- 20 minutes ago
Mark of the Eternal Bracelet EPISODE
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I grabbed a clean wrap and frantically began binding Kale's bleeding hand. Rylan looked genuinely hurt.
00:07Ivara, I know you're bitter, but Lyra and I have dissolved our bond.
00:12Her hatchling is ready to call you mother. You only bonded with Kale to wound me, I understand. I'm not
00:17angry.
00:18Just come back. Whatever he can give you, I'll work twice as hard to match it.
00:22Just return and tend to my son. If you don't want Lyra, I'll make her disappear.
00:26I honestly could not believe what I was hearing. His arrogance had no floor.
00:31Kale's blood was smearing onto my wraps, but as I urgently pressed the binding to his palm, he suddenly let
00:36out a low, genuine laugh.
00:39Why are you laughing?
00:41Ivara.
00:42Kale reached over with his uninjured hand and quietly rested it on top of my head.
00:46You just said I'm the one you love most.
00:48Our son made a face and looked away. His cold, fearsome father was currently acting like a lovesick hatchling, all
00:54because I'd defended him.
00:55The entire feast grounds went still. Half the guests were in shock. The other half were dying of quiet envy.
01:02The whispers spread through the crowd like fire through dry grass.
01:06The rumors are real. He is completely devoted to his mate.
01:10Rylan stood there, his knuckles white with humiliation.
01:13But our son wasn't finished. He looked Rylan up and down with open disdain.
01:18Cub tender?
01:18My mother is the most protected one in our den.
01:24You think you deserve her?
01:27Mother only carries two cubs.
01:30Me and my sister.
01:32You really think your hatchling gets to call her mother?
01:37I know all about you.
01:39You're the one who broke my mother's heart.
01:42You're not as impressive as my father.
01:45Not as strong.
01:47Not as handsome.
01:52He tilted his head, studying Rylan with the kind of cold disdain that was entirely too familiar on that small
01:58face.
02:00And you smell like someone who peaked too early and never recovered.
02:08It's making my eyes water.
02:11Is your hatchling going to grow up leeching off others too?
02:15The guests surrounding us erupted.
02:17They couldn't help it.
02:19Rylan bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, shaking with shame.
02:22Everyone in that clearing knew the truth.
02:25He had coasted for years on Lyra's family resources.
02:28It was not a secret.
02:30Hearing all of this, Lyra had completely lost her grip on rational thought.
02:34Her hatchling was the most important thing in the world to her.
02:38The most exceptional cub alive.
02:40And this female was going to replace her.
02:43Rylan had essentially said so himself.
02:46Lyra grabbed a bone-handled knife from the nearest table and lunged straight at our son.
02:51You little wretch!
02:53I'll kill you!
02:55I didn't think.
02:56I let go of Kale's hand and threw myself entirely over our son.
03:00A blinding, searing pain ripped through my back.
03:03The color drained from my face.
03:05I didn't finish the sentence.
03:07Mother!
03:08Everything went black.
03:09I collapsed to the stone.
03:11The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was our son's face.
03:15White with panic.
03:16I wanted to tell him not to cry.
03:18I didn't get the chance.
03:20I woke to the sharp smell of Healer's Den.
03:23Dried herbs.
03:24Warm stone walls.
03:25I stared at the ceiling for a moment, disoriented.
03:28My best friend Sorin was in the chair beside me.
03:31The second she saw my eyes open, she grabbed my hands.
03:37Oh, thank the ancient fires.
03:39You're awake.
03:41If you had stayed under any longer, your mate and your son were going to tear this entire territory apart.
03:46What?
03:47What?
03:48She was definitely exaggerating.
03:51I reached for my stomach on instinct.
03:53Sorin caught the look immediately.
03:55You're both fine.
03:56The healer said it was shock and pain.
03:58That's why you went under.
03:59The unborn is completely safe.
04:01That Lyra is something else.
04:03Going after a cub with a blade.
04:05Dray.
04:06My chest tightened.
04:10My son.
04:11Kale.
04:12Are they...
04:13Both fine.
04:15Physically, completely fine.
04:19Slow down.
04:21Drink.
04:22Sorin handed me a cup of broth.
04:24I drank.
04:25The tightness eased a little.
04:27You didn't need to throw yourself in front of him.
04:31Evwilai.
04:32Tunsil.
04:33Settolands.
04:34There were six sentinels in that clearing.
04:38Dray was never going to get touched.
04:41That's Dray.
04:42I know, I know.
04:44He's your whole heart.
04:46That terrifying little creature.
04:48He doesn't need protecting.
04:51He's more dangerous than most full-grown warriors.
04:54I smiled despite myself.
04:57Where are they?
04:58Sorin's eyes lit up.
05:00Getting revenge.
05:01I wanted to come along, but your mate and your son are genuinely terrifying when they operate together.
05:08So I volunteered to stay with you instead.
05:11She settled in and began.
05:14When I arrived, you were already under.
05:17Your son watched you collapse and went completely still for about two seconds.
05:23A cub.
05:24I don't know where he gets that kind of strength.
05:27Kale found out about the strike at the border crossing three days ago, and the bracelet, and everything they said
05:33to you.
05:34He had his sentinels hold Raelynn down, and they dealt with the hand he used to hit you.
05:41I closed my eyes briefly.
05:44Then he had a chest of gemstones brought into the clearing.
05:47All the shards from your broken bracelet.
05:50And he told Lyra that, since she loved taking things that belonged to you so much, she could have them.
05:56All of them.
05:56She had to swallow them.
05:59You know what Kale said?
06:01Sorin cleared her throat and did her best impression of my mate.
06:05You love taking what is hers.
06:08So here, I am giving you everything you wanted.
06:12The stones.
06:14And the mail.
06:16And the mail.
06:18She refused at first.
06:20So Kale had her hatchling brought in.
06:25Then she did it.
06:27She swallowed a great many shards.
06:31They worked her over until she was barely conscious.
06:34Then Kale had her dropped beyond the outer borders.
06:37Face first.
06:39Every dragon who stood around watching you get hurt carries a mark now on their wrist now.
06:45Just for doing nothing.
06:47Sorin fake-dabbed her eyes.
06:49If you weren't my closest companion, I'd probably have one too.
06:53I gave her a flat look.
06:54The clan records were updated, but the only news that spread was about Raelynn's faction being absorbed and dissolved.
07:02Every allied group in that clearing with border exposure, Kale absorbed it.
07:07Some were disbanded entirely.
07:10Some are still bleeding out.
07:12Raelynn was supposed to go the same way as Lyra.
07:15It wasn't hard to figure out.
07:17The hatchling.
07:19I think she made a deal with him.
07:21When a mother is running out of time, the one thing she'll trade everything for is her child's safety.
07:28Rylan must have promised her something about the boy.
07:31Lyra had swallowed shards and stones for the chance that her son would be all right.
07:36Kale was precise and he was cold, but every time I so much as bruised my arm, he acted like
07:41he'd personally failed.
07:42He was brutal because he was afraid, not of losing power, of losing me.
07:48And Dre, my sweet, sharp, slightly terrifying cub, had been shaped by that same love.
07:54I'd been trying to counterbalance it, clearly still working on it.
07:57The den door swung open.
07:59I thought it was Dre.
08:00Kale, can you grab my...
08:03Rylan.
08:05Ivara, it's me.
08:07His face was still swollen.
08:09He'd managed to find a decent cloak.
08:11The one I'd given him years ago, the one he'd told me was plain and unworthy of his rank.
08:16He had his methods for getting past sentinels, apparently.
08:19I stayed where I was.
08:21Last time I'd moved too fast, it had cost me.
08:24He seemed to read that.
08:25I'm not going to hurt you.
08:27I just needed to...
08:28What?
08:31I still love you.
08:34Every time I think about you with him, I can't breathe.
08:38I know it's too late.
08:40I know...
08:41I know what I did.
08:42His voice broke on it.
08:43But I can't just...
08:45Rylan.
08:46He stopped.
08:47You were with another female, while we were still bonded.
08:51You let me humiliate myself.
08:54You abandoned me.
08:56And then tonight, you stood in front of my mate and told him I was devoted to you?
09:03You've had seven years and three more to figure out what you want.
09:06What you want keeps shifting based on what you can reach.
09:11That's not love.
09:12Rylan's jaw worked.
09:14He wanted to argue.
09:15I was always your contingency.
09:18And you were never mine.
09:19Not really.
09:21He looked at me for a long time.
09:23Then he looked at the cloak.
09:25You gave me this for the winter solstice.
09:28I told you it was plain.
09:30I know.
09:31I kept it.
09:32I didn't say anything.
09:34He left quietly.
09:36A moment later, Rylan hit the corridor outside.
09:39And Kale's sentinels.
09:41And Kale's fist.
09:42I heard it from inside the den.
09:44One impact.
09:45Then nothing.
09:47Kale came in with his hand newly wrapped.
09:49Dre right behind him.
09:51They both stopped when they saw I was awake.
09:53Then they were both in front of me at the same time.
09:56Dre getting there first.
09:57Only because he was smaller and could cut the corners.
10:00You're up.
10:01Are you...
10:02Does anything hurt?
10:03Do you need...
10:03Father.
10:04She was fine two minutes before you got here.
10:06She was talking and everything.
10:08Kale ignored him.
10:09Are you okay?
10:10Tell me you're okay.
10:13I'm okay.
10:15Dre tucked himself under my arm.
10:17You say that every time.
10:20Because it keeps being true.
10:22After a moment, he spoke very quietly.
10:25Mom.
10:27Are you upset that Father raised his voice at me?
10:32Did he raise his voice at you?
10:34Dre's lower lip came out a fraction.
10:36He maintained firmly that he was fine.
10:39Dre.
10:40He was the worst liar.
10:42Dre said, very firmly.
10:44He didn't yell.
10:47He was just... loud.
10:49I pulled him closer and looked over his head at Kale, who was suddenly very interested in the day.
10:54All.
10:56Nothing.
10:57I kissed the top of his head.
10:59Protecting you is also my job.
11:01I'm not sorry.
11:03I know.
11:04I know, Mom.
11:04Soren eventually took Dre to find food, and it was just the two of us.
11:09Kale pulled up a chair and stayed there, not quite touching, like he was still afraid something would break if
11:14he moved too fast.
11:15He wanted to look at my wrist.
11:17I let him.
11:18He was so careful about it, like the wound was still happening.
11:21I'll do better.
11:23You won't be alone like that again.
11:25Kale.
11:26This wasn't your fault.
11:28You were alone and you got hurt.
11:30I was in a clearing full of dragons and I got hurt.
11:33That's not the same thing as being alone.
11:35I'm not made of glass.
11:37He looked up.
11:40I'm also not leaving.
11:42You understand that?
11:43I'm here.
11:44I chose this.
11:45You chose it because your family arranged the alliance.
11:48He didn't answer.
11:49I chose to stay.
11:52Every single day for three years I chose to stay.
11:56That's not an arrangement.
11:58That's me.
11:59But something in his face shifted.
12:02I thought about the hidden chamber behind the clan tapestry.
12:05His quiet, years-long devotion that he'd never once spoken aloud.
12:09The young, unblooded dragon eating alone at the edge of the training grounds every day
12:13while I stuffed a pouch of resource tokens into his pack and told him he was my honorary younger clansman.
12:19He'd loved me before he knew what to do with it.
12:22Before I even knew his name.
12:24I reached over and took his uninjured hand.
12:27You want to know what I was thinking?
12:30Every time things got hard and someone told me I'd bonded with the wrong dragon.
12:34He waited.
12:35That they'd never seen you bring me warmth stones when the cold fever took me.
12:39Or stay awake beside me through three full nights because I was homesick and couldn't sleep.
12:44Or stay awake beside me through three full nights and couldn't sleep.
12:50Or look at me the way you look at me when you think I'm not watching.
12:54They were comparing you to whoever they assumed you were.
12:59I know who you actually are.
13:02Kyle didn't show weakness easily.
13:04He was showing it now.
13:06I don't need you to be fearless.
13:08I just need you to stop assuming I'll leave.
13:11I told him,
13:12I'm not going anywhere.
13:15He brought my hand up and held it against his face.
13:18Didn't speak.
13:18Didn't need to.
13:20They kept me in the healer's den two extra days.
13:22Kale and Dre's insistence, not the healer's.
13:25The morning they finally let me return to our den,
13:27I walked back through the entrance and stopped in front of the bonding tapestry.
13:31We were both so young in it.
13:33Kale, already composed, already guarded.
13:36The barest pull at the corner of his mouth like he'd practice not smiling until it became habit.
13:41Me, looking sideways, like I hadn't fully believed in the moment yet.
13:45I lifted the tapestry.
13:47And I found the wall behind it.
13:49Image after image after image.
13:52Etched in the old way.
13:53Dragon memory stone.
13:55The kind that holds a moment in its surface like pressed light.
13:59Me at 19, handing out forage tokens outside the training grounds.
14:03Me at 16, laughing at something off frame.
14:06Me at 14 in a clan corridor, arms full of scrolls,
14:09annoyed at whoever had pressed the stone.
14:12He'd loved me across a decade before I'd ever said his name.
14:15I heard the den entrance behind me.
14:18Kale froze in the corridor.
14:19Looked at the memory stones.
14:21Looked at me.
14:22Evara, I can explain.
14:24You noticed me first.
14:27He didn't move.
14:28I gave you resource tokens at the training grounds
14:31because I thought you couldn't afford to eat.
14:34I told you that you were my honorary younger clansman
14:37and I never even asked your name.
14:40I didn't know it was you until I found these.
14:44Silence.
14:45I'm a little upset it took us this long.
14:48Think about all the time we wasted.
14:52His voice came out rough.
14:54You're not...
14:54Upset about the stones?
14:56No.
14:57I'm glad.
14:58I looked at him.
14:59I'm glad you kept looking.
15:00Kale crossed the den in four strides
15:02and pulled me in before I could say anything else.
15:05I never thought you'd say that.
15:06I know.
15:07That's the problem.
15:08You've been waiting for me to leave since the day I arrived.
15:11He didn't speak for a long time.
15:13Then, against my hair...
15:15I'm not leaving.
15:16I've told you.
15:17I'll keep telling you.
15:18I felt him exhale.
15:20For how long?
15:22I thought about it.
15:24As long as it takes for you to actually believe me.
15:28Dre appeared in the den entrance,
15:30took one look at us,
15:31and silently backed away.
15:33Good cub.
15:34Kale held on a little tighter.
15:36Outside, the ancient forests of the abyssal reach kept moving.
15:40Wind through the canopy,
15:42the distant sound of wings,
15:43the slow pulse of a territory that had stood for 10,000 years.
15:47And I stayed exactly where I was.
15:50And I stayed exactly where I was.
Comments