Watch The Mongrel Husband I Bought for Five Grand Full Episode (ENGSUB), an emotional fantasy romance short drama filled with hidden identities, powerful heirs, magical bloodlines, revenge, and unforgettable love. After buying an abandoned half-blind Orc to escape an unwanted marriage, one woman discovers that the man everyone despised is actually the lost heir to a legendary fortune. As family conspiracies, ancient secrets, and dangerous enemies emerge, their unexpected relationship transforms into an epic journey of love, justice, and destiny.
Perfect for fans of fantasy romance, hidden heir stories, billionaire dramas, magical worlds, and emotional drama series.
#TheMongrelHusbandIBoughtForFiveGrand #FantasyRomance #HiddenHeir #OrcRomance #HiddenIdentity #DramaSeries #ShortDrama #FullEpisode #ENGSUB #ShortMovie #Drama
Perfect for fans of fantasy romance, hidden heir stories, billionaire dramas, magical worlds, and emotional drama series.
#TheMongrelHusbandIBoughtForFiveGrand #FantasyRomance #HiddenHeir #OrcRomance #HiddenIdentity #DramaSeries #ShortDrama #FullEpisode #ENGSUB #ShortMovie #Drama
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:002 a.m. I'm crouched outside a bar, chain-smoking, makeup wrecked, heels kicked off, whiskey down the front of
00:00:10my dress.
00:00:11I look like a woman whose life just blew up in her face. That's because it did.
00:00:15A man drops onto the curbs beside me, cheap suit, breath that could peel paint off a wall.
00:00:20You look stressed, sweetheart.
00:00:24Move.
00:00:25I've got something cheap. Won't bleed much on your carpet.
00:00:28I almost stand up to knock his teeth in.
00:00:30Tonight's auction leftover. Nobody bid on him. We torch him at sunrise.
00:00:34Here's how it works in this country. Orc auctions are the biggest industry on the East Coast.
00:00:39The pretty ones go for millions. The ugly ones go to labor camps. The leftovers get burned.
00:00:43And tonight, I happen to need something to burn. What's wrong with him?
00:00:47Faster if I tell you what's right. Mongol, half-breed, one-eyed dead, tusk snap, big bastard, tank of a
00:00:53body, takes a hit, keeps coming.
00:00:54Show me.
00:01:01I forget how to breathe.
00:01:037 foot 2. Ash gray skin. Scar tissue running from his hairline down to his collar.
00:01:08The left side of his face is wrecked. A white scar cuts him from temple to jaw.
00:01:14That eye is dead. Cloudy. Half-blind. Left tusk snapped in half. The right one filed sharp.
00:01:21His horn broken clean at the tip. Shoulders so wide they nearly scrape both walls of the alley.
00:01:26The traitor kicks the back of his knee. He drops. The cobblestones crack.
00:01:31Look at that face, sweetheart. Do whatever you want to him. You can't ruin what's already ruined.
00:01:39The orc lifts his head.
00:01:42His one good eye finds mine. Amber. Calm. Way too calm for someone scheduled to be ashes by sunrise.
00:01:51Then I think about Sullivan. My husband. The one waiting at home.
00:01:56Silk shirts ironed by staff. 6 foot 10 of factory perfect pureblood orc.
00:02:02He sleeps in my stepsister's wing. The official reason is my perfume gives him headaches.
00:02:07He brushes her hair every morning. I eat breakfast alone. 18 months of that.
00:02:12You getting this?
00:02:13Me. Sienna Quinn. Sullivan came from the biggest fortune in New York.
00:02:1823 years old.
00:02:192 million dollars I paid for a husband who thinks I smell bad.
00:02:22I grind my cigarette into the pavement. How much to keep him?
00:02:29You don't keep a mongrel. You rent him for an hour till you...
00:02:33Number.
00:02:3460 grand.
00:02:355.
00:02:37Lady, are you out of...
00:02:395. Cash. Right now. Or I call my father. He sits on the welfare bureau board.
00:02:45You'd love to hear what your operation moves through this alley.
00:02:50Deal.
00:02:50I peel off the bills.
00:02:53The chain drops into my palm.
00:02:57Cold.
00:02:58Heavier than I expected.
00:03:00The orc tilts his head.
00:03:02When he speaks, his voice comes out low and rough.
00:03:06If you wanted to hurt something pretty, you should have walked past me.
00:03:11I don't want to hurt anything.
00:03:18Then why?
00:03:21I look up at his face.
00:03:24Because tonight, the world's most beautiful orc is at home.
00:03:28He won't look me in the eye.
00:03:30And this half-blind mongry just did.
00:03:33I tug the chain, gentle, just once, because nobody else would.
00:03:43The Uber driver locks every door the second listener folds in.
00:03:47He has to fold himself sideways to fit.
00:03:50Head against the roof.
00:03:51One knee in my lap.
00:03:53Shoulder pinning me against the window.
00:03:55I haven't been this close to another body in a long time.
00:03:59What's your name?
00:04:01He stares at the headpred for two whole blocks.
00:04:04Lysiander.
00:04:06My mother named me Lysiander.
00:04:08The auction tag calls me Mongrel 72.
00:04:1271 before him.
00:04:13All burned.
00:04:15I'm Sienna.
00:04:16I'm not calling you a number.
00:04:18He doesn't say thank you.
00:04:20He doesn't believe me yet.
00:04:21That's fine.
00:04:23He will.
00:04:24The plaza.
00:04:26Penthouse.
00:04:27I slip the bellman 300 bucks to wipe the security footage.
00:04:31He doesn't ask why.
00:04:32That's the thing about money.
00:04:34The right amount makes problems vanish.
00:04:36In the suite, Lysiander has to duck to clear the doorway.
00:04:39His broken horn scrapes plaster off the ceiling.
00:04:42Sit.
00:04:43The couch will hold you.
00:04:45I don't sit on furniture.
00:04:47You do now.
00:04:49He sits.
00:04:50The frame groans under him.
00:04:52He puts his hands flat on his knees.
00:04:55Palms down.
00:04:56Fingers spread.
00:04:57The pose you train an animal to hold.
00:05:00Somebody taught him that.
00:05:01I'll deal with that later.
00:05:04I come back from the bathroom with a wet towel.
00:05:06The second I lift it toward his face, his head snaps back hard.
00:05:11Don't!
00:05:12It's just water.
00:05:14That side of my face is dead, Sienna.
00:05:16My body remembers the hand, not what's in it.
00:05:19I lower the towel slowly.
00:05:22I sit beside him on the couch.
00:05:24I don't touch him.
00:05:26Eighteen months in a marriage with no contact.
00:05:29Two hours in a hotel room with a stranger who flinches when I try.
00:05:33God, we're a pair.
00:05:35Tell me who took the eye.
00:05:38Owner's son, he got his first hunting knife for his twelfth birthday.
00:05:44His father told him to practice on something that didn't matter.
00:05:49I pick up his hand.
00:05:51I turn it over.
00:05:52The inside of his wrist is covered in burn scars.
00:05:55Old slave caps over older slave caps.
00:05:58Layers of them.
00:06:00I press my mouth to the inside of his wrist.
00:06:03He stops breathing.
00:06:05Don't be soft with me, Sienna.
00:06:08I'll break.
00:06:09Then break.
00:06:13He drops his forehead into my shoulder.
00:06:16He shakes against me.
00:06:18I put my hand on the back of his head.
00:06:21His hair is rough.
00:06:22Not like Sullivan's silk and conditioner mane.
00:06:26But somehow it makes me feel safer than Sullivan ever did.
00:06:32My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
00:06:35Sully is losing it.
00:06:36He smells another orc on you.
00:06:38He's pacing the foyer.
00:06:40Tusks won't retract.
00:06:41Where are you?
00:06:43I read it twice.
00:06:45Then I smile.
00:06:46First real smile in 18 months.
00:06:49You have to understand my life.
00:06:51I was five years old when somebody matched me off a sidewalk in Queens.
00:06:55My parents looked for me for one year.
00:06:57Then they gave up.
00:06:59And adopted a baby girl from the system.
00:07:01They named her Cora.
00:07:03She got 18 years of birthday parties.
00:07:05Ballet lessons.
00:07:06Piano recitals.
00:07:07Family vacations.
00:07:08I got 18 years of foster homes.
00:07:10A juvie cell at 11.
00:07:12A girl gang in Bushwick at 14.
00:07:14And a DNA test at 23 that matched me to the Queens.
00:07:17When I walked through their door at 23.
00:07:19My little sister was 17.
00:07:21She'd been the only daughter her entire life.
00:07:24She screamed.
00:07:25She broke a vase.
00:07:26She threw a butter knife at my head.
00:07:28And missed by an inch.
00:07:29Get out of my house you trash!
00:07:33My mother held her and stroked her hair.
00:07:36My father stepped between us.
00:07:37Your sister's been spoiled.
00:07:39Try to be patient, sweetheart.
00:07:40That was the day I learned the rules of this family.
00:07:42I keep my mouth shut about Bushwick.
00:07:44I keep my mouth shut about the pickpocking.
00:07:47I smile pretty at brunch.
00:07:50I cry on cue when the inheritance lawyer drops by.
00:07:54The allowance keeps showing up.
00:07:56Every birthday, my parents buy me something extravagant.
00:07:58Paying down the guilt of 18 years they spent not looking hard enough.
00:08:01On my 22nd, they bought me Sullivan.
00:08:04Two million dollar pureblood orc.
00:08:06Show quality bloodline.
00:08:07Brushed coat.
00:08:08Polished tusks.
00:08:09Your sister's so quiet, sweetheart.
00:08:11A companion orc would help her come out of her shell.
00:08:14Cora screamed for three days.
00:08:16Then, she ran away with him for ten.
00:08:19She brought him back skin and bones.
00:08:20My mother slapped her across the face for the first time in her life.
00:08:24And from that day forward, Sullivan only responded to one set of footsteps in the hallway.
00:08:28Hers.
00:08:29He'd lived ten days as her stray.
00:08:31He decided she was his real owner.
00:08:34I was just the woman whose name was on the paperwork.
00:08:36Eighteen months of eating breakfast alone in a house with five other people in it.
00:08:42I look down at the phone.
00:08:44Me.
00:08:45Tell him to get used to it.
00:08:47I press send.
00:08:48I put both my hands on At Lysman's face.
00:08:51I make him look at me.
00:08:53You're staying with me.
00:08:56You don't know what you just bought.
00:08:59Then tell me in the morning.
00:09:02He pulls me against his chest.
00:09:04His arm is bigger around than my waist.
00:09:07His heartbeat is slow and heavy under my ear.
00:09:11He's asleep in three minutes.
00:09:13I lie in the dark, listening to him breathe.
00:09:15In eighteen months, my pure-blood husband has never once fallen asleep in the same room as me.
00:09:20The mongrel I bought for five grand has been mine for two hours and he's already unconscious on my chest.
00:09:25Best money I've ever spent.
00:09:28I wake up because there's a hand around my throat.
00:09:31His whole palm covers my neck.
00:09:33His thumb sits on my pulse.
00:09:35He isn't squeezing.
00:09:36He's staring at the door.
00:09:38This isn't a threat.
00:09:39He's checking the room.
00:09:40I keep my voice low.
00:09:45Talk to me.
00:09:47What's at the door?
00:09:49Somebody's in the hallway.
00:09:50Get behind me.
00:09:52He's off the bed in one movement.
00:09:54Three hundred pounds of orc and not a sound on the carpet.
00:09:58He puts his eye to the peephole.
00:10:00His shoulders drop.
00:10:02Room service.
00:10:04He opens the door.
00:10:05The bellboy on the other side sees seven feet of scarred mongrel filling the frame and drops the tray.
00:10:11Lysander catches it before it hits the carpet.
00:10:14Without looking down, he closes the door.
00:10:18He stands with his back to me.
00:10:21Send me back to the trader at sunrise.
00:10:23I sit up in bed.
00:10:25What?
00:10:26He keeps the five thousand.
00:10:28He puts me down anyway.
00:10:31You walk away clean.
00:10:33Lycian!
00:10:35Your pure blood forgives you.
00:10:37Your family forgives you.
00:10:39The story is, you got drunk.
00:10:40You did something stupid.
00:10:42You came home.
00:10:44End of story.
00:10:46I get out of bed.
00:10:48I cross the carpet barefoot.
00:10:51I stand on my toes to put my palm flat against his sternum.
00:10:56His heart is jackrabbiting under my hand.
00:10:59He's terrified.
00:11:01Afraid last night was a lie.
00:11:04Did you sleep tonight?
00:11:07Did you sleep tonight?
00:11:07Yes.
00:11:08Three hours.
00:11:10How long since you slept three hours in a row before that?
00:11:14His mouth opens.
00:11:16He doesn't have an answer.
00:11:21I take a breath.
00:11:23I've been married for 18 months to the most beautiful orc in this city.
00:11:27He looks at me.
00:11:30He won't enter my bedroom.
00:11:31He won't touch my hand at dinner.
00:11:34He sleeps in a different wing because my perfume gives him a headache.
00:11:38He brushes my stepster's hair every morning and pretends I'm not at the table.
00:11:43I curl my fingers in the fabric of his shirt.
00:11:47I've been invisible in my own house for 18 months.
00:11:51Sienna.
00:11:53Tonight you saw me first.
00:11:55I look up.
00:11:56You fell asleep on my chest in three minutes.
00:11:59Do you understand what that did to me?
00:12:02I'm not sending you back.
00:12:04He stares down at me.
00:12:06His eyes are wet.
00:12:08You shouldn't love a thing like me.
00:12:10Then we have a problem.
00:12:12Because I think I already do.
00:12:15I take his hand.
00:12:16I lead him back to the bed.
00:12:18Lay down.
00:12:19You haven't slept in three days.
00:12:22He lays down.
00:12:24I curl on his chest.
00:12:27My ear is right over his heart.
00:12:31Why did you really put your hand on my throat earlier?
00:12:34Habit.
00:12:35Mongrels reach for the threat first.
00:12:39Always.
00:12:42You weren't threatening me.
00:12:44You were guarding me.
00:12:46He almost laughs.
00:12:48He tips my chin up with one knuckle.
00:12:51His eye catches the light.
00:12:53Sullivan never touched you, did he?
00:12:58He never sat on the same couch as me.
00:13:02He leans down.
00:13:03Then I'm going to be the first thing on your skin.
00:13:06He kisses me.
00:13:07Hard.
00:13:08The broken tusk drags my lower lip open.
00:13:12He licks the cut.
00:13:13I moan into his mouth.
00:13:15He grabs both my wrists in one hand and pins them above my head.
00:13:19Other hand grips my jaw.
00:13:21Open.
00:13:21I open.
00:13:22His tongue is in my mouth.
00:13:24His knee shoves my thighs apart.
00:13:27He drops his weight on me.
00:13:29The bed dips.
00:13:30The frame groans.
00:13:32He's hard.
00:13:33I feel him against my hip.
00:13:35Through the fabric.
00:13:36Heavy.
00:13:37Thick.
00:13:38I whine.
00:13:38Look at you.
00:13:40Tiny thing.
00:13:41Already shaking for me.
00:13:43He shoves my night ground up to my waist.
00:13:45One hand.
00:13:46The other still pinning my wrists.
00:13:48His palm slides down between my thighs.
00:13:50Already wet.
00:13:52Lysenner.
00:13:52Say please.
00:13:55Say it, Sienna.
00:13:59Please.
00:14:04His fingers work into me.
00:14:06Two at once.
00:14:08Thick.
00:14:09Rough.
00:14:10He's watching my face.
00:14:12That's it.
00:14:13There she is.
00:14:13He keeps going till I'm shaking under him.
00:14:17Then, he stops.
00:14:20No.
00:14:21Hush.
00:14:22I want you on my tongue first.
00:14:28He drops down the bed.
00:14:30Shoulders shoove my thighs wider.
00:14:32He hooks both my knees over his shoulders.
00:14:34His mouth goes to me.
00:14:36The intact tusk drags along my inner thigh.
00:14:38The sharp one.
00:14:39Just enough pressure to mark.
00:14:42I cry out.
00:14:43He eats me till my hands tear the sheets.
00:14:45Till my hips lift off the bed for him.
00:14:47He holds me down with one forearm across my stomach.
00:14:50When I come, he is watching me the whole time.
00:14:52He climbs back up me.
00:14:53His mouth is wet.
00:14:54He kisses me with it.
00:14:56Let's me taste myself.
00:14:57Now, look at me when I take you.
00:14:59He pushes in.
00:15:01Slow.
00:15:01So slow.
00:15:02I feel every inch.
00:15:05I'm small under him.
00:15:07He's huge.
00:15:08He stretches me till my eyes go wet.
00:15:11He stops halfway.
00:15:13Breathe.
00:15:16He pushes the rest of the way in.
00:15:19I gasp his name.
00:15:21He swallows it.
00:15:22He starts to move.
00:15:24Deep.
00:15:25Hard.
00:15:25Steady.
00:15:26Each thrust pushes me up the mattress.
00:15:28His free hand pulls me back down onto him.
00:15:31Mine.
00:15:32He says it on every stroke.
00:15:34I sigh it back.
00:15:35Fuck me harder, Miss Euler.
00:15:38His good eye goes black.
00:15:40He bites the bond spot.
00:15:42Right where my neck meets my shoulder.
00:15:45My whole spine snaps tight.
00:15:47My hands fist in the sheets.
00:15:49I cry out into his hair.
00:15:51He holds me through it.
00:15:56He licks the blood off his lip.
00:15:58Then he licks the bite.
00:16:01Mine.
00:16:02Say it back.
00:16:04Yours.
00:16:04Again.
00:16:05Yours, Lysithar.
00:16:07He kisses me hard.
00:16:08I taste my own blood in his mouth and I don't care.
00:16:12It's done.
00:16:13You can't undo it.
00:16:14You're mine forever.
00:16:16Nobody is taking you from me.
00:16:18I smile.
00:16:19I smile.
00:16:19Good.
00:16:20I wake up to sunlight on his chest.
00:16:23He has been awake for a while.
00:16:25He is staring at the ceiling.
00:16:27His hand sits on my hip.
00:16:29He is afraid to move it.
00:16:32How long have you been up?
00:16:35Two hours.
00:16:37Why didn't you wake me?
00:16:39You were sleeping on me.
00:16:41I wasn't going to end that.
00:16:42I prop myself up on his sternum.
00:16:45The bite on my neck pulses with every heartbeat.
00:16:48Let me see.
00:16:49He sees me wince and sits up.
00:16:53He turns my head gently.
00:16:55His thumb traces around the mark.
00:16:57Never on it.
00:16:58It's scarred clean.
00:16:59It will show for the rest of your life.
00:17:02That's what I wanted.
00:17:04He studies me for a moment.
00:17:07You keep saying things like that.
00:17:09The words don't seem to cost you anything.
00:17:11They don't.
00:17:13They will.
00:17:14Your father will see the mark.
00:17:16Everyone you grew up around will see what bit you.
00:17:20I climb into his lap.
00:17:22I put his hand flat on my throat, over the bite.
00:17:27Then they see it.
00:17:30He shakes his head once.
00:17:31Sienna.
00:17:32Take it off.
00:17:33I'll buy you a scarf downstairs.
00:17:34Wear it until the bruise fades.
00:17:37Walk back into that house clean.
00:17:40Tell them I was a bad dream.
00:17:41You want me to hide you?
00:17:43I pull back to look at him.
00:17:45I want you to survive me.
00:17:46I take his other hand.
00:17:48I put it on the bite too.
00:17:49Press.
00:17:50Both his palms on my throat.
00:17:52What?
00:17:53Press, Leicenor.
00:17:54Hard enough to leave your prints next to your teeth.
00:17:57I can't.
00:17:58He doesn't press and stop telling me to take you off.
00:18:02His hands shake.
00:18:04He closes his eyes.
00:18:05He drops his forehead onto my collarbone.
00:18:08I feel him breathe out for the first time since he woke up.
00:18:13I order room service.
00:18:15Two of everything.
00:18:19Eat.
00:18:20Start with the eggs.
00:18:22He stares at the cart and doesn't move.
00:18:24He picks up a fork.
00:18:26He puts it back down.
00:18:28He picks up a piece of bacon with his fingers.
00:18:31He looks up, waiting for me to correct him.
00:18:33I pick up my own piece with my fingers too.
00:18:35He almost smiles.
00:18:38My phone lights up on the carpet.
00:18:42Sully shifted.
00:18:44Tusts won't retract.
00:18:46Dad locked him in the wine cellar.
00:18:47Mom is crying.
00:18:48Where are you?
00:18:54My sender reads it over my shoulder.
00:18:57His hand doesn't leave my throat.
00:19:01Get dressed.
00:19:02We're going home.
00:19:06The estate gates are open.
00:19:08The guard's at his post.
00:19:10He doesn't look at us.
00:19:11Stay outside, Marco.
00:19:13Whatever you hear, stay outside.
00:19:16He looks relieved and nods.
00:19:18I walk up the gravel drive with Lysenor a step behind me.
00:19:22He doesn't speak.
00:19:23He is scanning every window.
00:19:25He is already counting exits.
00:19:27The foyer is wrecked.
00:19:29There's glass on the marble and a console table on its side.
00:19:34My mother is on the stairs with mascara down her face.
00:19:38Sullivan has my father against the wall.
00:19:40Six foot ten of him, with tusks fully out.
00:19:43His pupils are black to the edge.
00:19:45My father's feet are six inches off the marble.
00:19:48Cora is at the top of the stairs.
00:19:50She has her phone up.
00:19:51She is filming the whole thing.
00:19:53I walk into the middle of the foray.
00:19:56Sully.
00:19:58Put him down.
00:19:59Sullivan turns slowly.
00:20:01He doesn't recognize me for a beat.
00:20:04Then he does.
00:20:05And his nostrils flare.
00:20:07You smell like him, Sienna.
00:20:10Let my father down.
00:20:11I can fix this.
00:20:12I can wash it off.
00:20:13I can mark over it.
00:20:14Sullivan.
00:20:16Put.
00:20:17Him.
00:20:18Down.
00:20:18He drops my father.
00:20:20My father slides down the wall to the marble.
00:20:22Coughing, but alive.
00:20:24Sullivan crosses the foyer toward me.
00:20:26He stops three feet away.
00:20:28He cannot take the next step.
00:20:30Pure blood instinct won't let him cross the air between us.
00:20:33He has smelled the bond.
00:20:34He knows what it is.
00:20:35Lysaler walks through the doorway behind him.
00:20:37Sullivan's whole body locks up.
00:20:39Lysaler doesn't lift a hand.
00:20:41He walks to the middle of the foyer.
00:20:43He says four words in a language I don't know.
00:20:46No, no.
00:20:47Then Slilence drops to both knees.
00:20:51His tusks retract.
00:20:53The black in his eyes pulls back to gold.
00:20:56The foyer goes dead silent.
00:20:58My mother gasps from the stairs.
00:21:00Sully.
00:21:01What did he just say?
00:21:03Lysaler answers in flat English.
00:21:06I told him my mother's name.
00:21:09My father lifts his head from the marble.
00:21:12Who is your mother's son?
00:21:14Lysaler looks at me first.
00:21:16Then at my father.
00:21:17Her name was Mae Erwin of the North Forest.
00:21:20My father stops breathing for a beat.
00:21:23My father pours brandy in his study.
00:21:25His hands shake.
00:21:26He doesn't drink any of it.
00:21:28Lysaler stands by the door.
00:21:30He won't sit in this house yet.
00:21:32Marwin of the North Forest married a human.
00:21:35That makes you highborn.
00:21:37And that makes Varric of House Drangon your uncle.
00:21:40Yes.
00:21:42My father sets the brandy down very carefully.
00:21:45Sienna.
00:21:46Do you understand what you walked into an alley and bought?
00:21:50A husband.
00:21:51A highborn heir.
00:21:54There are seven of them on this coast.
00:21:56That sounds like my problem to handle.
00:21:58That is everyone's problem now.
00:22:00Including mine.
00:22:02He looks at Lysander.
00:22:04Why were you in that alley?
00:22:09My uncle put me there 15 years ago.
00:22:12He paid Orlof and Sons 12,000 pieces.
00:22:15They took my eye and snapped my task.
00:22:18They broke my horn.
00:22:20He didn't want anyone to buy me.
00:22:22No one was supposed to see whose blood I had.
00:22:26If I died young, my mother's lands passed to him.
00:22:30And you didn't die.
00:22:31He didn't die.
00:22:32He went through 12 cages.
00:22:34He walked out of an alley last night.
00:22:36He had my chain in his hand.
00:22:38My father is silent at his desk.
00:22:40And he bit you?
00:22:42After one night?
00:22:44Yes.
00:22:47Your grandmother died last month, son.
00:22:50Mare Rhoi's mother.
00:22:51The estate is in probate.
00:22:53I don't care about the estate.
00:22:55You should care.
00:22:56The day Varric learns Lysadar is alive.
00:22:59He is coming through that gate.
00:23:01Lysander speaks from the doorway.
00:23:03Quiet.
00:23:03He already knows.
00:23:05He felt the bond pulse at 2 AM.
00:23:07My father closes his eyes.
00:23:08Then he is already on a plane.
00:23:10How long do we have?
00:23:11Six hours.
00:23:13Maybe less.
00:23:14I leave my father in the study.
00:23:16I find Cora in my bedroom.
00:23:18She is on my bed.
00:23:20She holds a phone in one hand.
00:23:22She holds a parring knife in the other.
00:23:24The blade is pointed at her own throat.
00:23:26Hi, sis.
00:23:28We need to talk.
00:23:31I sit down across from her.
00:23:35Put it down, Cora.
00:23:38You took Sully.
00:23:40He was never yours.
00:23:42Mom and Dad bought him for you and he chose me anyway.
00:23:46You imprinted a 12-year-old animal who was scared and confused.
00:23:49That's grooming.
00:23:50That's not love.
00:23:52Send your monster husband away.
00:23:54Send him back tonight.
00:23:56Or I'll do it on your bed.
00:23:58I lean closer.
00:24:00You won't.
00:24:01Watch me.
00:24:03A girl who actually wanted to die wouldn't come here.
00:24:06Not to her sister's bedroom.
00:24:08She would do it in her own room.
00:24:10You came here because you need an audience.
00:24:13She blinks at me.
00:24:14I'm the audience.
00:24:15Drop the knife.
00:24:17Her hand shakes.
00:24:19I've watched you cry on cue for 18 months.
00:24:22I've watched you switch the tears off the second the camera leaves.
00:24:27Sis.
00:24:30This morning you filmed Dad choking against a wall.
00:24:33You didn't drop the phone to help him.
00:24:35You narrated.
00:24:37Her face cracks open.
00:24:39A girl who films her dad choking.
00:24:41She doesn't slit her throat over a husband.
00:24:44Drop it.
00:24:45She drops the knife.
00:24:47Then she starts crying.
00:24:50Real crying.
00:24:51Not the kind I'm used to from her.
00:24:53I hate that you came back.
00:24:55I had everything.
00:24:56I had Dad and Mom and Sully and this house.
00:24:59Then they found you and I became the second one.
00:25:01You had a stolen life.
00:25:03It was always going to end the day they found me.
00:25:06Sis, please.
00:25:07Switzerland.
00:25:09Friday.
00:25:10Lindenburg Academy.
00:25:12You don't come back until you're 21.
00:25:15She nods at me.
00:25:17She doesn't bargain.
00:25:18I pick the knife up off the bed's food.
00:25:20I walk out into the hall.
00:25:25Lysander is in the hallway.
00:25:26He has heard every word through the door.
00:25:29You didn't have to be that hard with her.
00:25:31I was 17 once.
00:25:33Nobody was soft with me back then.
00:25:36She isn't broken.
00:25:37She is spoiled.
00:25:38There's a difference.
00:25:40He opens his arms.
00:25:41I walk into him.
00:25:43I don't cry.
00:25:46You smell different right now.
00:25:48Just for one minute.
00:25:50Let me hold you.
00:25:52He holds me in the hallway.
00:25:54Behind him, down the corridor.
00:25:55My mother is standing in a doorway.
00:25:57She is watching us closely.
00:25:58She doesn't speak.
00:26:00She watches him put his hand on the back of my head.
00:26:03Then she goes back into her room and closes the door.
00:26:08The doorbell rings at 3 p.m.
00:26:13Lysanther straightens up.
00:26:15The softness leaves his body fast.
00:26:18Who is at the door, Sienna?
00:26:20I'm not expecting anyone.
00:26:21He checks the camera in the front hall.
00:26:23There are three orcs on the step.
00:26:25They wear iron coats with full tusks and unbroken horns.
00:26:32My uncle's men.
00:26:34Six hours, you said.
00:26:36He was closer than I thought.
00:26:38He moves me behind him.
00:26:41He opens the door himself.
00:26:43The oldest of the three steps in.
00:26:46Six foot eleven, in a silk-lined coat.
00:26:48He sees Lysadar.
00:26:50His eyes go to the broken horn and the dead eye.
00:26:52They go to the snap tusk.
00:26:54They go to the brand under the shirt.
00:26:56He smiles at him.
00:26:58Forgive the intrusion.
00:27:00I'm Lord Varric of House Drenimum.
00:27:03I've come to collect my nephew.
00:27:08He's married.
00:27:09To you.
00:27:10A human.
00:27:12I admire your nerve.
00:27:13His smile widens.
00:27:14But my nephew is not property you can keep.
00:27:17He belongs to the house until he is twenty-five.
00:27:21Get out of my father's house.
00:27:23Varric turns to Lysaner.
00:27:25He says something quiet in the old language.
00:27:30Lysaner's scar twitches.
00:27:32What did he say?
00:27:35He asked if I had taught the human pet to sit yet.
00:27:38My father grips the hall doorway hard.
00:27:41Lysaner steps fully into the foyer.
00:27:44You paid Orlof and Zun's twelve thousand pieces.
00:27:47They put a knife in my eye when I was eight.
00:27:50Lysalar!
00:27:51You paid them to snap my tusk.
00:27:53To break my horn.
00:27:55To brand me Mongrel 72.
00:27:57That is enough!
00:27:58You sold me to twelve cages over fifteen years.
00:28:01You're here today because Grandmother is dead.
00:28:04Her will makes me richer than you.
00:28:06Varric's smile sharpens.
00:28:08Your mother married beneath her.
00:28:09Your father was a stain on our bloodline.
00:28:13We did what was necessary.
00:28:16The three of them step toward me.
00:28:20Varric's hand comes up to strike.
00:28:22Lysaner moves on him.
00:28:24The first hit cracks bone.
00:28:26The second is wetter.
00:28:28The third rattles the chandelier above us.
00:28:31My father grabs me and pulls me into the hallway.
00:28:34He clamps his hand over my mouth.
00:28:36Nineteen seconds is all it takes.
00:28:39The foyer door is coming back open.
00:28:41Lysander turns in pain.
00:28:44There's blood on his knuckles and a cut on his cheekbone.
00:28:47Three high-bend orcs lie on the marble.
00:28:50None of them are getting up soon.
00:28:51None of them are dead.
00:28:52My father starts to laugh.
00:28:54Quiet it, then louder.
00:28:55Lysander turns to me.
00:28:57He looks wild.
00:28:57His hand is shaking hard.
00:28:59I can put my back to a wall.
00:29:03I take him to my bathroom.
00:29:05I lock the door behind us.
00:29:06I sit him on the closed lid of the toilet.
00:29:08I turn on the hot water in the sink.
00:29:10He doesn't speak.
00:29:11He stares at the tile between his feet.
00:29:14His hands won't stop shaking.
00:29:15I run a washcloth under the tap.
00:29:17I wring it out.
00:29:18I kneel in front of him on the bath mat.
00:29:20Give me your hands.
00:29:22He gives them to me.
00:29:24I wash them, knuckle by knuckle.
00:29:26The blood isn't his.
00:29:28It comes off easy.
00:29:29Look at me.
00:29:30He doesn't look up.
00:29:31Lysander, look at me.
00:29:33He looks at me.
00:29:34And then he breaks.
00:29:36His shoulders drop.
00:29:38He starts to cry.
00:29:40He puts his forehead against my collarbone and his whole body shakes.
00:29:44I hold the back of his head.
00:29:46I let him fall apart.
00:29:47I was eight.
00:29:49I was eight years old.
00:29:51I tighten my hand in his hair.
00:29:54They told me my mother was on her way.
00:29:56They told me she was coming to take me home.
00:30:01I sat in that room for two hours waiting for her.
00:30:04Then the door opened and it wasn't her.
00:30:07I'm here.
00:30:12My uncle paid them to do it.
00:30:14I was eight years old in a chair.
00:30:16He watched the whole thing!
00:30:19He is making a sound now that isn't quite crying.
00:30:22Tonight I broke his tusk on his own floor.
00:30:24It didn't fix anything.
00:30:25I thought it would fix something.
00:30:28It doesn't work like that.
00:30:31No, it doesn't.
00:30:34Hey.
00:30:35Look at me.
00:30:36He looks at me again.
00:30:38It doesn't fix what he did to you.
00:30:40Nothing does.
00:30:44But it tells him you grew up.
00:30:47He sold an eight-year-old.
00:30:49The eight-year-old came back with a wife.
00:30:56I don't deserve this.
00:30:57You keep saying that.
00:31:04Because it's true.
00:31:06Then we have a problem.
00:31:07I'm not leaving you.
00:31:09I take his face in both my hands.
00:31:11I kiss the dead side first.
00:31:13The scarred one.
00:31:14Where the knife went in.
00:31:16He flinches the way he did with the towel last night.
00:31:21I do it again.
00:31:22Slower this time.
00:31:24The third time he doesn't flint at all.
00:31:26He looks at me steady.
00:31:27I'm going to need you for the rest of my life.
00:31:30I'm telling you now.
00:31:31You can decide before this gets worse.
00:31:34Already decided.
00:31:352 a.m. last night.
00:31:36Get in the bath.
00:31:37He gets in the bath.
00:31:38He doesn't fit at all.
00:31:39His knees come up over the rim.
00:31:41His broken horn taps the tile above him.
00:31:44He laughs at himself.
00:31:45The sound is short and surprised.
00:31:47I haven't been in a bathtub since I was a child.
00:31:50You're in one now.
00:31:51I sit on the edge in my clothes.
00:31:54I dip the washcloth in the water.
00:31:57I start at his shoulder.
00:31:59I work down his arm and across his chest.
00:32:02I work over the long scar.
00:32:03It runs from his hairline to his collar.
00:32:05The brand on his ribs is the last thing I get to.
00:32:08The number 12 is burnt into him in black ink.
00:32:11The brand is older than the knife scar.
00:32:13The skin around it is still raised after 15 years.
00:32:16I put my home flat on it.
00:32:17Tell me what this one is.
00:32:19Cage number.
00:32:21Twelfth owner.
00:32:22They burn the new number over the old one each time.
00:32:26The first six are under it.
00:32:28You can feel the ridges if you press.
00:32:30I can feel them.
00:32:32I do press.
00:32:33And the others?
00:32:34He starts to tell me about them.
00:32:36He doesn't stop for an hour.
00:32:40There was the owner who fed him once a week.
00:32:43There was the one who used him in the pit.
00:32:45There was the one in Maryland with the daughter.
00:32:47She slipped him bread under the door at night.
00:32:50Her father caught her doing it.
00:32:51He never knew what happened to the daughter after that.
00:32:54I listen to him.
00:32:57I keep the water warm.
00:33:00I don't cry.
00:33:01He doesn't need that from me.
00:33:03When he is done,
00:33:05he sits very still.
00:33:07Sienna?
00:33:08Yes?
00:33:10Nobody has ever asked me what they were.
00:33:14Nobody is ever going to skip that question again.
00:33:17He looks at me.
00:33:18He is steady for the first time all day.
00:33:22I want you to see the rest of them too.
00:33:24I help him stand.
00:33:26He drips water on the bath mat.
00:33:28I dry him with a towel I fetched twice from the closet.
00:33:31I find every scar he tells me to find.
00:33:34Six are on his back.
00:33:36One sits under his jaw.
00:33:38One is on the inside of his thigh.
00:33:40He won't explain that one.
00:33:41I put my mouth on each of them.
00:33:43When I get to the brand,
00:33:45I stay there longer.
00:33:47This one we are going to put my name over.
00:33:52Sienna?
00:33:53Not removing it.
00:33:54Tattooing over it.
00:33:55I want my name on you, not his number.
00:33:58He doesn't say anything for a long time.
00:34:01All right.
00:34:03Tomorrow.
00:34:04After we deal with the estate.
00:34:06After my father makes a call.
00:34:08Tomorrow night we are going to a tattoo shop.
00:34:10We are covering that brand with my name.
00:34:15Tomorrow.
00:34:16I get up on my toes to reach his ear.
00:34:19And tonight you are going to sleep in a real bed.
00:34:23In this house.
00:34:24In my bed.
00:34:27Sullivan can hear it through the wall and I don't care.
00:34:30His eyes fill again.
00:34:31Different this time.
00:34:34We don't make it to my bed.
00:34:36We get as far as the bedroom door.
00:34:40He stops me in the doorway.
00:34:43He puts both hands flat on the frame.
00:34:45One hand on either side of my head.
00:34:48He looks down at me.
00:34:49I haven't had anyone since I was eight years old.
00:34:52I haven't been allowed to.
00:34:54I know that.
00:34:58I don't know how to do this slow.
00:35:02You did it last night.
00:35:04Last night.
00:35:05I was an animal you brought home from an alley.
00:35:08Tonight I'm in your house.
00:35:11I'm in your father's house.
00:35:16I keep waiting for someone to come tell me to leave.
00:35:19I take his hand off the door frame.
00:35:21I put it on my throat.
00:35:23Over the bite mark.
00:35:25Nobody is coming to tell you to leave.
00:35:27He lifts me.
00:35:29Both hands under my thighs.
00:35:31He walks me to the bed.
00:35:32He lays me down gently.
00:35:36Slow tonight.
00:35:39He undresses me without taking his eye off my face.
00:35:43Each button.
00:35:44And each strap.
00:35:46He folds the dress over the chair.
00:35:48And sets it down carefully.
00:35:51He kneels at the foot of the bed.
00:35:53Open for me.
00:35:55I open my knees for him.
00:35:57He kisses the inside of one.
00:35:59Then the inside of the other.
00:36:00He works his way up slowly.
00:36:02He keeps his eye on my face the whole time.
00:36:04When his mouth gets where it is going.
00:36:06I make a sound.
00:36:07A sound I have never made in this house.
00:36:10I make sure it carries through the wall.
00:36:12He laughs against me.
00:36:13He doesn't stop what he's doing.
00:36:15When I come.
00:36:16He climbs back up me.
00:36:18He pushes in slowly.
00:36:21Inch by inch.
00:36:22He watches my face the whole time.
00:36:25You're mine.
00:36:26Yours.
00:36:28He moves in long, slow strokes.
00:36:30The bed barely makes a sound.
00:36:32His weight rests on his forearms.
00:36:34His forehead presses against mine.
00:36:36I have you.
00:36:37Nobody is taking you from me.
00:36:39He stops moving.
00:36:41He looks at me.
00:36:42Say that again, Sienna.
00:36:43Nobody is taking you.
00:36:45Not your uncle and not the auction tier.
00:36:48He is with me now.
00:36:50He closes his eyes.
00:36:51He starts to move again.
00:36:53Slower and deeper than before.
00:36:56He puts his mouth back on the bite on my throat.
00:36:58He doesn't bite this time.
00:37:00He just rests his mouth on the mark and holds.
00:37:02When I come the second time, it is quiet between us.
00:37:06My whole body shakes under him and I don't make a sound.
00:37:09I just hold his face and watch him watch me.
00:37:13He follows me a minute later.
00:37:15He whispers something in the old language against my collarbone.
00:37:20What did you say?
00:37:22My mother's full name.
00:37:24I haven't said it to another person in 15 years.
00:37:29I wanted her to hear yours.
00:37:32I wake up to my mother in the doorway.
00:37:35She is in her dressing gown with no makeup on.
00:37:38She has been up all night.
00:37:41Lysener is asleep on his front beside me.
00:37:43One arm is thrown across my waist.
00:37:45The brand on his ribs is showing in the morning light.
00:37:48She sees the brand.
00:37:49She covers her mouth with both hands.
00:37:52I sit up slowly.
00:37:53I don't move his arm.
00:37:56Mom.
00:37:58Sienna.
00:37:59Come in or don't.
00:38:00Don't stand in the doorway.
00:38:03She comes in.
00:38:04She sits on the edge of the bed.
00:38:06She looks at his face.
00:38:08She looks at the bite on my neck.
00:38:10She looks back at his face again.
00:38:13Your father told me everything.
00:38:14The grandmother.
00:38:15The estate.
00:38:17The uncle who paid people to do this to him.
00:38:19And you brought him home this morning.
00:38:21After one night.
00:38:23Yes.
00:38:24She puts her hand on my knee through the blanket.
00:38:26I'm going to say something.
00:38:28You are going to let me say it.
00:38:31Go ahead.
00:38:32For 18 months I have watched the pure blood we bought you.
00:38:35I have watched him ignore you in this house.
00:38:37I told myself it was an adjustment.
00:38:40I told myself it was Cora's fault.
00:38:42I told myself it was the perfume.
00:38:45Mom.
00:38:46Let me finish.
00:38:48I am 60 years old.
00:38:50I don't know what to do with my face.
00:38:53I take her hand in mine.
00:38:55Tell me you're sorry.
00:38:57That's what you do with your face.
00:39:00She doesn't move for a while.
00:39:02I'm sorry.
00:39:03For Sullivan and for Cora.
00:39:05For all of it.
00:39:07For 18 years of looking for you and giving up.
00:39:10I am sorry, Sienna.
00:39:12I don't say anything back.
00:39:14She doesn't expect me to.
00:39:15She stands up from the bed.
00:39:18Your father is in the study.
00:39:20The lawyer is on his way over.
00:39:22The estate has to be moved out of Probodi today.
00:39:25Otherwise your uncle's brother files a claim by noon.
00:39:31Tell him I'm coming down.
00:39:35She stops at the door.
00:39:38She looks back at me.
00:39:41Sienna.
00:39:43What is it?
00:39:44Whatever this one is.
00:39:45Whatever they call him in their old language.
00:39:48He is the one I would have picked for you.
00:39:51If I had been the kind of mother who got to pick.
00:39:55She closes the door behind her.
00:39:59Lysener's arm tightens on my waist.
00:40:01He has been awake for the last minute.
00:40:04Your mother just apologized to you.
00:40:08She did.
00:40:09In English.
00:40:11I noticed.
00:40:12My mother would have liked her.
00:40:15I kiss his shoulder.
00:40:16The scarred one.
00:40:19Get up.
00:40:20The lawyer arrives in 20 minutes.
00:40:23The lawyer arrives at 9.
00:40:25He sets his briefcase on my father's desk.
00:40:29He is 60-something in a gray suit.
00:40:32He has been delivering complicated news for 30 years.
00:40:36Mr. Quinn.
00:40:37Miss Quinn.
00:40:38Lord Drenum.
00:40:39Lysander doesn't react to the title.
00:40:41He sits in the chair next to mine.
00:40:44His hand stays on the back of my chair.
00:40:46The estate of Lady Alias Drenum was promoted in chambers last week.
00:40:52Her amended will was executed three days before her death.
00:40:56Three witnesses signed it.
00:40:59Read it to us.
00:41:01He reads it out loud.
00:41:03The estate of Lady Alias Drenum passes in full.
00:41:06It goes to the human woman bonded to her grandson.
00:41:09To Lysandor of the North Forest.
00:41:11By name, Sienna Quinn.
00:41:13I sit there for a moment.
00:41:16The lawyer waits patiently.
00:41:20How much exactly?
00:41:23$840 million in assets.
00:41:26Lands in three districts.
00:41:28A coastal harbor.
00:41:29Two textile mills.
00:41:31A working mine.
00:41:33A house you will never need to set foot in.
00:41:36Not if you don't wish to.
00:41:38Why me?
00:41:39She didn't trust her own house to protect her grandson.
00:41:43She made you the shield instead.
00:41:46She never met me.
00:41:48She had three people watching you for nine months.
00:41:52She knew exactly who she was leaving it to.
00:41:55Lysandor hasn't moved during any of this.
00:41:58I turned to him.
00:41:59Did you know about this?
00:42:01No, I didn't.
00:42:02Did you suspect?
00:42:03I suspected she had someone watching me.
00:42:06I didn't know it was you.
00:42:08I didn't know it was already done.
00:42:11I look at the lawyer.
00:42:13Can I refuse it?
00:42:15You can.
00:42:16The estate then passes to the next eligible heir.
00:42:19Your husband's uncle.
00:42:20Lord Varric.
00:42:22I look at Lysanium.
00:42:25I'm not refusing it.
00:42:29No.
00:42:31It's not for me.
00:42:32It's for the boy in the chair.
00:42:40Yes.
00:42:42I sign the papers.
00:42:44There are 43 pages of them.
00:42:48The lawyer's pen runs out halfway through.
00:42:51My father gives him a new one.
00:42:54When it is done, the lawyer stands up.
00:42:58He bows slightly to be polite.
00:43:00Lady Drenum.
00:43:02Don't call me that yet.
00:43:04It is the name on the deed now, Mom.
00:43:06He leaves the study.
00:43:09My father pours himself the Berndy he didn't drink yesterday.
00:43:13He drinks it down now.
00:43:16Sienna.
00:43:17Dad.
00:43:19I gave you a pureblood for your birthday.
00:43:22He was the most expensive thing in this house.
00:43:25I remember.
00:43:26He is now the fourth most expensive thing in this house.
00:43:31And that is only counting your husband.
00:43:35The estate is the first.
00:43:38He looks at At-Lysal either.
00:43:41Sotheby's takes Sullivan tomorrow.
00:43:45Open auction.
00:43:46No reserve.
00:43:48Dad.
00:43:48Not the auction.
00:43:50There's a retired doctor in Maine.
00:43:53He works with show orcs who couldn't adjust.
00:43:56Sullivan is going to relearn how to be a person.
00:43:58Without a master.
00:44:00My father studies my face.
00:44:02You are kinder than I would be in your place.
00:44:06I'm not kind.
00:44:08I'm just done with all of it.
00:44:12He nods.
00:44:13He picks up the phone to make the call.
00:44:18Six months later, the doctor in Maine writes back.
00:44:21Sullivan is feeding his feed himself.
00:44:23He answers to his own name now.
00:44:26Lysander squeezes my hand under the desk.
00:44:29I squeeze back.
00:44:31Outside the study window, Cora is on the lawn with her suitcase.
00:44:38Cora is in the garden when I find her.
00:44:41Her suitcase is open on the lawn.
00:44:43The housekeeper is folding sweaters into it carefully.
00:44:46Cora is sitting on the stone bench.
00:44:49Her arms are wrapped around her knees.
00:44:51She is 17 years old.
00:44:54She looks 12.
00:44:55I leave on Friday.
00:44:58I know.
00:44:59I packed half of this myself.
00:45:01I saw you did.
00:45:05I sit down next to her on the bench.
00:45:08Sis.
00:45:11What is it?
00:45:12I saw you and him in the hallway last night.
00:45:15And?
00:45:17He put his hand on the back of your head.
00:45:19The way Sully puts his hand on mine when I'm crying.
00:45:24Cora.
00:45:25That isn't what I want to say.
00:45:26What I want to say is this.
00:45:28That was the first time in 18 months.
00:45:30The first time I have seen someone touch you like a person.
00:45:34Mom and dad don't ever touch you.
00:45:37Sully doesn't touch you.
00:45:38I throw things at you.
00:45:40You don't have anybody, sis.
00:45:44I have him now.
00:45:46That's exactly what I'm saying.
00:45:48She turns on the bench to face me.
00:45:51I have been telling myself this story for two years.
00:45:54The story is that you stole my life from me.
00:45:57You came in.
00:45:59You pushed me out of every spot I had.
00:46:02Maybe that's true.
00:46:03A little.
00:46:05But I watched you walk into the foyer yesterday.
00:46:07Your hair was unwashed.
00:46:09There was a bite mark on your throat.
00:46:11A seven foot orc walked in me behind you.
00:46:14And I realized something.
00:46:16What?
00:46:18You weren't pushing me out.
00:46:20You were finally walking in.
00:46:22You have been outside this family the entire time.
00:46:24I just couldn't see it before.
00:46:26I am quiet for a long moment.
00:46:29I'm not asking you to forgive me.
00:46:31I'm asking you to let me write to you.
00:46:33Every Sunday.
00:46:35Handwritten letters.
00:46:36Mailed at the end of every month.
00:46:41Yes.
00:46:42I'll write back to one in three.
00:46:44Not when you're performing.
00:46:46When you stop performing.
00:46:47Deal.
00:46:49She wipes her face with the back of her hand.
00:46:51He is going to be your husband for real, isn't he?
00:46:56He already is.
00:46:57We're doing the rest of the paperwork next week.
00:46:59Can I come to the wedding?
00:47:02Yes.
00:47:03Even from Switzerland?
00:47:05We'll fly you back for the day.
00:47:07You can come back at Christmas every year, too.
00:47:11Lindenburg until 21.
00:47:13Then we see who you've become.
00:47:15She nods at that.
00:47:17She puts her head on my shoulder.
00:47:20She hasn't done that since she was 11.
00:47:23I remember the exact date.
00:47:30Sis.
00:47:32He loves you.
00:47:34I know that.
00:47:35He loves you in a way Sully never loved me.
00:47:38I figured it out this morning.
00:47:40How did you figure it out?
00:47:43Sully loved being mine.
00:47:46Lysander loves you.
00:47:47She gets up from the bench.
00:47:49She goes back to her suitcase.
00:47:51I sit there a moment longer.
00:47:53The housekeeper folds another sweater.
00:47:56The sun moves on the lawn.
00:47:59Tonight, Lysander and I have a tattoo to get.
00:48:03That night, Lysander and I drive into the city.
00:48:06We go to a tattoo shop on the Lower East Side.
00:48:10The artist is a woman in her 50s.
00:48:13Half her face is tattooed already.
00:48:15She doesn't blink at his size or at his face.
00:48:18She says only one thing.
00:48:20Show me what we're covering.
00:48:22He lifts his shirt.
00:48:24The brand is right there.
00:48:26The number 12.
00:48:28The raised ridges of the six older numbers are visible underneath.
00:48:32What do you want to put over it?
00:48:34Her name.
00:48:35She looks over at me.
00:48:37She doesn't ask if I am sure about this.
00:48:41What font.
00:48:42Whatever he wants.
00:48:45I want to be able to read it from across a room.
00:48:48She draws something on tracing paper.
00:48:50She holds the paper up to his ribs.
00:48:52The word reads Sienna in tall block letters.
00:48:56Tall enough to swallow the brand whole.
00:48:58Tall enough to swallow the six numbers underneath it.
00:49:01That one.
00:49:03She does the work.
00:49:05It takes four hours.
00:49:07He doesn't make a single sound the whole time.
00:49:10He keeps his eyes on me.
00:49:12I sit on a stool beside the table.
00:49:15I hold his hand.
00:49:16I don't let go once.
00:49:18When she is finished,
00:49:20she wipes him down.
00:49:21She wraps the ribs in plastic.
00:49:24She steps back to look.
00:49:27Lord Drainon.
00:49:28I don't work on Highborn.
00:49:30I have never been asked to.
00:49:32Why me tonight?
00:49:33Because you don't work on Highborn.
00:49:35Because you wouldn't have done this for my uncle.
00:49:38Because this is not a Drenum tattoo.
00:49:40She nods slowly.
00:49:42She understands what he means.
00:49:45He sits up on the table.
00:49:47He looks down at his own side.
00:49:49The word Sienna sits under the plastic.
00:49:52The skin is red around the edges and starting to scab over.
00:49:55The brand is gone.
00:49:57The six numbers under it are gone.
00:49:59Everything is gone except my name on him.
00:50:01He puts his hand flat over it.
00:50:03His eyes fill with tears.
00:50:06You did it.
00:50:07I told you I would.
00:50:11Your name is on me now.
00:50:13The number is gone.
00:50:14They do.
00:50:16He pays the artist three times what she charged him.
00:50:19She doesn't argue with that.
00:50:22In the car, he keeps his hand over the tattoo.
00:50:25The whole way home.
00:50:27Sienna.
00:50:29What is it?
00:50:30My grandmother left you $840 million.
00:50:34I'm aware of that.
00:50:36And you took me to a tattoo shop in a strip mall.
00:50:40I had to keep my promise to you.
00:50:43He laughs quietly at that.
00:50:45Will you marry me, Sienna?
00:50:47The legal kind, with the paper and the witnesses.
00:50:51So when somebody asks me what I am,
00:50:54my answer doesn't start with the word mongrel.
00:50:59Yes.
00:51:01When?
00:51:03Next Saturday.
00:51:04The garden.
00:51:06Cora flies back for the day.
00:51:08My father walks me out.
00:51:10And your mother?
00:51:12My mother is doing my hair.
00:51:14She told me this morning.
00:51:16I didn't even ask her.
00:51:18He kisses my hand.
00:51:20The one I am still holding his with.
00:51:24Saturday is six days away.
00:51:26Six days to plan a wedding.
00:51:29It is Saturday in the garden behind the house.
00:51:32There are 40 chairs set out.
00:51:34And white ribbon on every one.
00:51:37The housekeeper has been crying since dawn
00:51:40for reasons he won't explain.
00:51:42My mother does my hair on the back porch.
00:51:45She works in silence for a long time.
00:51:49Your grandmother had this hair.
00:51:51I never told you.
00:51:53I never met her.
00:51:55No, you didn't.
00:51:57She would have liked you.
00:52:00She would have hated him.
00:52:02Mom.
00:52:03That is a compliment.
00:52:05The women in my family always hated the right men.
00:52:09She secures the last pin.
00:52:12She steps back from the mirror.
00:52:14You look like her, Sienna.
00:52:17You haven't said that before.
00:52:19I haven't been able to say it.
00:52:22She sets the brush down.
00:52:25I'm going to sit in the front row.
00:52:27I am going to cry.
00:52:29Don't look at me.
00:52:30Look at him.
00:52:31I was already going to.
00:52:33She kisses the top of my head.
00:52:35She walks down to the garden.
00:52:38Cora comes in wearing a white dress.
00:52:40She is the maid of honor.
00:52:42We didn't announce this.
00:52:43She just showed up in it.
00:52:45He's already there, sis.
00:52:48I can see him through the window.
00:52:51He is in a black coat with a dark red lining.
00:52:54Those are the North Forest colors.
00:52:56His mother's seal is on the collar.
00:52:58The lawyer in Geneva sent it over.
00:53:01He is standing at the end of the garden in the sun.
00:53:04His eyes are closed.
00:53:06Cora hands me the bouquet.
00:53:08Don't trip, sis.
00:53:11I won't trip.
00:53:13My father is in the doorway behind us.
00:53:15He has stopped shaking these last few days.
00:53:18Sweetheart.
00:53:20Daddy.
00:53:21I gave you a pure blood for your 22nd birthday.
00:53:27I remember.
00:53:29I want to give you something today.
00:53:31Something I should have given you back then.
00:53:34Permission to walk out of any room.
00:53:37Any room you don't want to be in.
00:53:40You're a little late on that, Dad.
00:53:43I know.
00:53:44Take it anyway.
00:53:46He puts my hand on his arm.
00:53:48He walks me down the aisle.
00:53:50Lysander opens his eyes.
00:53:52He has been waiting since 10 in the morning.
00:53:54He isn't going to miss a single step now.
00:53:58My father puts my hand in his hand.
00:54:01Take care of her, son.
00:54:03The first 18 years, I didn't.
00:54:05Yes, sir.
00:54:07The priest is the chaplain from our parish church.
00:54:10He reads in English.
00:54:12Lysander asked him for this.
00:54:14He says the vows.
00:54:15I say the vows back.
00:54:17The priest closes the book.
00:54:18There is one tradition I have been asked to honor.
00:54:22Lord Drenjan, speak the name your mother gave you.
00:54:26Loud enough for the garden to hear.
00:54:28Lysander doesn't turn to face the chairs.
00:54:30He turns to face me instead.
00:54:34He says it.
00:54:35Three syllables in the old language.
00:54:38The chairs are quiet for a beat.
00:54:40Then 40 people say it back in two languages at once.
00:54:43My parents, Cora, the housekeeper and the lawyer,
00:54:46the tattoo artist in the back row.
00:54:48The priest turns to me.
00:54:50Lady Drenaman, there is no human tradition for this part.
00:54:54Say what you wish to say.
00:54:56I look out at the chairs and speak up.
00:55:00My name is Sienna Drenwal.
00:55:02I bought him in an alley with cash.
00:55:05He's mine now.
00:55:06The garden laughs at that.
00:55:08Lysander does not.
00:55:10His eyes are wet.
00:55:12He leans down to me.
00:55:14He kisses my face first.
00:55:17Then my mouth.
00:55:18The priest closes the book.
00:55:21It was an intimate reception.
00:55:23Forty chairs were placed around round tables.
00:55:26At eight o'clock, the garden was lit up with lanterns.
00:55:30My father stands first.
00:55:32He taps his glass with a fork.
00:55:35I had a speech written.
00:55:36I'm not going to give it tonight.
00:55:38I'm going to say one thing instead.
00:55:40He looks at Lysander.
00:55:42My daughter ate breakfast alone in this house for 18 months.
00:55:46She doesn't anymore.
00:55:48That's because of you.
00:55:51Sit down.
00:55:52Eat the cake.
00:55:55Lysander sits back down.
00:55:58Cora stands up next.
00:55:59She is shaking.
00:56:01She has never given a speech.
00:56:03My sister came home at 23.
00:56:06The day she walked through the door, I threw a butter knife at her head.
00:56:10I missed by an inch.
00:56:11I have spent two years wishing I had not missed.
00:56:16The garden goes very still.
00:56:18I'm leaving for Switzerland on Tuesday.
00:56:21I am going to be a different person when I come back.
00:56:25Not because she sent me away.
00:56:28Because she came and found me crying last week.
00:56:30And she didn't have to.
00:56:33I look up at her.
00:56:34My father has been talking to her about more than I knew.
00:56:39I want her husband to know something too.
00:56:43You take care of her.
00:56:44That's all I'm asking.
00:56:47For as long as you walk.
00:56:49Lysander stands.
00:56:51He bows slightly to her.
00:56:54Yes.
00:56:55She sits down crying.
00:56:57My mother takes her hand under the table.
00:57:00Later, there is dancing.
00:57:03Lysander has never been allowed to dance.
00:57:06The first thing he does is step on my foot.
00:57:09I'm sorry, Sienna.
00:57:10That was your foot.
00:57:12Try again.
00:57:13He tries again.
00:57:15He steps on my foot again.
00:57:19I am terrible at this.
00:57:21You are terrible.
00:57:23Keep going anyway.
00:57:24By the fifth song, he isn't terrible anymore.
00:57:28He has stopped looking down at his feet.
00:57:31My mother dances with my father.
00:57:34They haven't danced together in a decade.
00:57:36He cries on her shoulder, quietly.
00:57:39She pretends not to notice.
00:57:41At eleven, I find Lysander at the edge of the garden.
00:57:44He has two glasses of champagne.
00:57:49For me?
00:57:50For you.
00:57:51I take one.
00:57:52We sit on the stone bench.
00:57:54Where Cora and I sat last week.
00:57:57Lady Drennaman.
00:57:59Don't start with that.
00:58:00You'll have to get used to it eventually.
00:58:02Just not tonight.
00:58:04We are quiet together for a moment.
00:58:09I have a question, Sienna.
00:58:11I've been holding it since the bath.
00:58:13Ask me anything.
00:58:15The first night in the alley.
00:58:16The traitor said I was already ruined.
00:58:19Why did you say yes?
00:58:21I told you.
00:58:22Because nobody else would.
00:58:24Is that the whole answer?
00:58:25No, it isn't.
00:58:29Tell me the rest.
00:58:31I thought you were like me.
00:58:33That we could be together.
00:58:36He puts down his glass.
00:58:38Sienna.
00:58:40Since the first time I held you,
00:58:41I have been afraid you would not stay.
00:58:44I am staying.
00:58:46He picks me up off the bench.
00:58:48He carries me through the garden to the back door.
00:58:51The garden is empty by now.
00:58:53The lanterns are still on.
00:58:56Take me upstairs, husband.
00:58:59Yes.
00:59:01We are in our bedroom.
00:59:03The fire is in the hearth.
00:59:04The door is closed behind us.
00:59:07He sets me down on the rug.
00:59:09He kneels down in front of me.
00:59:11He undoes the dress slowly.
00:59:12The same way he did it the first night in this house.
00:59:17He stops when the bodice falls.
00:59:19I need to tell you something before tonight starts.
00:59:23I sit down on the rug with him.
00:59:26Tell me what it is.
00:59:28I'm going to wake up tomorrow and you'll still be here.
00:59:30And the day after.
00:59:32I didn't believe that until today.
00:59:36What changed today?
00:59:37Forty men in your garden called out my mother's name.
00:59:41You stood before them all.
00:59:44You said you bought me from an alley.
00:59:47You said it loudly.
00:59:49He puts his hand over the tattoo on his ribs.
00:59:52Your name is on me.
00:59:55Everyone in that garden knows it.
00:59:58They do.
01:00:00He leans his forehead against mine.
01:00:03I'm yours.
01:00:05You're mine.
01:00:06I press my forehead back against his.
01:00:10I pull him down to the rug with me.
01:00:12I put my mouth on the tattoo.
01:00:17Lay back for me.
01:00:19He lays back on the rug.
01:00:23I want to look at you tonight.
01:00:26Look at me then.
01:00:28I sit on his hips.
01:00:29I put his hands on my waist.
01:00:32I move slow.
01:00:34He watches me the whole time.
01:00:36Neither of us is in a hurry.
01:00:38We have time now.
01:00:41When I come, he holds me through it.
01:00:46He doesn't look away once.
01:00:48He follows me a minute later.
01:00:51He sits up afterward.
01:00:52He pulls me against his chest.
01:00:55He puts his mouth on the bite on my throat.
01:00:57The scar is healed now.
01:00:59He kisses it instead of biting it.
01:01:03I love you, Sienna Drennan.
01:01:05I love you too, Lysander.
01:01:08He pulls the blanket down over us.
01:01:13The fire is still going in the hearth.
01:01:17He falls asleep on his back with his hand over the tattoo.
01:01:21His other hand stays on my hip.
01:01:23I lie awake for a few minutes, listening to him breathe steady.
01:01:30Eighteen months ago, I ate breakfast alone.
01:01:33Three weeks ago, I bought a man in an alley.
01:01:36Tonight, my husband is asleep on the rug.
01:01:41My name is on his ribs.
01:01:43Best money I ever spent.
01:01:45I close my eyes and sleep.
01:01:46Two years later, my son is asleep on the roof.
01:01:46I love you too, Kicks and Dalyo.
01:01:46I hate you too.
01:01:47I hate you too.
01:01:47One that many times you like.
01:01:48I love you too.
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