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Betrayed by the man she loved and cast aside by the powerful Phoenix Clan, she refuses to die broken. But when the feared Dragon Sovereign chooses her instead, destiny ignites a war between fire and storm. Rejecting the Phoenix, Taming the Dragon is an addictive fantasy romance mini drama filled with revenge, forbidden love, rebirth, ancient powers, and dangerous passion.
For years, Lyria devoted herself to the brilliant heir of the Phoenix Clan, sacrificing everything to help him rise to power. Yet when another woman appears, he abandons her without hesitation, humiliating her before the entire realm and destroying the future she once dreamed of.
Refusing to remain a victim, Lyria cuts ties with the Phoenix Clan and walks away from the life that betrayed her. But fate takes an unexpected turn when she crosses paths with Kael—the ruthless Dragon Sovereign feared across the kingdoms. Cold, powerful, and impossible to control, Kael becomes obsessed with the woman everyone else discarded.
As ancient dragon blood awakens inside Lyria, she discovers she may hold the key to an ancient prophecy capable of reshaping the balance of the realm forever. What begins as a dangerous alliance slowly transforms into irresistible attraction, forcing both of them to confront emotions neither expected.
But the Phoenix Clan refuses to let her go. Her former lover, consumed by regret and jealousy, desperately tries to reclaim the woman he once rejected—only to realize she now stands beside the most terrifying man alive.
Caught between revenge and destiny, Lyria must navigate deadly conspiracies, immortal rivalries, forbidden magic, and the growing war between dragons and phoenixes. As kingdoms fall into chaos and ancient enemies rise from the shadows, she and Kael must decide whether their bond will save the realm… or destroy it completely.
Packed with fantasy romance, powerful female leads, jealous exes, dragon kings, cultivation worlds, revenge arcs, enemies-to-lovers tension, supernatural battles, emotional betrayals, and breathtaking chemistry, this epic fantasy drama delivers nonstop twists and unforgettable romance.
Perfect for fans of fantasy revenge stories, dragon romance dramas, rebirth heroines, powerful alpha male leads, ancient cultivation worlds, and magical love stories.
Will Lyria rise as the queen of dragons… or burn the world that once abandoned her?
#RejectingThePhoenix #DragonRomance #FantasyDrama #RevengeRomance #FantasyRomance #DragonKing #RebirthDrama #CultivationRomance #ForbiddenLove #MiniDrama
For years, Lyria devoted herself to the brilliant heir of the Phoenix Clan, sacrificing everything to help him rise to power. Yet when another woman appears, he abandons her without hesitation, humiliating her before the entire realm and destroying the future she once dreamed of.
Refusing to remain a victim, Lyria cuts ties with the Phoenix Clan and walks away from the life that betrayed her. But fate takes an unexpected turn when she crosses paths with Kael—the ruthless Dragon Sovereign feared across the kingdoms. Cold, powerful, and impossible to control, Kael becomes obsessed with the woman everyone else discarded.
As ancient dragon blood awakens inside Lyria, she discovers she may hold the key to an ancient prophecy capable of reshaping the balance of the realm forever. What begins as a dangerous alliance slowly transforms into irresistible attraction, forcing both of them to confront emotions neither expected.
But the Phoenix Clan refuses to let her go. Her former lover, consumed by regret and jealousy, desperately tries to reclaim the woman he once rejected—only to realize she now stands beside the most terrifying man alive.
Caught between revenge and destiny, Lyria must navigate deadly conspiracies, immortal rivalries, forbidden magic, and the growing war between dragons and phoenixes. As kingdoms fall into chaos and ancient enemies rise from the shadows, she and Kael must decide whether their bond will save the realm… or destroy it completely.
Packed with fantasy romance, powerful female leads, jealous exes, dragon kings, cultivation worlds, revenge arcs, enemies-to-lovers tension, supernatural battles, emotional betrayals, and breathtaking chemistry, this epic fantasy drama delivers nonstop twists and unforgettable romance.
Perfect for fans of fantasy revenge stories, dragon romance dramas, rebirth heroines, powerful alpha male leads, ancient cultivation worlds, and magical love stories.
Will Lyria rise as the queen of dragons… or burn the world that once abandoned her?
#RejectingThePhoenix #DragonRomance #FantasyDrama #RevengeRomance #FantasyRomance #DragonKing #RebirthDrama #CultivationRomance #ForbiddenLove #MiniDrama
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00On the night before my mating ceremony, my twin sister climbed into the bed of my beastmate, Finn.
00:06Now she can marry that monster in my place.
00:11As long as you're safe, my queen.
00:13I didn't know their swapping plan.
00:15In a world where spiritual beasts are gods, I am the lowest thing breathing.
00:20It's simple, really. Beastmen are drawn to beauty.
00:23But I was born with a black birthmark on my left cheek.
00:26I thought by the time I turned 18, my body will explode for not finding a mate.
00:31But then Finn, the phoenix, rarest creature alive, chose me.
00:37I actually believed I was special to him.
00:40I wasn't.
00:41I only knew that until my sister Sienna's bonded dragon went rogue and lost control.
00:47Finn shoved me into the mind with that monster without blinking.
00:52Here's the thing.
00:53Sienna and I are identical twins.
00:56Identical.
00:57Except for the mark on my face.
00:59I wasn't chosen.
01:00I was kept as a spare.
01:02In the spiritual beast world, every human must complete a bond before their 18th birthday.
01:08Or their body tears itself apart from the inside.
01:10Sienna and I came into this world together.
01:13I was born with the mark.
01:14She was born a masterpiece.
01:16Every beastman in the territory fought to bond with her.
01:19And she chose the most dangerous one alive.
01:50Alaric.
01:52Tasted sweet.
01:53Even the people who had spent years spitting on me blurred into background noise.
01:58I stopped hearing the insults.
02:00I forgot every ruse they'd left.
02:03I thought everything I'd survived was just the universe clearing the path to him.
02:08Except he never touched me.
02:10He never showed me his true form.
02:13When a beastman reveals their animal form to their bonded, it means love, trust, everything.
02:19Finn never once shifted in my presence.
02:21I couldn't find a single feather in the entire house.
02:25I told myself it was just his nature.
02:28That he was private.
02:29Then one night, I stayed up until 3am collecting morning dew.
02:33His favorite.
02:34And carried it to his room like an idiot with a smile on my face.
02:38And I saw the flash of scarlet.
02:40His true form.
02:42He was showing someone his true form.
02:45I stumbled through the door.
02:46That someone was my sister.
02:50The moment he saw me, Finn pulled his form back in.
02:54Like a fist closing around a secret.
02:57Sienna smiled.
02:58Soft.
02:59Unbothered.
03:00Like a cat who knows she owns the room.
03:03Samara, you know Finn and I grew up together.
03:05Revealing his true form animal side to me, it's not a big deal.
03:08My chest felt like concrete poured inside it.
03:11I kept my face very, very still.
03:14Right, I just came to...
03:16The dew I'd carried all night had already tipped and soaked the floor.
03:20I stood there, hands empty, useless.
03:23Finn looked at me once.
03:25Cold.
03:25Brief.
03:26Nothing urgent?
03:27Then go.
03:28I walked out with my head down.
03:30Sienna's voice followed me down the hall like smoke.
03:34Finn and I grew up together.
03:36But I met him first.
03:38I met him first.
03:39And nobody cares.
03:41That winter, I found Finn half dead in the forest while I was out cutting wood.
03:47Red light pulsed off every inch of him.
03:50The feral curse.
03:51He was losing control.
03:53Every survival instinct I had screamed at me to run.
03:56His eyes stopped me.
03:58There was something in them I recognized.
04:00The desperate, clawing will to live.
04:02I had been looking at that same thing in mirrors for 17 years.
04:07I brought him home.
04:08I didn't sleep for weeks.
04:09I watched over him, learned his fever patterns, held him down through the worst nights.
04:14His body healed.
04:15The curse didn't lift.
04:17Then one day, Sienna visited.
04:19She told me to leave him to die.
04:21That accursed beast wasn't worth the risk.
04:23I refused.
04:24Sienna left.
04:25The moment she walked out the door, Finn's curse vanished.
04:28Just like that.
04:30Like smoke in wind.
04:31He came back to himself, powerful, radiant, healed.
04:35After that, he started showing up.
04:37At my place, at Sienna's, I thought he was paying a debt.
04:41He was.
04:42Just not to me.
04:43Ugh.
04:44I was so absorbed in the past memory that I forgot to see the front.
04:49When I looked up, I met the deathly gaze of Alaric.
04:52You do look exactly the same as your sister.
04:56Except...
04:58His fingers slowly traced my face.
05:01Then he lowered closer to my face.
05:03Sorry.
05:04Overcome with fear, I ran fast past him, without realizing he stood there and watched my back
05:11for a long time.
05:13Finn got busier by the day.
05:14Busier arranging Sienna's bond ceremony with Alaric.
05:18I knew I should be grateful.
05:19I knew a bond at all was more than I deserved by this world's standards.
05:23But hearing about Sienna's ceremony, the flowers, the guests, the spectacle...
05:29Something pathetic inside me started imagining my own.
05:33I thought, fine, I'll plan it myself.
05:35I spent everything I had.
05:37Literally everything.
05:38I bought a young firebird nest tree.
05:40The rarest thing Finn could want as a bond token.
05:44And gathered armfuls of his favorite blooms.
05:46I showed up on the appointed day.
05:48I stood at the bond altar from sunrise.
05:50He never came.
05:52The crowd that gathered grew larger the longer I waited.
05:55Not to support me, but to watch.
05:58The flowers in my arms had died.
06:00I kept my chin down and my eyes on the ground.
06:04How could the phoenix ever want someone that ugly?
06:07He was obviously playing her.
06:08She's the only one who didn't know.
06:10Any other day, I would have put my fist through the face of whoever said that.
06:14Today, I just pushed through the crowd.
06:17Silent, trying not to drown.
06:19Someone shoved me from behind.
06:20I hit the ground hard, but I caught the nest tree sapling before it could break.
06:25Cradled it like it mattered.
06:26Then someone stomped on the pot.
06:28The clay exploded.
06:30The sapling went gray and dead in seconds.
06:33Shattered, I walked home.
06:35And heard Sienna's voice floating out of Finn's room.
06:38Bright, delighted.
06:39Finn, this dress is beautiful.
06:42You actually made this with your own hands?
06:45Sienna, as long as you like it.
06:47Finn's voice was as flat as always.
06:49But the upward curl at the end, that small, involuntary warmth, exposed him completely.
06:56The door swung open, and Sienna walked out in a red dress.
07:00Red feathers lined the hem.
07:02Finn's tail feathers.
07:03The feathers a phoenix only plucks for someone they love.
07:08So that was why he'd rushed me out of the house last week.
07:11He didn't want me seeing him make her a dress.
07:14He'd pulled his own feathers, the most sacred part of a phoenix's body, just to get the color right for
07:21her.
07:21He didn't come to my ceremony because of Sienna.
07:24All those years, every glance Finn ever threw across a room always landed on her.
07:31Even agreeing to bond with me, I finally understood that too.
07:35It was just a reflex.
07:36A moment of wounded pride after she chose the dragon instead of him.
07:41Samara, they were right.
07:43Every bit of this was you lying to yourself.
07:46I made up my mind.
07:47I would dissolve the bond before it was complete.
07:49I wasn't going to wait around to be discarded with an audience.
07:53I started looking for an available beast man.
07:55Anyone willing to bond with me before my birthday.
07:58I finally tracked down Riven, a low-rank lizard in the Outer Territory.
08:03And he agreed.
08:04I ran home, told Finn.
08:06He didn't look relieved.
08:07He looked furious.
08:11Samara, you're serious?
08:14You'd bond with that low-rank lizard instead of me?
08:19I didn't show up that day, but I had a reason.
08:21You saw-
08:22I stopped listening.
08:23I already knew the reason.
08:25Sienna's ceremony was approaching.
08:27He was busy.
08:28Too busy for me, never too busy for her.
08:30Because of my face.
08:32Because I was the ugly one.
08:34Because apparently being born with a birthmark means I deserve to be stood up, mocked in public,
08:40and made to feel grateful for scraps.
08:43I closed my eyes.
08:44Yes, Finn.
08:46I'm bonding with Riven.
08:49Fine, Samara.
08:50Don't come crawling back.
08:52He said it like I was the one abandoning him.
08:55I genuinely could not locate his logic.
08:58I had no time to figure it out.
09:00My birthday was three days away.
09:02The next morning, I went to find Riven.
09:04Somehow, he'd changed his mind overnight.
09:07Apparently, someone had introduced him to a girl last night, and they'd already scheduled
09:12their ceremony for that afternoon.
09:14You think I would take someone else's reject?
09:17Then closed his door in my face.
09:20I stood there, lifted my hand to knock again, let it fall.
09:23People like me aren't meant to survive in a world like this.
09:26If I had maybe three days left alive, fine.
09:29I was going to spend them eating well.
09:31I walked to Mayfair Garden Cafe, the expensive coffee house I'd never dared enter before, and
09:37ordered everything that looked good.
09:39I was halfway through a plate of honey cake when I caught the conversation behind me.
09:43Heard the phoenix is giving Sienna the thousand-year heartwood?
09:46The one with healing properties?
09:47Healing?
09:48If it can heal, why didn't Finn use it years ago on Samara's face?
09:53Oh, wait.
09:54Obviously, because Sienna matters.
09:56Samara never did.
09:57He had a cure.
09:59He had a cure for my birthmark.
10:01He watched me get beaten, ridiculed, spat on my entire life, and he had the antidote in
10:08his pocket.
10:08He chose to give it to Sienna as a backup plan, instead of giving it to me.
10:13Tears ran down my face, and I bit my lip until it bled, to keep from making a sound.
10:19Tomorrow was my birthday.
10:20I was going to die.
10:21They would laugh at the way my body destroyed itself, so I would not cry.
10:26Not tonight.
10:26Not where anyone could see.
10:28I went home.
10:29Nowhere else to go in this world.
10:31The house was blazing with light.
10:33The crowd had packed the main hall, shouting over each other.
10:36Alaric, Sienna's dragon, let him hold him.
10:40The feral curse had taken home.
10:42Without a completed bond to tether him, Alaric wouldn't just hurt Sienna.
10:46He'd tear through the entire city.
10:48Dragons in rogue state always did.
10:51Everyone was screaming at Sienna to go through with the bond immediately.
10:54Only Finn was standing in her way, blocking her, keeping her back.
10:58But Finn couldn't hold the crowd farther.
11:00I looked at him one last time, that Sienna sheltered behind his back like she was made
11:05of glass, and walked to my room.
11:07His footsteps came fast.
11:08He threw open my door.
11:10Why was he here?
11:11His priority was right down the hall.
11:13Samara, you're the only one who can save her.
11:16Me?
11:16The dragon bonded with Sienna, not me.
11:19You and Sienna are identical, except for the mark.
11:21No one will know the difference.
11:23I opened my mouth to ask how I was supposed to remove a birthmark on three seconds notice.
11:28And then, I remembered the conversation at Mayfair Garden.
11:31He already knew.
11:32Finn raised his hand.
11:33His expression showed something I might have called regret, but his arm was completely steady
11:39as it swung toward my throat.
11:41Samara, I'm sorry.
11:44But Sienna once saved my life.
11:47I can't let her-
11:48Those were the last words I heard before the darkness took me.
11:52Finn, even now, not one word about me.
11:55I came back to consciousness in a moving carriage, dressed in red.
11:59Finn's dress.
12:00The one he made for Sienna.
12:04I almost laughed.
12:06He worked so hard on it.
12:08And it ended up on the wrong twin after all.
12:11Outside, drums and horns.
12:13The city celebrating.
12:15They weren't celebrating the lawn ceremony.
12:17They were celebrating trading my life for their safety.
12:20The altar was already in sight.
12:22I didn't struggle.
12:23I walked up the steps.
12:25Heard the crowd's murmur shift.
12:27A single, sharp inhale of surprise.
12:30The kind of sound people make when they see something unexpected.
12:33How funny.
12:34I had heard people gasp at my face my whole life.
12:37Always in revulsion.
12:39The one time they gasped in something else, I was walking toward my own death.
12:44My gaze found Finn at the base of the steps.
12:46He stood very still, staring up at me with an expression I couldn't read.
12:50This is what you wanted, Finn, isn't it?
12:52I looked away.
12:53Alaric stood at the center of the altar, radiating red light, barely controlled.
12:58His muscles looked like they were about to rip his clothes off.
13:02His eyes were burning.
13:03All animal.
13:04No human.
13:05But as soon as our eyes locked, a flicker of blue light flashed in his eyes.
13:10He got closer to me and cupped my face.
13:13You are different.
13:14The ceremony will now begin.
13:19We exchanged the bond tokens.
13:21Blood on both sides.
13:22The bond snapped into place.
13:24The nightmare dimension opened instantly.
13:27It swallowed us both.
13:28I closed my eyes and waited to die.
13:31When I opened my eyes again, I was overtaken by the view.
13:37Not darkness.
13:38Not pain.
13:39Trees.
13:40Dense.
13:41Ancient.
13:42Green.
13:43A stream so clear I could count the stones at the bottom.
13:46A spotted deer drinking at the bank.
13:49This wasn't what the nightmare dimension was supposed to look like.
13:52And Alaric was gone.
13:54I turned in a slow circle.
13:57No dragon.
13:58No hulking rogue state predator.
14:01Something cool brushed my ankle.
14:03I looked down.
14:04A tiny white snake.
14:07Transparent scales.
14:09Two small, delicate horns catching the light.
14:12Everyone who'd ever studied beastman biology could recognize those horns.
14:18Alaric.
14:18Reduced to his infant form.
14:20Small enough to fit in my palm.
14:22As long as there was breath, there was a way out.
14:25I carried baby Alaric through the valley.
14:30Trying every technique I knew.
14:33Healing herbs.
14:34Binding chance.
14:35Energy redirection.
14:37Nothing worked.
14:37He stayed small.
14:39His red light pulsed faintly, but never faded.
14:42I gave up for the night and went foraging instead.
14:46In the morning, I woke up with something heavy on my chest.
14:50Baby Alaric had coiled himself on top of me at some point in the night and was fast asleep,
14:55rising and falling with my breathing.
14:59I picked him up by the scruff.
15:02I don't know what you heard about mate binding,
15:05but sleeping on top of people is generally considered a personal boundary violation.
15:10He stared at me, completely unapologetic.
15:13His tail, however, slowly turned red.
15:22His tiny horns flushed darker as I kept holding them.
15:26I raised an eyebrow.
15:27I spent the next ten minutes poking his horns until he'd turned fully pink.
15:31Only then did I put him down.
15:33Satisfied.
15:35I went back to trying to fix him, nothing worked.
15:38I pulled some leaves off a low branch and shredded them while I thought.
15:41One leaf caught my skin.
15:43Blood welled from a clean slice across my fingertip.
15:46Before I could move, Alaric flicked his tongue and licked the wound.
15:50The bleeding stopped.
15:51The cut started closing.
15:53Then he convulsed.
15:54I scrambled for medicine.
15:57I scrambled for medicine.
15:57I scrambled for medicine.
15:57Useless.
15:58Because he was already growing.
16:02The feral curse.
16:04The feral curse, gone.
16:30Cold eyes.
16:31The kind of face that made people get out of his way before they knew why.
16:37Samara, are you familiar with a prophecy passed down through dragon bloodlines?
16:42Can't say I am.
16:44Only the goddess can break the curse.
16:47That he knew my real name, or what he was calling me.
16:50I've examined the surrounding space.
16:52This isn't the nightmare dimension.
16:54It's a separate realm.
16:56One that appears to belong to you.
16:59I had a private dimension.
17:01I, Samara, the uglier twin, the spare, the girl who couldn't get a lizard beast man to
17:07bond with her, had a private dimension.
17:10We return to the city.
17:12The streets stop.
17:13And they saw us.
17:15I went straight to Finn's estate.
17:18Alaric walked in beside me.
17:21I looked at my sister.
17:24Finn and Sienna were in the morning hall, performing grief in front of the assembled guests.
17:29Sienna, the name on that banner is wrong.
17:32The one who bonded with the dragon was me.
17:35Samara, not you.
17:36Prove it!
17:37How do we know you're even Samara?
17:39I smiled.
17:40I raised my hand.
17:43Sienna's birthmark.
17:44The one she'd painted on her face to impersonate me?
17:49Dissolved.
17:49I already knew she wouldn't have actually damaged herself.
17:53She sent her own sister to die in her place.
17:56How is Samara's face?
18:00The heartwood.
18:02Finn had it the whole time.
18:07The feral curse.
18:08It's lifted?
18:10You can't possibly be walking around if it's not.
18:12You'd tear this city apart.
18:16The curse is gone, Finn.
18:18Samara cured it.
18:21The entire room pivoted to look at me like a single organism.
18:25Finn looked like he'd been hit.
18:27Alaric, you don't have to protect her.
18:29I know my sister.
18:33I'm not protecting her.
18:35Samara is the goddess our bloodline's prophecy describes.
18:39Her blood neutralizes the feral curse.
18:42Finn's hand tightened on Sienna's arm.
18:45Did you forget, Finn?
18:47Your feral curse broke the same way.
18:50Sienna who saved you that winter.
18:53It was me.
19:00I left that sentence in the middle of the room, like a lit match, and walked out with Alaric.
19:06The best revelations are the ones you don't finish.
19:09Life in Alaric's estate was the best 17 days of my entire existence.
19:14Food brought to me.
19:15Warm rooms.
19:16No one spitting on the ground where I walked.
19:18Then the requests started coming.
19:20Word had spread.
19:21A rogue beast man, a firefox, had been brought to the gates.
19:25People wanted proof.
19:27Alaric and I looked at each other.
19:28Perfect timing.
19:29The crowd outside was enormous.
19:31I walked to the firefox without hurrying, ignoring the way his curse form snarled at me,
19:37and drew a clean line across my palm.
19:39A few drops of blood.
19:40His throat.
19:41He screamed and convulsed.
19:43The crowd turned on me instantly.
19:45She's a monster.
19:47That birthmark was a sign all along.
19:49And she's poisoning him.
19:50I don't answer.
19:51I don't negotiate with panic.
19:53Alaric stepped in front of me.
19:55One look.
19:56That was all he did.
19:57One look at the crowd.
19:58And every voice stopped.
19:59I watched his back.
20:01The width of his shoulders.
20:02The steadiness of his stance.
20:04And something warm cracked open in my chest.
20:0717 years.
20:08First time someone stepped in front of me.
20:10The firefox stopped convulsing.
20:12The red light faded.
20:13He blinked.
20:14Calm.
20:15Recognizably himself.
20:16The person who'd been loudest about poisoning him now looked like they might faint.
20:20Goodness!
20:21Started moving through the crowd like a wave.
20:23Within a week, my name was on every street in the city.
20:26Sienna, I heard, hadn't left Finn's estate in days.
20:29The neighborhood children had discovered she made an excellent moving target.
20:34I was not sorry.
20:35A servant announced a visitor one evening.
20:37I already knew who it was before I reached the hall.
20:40Sienna, on her knees.
20:42Samara, tell them you went willingly.
20:44Please, just issue a statement.
20:46She was pale, shaking, still managing to make it sound like a command.
20:50My voice came out very quiet.
20:52Give me one reason.
20:53You watched them torment me for 18 years and said nothing.
20:57You knew I was the one who healed Finn.
21:00And you let him fawn over you anyway.
21:01And then you sent me to die in your place.
21:05Her mouth moved.
21:06No sound came out.
21:07She grabbed the hem of my sleeve and pulled like a child.
21:10Alaric had her escorted out.
21:12The moment he appeared in the doorway, something in me simply gave.
21:16The tears came without warning.
21:18I couldn't stop them.
21:19Didn't try.
21:20Alaric pulled me in without a word.
21:22I cried so hard I couldn't breathe.
21:2418 years of it.
21:25Finally out.
21:26I woke up in bed.
21:28Alaric was beside me, asleep.
21:29I remembered, distantly, grabbing his sleeve and refusing to let go as I passed out.
21:35My face was on fire.
21:36I had approximately 5 seconds to be mortified before a servant announced another visitor.
21:42Finn!
21:42He stood in the receiving room, looking wrecked, like he hadn't slept.
21:46His eyes found my face and stayed there, unblinking, full of something painful.
21:51Samara, I'm so glad you're alive.
21:53You have interesting timing, Finn.
21:55I'm only alive because you swapped me for Sienna.
21:57So technically, I have you to thank?
22:00Samara, every word you say right now is a blade.
22:03Good.
22:03I turned to leave.
22:04He caught my wrist.
22:06Mara.
22:06My old name.
22:07The short version.
22:08The one he'd used before he stopped seeing me.
22:10I hadn't heard it in years.
22:12Finn, you didn't lose me.
22:13You put me down a long time ago.
22:15I'm the one who finally stopped waiting for you to pick me back up.
22:18Finn and Sienna stayed away after that.
22:20What they didn't stay away from was a scheme.
22:24Rumors spread.
22:25A second goddess had appeared.
22:28One more generous than me.
22:29No conditions.
22:31No questions about character.
22:33And apparently effective.
22:34I sat in Alaric's garden eating candied plums and genuinely could not find it in me to care.
22:42But I noticed something.
22:44Dead animals kept appearing outside the city walls.
22:48Strange variety.
22:50Wrong season.
22:52Sienna, if you actually had this ability, you would have used it before tonight.
22:57Alaric's people quietly investigated.
22:59The count of dead animals matched the count of beastmen Sienna claimed to have healed.
23:04Exactly.
23:06She'd been extracting beastman essence.
23:09Killing animals to fake a cure.
23:12She was arrested within the week.
23:14I went to see her before sentencing.
23:17She was barely recognizable.
23:19Dirty.
23:20Small.
23:21The careful performance of herself completely gone.
23:26This is your fault, Samara.
23:29You sent Alaric after me.
23:31I didn't.
23:32But go on.
23:33You, you and your goddess title, you ruined everything.
23:38And Finn is throwing me out.
23:41Dissolving the bond.
23:43He's leaving me to die.
23:45I went still.
23:47Sienna, what you did to me, that only hurt me.
23:50What you did to those beastmen, to this city, that was bigger than both of us.
23:54The reason you're here isn't me.
23:56It's every choice you made when you thought nobody was watching.
24:00She was still screaming when I left.
24:02She died three days later.
24:04I had her remains collected.
24:07Whatever she was to me at the end, she was still the person I grew up beside.
24:11Then Finn appeared at the gate, and every inch of him was glowing.
24:16The feral curse taking hold.
24:18He didn't ask for my blood.
24:28Before I lose myself completely, let this feather find the person it belongs to.
24:32I recognized it immediately.
24:35Finn, do you know what the last thing Sienna ever said to me to me was?
24:39The lizard who rejected me?
24:41You arranged that.
24:43You sent someone to him the night before.
24:45You made sure I had no options left so I'd have to stay within reach.
24:50That night, Alaric came to my room and set a dragon scale on my desk without a word.
24:55I pushed it back three times.
24:57His face went darker with each refusal.
25:01I took the scale.
25:05Alaric's estate was enormous.
25:07I spent two weeks learning the layout and still open the wrong door half the time.
25:10One wrong door led me to a room full of dried flowers.
25:14Thousands of them, every variety, pressed, labeled, arranged in careful rows.
25:19After my mother died, I'd go out before dawn and pick whatever was blooming.
25:23Then spend the hot part of the day hawking them at the market.
25:26Until one morning, a house steward appeared and said his employer was very pleased with my work
25:31and wanted ten full baskets delivered daily.
25:33I had never seen the employer's face.
25:36It was Alaric.
25:37I summoned him to the main hall that evening.
25:40He stood in the center of them, unsure what to do with his hands.
25:43I didn't realize dragons had so many quirks.
25:47Sleeping on people's chests.
25:49Collecting flowers.
25:50Truly a complex inner life.
25:53Alaric.
25:53When we were little, you used to follow me around and call me Big Sis.
25:57I know I told you to stop once we were grown.
26:00I lied.
26:01I liked it.
26:03I looked at him.
26:05Waiting.
26:07He didn't move for a long, agonizing moment.
26:12Big Sis.
26:13We'd met before Finn.
26:15Before any of this.
26:16Him for being born without dragon horns.
26:17Me for the mark on my face.
26:19Left in the mountains to survive or die.
26:20He arrived after me.
26:21So obviously, I adopted him immediately.
26:24We lived like that for years.
26:26Looking out for each other.
26:27Then his horns grew in.
26:30His family came to collect him.
26:32He didn't want to go.
26:33They tied him up.
26:33They told him if he fought it, they'd come back and kill me.
26:37He left to protect me.
26:39He found me again years later in the market.
26:43He was too afraid to approach.
26:46Afraid his presence would put me in danger.
26:49So he bought all my flowers instead.
26:52Every single day.
26:53At triple the market rate.
26:56He agreed to bond with Sienna.
26:58Because he knew what Finn was planning.
26:59He'd seen Finn watching Sienna.
27:01He knew the swap was coming.
27:03He let himself be exposed to the feral curse of my family.
27:06To give me a way out.
27:07His own family found out and took it from him.
27:09An investment in keeping the dragon estate's power centralized in the younger side.
27:13He nearly died.
27:15So did I.
27:16And we both came out the other side.
27:18I turned the dragon scale over in my hands.
27:21A reverse scale I'd found out.
27:23The most sensitive point on a dragon's body.
27:26The thing they guard most carefully.
27:28He'd given it to me in a panic.
27:30Terrified I'd changed my mind.
27:32I pressed up on my toes and kissed his horn.
27:36You absolute idiot.
27:38I said smiling.
27:39Why didn't you just tell me?
27:41He picked me up without any further discussion.
27:44And carried me inside.
27:46I learned that night.
27:48Thoroughly and at length.
27:49That dragon horns are not.
27:51In fact.
27:52For casual affectionate kissing.
27:57Life after that was sweet.
27:58Genuinely.
27:59Embarrassingly sweet.
28:02Except for the bird.
28:03The phoenix had started appearing in the tree outside my window.
28:06Wherever I went.
28:07It followed.
28:08Said nothing.
28:09Just watched.
28:12Finn had disappeared.
28:13Some said dead.
28:14Some said he'd left the territory entirely.
28:17Today was my bond ceremony with Alaric.
28:19Some stories end with a bang.
28:22Mine ended with a bird being firmly escorted off the property.
28:27Works for me.
28:29The phoenix.
28:30The phoenix.
28:32The phoenix.
28:35The phoenix.
28:35The phoenix.
28:36The phoenix.
28:36The phoenix.
28:36The phoenix.