- 15 hours ago
- #rs
- #shorts
- #short_drama
The Mongrel husband I Bought for Five Grand -New Movie- Ep,35 #RS [Full Movie]
#Shorts
#Short_Drama
#Shorts
#Short_Drama
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:012 a.m. I'm crouched outside a bar. Chain smoking. Makeup wrecked. Heels kicked off. Whiskey down the front of
00:00:10my dress. I look like a woman whose life just blew up in her face. That's because it did. A
00:00:16man 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.
00:00:31Tonight's auction leftover. Nobody bid on him. We torch him at sunrise.
00:00:35Here'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. Halfbreed. One-eyed dead. Tusk snap. Big bastard. Tank of a body.
00:00:53Takes a hit. Keeps coming.
00:00:54Show me.
00:01:01I forget how to breathe.
00:01:037 foot 2. Ash grey skin. Scar tissue running from his hairline down to his collar.
00:01:09The left side of his face is wrecked. A white scar cuts him from temple to jaw. That eye is
00:01:14dead. Cloudy. Half-blind. Left tusk snapped in half. The right one filed sharp. His horn broken clean at the
00:01:22tip. Shoulders so wide they nearly scrape both walls of the alley. The traitor kicks the back of his knee.
00:01:28He 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. His one good eye finds mine. Amber. Calm. Way too calm for someone scheduled to
00:01:50be ashes by sunrise.
00:01:51Then I think about Sullivan. My husband. The one waiting at home. Silk shirts ironed by staff. 6 foot 10
00:02:00of factory perfect pureblood orc. He sleeps in my stepsister's wing. The official reason is my perfume gives him headaches.
00:02:07He brushes her hair every morning.
00:02:09I eat breakfast alone. 18 months of that. You getting this? Me. Sienna Quinn. Sullivan came from the biggest fortune
00:02:17in New York. 23 years old.
00:02:192 million dollars I paid for a husband who thinks I smell bad. I grind my cigarette into the pavement.
00:02:26How 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. You'd love to hear
00:02:46what your operation moves through this alley.
00:02:50Deal.
00:02:51I peel off the bills. The chain drops into my palm. Cold. Heavier than I expected. The orc tilts his
00:03:01head. When he speaks, his voice comes out low and rough.
00:03:06If you wanted to hurt something pretty...
00:03:08If you wanted to hurt something pretty...
00:03:09You 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. Because tonight, the world's most beautiful orc is at home. He won't look me
00:03:29in the eye. And this half-blind mongery just did. I tug the chain, gentle, just once, because nobody else
00:03:38would.
00:03:43The Uber driver locks every door the second listener folds in. He has to fold himself sideways to fit. Head
00:03:50against the roof. One knee in my lap. Shoulder pinning me against the window. I haven't been this close to
00:03:57another body in a long time.
00:03:59What's your name? What's your name? He stares at the headpred for two whole blocks.
00:04:04Lysiander. My mother named me Lysiander. The auction tag calls me Mongrel 72.
00:04:1271 before him. All burned. I'm Sienna. I'm not calling you a number.
00:04:18He doesn't say thank you. He doesn't believe me yet. That's fine. He will.
00:04:25The plaza. Penthouse.
00:04:27I slipped the bellman 300 bucks to wipe the security footage. He doesn't ask why. That'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. His broken horn scrapes plaster off the ceiling. Sit.
00:04:43The couch will hold you.
00:04:45I don't sit on furniture. You do now. He sits. The frame groans under him. He puts his hands flat
00:04:54on his knees.
00:04:55Palms down. Fingers spread. The pose you train an animal to hold. Somebody taught him that. I'll deal with that
00:05:02later.
00:05:04I come back from the bathroom with a wet towel. The second I lift it toward his face, his head
00:05:10snaps back hard.
00:05:11Don't! It's just water.
00:05:13That side of my face is dead, Sienna. My body remembers the hand, not what's in it.
00:05:20I lower the towel slowly. I sit beside him on the couch. I don't touch him. Eighteen months in a
00:05:27marriage with no contact.
00:05:29Two hours in a hotel room with a stranger who flinches when I try. God, we're a pair.
00:05:35Tell me who took the eye.
00:05:38The owner'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. I turn it over. The inside of his wrist is covered in burn scars. Old
00:05:56slave caps over older slave caps. Layers of them.
00:05:59I press my mouth to the inside of his wrist. He stops breathing.
00:06:05Don't be soft with me, Sienna. I'll break.
00:06:10Then break.
00:06:13He drops his forehead into my shoulder. He shakes against me. I put my hand on the back of his
00:06:20head. His hair is rough. Not like Sullivan's silk and conditioner mane. But somehow it makes me feel safer than
00:06:28Sullivan ever did.
00:06:32My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
00:06:35Sully is losing it. He smells another orc on you. He's pacing the foyer. Tusks won't retract. Where are you?
00:06:43I read it twice. Then I smile. First real smile in eighteen months. You have to understand my life.
00:06:51I was five years old when somebody matched me off a sidewalk in Queens. My parents looked for me for
00:06:57one year. Then they gave up. And adopted a baby girl from the system. They named her Cora.
00:07:02She got eighteen years of birthday parties, ballet lessons, piano recitals, family vacations. I got eighteen years of foster homes,
00:07:11a juvie cell at eleven, a girl gang in Bushwick at fourteen, and a DNA test at twenty-three that
00:07:16matched me to the Quinns.
00:07:17When I walked through their door at twenty-three, my little sister was seventeen. She'd been the only daughter her
00:07:23entire life. She screamed. She broke a vase. She threw a butter knife at my head and missed by an
00:07:29inch.
00:07:29Get out of my house, you trash!
00:07:33My mother held her and stroked her hair. My father stepped between us.
00:07:37Your sister's been spoiled. Try to be patient, sweetheart.
00:07:40That was the day I learned the rules of this family. I keep my mouth shut about Bushwick. I keep
00:07:45my mouth shut about the pickpocking. I smile pretty at brunch.
00:07:51I cry on cue when the inheritance lawyer drops by. The allowance keeps showing up. Every birthday, my parents buy
00:07:57me something extravagant, paying down the guilt of eighteen years they spent not looking hard enough.
00:08:01On my twenty-second, they bought me Sullivan. Two-million-dollar pure-blood orc. Show-qualified bloodline, brushed coat, polished
00:08:08tusks.
00:08:09Your sister's so quiet, sweetheart. A companion orc would help her come out of her shell.
00:08:14Cora screamed for three days. Then, she ran away with him for ten. She brought him back skin and bones.
00:08:20My mother slapped her across the face for the first time in her life. And from that day forward, Sullivan
00:08:25only responded to one set of footsteps in the hallway. Hers.
00:08:29He'd lived ten days as her stray. He decided she was his real owner. I was just the woman whose
00:08:35name was on the paperwork.
00:08:37Eighteen months of eating breakfast alone in a house with five other people in it.
00:08:42I look down at the phone. Me. Tell him to get used to it. I press send. I put both
00:08:49my hands on At Lysman's face. I make him look at me. You're staying with me.
00:08:56You don't know what you just bought. Then tell me in the morning. He pulls me against his chest. His
00:09:04arm is bigger around than my waist.
00:09:07His heartbeat is slow and heavy under my ear. He's asleep in three minutes. I lie in the dark, listening
00:09:15to him breathe.
00:09:15In eighteen months, my pure-blood husband has never once fallen asleep in the same room as me. The mongrel
00:09:20I 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. His whole palm covers my neck. His thumb sits on
00:09:34my pulse. He isn't squeezing. He's staring at the door. This isn't a threat. He's checking the room. I keep
00:09:41my voice low.
00:09:45Talk to me. What's at the door?
00:09:49Somebody's in the hallway. Get behind me.
00:09:52He's off the bed in one movement. Three hundred pounds of orc and not a sound on the carpet. He
00:09:59puts his eye to the peephole. His shoulders drop.
00:10:02Room service.
00:10:04He opens the door. The bellboy on the other side sees seven feet of scarred mongo filling the frame and
00:10:10drops the tray. Lysander catches it before it hits the carpet. Without looking down, he closes the door. He stands
00:10:19with his back to me.
00:10:21Send me back to the trader at sunrise. I sit up in bed. What? He keeps the five thousand. He
00:10:29puts me down anyway. You walk away clean. Lysian. Your pure blood forgives you. Your family forgives you. The story
00:10:39is you got drunk. You did something stupid. You came home. End of story.
00:10:46I get out of bed. I cross the carpet barefoot. I stand on my toes to put my palm flat
00:10:54against his sternum. His heart is jackrabbiting under my hand. He's terrified. Afraid last night was a lie. Did you
00:11:05sleep tonight?
00:11:07Yes. Three hours. How long since you slept three hours in a row before that?
00:11:14His mouth opens. He doesn't have an answer.
00:11:21I take a breath. I've been married for 18 months to the most beautiful orc in this city. He looks
00:11:28at me. He won't enter my bedroom. He won't touch my hand at dinner. He sleeps in a different wing
00:11:36because my perfume gives him a headache. He brushes my stepster's hair every morning and pretends I'm not at the
00:11:42table.
00:11:42I curl my fingers in the fabric of his shirt. I curl my fingers in the fabric of his shirt.
00:11:48I've been invisible in my own house for 18 months.
00:11:52Sienna.
00:11:52Sienna. Tonight you saw me first. I look up. You fell asleep on my chest in three minutes. Do you
00:12:00understand what that did to me? I'm not sending you back. He stares down at me. His eyes are wet.
00:12:08You shouldn't love a thing like me. Then we have a problem. Because I think I already do. I take
00:12:16his hand. I lead him back to the bed. Lay down. You haven't slept in three days. He lays down.
00:12:24I curl on his chest.
00:12:27My ear is right over his heart. Why did you really put your hand on my throat earlier?
00:12:34Habit. Mongrels reach for the threat first. Always.
00:12:42You weren't threatening me. You were guarding me. He almost laughs. He tips my chin up with one knuckle. His
00:12:52eye catches the light.
00:12:54Sullivan never touched you, did he?
00:12:58He never sat on the same couch as me. He leans down.
00:13:03Then I'm going to be the first thing on your skin.
00:13:06He kisses me. Hard. The broken tusk drags my lower lip open. He licks the cut. I moan into his
00:13:15mouth. He grabs both my wrists in one hand and pins them above my head. Other hand grips my jaw.
00:13:20Open. I open. His tongue is in my mouth. His knee shoves my thighs apart. He drops his weight on
00:13:28me. The bed dips. The frame groans. He's hard. I feel him against my hip. Through the fabric. Heavy. Thick.
00:13:38I whine.
00:13:39Look at you. Tiny thing. Already shaking for me.
00:13:43He shoves my night ground up to my waist. One hand. The other still pinning my wrists. His palm slides
00:13:49down between my thighs.
00:13:51Already wet.
00:13:52Listener.
00:13:53Say please.
00:13:56Say it, Sienna.
00:13:59Please.
00:14:04His fingers work into me. Two at once. Thick. Rough. He's watching my face.
00:14:12That's it. There she is.
00:14:14He keeps going till I'm shaking under him. Then, he stops.
00:14:20No.
00:14:22Hush.
00:14:23I 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.
00:14:40Just 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.
00:14:55He kisses me with it.
00:14:56Lets me taste myself.
00:14:57Now, look at me when I take you.
00:14:59He pushes in.
00:15:01Slow.
00:15:02So slow.
00:15:03I 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.
00:15:20I gasp his name.
00:15:21He swallows it.
00:15:23He 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.
00:15:36Fuck me harder, the sealer.
00:15:37His 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.
00:16:06Yours, Leicester.
00:16:07He kisses me hard.
00:16:09I taste my own blood in his mouth.
00:16:11And 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.
00:16:19Good.
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.
00:16:43I propped 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.
00:17:27And they see it.
00:17:30He shakes his head once.
00:17:31Sienna.
00:17:33Take it off.
00:17:33I'll buy you a scarf downstairs.
00:17:35Wear it until the bruise fades.
00:17:37Walk back into that house clean.
00:17:40Tell them I was a bad dream.
00:17:42You 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, Sienna.
00:17:54Hard enough to leave your prints next to your teeth.
00:17:57I can't.
00:17:58He doesn't press.
00:17:59Then 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.
00:18:44Tusk won't retract.
00:18:46Dad locked him in the wine cellar.
00:18:47Mom is crying.
00:18:48Where are you?
00:18:55Lysander 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 guards at his post.
00:19:10He doesn't look at us.
00:19:11Stay outside, Marco.
00:19:13Whatever you hear.
00:19:15Stay outside.
00:19:16He looks relieved and nods.
00:19:18I walk up the gravel drive with Lysander 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 quarry.
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.
00:20:15Sullivan.
00:20:16Put.
00:20:17Him.
00:20:17Down.
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.
00:20:27He stops three feet away.
00:20:28He cannot take the next step.
00:20:30Pure Blood Instant 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.
00:20:39Lysander 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.
00:20:45No.
00:20:47Then Sullivan 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?
00:21:03Lysander 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, son?
00:21:14Lysander looks at me first.
00:21:16Then at my father.
00:21:17Her name was Mayerwyn of the North Forest.
00:21:21My father stops breathing for a beat.
00:21:23My father pours brandy in his study.
00:21:26His hands shake.
00:21:27He doesn't drink any of it.
00:21:28Lysander stands by the door.
00:21:30He won't sit in this house yet.
00:21:32Marwyn of the North Forest married a human.
00:21:34Lysander.
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.
00:21:53There 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 fifteen years ago.
00:22:12He paid Orloff and sons twelve thousand pieces.
00:22:16They 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 twelve 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.
00:22:41And he bit you?
00:22:42After one night?
00:22:44Yes.
00:22:47Your grandmother died last month, son.
00:22:50Meroi's mother.
00:22:51The estate is in probate.
00:22:53I don't care about the estate.
00:22:55You should care.
00:22:57The day Varric learns Lysadar is alive.
00:22:59He is coming through that gate.
00:23:01Lysander speaks from the doorway.
00:23:03Quiet.
00:23:04He already knows.
00:23:05He felt the bond pulse at two a.m.
00:23:07My father closes his eyes.
00:23:08Then he is already on a plane.
00:23:10How long do we have?
00:23:12Six 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 paring 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.
00:23:43He was never yours.
00:23:43Mom and Dad bought him for you and he chose me anyway.
00:23:46You imprinted a twelve-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 eighteen months.
00:24:22I've watched you switch the tears off the second the camera leaves.
00:24:28Sis.
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 narrate it.
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.
00:24:46She drops the knife.
00:24:48Then 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.
00:24:54I 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 twenty-one.
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 seventeen once.
00:25:34Nobody was soft with me back then.
00:25:36She isn't broken.
00:25:38She is spoiled.
00:25:39There'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.
00:25:49Just for one minute.
00:25:50Let me hold you.
00:25:52He holds me in the hallway.
00:25:54Behind him, down the corridor.
00:25:56My mother is standing in a doorway.
00:25:57She is watching us closely.
00:25:59She doesn't speak.
00:26:00She watches him put his hand on the back of my head.
00:26:04Then she goes back into her room and closes the door.
00:26:08The doorbell rings at three 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.
00:26:22He checks the camera in the front hall.
00:26:24There are three orcs on the step.
00:26:26They wear iron coats with full tusks and unbroken horns.
00:26:33My uncle's men.
00:26:35Six hours, you said.
00:26:36He was closer than I thought.
00:26:39He moves me behind him.
00:26:41He opens the door himself, the 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.
00:26:53They go to the snapped 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. A human.
00:27:12I admire your nerve.
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.
00:27:30Listener'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.
00:27:43You paid Orlok and Zan'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.
00:28:07Your mother married Benito.
00:28:10Your father was a stain on our bloodline.
00:28:13We did what was necessary.
00:28:16The three of them stepped toward me.
00:28:20Varric's hand comes up to strike.
00:28:22Lysaner moves on him.
00:28:24The first hit cracks bone.
00:28:27The 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 doors come back open.
00:28:41Lysar turns into pain.
00:28:45There'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.
00:28:55Lysather turns to me.
00:28:57He looks wild.
00:28:58His 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.
00:29:07I sit him on the closed lid of the toilet.
00:29:09I 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. It comes off easy.
00:29:29Look at me.
00:29:30He doesn't look up.
00:29:31Lysather, 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.
00:29:50I was eight years old.
00:29:51I tightened 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.
00:30:05Then the door opened and it wasn't her.
00:30:07I'm here.
00:30:10I'm here.
00:30:12My uncle paid them to do it.
00:30:14I was eight years old in a chair.
00:30:17He 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.
00:30:26I 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.
00:30:45But 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.
00:30:58You 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.
00:31:15Where 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.
00:31:28I'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.
00:31:352am 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.
00:31:48I haven't been in a bathtub since I was a child.
00:31:50You're in one now.
00:31:52I 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 harm flat on it.
00:32:17Tell me what this one is.
00:32:20Cage number.
00:32:2112th 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.
00:32:37He 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.
00:32:48She 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.
00:33:09Yes?
00:33:11Nobody 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.
00:33:52Not removing it.
00:33:54Tattooing over it.
00:33:56I want my name on you, not his number.
00:33:58He doesn't say anything for a long time.
00:34:01Alright.
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.
00:34:17I get up on my toes to reach his ear.
00:34:20And 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.
00:34:32Different this time.
00:34:34We don't make it to my bed.
00:34:36We get as far as the bedroom door.
00:34:41He stops me in the doorway.
00:34:42He puts both hands flat on the frame.
00:34:46One 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.
00:35:54I 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.
00:36:05When his mouth gets where it is going, I make a sound.
00:36:08A sound I have never made in this house.
00:36:10I make sure it carries through the wall.
00:36:12He laughs against me.
00:36:14He doesn't stop what he's doing.
00:36:15When I come, he 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.
00:36:31The 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.
00:36:44Nobody 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.
00:36:52He starts to move again.
00:36:54Slower 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.
00:37:16He 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.
00:38:01Don'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.
00:38:27I'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.
00:38:45Let 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 I am sorry Sienna.
00:39:12I don't say anything back.
00:39:14She doesn't expect me to.
00:39:16She 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.
00:40:13My 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.
00:40:31He 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.
00:40:42He sits in the chair next to mine.
00:40:44His hand stays on the back of my chair.
00:40:47The estate of Lady Alias Drenum was promoted in chambers last week.
00:40:52Her amended will was executed three days before her death.
00:40:57Three witnesses signed it.
00:40:58Read 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.
00:41:14I sit there for a moment.
00:41:16The lawyer waits patiently.
00:41:21How much exactly?
00:41:23840 million dollars 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.
00:41:44She 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, Lord Varric.
00:42:22I look at Lysanium.
00:42:26I'm not refusing it.
00:42:30No.
00:42:31It's not for me.
00:42:33It's for the boy in the chair.
00:42:40Yes.
00:42:43I 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.
00:42:55When it is done, the lawyer stands up.
00:42:58He bows slightly to be polite.
00:43:01Lady Drenum.
00:43:02Don't call me that yet.
00:43:03It is the name on the deed now, Mom.
00:43:07He leaves the study.
00:43:09My father pours himself the Berndi he didn't drink yesterday.
00:43:13He drinks it down now.
00:43:16Sienna.
00:43:17Dad.
00:43:19I gave you a pure blood 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 it at Lysal either.
00:43:41Sotheby's takes Sullivan tomorrow.
00:43:45Open auction.
00:43:46No reserve.
00:43:48Dad, not the auction.
00:43:51There's a retired doctor in Maine.
00:43:53He works with show orcs who couldn't adjust.
00:43:56Sullivan is gonna 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,
00:44:34Cora 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.
00:44:48Her arms are wrapped around her knees.
00:44:51She is 17 years old.
00:44:54She looks 12.
00:44:56I leave on Friday.
00:44:58I know.
00:44:59I packed half of this myself.
00:45:02I saw you did.
00:45:06I sit down next to her on the bench.
00:45:09Sis.
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.
00:45:20The way Sully puts his hand on mine when I'm crying.
00:45:24Cora.
00:45:25That isn't what I want to say.
00:45:27What I want to say is this.
00:45:28That was the first time in 18 months.
00:45:31The 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.
00:45:45I 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.
00:45:55The story is that you stole my life from me.
00:45:58You 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.
00:46:08Your hair was unwashed.
00:46:10There 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.
00:46:25I 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.
00:47:00Can 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.
00:47:39How 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.
00:47:54The housekeeper folds another sweater.
00:47:56The sun moves on the lawn.
00:47:59Tonight, Lysander and I have a tattoo to get.
00:48:04That 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.
00:48:12Half 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.
00:48:25The 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.
00:48:43Whatever 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.
00:48:53The 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.
00:49:08He 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, she wipes him down.
00:49:21She wraps the ribs in plastic.
00:49:24She steps back to look.
00:49:26Lord Dranen.
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.
00:49:36Because 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.
00:50:15They do.
00:50:16He pays the artist three times what she charged him.
00:50:20She 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 dollars.
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.
00:50:46Will 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.
00:51:00Yes.
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.
00:51:19He kisses my hand.
00:51:21The one I am still holding his with.
00:51:24Saturday is six days away.
00:51:27Six days to plan a wedding.
00:51:29It is Saturday in the garden behind the house.
00:51:33There are 40 chairs set out.
00:51:34And white ribbon on every one.
00:51:37The housekeeper has been crying since dawn for 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.
00:51:54I 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.
00:52:28I 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.
00:52:36She 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.
00:52:46He'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.
00:53:32Something I should have given you back then.
00:53:35Permission 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.
00:53:55He 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.
00:54:09He 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.
00:54:19There 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.
00:54:51There 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 Drenwall.
00:55:03I bought him in an alley with cash.
00:55:05He's mine now.
00:55:06The garden laughs at that.
00:55:09Lysadar 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.
00:55:19The priest closes the book.
00:55:21It was an intimate reception.
00:55:2340 chairs were placed around round tables.
00:55:26At 8 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.
00:55:41He looks at Lysadar.
00:55:43My 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.
00:55:55Lysadar sits back down.
00:55:57Cora stands up next.
00:55:59She is shaking.
00:56:01She has never given a speech.
00:56:04My 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.
00:56:31And she didn't have to.
00:56:33I look up at her.
00:56:35My 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.
00:56:49Lysadar 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.
00:57:01Later, there is dancing.
00:57:04Lysadar 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.
00:57:25By 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.
00:57:38Quietly.
00:57:39She pretends not to notice.
00:57:41At eleven, I find Lysadar 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.
00:58:03Just 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.
00:58:14The 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?
00:58:26No, 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.
00:58:47He picks me up off the bench.
00:58:49He 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.
00:59:05The 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.
00:59:24I 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.
00:59:33I 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.
00:59:45You 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.
01:00:20He 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.
01:00:53He 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.
01:01:06I 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.
01:01:24I 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.
Comments