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00:02My cousin Sarah and I were both given to the Dragon Court.
00:06I went to the firstborn, Aldric.
00:08She went to the second son, Dorian.
00:09A year later, Sarah bore a white dragon.
00:12While I came out, nine, ugly, malformed, nothing resembling a dragon.
00:16The Dragon King cared deeply about appearances.
00:19He named Dorian his heir on the spot.
00:21Aldric, in his fury, handed all nine of my children to the Phoenix Court as blood catalysts, me along with
00:26them.
00:27If I marry Sarah, the throne will be mine.
00:31I couldn't survive the shame.
00:32I walked into the Sacred Flame and let it take me.
00:35He didn't know.
00:35Sarah was hybrid.
00:36I was pure.
00:37My children had been ugly because they took after him.
00:40When I opened my eyes, I was back on Selection Day.
00:42Aldric, Dorian, the Fox Clan has sent two.
00:46Each of you choose.
00:47I understood immediately.
00:48I had been reborn.
00:49This life, I could not let Aldric choose me.
00:52But as I stood there scheming, Aldric walked past me with a look of distaste and pulled Sarah forward instead.
00:57I understood immediately.
00:59Aldric had been reborn, too.
01:00I reached for Sarah's hand, shook my head at her.
01:02The Dragon King wasn't a tyrant of these things.
01:05If she refused, she could go home.
01:07Sarah yanked her hand away.
01:08Liar.
01:09Satisfaction dripped from her voice.
01:11Don't tell me you're jealous that Aldric chose me.
01:13The Dragon Court passed its throne the same way most courts did.
01:17Bloodline first, then birth order.
01:18Aldric and Dorian were both sons of the Dragon Queen.
01:21Aldric had precedence.
01:23Sarah was blinded by the crown she thought she could see.
01:26I cursed her silently for a fool, then let her go.
01:29If Aldric took Sarah, that left me with Dorian.
01:31Except Dorian refused on the spot.
01:33Father, I'm not ready for a console.
01:36I blinked, touched my face.
01:37I really wasn't that bad.
01:39Fine, go home.
01:40Find a fox-blooded man who actually deserved me.
01:43I was pleasantly imagining exactly that when a figure stepped out from the back of the hall.
01:47He wore a mask, two short horns curled from his brow.
01:50Brother, did you forget I haven't taken a consort either?
01:53Brother?
01:54Was this Caelan, the Dragon King's youngest sibling?
01:57Rumor had it the Dragon King doted on him.
01:59Had even once considered naming him heir.
02:01But Caelan was wild, unpredictable.
02:03Refused to take consort or sire children.
02:06The idea was shelved.
02:07He hadn't appeared in my first life at all.
02:09Caelan strolled toward me, easy and unhurried.
02:12His dark eyes fixed on me.
02:13Brother, she's beautiful.
02:14You let your sons choose first and didn't think of me?
02:17Hardly fair.
02:18The Dragon King called him an insufferable wretch and waved his hand.
02:21I was given to Caelan.
02:23Aldric, still holding Sarah's arm, couldn't resist.
02:26Uncle, don't let her face fool you.
02:28Caelan's fingers locked around my wrist.
02:30His dark eyes sharpened instantly.
02:33Who I choose is not your business.
02:36Caelan brought me to his quarters.
02:38No intention of removing the mask.
02:40Not even that night.
02:41Alone, together.
02:41What surprised me more, he had no intention of sharing the bed.
02:45He placed a folded blanket down the center of the stone bed.
02:48Divided it precisely in two.
02:49You sleep on the inside.
02:51I'll take the outside.
02:52I sat there clutching my blanket, genuinely confused.
02:55Dragon men were known for their appetites.
02:57In my first life, Aldric had been relentless.
03:00Illness didn't slow him.
03:01My discomfort didn't slow him.
03:03Was Caelan perhaps unable?
03:05He seemed to read my thoughts.
03:06His expression cooled.
03:07I married you because I pitted you.
03:09If I hadn't, do you know where you'd be right now?
03:12Aldric had planned to have me killed again.
03:14He wasn't going to marry me, but he wasn't going to release me either.
03:17The moment I stepped outside the dragon court unattached, I would have been bound and delivered
03:21to the Phoenix Lord as a gift.
03:23Aldric carried memories from our first life.
03:25He knew the Phoenix Lord wanted me.
03:27He intended to use that.
03:28The thought of what the Phoenix Lord did to the women in his court made me cold all over.
03:32That cold fear turned quickly into hatred.
03:34In our first life, Aldric had bled my nine children dry.
03:38He had cornered me into the flame.
03:39Now, reborn, he still wasn't finished.
03:42How could something so brutal claim the right to rule?
03:44The thought followed me into sleep.
03:46Dawn.
03:46Caelan pulled me up to pay morning respects to the Dragon King.
03:49I was still yawning when we arrived.
03:51Aldric and Sarah were already there.
03:53Composed.
03:54Impeccable.
03:54Sarah looked radiant.
03:55Her legs were shaking slightly.
03:57Marks on her neck.
03:58A great many of them.
03:59I winced.
04:00That must have been brutal.
04:01Aldric was rough even when welcomed.
04:03For Sarah's first time, she probably needed help getting out of bed.
04:06She caught my expression and mistook it for envy.
04:09She tugged her collar and leaned close.
04:11How was your night, Lyra?
04:12Word is, he didn't touch you at all.
04:15I glanced pointedly at her inner thighs.
04:17Worry about yourself, Sarah.
04:18She drew back with a huff.
04:20Enjoy it now.
04:21Wait until the king finishes with you.
04:23Sure enough.
04:24The Dragon King's voice came cold and measured.
04:26Caelan, explain yourself.
04:29Caelan looked entirely unbothered.
04:30Thought she was interesting yesterday.
04:33Changed my mind by evening.
04:35The Dragon King hurled his crystal goblet into the courtyard.
04:38Disgraceful.
04:39After the morning audience, the Dragon King summoned me privately.
04:42He wanted to know what had actually happened.
04:45I told him I'd been too shy.
04:46He studied me for a long time.
04:48Told me to give Caelan an air soon.
04:51Then sent me on my way.
04:52I returned to find Caelan waiting, frost in his eyes.
04:55What did he ask you?
04:56I told him everything.
04:57He was quiet for a moment.
04:59Then he told me to avoid private meetings with the Dragon King going forward.
05:03If anything came up, redirect it to him.
05:05It only deepened the mystery.
05:07The dynamic between these two was as unreadable as the mask Caelan never removed.
05:11Before I could untangle any of it, news swept through the entire court.
05:15Sarah was with child.
05:16A golden light surrounded her belly.
05:18Aldrick was beside himself.
05:20He invited the whole court to witness at dawn.
05:22I was invited too.
05:23Of course.
05:24Sarah opened with a performance.
05:26She dropped the Dragon Pearl on the floor and smiled at me sweetly.
05:29Leia, I'm carrying Dragon Young.
05:32Could you pick that up for me?
05:34She was barely a month along.
05:35She could bend perfectly well.
05:37This was theater.
05:37The court watched with amusement.
05:39Aldrick joined in, implying I was a pretty bird who couldn't lay eggs.
05:43I was about to respond when a sharp gust lifted the pearl,
05:46knocked it against Sarah's face, and dropped it neatly back into her hand.
05:49Caelan lowered his wrist.
05:51He looked at Sarah with no particular expression.
05:53Did you lose the use of your hands?
05:55Sarah burst into tears against Aldrick's chest.
05:58Aldrick, humiliated, redirected me.
06:00Uncle!
06:01She only asked her to pick something up.
06:02Why the outburst?
06:03Lyra's pretty, I'll give her that.
06:05But she can't even carry a dragon child.
06:07You're the only one who sees anything in her.
06:08Caelan's response was immediate.
06:10She's beautiful, at least.
06:12The two of you are ugly and useless.
06:14That puts her ahead.
06:14Aldrick went white, then shifted into Dragon Pearl.
06:17He looked ferocious.
06:18He fought like a beginner.
06:19Caelan played with him, barely tried.
06:21The court watched Aldrick crumble under what amounted to light sparring, and the question
06:25moved quietly through the room.
06:27Was this really the man meant to be king?
06:29Aldrick stopped before he could lose more thoroughly.
06:32He grabbed Sarah and walked out.
06:34When my white dragon is born and takes the throne, none of you will be laughing!
06:38Gone before anyone could point out he'd forgotten entirely about the golden light he'd summoned
06:43everyone to see.
06:44Aldrick didn't forget Sleight's.
06:46He waited until Caelan was away, and came for me.
06:49He wove mist across the back courtyard, trapping me on the hillside.
06:52Called wind and rain down until I was soaked through and shaking.
06:56Only then did he appear.
06:57He looked at me, drenched, and something greedy moved across his face.
07:00Lyra.
07:01He still hasn't touched you, hasn't he?
07:04He came toward me.
07:05I backed up.
07:05He seized my wrist.
07:06Your bloodline isn't quite right for a proper consort.
07:09But a secondary one?
07:11That could work.
07:12I slapped him.
07:13He grabbed me by the throat.
07:15I couldn't breathe.
07:15Then he let go.
07:16Even now, Caelan's name keeps him from going all the way.
07:19When he finds out the only things you can produce are malformed little monsters, let's
07:23see how long he protects you.
07:24You're a low-clan princess, Lyra.
07:26When that day comes, I'll crush you like nothing.
07:29He didn't know.
07:30The clan he despised was about to ruin him completely.
07:32I cast my glamour, between one breath and the next.
07:35We were standing in front of the Dragon King's council chamber.
07:38Every word Aldric had just said had fallen on the Dragon King's ears, and the ears of
07:42every allied clan lord present.
07:44The Fox Clan was low-ranked, yes, but they were under Dragon Court protection.
07:48What Aldric had said amounted to announcing, in public, that the Dragon Court held its subject
07:53clans in contempt, not something a future king could afford to say aloud.
07:57The Dragon King's crystal scepter cracked against Aldric's knees.
08:00You have deeply disappointed me.
08:02Aldric hit the ground.
08:03His shoulders trembled.
08:05The Dragon King stripped him of his privileges and confined him to quarters.
08:08The air presumptive, favored of the court one hour ago, became invisible by afternoon.
08:13I had won cleanly.
08:14Caelan was furious.
08:15Do you understand how dangerous that was?
08:17What if he had actually killed you?
08:19He'd figured it out, of course.
08:20I had used an enchantment to lure Aldric in deliberately.
08:23Revenge, yes, but also self-preservation.
08:26Aldric wasn't going to leave me alone regardless.
08:28Better to move first.
08:29I hadn't consulted Caelan because he didn't know about my first life.
08:32He looked at me, soaking wet, and couldn't bring himself to say much more.
08:36He exhaled.
08:37Don't do something like that without telling me.
08:39I'm your husband.
08:40Protecting you is my responsibility.
08:42Something warm moved through my chest when he said it.
08:45Something I hadn't expected.
08:46Time moved quickly after that.
08:48The night Sarah went into labor, a storm rolled in.
08:51Lightning, black clouds, golden light pouring off the palace walls.
08:55The court's ritual seers declared it the sign of a golden dragon's birth.
08:59The dragon king got out of bed and went to Sarah's chambers to wait.
09:02I wasn't going to miss this.
09:04Aldric's bloodline wasn't pure enough for a golden dragon.
09:07If that light was real, it wasn't his.
09:09Sarah labored all night.
09:10Dragon young were large.
09:12She screamed until dawn.
09:13Then the screaming stopped.
09:14The child was not brought out.
09:16The dragon king went by himself.
09:18What followed was a silence somehow worse than the screaming.
09:21Then came his order.
09:22Seal it.
09:23Tell no one.
09:24Word leaked anyway.
09:25It always does.
09:26Sarah had delivered something golden.
09:28It was not a dragon.
09:29A one-clawed golden serpent.
09:31A common golden serpent could, with enough medicine and time, be coaxed into dragon form.
09:36A one-clawed one could not.
09:37Too weak.
09:38It would never transform.
09:39And across its face, a large, dark birthmark.
09:42Ugly and unmistakable.
09:44The dragon king took one look and left without naming it.
09:47The dragon court hadn't seen a birth to this poor in over a thousand years.
09:50In my first life, Sarah and Dorian produced a white dragon together.
09:54Sarah and Aldric produced this.
09:56The bloodline failure was obvious.
09:58Aldric's own lineage wasn't as pure as he'd always believed.
10:01The dragon king began arranging a match for Dorian the very next morning.
10:04He also issued a command.
10:06I was to produce a dragon child within the year.
10:09The entire court now understood exactly what Aldric had fathered.
10:13Aldric locked himself in his rooms.
10:15Sarah's situation was no better.
10:16Aldric blamed her for everything, threatened to cast her out with the child and start over.
10:21My father wrote, asking me to help her.
10:23I went, reluctantly.
10:24Sarah was not grateful.
10:26Don't look so pleased with yourself, Lyra.
10:28You know why Caelan wears that mask?
10:29Because he's hideous under it.
10:31You'll end up just like me, producing nothing worth keeping.
10:34And even if you do manage something, it'll just be catalyst stock for the king's workings.
10:39Catalyst stock.
10:40My blood went cold.
10:41I thought of my nine children in my first life, their deaths,
10:44and my hand went to my stomach before I could stop it.
10:47Sarah refused to say more and threw me out.
10:49I went to Caelan, asked him directly what was going on.
10:52He deflected, said it was to protect me.
10:54My hand was still on my stomach.
10:56I was done being patient.
10:57Caelan, stop.
10:59I'm telling you I'm pregnant.
11:01He went very still.
11:02I held his gaze.
11:03That night, after the spiced plum wine,
11:06I'd caught a chill standing in Aldric's rain.
11:08I'd demanded wine to warm up.
11:11Caelan had relented.
11:11We'd both had more than intended, and somewhere in the middle of it,
11:15ended up on the same half of the bed.
11:18Why won't you let me see your face?
11:20I traced my fingers along his mask.
11:22He caught my hand and pressed his lips to my wrist.
11:25From my wrist, to my arm, then to my mouth.
11:31Dragons are creatures of desire.
11:33He said, voice low.
11:35I know.
11:36I reached up and pulled him closer by the back of his neck.
11:38Come here, Caelan.
11:40I want this.
11:41Neither of us had expected it to matter.
11:43I took his hand.
11:44I'm this child's mother.
11:46I have every right to know what threatens him.
11:48Let's protect him together.
11:49Caelan looked at me for a long time.
11:51Then the mask slipped from his fingers and fell.
11:54I stared.
11:55Caelan was not ugly.
11:56He was, without question,
11:57the finest-looking man in the dragon court
11:59or anywhere else I had ever been.
12:01Except for the scar.
12:02It ran the full length of his left cheek.
12:05Deep.
12:05Old.
12:06Terrible.
12:06I touched it.
12:07A wound that left a mark like this had been profound.
12:10That night, he told me everything.
12:12Caelan and the dragon king were not full brothers.
12:15Caelan had been born to the true dragon queen.
12:17The dragon king was the son of a lesser consort.
12:20A concubine elevated to queen
12:22only after the true queen died in childbirth.
12:25By rights, Caelan should have inherited.
12:27But he had no mother to protect him.
12:28And the new queen had no interest in his survival.
12:31So he did the only thing that kept him alive.
12:33He destroyed his own face.
12:34There was an old rule in the dragon court.
12:36Unwritten but absolute.
12:38The king must be unblemished.
12:39A scarred face was a sign of heaven's disfavor.
12:42It disqualified.
12:43That was why the dragon king obsessed
12:44over the appearance of his grandchildren.
12:46That was why he had demanded I carry Caelan's child.
12:49And why he wanted that child as a ritual catalyst.
12:51Pure blood.
12:52Bound to the rightful bloodline he had stolen.
12:54No wonder Caelan wore the mask.
12:56No wonder he hadn't touched me.
12:57He had been trying to make sure
12:58I never became pregnant at all.
13:00And now I am.
13:01I looked at him.
13:02Are we giving this child up?
13:03Caelan gripped my shoulders.
13:05Lyra.
13:06This child chose us.
13:08I'm not letting go.
13:10Not of either of you.
13:11I'm done retreating.
13:14We decided immediately to conceal the pregnancy with glamour
13:17until we had a plan.
13:18The physical signs I could mask.
13:20The body's reactions I could not.
13:22At the dragon king's feast,
13:23I vomited in front of everyone.
13:25Sarah was at my side in an instant,
13:27rubbing my back, radiating delight.
13:29Lyra, you're not pregnant, are you?
13:32What wonderful news that would be.
13:34The dragon king's eyes lit up before I could speak.
13:37The royal physician was summoned at a near run,
13:39his fingers on my wrist before he'd fully stopped moving.
13:42I kept my expression neutral and thought,
13:44this is over.
13:45Caelan was at the eastern sea,
13:47reaching out to his mother's people.
13:49I was alone.
13:50The physician looked up from my pulse with great solemnity.
13:52My lady is not with child.
13:55A digestive concern, I believe.
13:57Nothing more.
13:58He caught my eye.
13:59He was winking at me.
14:00I understood instantly.
14:02I arranged my expression into embarrassment.
14:04I did eat rather a lot of roasted chicken last night.
14:07Five, I think.
14:08The hall went silent.
14:10The dragon king dismissed me with barely concealed irritation.
14:13On the way back,
14:14I crossed paths with a physician
14:16who had caught the king's displeasure
14:17as a side effect of his performance.
14:19He told me he was making amends.
14:21I could not save the queen.
14:22Let this be what I owe, Lord Caelan.
14:24The true dragon queen had been killed
14:26by the dragon king's household too.
14:27I couldn't let myself think about
14:29what would happen to my child if we failed.
14:31I sent a sealed letter to my mother that same day,
14:33requesting the complete glamour grimoire.
14:35As the Fox Clan's legitimate princess,
14:37I had the right to inherit it.
14:39As a reckless child,
14:40I had only learned a fraction of it.
14:41Learn it fully,
14:42and I could deceive anyone.
14:44My mother sent it within days.
14:45The weeks that followed,
14:47drilling the grimoire by day,
14:48managing Sarah and Aldrich's attempts
14:50to catch me out by night,
14:51Sarah appeared at my door daily.
14:53She was certain I was pregnant.
14:54Confirmation would earn her favor
14:56with both Aldrich and the Dragon King.
14:58My glamour held.
14:59Then Sarah arrived with a small, ornate box.
15:01Your clan's Radiance Elixir arrived.
15:03I brought it over for you.
15:05The Radiance Elixir was a staple among Foxwomen.
15:07Most took several times a month.
15:09It preserved beauty and complexion.
15:10It also contained one ingredient
15:12that harmed unborn children.
15:13Every pregnant Foxwoman
15:14stopped taking it immediately.
15:16Sarah knew this.
15:17I didn't reach for the box.
15:18You've looked exhausted lately.
15:20Has the Elixir stopped agreeing with you?
15:22She tried to watch me take one on the spot.
15:24I showed her the door.
15:25My refusal, of course,
15:27looked exactly like guilt.
15:28Within the hour, she was back.
15:29With Aldrich, the Dragon King,
15:31and a clan priestess,
15:32Sarah pointed at me.
15:33The Fox Clan has a glamour craft
15:35that can conceal the truth.
15:38I believe Lyra is using it right now
15:40to hide her pregnancy.
15:41The Dragon King's scepter tapped the floor.
15:44His eyes settled on me.
15:46Is that so?
15:47I burst into tears
15:48and said I had no idea
15:49what she was talking about.
15:51Sarah's patience snapped.
15:52Stop performing!
15:54I brought someone who can see through you!
15:56The priestess stepped forward.
15:57I recognized her the moment she entered.
15:59Sarah had gone all the way back
16:00to the Fox Clan and brought Nora,
16:02the most powerful ritual practitioner
16:03our people had.
16:04Nora raised her staff toward my face.
16:07My lady, forgive the intrusion.
16:09She was talented, genuinely.
16:11Her craft swept through the room
16:13in broad circles.
16:14What Sarah had apparently forgotten,
16:16the most talented practitioner
16:17in the Fox Clan was my mother.
16:18Under my mother's direct instruction,
16:20I had reached the highest level
16:21of glamour craft.
16:22Nora had not.
16:23She had no chance.
16:24Nora circled me three times,
16:26then three more.
16:27Her expression shifted
16:28from confidence to confusion.
16:30That's impossible.
16:31She used her last resort.
16:33Sacred flame bloomed in her palm.
16:35Pure foxfire,
16:36the kind that burned
16:37through all illusion.
16:38Using it costs enormous reserves.
16:40Whatever Sarah had promised her,
16:42it had been worth it to Nora.
16:43Nora stood holding the sacred flame.
16:45I quietly brought out
16:46my reflecting talisman.
16:48Her expression troubled.
16:50Your majesty,
16:51I find nothing irregular
16:52about Lady Lyra.
16:53It's possible she has reached
16:55the highest level of glamour craft.
16:57That is beyond my ability
16:59to penetrate.
16:59The dragon king's gaze moved me.
17:01His frown eased
17:02into something calculating.
17:04I underestimated Kaelin.
17:05Something in his tone
17:06made my skin tighten.
17:08Before I could respond,
17:09his hand moved.
17:10Everything went dark.
17:11I woke in a quiet wing
17:12of the palace.
17:13I didn't recognize.
17:14The dragon king sat above me,
17:16studying my stomach
17:16with calm, unhurried interest.
17:18Awake.
17:18I have to say,
17:19you and Kaelin managed
17:20to hide it longer
17:20than I expected.
17:21I pulled my hands
17:22over my belly instinctively.
17:23No point in performing anymore.
17:24Is this what we're calling it?
17:25Imprisonment?
17:26He smiled the way people smile
17:27when they want you
17:28to feel stupid for asking.
17:29Imprisonment.
17:29I'm concerned for Kaelin's child,
17:31that's all.
17:31He's away.
17:32Someone should look after things.
17:33When he returns,
17:33you'll all be together again.
17:35He knew.
17:35He knew Kaelin had gone
17:36to the eastern sea
17:37to call in forces.
17:38I had to do something.
17:40After he left,
17:41I lay on the bed
17:42and stared at the ceiling.
17:43The chamber was sealed tight,
17:45warding circles on every surface.
17:47My glamour was useless here.
17:48Nothing living could pass in or out.
17:50Then, the next morning,
17:51two servants whispered outside my door
17:53and forgot how thin walls were.
17:55Lord Eldrick is taking a new consort.
17:57Already?
17:58His last one just gave birth.
17:59And didn't she do something for the king?
18:01Doesn't matter anymore.
18:02She's been sent back to the fox clan.
18:06Terrible, really.
18:08The child went with her, they say?
18:10Sarah had been sent away.
18:12No.
18:13Eldrick didn't send people away.
18:14That wasn't how he operated.
18:16I reached into the lining of my robe
18:17and found the feather whistle.
18:19My father had pressed one
18:20into each of our hands
18:21the day we left home.
18:22One for me,
18:23one for Sarah.
18:24So we could always find each other.
18:26I had never expected to need it.
18:27Through the whistle,
18:28I learned the truth.
18:29Sarah had been handed to the Phoenix Lord,
18:32exactly as I had been in my first life.
18:34Her child was missing.
18:35Hearing my voice through the whistle,
18:37Sarah finally understood
18:38why I had tried to stop her
18:40from taking Eldrick's hand that day.
18:41She was frantic.
18:42She begged me to save her.
18:44Save her child!
18:45I told her I couldn't do it alone.
18:47We had to work together.
18:48She went quiet.
18:49I started thinking of other ways
18:50to reach Kaelin.
18:51Then her voice came back
18:52through the whistle.
18:53Steady this time.
18:54She would help me.
18:55She would get a message out.
18:57Something had changed.
18:58She had found her child's body
18:59the night before.
19:00The one-clawed serpent
19:01had been too low-ranked
19:02for a blood catalyst.
19:03So they used it for something worse.
19:05A test subject.
19:06The body was covered in bruising,
19:08dark purple from end to end.
19:09Sarah had looked at it,
19:10and something in her
19:11simply stopped functioning
19:12the way it used to.
19:13She would get my message to Kaelin.
19:15And after that,
19:15she wanted Aldric.
19:17We made our plan quickly.
19:18My part was simple.
19:19Wait.
19:19Kaelin came back faster
19:20than I thought he would.
19:23Lyra, it's me.
19:24He was suddenly there,
19:25his hand around my wrist.
19:26No time.
19:27We're leaving.
19:27Then the Dragon King materialized
19:29in the doorway like smoke
19:30given form.
19:31Kaelin, you return
19:32and don't come to greet
19:33your brother first?
19:34Kaelin put himself
19:34between me and the door.
19:36I reached past his arm
19:37and took his hand.
19:38I wanted him to know
19:39I wasn't standing behind him.
19:40I was standing with him.
19:41The Dragon King looked
19:42at our joined hands,
19:43and something crossed his face
19:44I hadn't expected.
19:45Something that looked
19:46almost like grief.
19:47Kaelin,
19:48why has fortune
19:49always favored you?
19:50Your father's regard,
19:51your mother's love,
19:52that face,
19:53and now a wife
19:54who would walk into ruin
19:55beside you.
19:56His voice went flat.
19:57I refuse to accept it.
19:59He looked at me.
20:01Leave him.
20:02I'll see you safely delivered,
20:04name you a lady of the court,
20:06comfort for the rest of your life.
20:07What do you say?
20:09I almost laughed.
20:11Aldric had been disgusting.
20:13This old man was somehow worse.
20:15I looked at the lines of his face.
20:18Why would I leave him
20:19for someone who looks like you?
20:21The Dragon King's vanity
20:23was his deepest wound.
20:24In truth,
20:24he wasn't ugly.
20:25No man ruled the Dragon Court
20:26on an ugly face.
20:28But next to Kaelin,
20:29he had always known the difference.
20:30My words landed
20:31exactly where I meant them to.
20:33You've chosen the hard way.
20:35He gave the order.
20:37Armed guards poured in
20:38from every entrance.
20:40Take them both.
20:41Let's see how defiant
20:43they are after.
20:44What he didn't know.
20:44The soulbinding relic
20:45from the Eastern Sea
20:46was already pressed
20:47against his spine.
20:48Before his guards
20:48could reach us,
20:49Kaelin's forces
20:50had taken every one of them.
20:51The Elder Council
20:52entered from the outer hall
20:53and knelt.
20:54We welcome the return
20:55of our true king.
20:56The Dragon King
20:57stood very still.
20:58Then he shouted,
20:59Have you all lost your minds?
21:00I am king!
21:02This is treason!
21:04These elders
21:04had served the court
21:05before the Dragon Nord's time.
21:07They had always belonged
21:08to Kaelin's cause.
21:09They had simply been afraid
21:10for too long.
21:11The Dragon Nord
21:12had made too many enemies,
21:14pushed too many allies
21:15toward resentment.
21:16When Kaelin came to them,
21:17they did not hesitate.
21:18The Dragon King
21:19was forced to his knees.
21:21He kept his chin up.
21:22You're all blind!
21:23His face is damaged!
21:25A scarred king
21:25is no king at all!
21:26Release me
21:27or I'll have
21:27every one of you destroyed!
21:28I looked at him for a moment.
21:30Then I reached up
21:31and removed Kaelin's mask myself.
21:32The scar was gone.
21:34His face was unmarked,
21:35clean,
21:36because Fox Clan women knew,
21:38above everything else,
21:39how to heal
21:39what had been broken.
21:40From the night Kaelin
21:41showed me the scar,
21:42I had been treating it.
21:43The mask continued
21:44after the healing
21:44for one reason only,
21:45to let the Dragon King
21:46believe nothing had changed,
21:47right up until everything had.
21:49I looked at the Dragon King.
21:51I should have mentioned.
21:52The Fox Clan's
21:53greatest gift
21:54isn't glamour.
21:55I let him work out the rest.
22:00Facing the United Elder Council,
22:02Kaelin's forces,
22:03and a husband
22:03whose disqualifying flaw
22:04no longer existed,
22:06the Dragon King
22:06did the only thing left to him.
22:08He picked up the crystal seppler
22:09and drove it
22:09into his own throat.
22:11Blood crossed
22:12the throne room floor.
22:13Aldric collapsed.
22:14He scrambled to his knees
22:15and begged.
22:15Loudly.
22:16Repeatedly.
22:17Technically,
22:17his fate was mine to decide.
22:18But Cira's price for helping me
22:20had been simple
22:20and non-negotiable.
22:21She wanted Aldric.
22:22A deal was a deal.
22:23I glanced at him on the floor
22:24and patted Cira's shoulder.
22:25Don't disappoint me.
22:26Don't disappoint me.
22:29Sarah looked at Aldric
22:30with the expression of someone
22:31who had thought about this moment
22:32for a very long time.
22:33I won't.
22:34I'll make sure he can't die
22:35and can't bear to live.
22:37She meant it.
22:38She kept it.
22:39The day she took him back,
22:40she had his bloodline
22:41formally tested.
22:41The results,
22:43which the Dragon King
22:43had been falsifying for years,
22:45showed Aldric
22:46at the lowest rank
22:46the Dragon Court recognized,
22:48barely above the one-clawed serpent
22:49he had fathered.
22:50Without Cira's own strong bloodline,
22:52even that much
22:53wouldn't have been possible.
22:54She made the results public.
22:55Every accusation Aldric
22:57had leveled at her
22:57inverted in a single afternoon.
22:59When Aldric saw the numbers,
23:01something in him broke.
23:02He kept saying it.
23:04He'd been reborn.
23:05This wasn't supposed to happen.
23:06He wanted to die.
23:07He didn't get to.
23:09Cira had him placed
23:10with the lowest-ranked clan
23:11in the territory,
23:12assigned as an alchemical thrall.
23:13He woke up to it every day.
23:14I spent my pregnancy
23:15eating well
23:16and watching events unfold
23:17from a comfortable distance.
23:19Perhaps it was contentment.
23:21Perhaps it was Kaylin.
23:23Perhaps it was simply this life
23:25being different from the last.
23:26When my time came,
23:27I delivered nine dragons young.
23:29Every one of them
23:29carried something
23:30from my first nine children.
23:31A feature,
23:32a quality,
23:33something I recognized.
23:34But this time,
23:35those things fit.
23:36What had seemed strange before
23:38was beautiful now,
23:39each one entirely,
23:40completely themselves.
23:42Ugly or lovely,
23:44it would not have mattered.
23:46Kaylin and I had already decided
23:47we would love them
23:48exactly as they came.
23:50The nine dragons
23:51were named within the week.
23:53Kaylin sat on the floor
23:54with all of them
23:55crawling over him
23:56and didn't move for an hour.
23:58I watched from the doorway.
23:59You could sit in the throne room,
24:01I told him.
24:02You are king.
24:03I know where I am.
24:04He caught the smallest one
24:06before she rolled off his knee.
24:07Come here.
24:08He had spent years
24:09making himself invisible,
24:10making himself small,
24:12carving the life
24:13out of his own face
24:14to survive.
24:14Now he sat in the middle
24:16of nine loud,
24:17demanding,
24:18entirely ordinary children
24:20and looked like a man
24:21who had forgotten
24:22what misery felt like.
24:23The physician knocked
24:24and entered.
24:25He had delivered all nine.
24:27He looked at them,
24:28then at me,
24:28then at Kaylin,
24:29and his eyes went wet.
24:31The queen would have been glad.
24:32Kaylin didn't answer immediately.
24:33He looked at the child
24:34in his hands
24:34for a long moment.
24:36She would have spoiled them rotten.
24:37The physician laughed.
24:38Some debts take a long time to settle.
24:40Some never fully close.
24:42But this felt,
24:43at least,
24:43like a beginning.
24:44Dorian arrived
24:45three days after the coronation.
24:47He had been at the northern border
24:49when everything collapsed.
24:50No one had told him.
24:52He walked into the throne room
24:53expecting his father
24:54and found Kaylin instead.
24:56He stopped in the doorway,
24:58looked around,
24:59looked at me.
25:03Should I kneel?
25:05Only if you want to.
25:07Dorian considered this.
25:09Then he sat down
25:09on the steps
25:10leading to the throne,
25:11which was neither kneeling
25:12nor standing,
25:13and looked like he had thought
25:15about this compromise
25:16ahead of time.
25:17My father,
25:18dead.
25:19His own hand.
25:20His expression
25:21didn't change much,
25:22which was either
25:23grief handled quietly,
25:25or the result of a father
25:26who had never given him
25:27reason to feel it deeply.
25:29And Eldrick?
25:31I told him.
25:32Dorian's mouth pressed flat.
25:36That's worse than death.
25:38Yes.
25:39He was quiet for a while.
25:41I refused a consort.
25:44I thought it was
25:45because I wasn't ready.
25:47I think I knew,
25:48even then,
25:49that something was wrong.
25:50That if I stayed close
25:52to all of it,
25:53I'd become part of it.
25:54He looked at Kaelin directly.
25:56Tell me what you need from me.
25:58What Kaelin needed from Dorian
25:59turned out to be straightforward.
26:01The northern clans.
26:02Dorian had spent
26:03three years on the border.
26:05He knew every clan lord by name,
26:07had eaten at their tables,
26:08and learned their grievances.
26:09The dragon court
26:10under the old king
26:11had taxed them past reason
26:13and taken their best fighters
26:14as conscripts.
26:15Dorian didn't need convincing.
26:17He had already been
26:17quietly keeping lists.
26:19The first clan lord
26:20arrived within a fortnight.
26:21He came expecting an audience
26:23with the new king,
26:23and got one.
26:24But Kaelin had asked me
26:26to be present,
26:26and the clan lord
26:27kept glancing at me throughout,
26:29uncertain how to read it.
26:30After, Dorian explained,
26:32the northern lords had heard
26:33about the fox clan princess,
26:34who had publicly insulted
26:35the dragon king,
26:36healed the new king's scar,
26:38and delivered nine dragonborn
26:40children in one night.
26:41They wanted to know
26:42if the rumors were true.
26:43The nine children,
26:45I said.
26:45That part surprised even me.
26:47You should let them believe
26:48you planned all of it.
26:49I thought about it.
26:52They'll find out eventually.
26:54Not if you look confident
26:55while telling it.
26:56This was I was discovering
26:58how Dorian operated.
27:01I was beginning to understand
27:03why Kaelin trusted him.
27:04The phoenix court sent an envoy.
27:07He arrived with gifts,
27:08formal regret for any past misunderstandings,
27:11and a carefully worded letter
27:12that managed to not once acknowledge
27:15that the phoenix lord
27:16had received Sarah as a gift
27:18and held her against her will.
27:20Kaelin read the letter twice,
27:21set it down,
27:22asked me what I thought.
27:24He wants to know how strong
27:25your position is,
27:26I said.
27:27He's not apologizing.
27:29He's measuring.
27:30The envoy was watching me
27:32with the careful blankness
27:33of someone paid to show nothing.
27:35The women currently held
27:36in the phoenix court,
27:37all of them,
27:38released and returned
27:39within thirty days.
27:41Any clan born among them
27:42escorted home
27:43at phoenix court expense.
27:44Begin there,
27:44and we can discuss
27:45what a productive relationship
27:47between our courts
27:47might look like.
27:48The envoy's pleasant expression
27:50wavered.
27:50My lord,
27:51the phoenix court's
27:52internal arrangements
27:53are not traditionally subject
27:54to neighboring review.
27:55They are now
27:56thirty days.
27:57I look forward
27:58to your lord's response.
27:59The envoy left.
28:02Too direct?
28:03For him, yes.
28:04I folded the letter.
28:06He'll come around.
28:07He doesn't have a choice.
28:09He did come around.
28:10It took twenty-eight days
28:12and a second envoy
28:13and a great deal
28:14of formal phrasing
28:16that still avoided
28:17the word apology.
28:18But the women came home.
28:20Sarah was not among them.
28:22She had already left.
28:23After Aldrich was settled
28:24in his new situation,
28:26she had walked out
28:27of the dragon court
28:28with her hands empty
28:29and gone south.
28:30My father's letter
28:31said she had arrived
28:32at the Fox Clan
28:33three weeks ago.
28:34She was eating.
28:35She was sleeping.
28:36She had not spoken much.
28:38My mother wrote separately.
28:39She is here
28:40and she is not leaving.
28:41Do not worry.
28:42I read that letter
28:43several times.
28:44We had never been close,
28:46Sarah and I.
28:46She had spent most
28:47of our shared lives
28:48resenting me
28:49and I had spent most of them
28:51defending myself
28:51from her choices.
28:53There was no
28:53clean ending available.
28:55No single moment
28:56that undid the other.
28:57But she had gotten
28:58my message to Kaylin
28:59when I needed her most.
29:00She had done it
29:01with her child
29:02nearly dead
29:02and her own situation
29:04desperate.
29:04I sent her a package.
29:06Fox Clan Rejuvenation Tonic.
29:08The refined formula
29:09my mother had been
29:09working on for years.
29:11Completely free
29:11of the toxic ingredient.
29:13I didn't include a letter.
29:14I didn't know
29:15what to say yet.
29:16Perhaps that was
29:17alright for now.
29:18The Elder Council
29:18had one remaining
29:19piece of business.
29:20The formal matter
29:21of the old bloodline records.
29:22The Dragon King
29:23had been falsifying
29:24lineage documents
29:24for decades.
29:25Not just Aldrich's.
29:26His own too.
29:27And several allied clan lines
29:28he had wanted to elevate
29:29or suppress
29:30depending on their usefulness.
29:31Restoring the records
29:32meant some clans
29:32lost standing.
29:33Others gained it.
29:34A few discovered
29:35relatives they hadn't
29:35known existed
29:36and a few discovered
29:37the relatives
29:38they had claimed didn't.
29:39Dorian volunteered
29:39to manage the proceedings.
29:41It took months.
29:41He aged visibly.
29:42Late one evening
29:43he appeared at my door
29:44with a very specific question.
29:46The Fox Clan.
29:47He said.
29:47The true ranking.
29:48He knew what he was asking.
29:49The Fox Clan
29:50had been registered
29:50as low rank
29:51by the old king's
29:52deliberate falsification.
29:53A high ranked
29:54fox bloodline
29:55with a full glamour
29:55inheritance was something
29:56the old king
29:57had wanted no one
29:58paying attention to.
29:59I told Dorian
29:59the actual number.
30:00He stared at it
30:00for a while.
30:01So when Aldrich
30:02called you Low Clan
30:03he was reading
30:03a document
30:04your father wrote
30:04specifically
30:05so that people
30:05would believe it.
30:06Dorian closed his eyes
30:07briefly.
30:07I'm so sorry.
30:09Correct the record.
30:10That's enough.
30:11The record correction
30:12created a small problem.
30:13With the Fox Clan
30:14properly ranked
30:15my marriage to Kaylin
30:16looked less like
30:16a fortunate consolation
30:17and more like
30:18the most politically
30:19significant match
30:20in a generation.
30:21Several court officials
30:22reviewing the
30:23recalculated bloodline values
30:24quietly reordered
30:25their understanding
30:26of the last two years.
30:27The ones who used
30:27to pity me
30:28were suddenly eager
30:29to be my friends.
30:30I found this
30:30less irritating than funny.
30:31Kaylin found it
30:32less funny.
30:32They ignored you
30:33for a year and a half
30:35and now they don't.
30:36That's how courts work.
30:37You deserve better treatment
30:39before you were useful
30:39to them.
30:40I looked at him.
30:41He was genuinely angry
30:42on my behalf.
30:42The way he had been
30:43the day he stepped out
30:44in that selection hall
30:44and chose me
30:45before anyone could
30:45stop him.
30:46Same quality.
30:46Same direction.
30:47You didn't know
30:48my rank either
30:49I pointed out.
30:50When you chose me
30:50he looked like
30:51he wanted to argue
30:51with that.
30:52Then he didn't
30:52because it was true
30:53and he knew it.
30:54I chose you
30:54because he was
30:55going to get you killed
30:56and then I couldn't
30:57stop being interested
30:57in you.
30:58I know.
30:58I leaned into him.
30:59I noticed.
31:01My mother came to court
31:02for the midsummer feast.
31:03She arrived the way
31:04she always did
31:05which was with more
31:05luggage than the
31:06occasion required
31:07and the calm certainty
31:08that any room she
31:09entered had been
31:10waiting for her.
31:10The nine children
31:11took one look at her
31:12and immediately
31:12tried to climb her.
31:13She let them.
31:14She had always
31:14wanted grandchildren.
31:15She had gotten
31:16nine at once
31:17and seemed to view
31:17this as correct.
31:18Halen studied her
31:19for a long time
31:19without speaking.
31:20He held her gaze
31:21without fidgeting
31:22which was more
31:22than most managed.
31:23She finally said
31:24in our native tongue
31:25You healed him.
31:26He helped.
31:27I answered in the same.
31:28She made a small sound
31:29then switched back
31:30to common speech
31:31and asked him his opinion
31:32on a particular
31:32restorative herb formula
31:33she had been developing.
31:34He had one.
31:35A detailed one.
31:36I sat with my wine
31:37and watched my mother
31:38and my husband
31:38argue pleasantly
31:39about herbal preparation
31:40methods for the better
31:41part of an hour
31:42and felt something
31:42unknot in my chest
31:43that I hadn't realized
31:44was still pulled tight.
31:45Before she left
31:46she pressed something
31:47into my hand.
31:47My grandmother's
31:48glamour signet.
31:49The oldest piece
31:49in the family line.
31:50You've earned it
31:51she said.
31:52You earned it
31:53a while ago.
31:54That winter
31:55Kaylin built a room
31:56a small room
31:57off the eastern wing
31:58with good light
31:58and low shelves
31:59sized for small hands
32:00and enough floor space
32:01for nine active children
32:02to make a spectacular mess.
32:04He built it himself
32:05mostly.
32:06The court architects offered.
32:07He thanked them
32:07and kept going.
32:08I came to watch one afternoon
32:09and didn't leave.
32:10You don't have to do
32:10all of this by hand
32:11I told him.
32:12I want there to be
32:13something I built
32:14that they can point at.
32:16Something made on purpose
32:17not inherited
32:18not stolen
32:18not survived into.
32:20I understood.
32:20In my first life
32:21I had walked into a flame.
32:22I had believed
32:23it was the only exit
32:24left.
32:24I had not been entirely wrong
32:25given what that life was
32:27but this life
32:27had given me exits
32:28I hadn't expected.
32:29A court physician
32:30with a quiet debt.
32:31A cousin who had made
32:32terrible choices
32:32and then
32:33at the worst moment
32:34one good one
32:34a masked man
32:35who stepped forward
32:36in a hall
32:36when he had no reason to
32:37and had not stepped back since.
32:39Nine children who were
32:40every one of them
32:41entirely themselves.
32:42I sat on the floor
32:43of the half-finished room
32:43and watched Kaylin work
32:45and thought
32:45this is the thing
32:46I would have missed
32:46if the flame had been
32:47the end of it.
32:48This exact afternoon
32:49ordinary and loud
32:50and nothing like
32:51what I once thought
32:51I was owed.
32:52I was glad
32:52profoundly
32:53and without complication
32:54to be here.
32:56I was glad
32:56I was glad
32:56I was glad
32:58I was glad
32:59I was glad
32:59I was glad
33:00I was glad
33:00I was glad
33:00I was glad
33:00I was glad
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