.
22:26Sarah looked at Aldric with the expression of someone who had thought about this moment for a very long time.
22:31I won't.
22:31I'll make sure he can't die and can't bear to live.
22:34She meant it.
22:35She kept it.
22:36The day she took him back, she had his bloodline formally tested.
22:39The results, which the Dragon King had been falsifying for years,
22:42showed Aldric at the lowest rank the Dragon Court recognized,
22:45barely above the one-clawed serpent he had fathered.
22:48Without Sarah's own strong bloodline, even that much wouldn't have been possible.
22:51She made the results public.
22:52Every accusation Aldric had leveled at her inverted in a single afternoon.
22:57When Aldric saw the numbers, something in him broke.
23:00He kept saying it.
23:01He'd been reborn.
23:02This wasn't supposed to happen.
23:03He wanted to die.
23:05He didn't get to.
23:07Sarah had him placed with the lowest-ranked clan in the territory, assigned as an alchemical thrall.
23:10He woke up to it every day.
23:11I spent my pregnancy eating well and watching events unfold from a comfortable distance.
23:17Perhaps it was contentment.
23:19Perhaps it was Kaylin.
23:20Perhaps it was simply this life being different from the last.
23:24When my time came, I delivered nine dragons young.
23:26Every one of them carried something from my first nine children.
23:29A feature.
23:30A quality.
23:30Something I recognized.
23:32But this time those things fit.
23:34What had seemed strange before was beautiful now.
23:36Each one entirely, completely themselves.
23:39Ugly or lovely, it would not have mattered.
23:43Kaylin and I had already decided we would love them exactly as they came.
23:47I had already decided we would love them.
Comments