- 3 days ago
- #ars
The Scarred Orc Who Bit Me First - Short Drama Full HD 720p #ARS
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Short filmTranscript
00:062am. I'm crouched outside a bar, chain-smoking. Makeup wrecked. Heels kicked off. Whiskey down the front of my dress.
00:14I look like a woman whose life just blew up in her face. That's because it did.
00:20A man drops onto the curb beside me. Cheap suit. Breath that could peel paint off a wall.
00:26You look stressed, sweetheart. Move. I've got something cheap. Won't bleed much on your carpet.
00:32I almost stand up to knock his teeth in. Tonight's auction left over. Nobody bid on him. We torch him
00:37at sunrise.
00:38Here's how it works in this country. Orc auctions are the biggest industry on the East Coast. The pretty ones
00:43go for millions. The ugly ones go to labor camps. The leftovers get burned. And tonight, I happen to need
00:49something to burn.
00:50What's wrong with him? Faster if I tell you what's right. Mongrel, half-breed, one-eyed dead, tusk-snap, big
00:57bastard, tank of a body, takes a hit, keeps coming.
01:00Show me.
01:06I forget how to breathe.
01:08Seven foot two. Ash-gray skin. Scar tissue running from his hairline down to his collar. The left side of
01:14his face is wrecked. A white scar cuts him from temple to jaw.
01:17That eye is dead. Cloudy. Half-blind. Left tusk snapped in half. The right one filed sharp. His horn broken
01:25clean at the tip. Shoulders so wide they nearly scrape both walls of the alley.
01:30The traitor kicks the back of his knee. Look at that face, sweetheart. Do whatever you want to eat. You
01:36can't ruin what's already ruined.
01:42The orc lifts his head. His one good eye finds mine. Amber. Way too calm for someone scheduled to be
01:49ashes by sunrise. Then I think about Sullivan.
01:53My husband. Silk shirts ironed by staff. Six foot ten of factory perfect pureblood orc. He sleeps in my stepsister's
02:01wing. The official reason is my perfume gives him headaches. He brushes her hair every morning. I eat breakfast alone.
02:08Eighteen months of that.
02:10You getting this? Me, Sienna Quinn. Heiress to the biggest fortune in New York.
02:15Twenty-three years old. Two million dollars I paid for a husband who thinks I smell bad.
02:22How much to keep him?
02:26You don't keep a mongrel. You rent him for an hour till you...
02:32Number.
02:33Sixty grand.
02:35Five.
02:36Lady, are you out of your...
02:37Five. Cash. Right now. Or I call my father. He sits on the welfare bureau board.
02:42He'd love to hear what your operation moves through this alley.
02:47Deal.
02:48I peel off the bills.
02:51The chain drops into Pine Palm.
02:54Cold.
02:56Heavier than I expected.
02:58The orc tilts his head.
03:00When he speaks, his voice comes out low and rough.
03:04If you wanted to hurt something pretty, you should have walked past me.
03:09I don't want to hurt anything.
03:11Then why?
03:13I look up at his face.
03:15Because tonight, the world's most beautiful orc is at home.
03:20He won't look me in the eye.
03:22And this half-blind mongrel just did.
03:24I tug the chain.
03:26Gentle.
03:27Just once.
03:29Because nobody else would.
03:31He follows me out of the alley.
03:39The Uber driver locks every door the second Lysander folds in.
03:44He has to fold himself sideways to fit.
03:47I haven't been this close to another body in a long time.
03:51What's your name?
03:52Lysander.
03:54My mother named me Lysander.
03:56The auction tag calls me Mongrel 72.
03:5871 before him.
04:01All burned.
04:03I'm at Siena.
04:04I'm not calling you a number.
04:07He doesn't say thank you.
04:08He doesn't believe me yet.
04:10That's fine.
04:11He will.
04:12The plaza.
04:14Penthouse.
04:15I slipped the bellman 300 bucks to wipe the security footage.
04:19He doesn't ask why.
04:21That's the thing about money.
04:23The right amount makes problems vanish.
04:25In the suite, Lysander has to duck to clear the doorway.
04:29His broken horn scrapes plaster off the ceiling.
04:32Sit.
04:32The couch will hold you.
04:35I don't sit on furniture.
04:37You do now.
04:39The frame groans under him.
04:41He puts his hands flat on his knees, palms down, fingers spread.
04:45The pose you train an animal to hold.
04:47Somebody taught him that.
04:49I'll deal with that later.
04:53Don't.
04:54It's just water.
04:56That side of my face is dead, Siena.
04:58My body remembers the hand, not what's in it.
05:0418 months in a marriage with no contact.
05:07Two hours in a hotel room with a stranger who flinches when I try.
05:11God, we're a pair.
05:14Tell me who took the eye.
05:16Owner's son.
05:18He got his first hunting knife for his 12th birthday.
05:21His father told him to practice on something that didn't matter.
05:25I pick up his hand.
05:26I turn it over.
05:28The inside of his wrist is covered in burn scars.
05:30Old slave casels over older slave casels.
05:33Layers of them.
05:34I press my mouth to the inside of his wrist.
05:37He stops breathing.
05:42Don't be soft with me, Aunt Siena.
05:46I'll break.
05:47Then break.
05:51He drops his forehead into my shoulder.
05:53He shakes against me.
05:55I put my hand on the back of his head.
05:58His hair is rough.
05:59Not like Sutherland's silk in Conditioner Mane.
06:02But somehow it makes me feel safer than Sutherland ever did.
06:08My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
06:10Sully is losing it!
06:12He smells another orc on you!
06:13He's pacing the foyer!
06:15Tusks won't retract!
06:16Where are you?
06:17I read it twice.
06:19Then I smile.
06:21First real smile in 18 months.
06:24You have to understand my life.
06:26I was 5 years old when somebody snatched me off a sidewalk in Queens.
06:30My parents looked for me for one year.
06:33Then they gave up.
06:34And adopted a baby girl from the system.
06:37They named her Cora.
06:38She got 18 years of birthday parties, ballet lessons, piano recitals, family vacations.
06:44I got 18 years of foster homes, a juvie cell at 11, a girl gang in Bushwick at 14, and
06:51a DNA test at 23 that matched me to the Queens.
06:54When I walked through their door at 23, my little sister was 17.
06:58She'd been the only daughter her entire life.
07:01She screamed.
07:02She broke a vase.
07:03She threw a butter knife at my head and missed by an inch.
07:07Get out of my house, you trash!
07:10My mother held her and stroked her hair.
07:12Your sister's been spoiled.
07:14Try to be patient, sweetheart.
07:15That was the day I learned the rules of this family.
07:17I keep my mouth shut about Bushwick.
07:19I keep my mouth shut about the pickpocketing.
07:21I smile pretty at brunch.
07:23I cry on cue when the inheritance lawyer drops by.
07:26The allowance keeps showing up.
07:28Every birthday, my parents buy me something extravagance, paying down the guilt of 18 years they spent not looking hard
07:33enough.
07:34On my 22nd, they bought me Sullivan.
07:36Two million dollar pureblood orc.
07:38Show-quality bloodline.
07:40Brushed coat.
07:40Polished tusks.
07:42Your sister's so quiet, sweetheart.
07:44A companion orc would help her come out of her shell.
07:49Cora screamed for three days.
07:51Then she ran away with him for ten.
07:54She brought him back skin and bones.
07:57My mother slapped her across the face for the first time in her life.
08:00And from that day forward, Sullivan only responded to one set of footspets in the hallway.
08:05Hers.
08:06He'd lived ten days as her stray.
08:08He decided she was his real owner.
08:10I was just the woman whose name was on the paperwork.
08:13Eighteen months of eating breakfast alone in a house with five other people in it.
08:19I look down at the phone.
08:22Tell him to get used to it.
08:24I press end.
08:25I put both my hands on it lice of his face.
08:28I make him look at me.
08:30You're staying with me.
08:33You don't know what you just bought.
08:35Then tell me in the morning.
08:37He pulls me against his chest.
08:39His arm is bigger around than my waist.
08:42His heartbeat is slow and heavy under my ear.
08:45He's asleep in three minutes.
08:48I lie in the dark, listening to him breathe.
08:50In eighteen months, my pure-blood husband has never once fallen asleep in the same room as me.
08:55The mongrel I bought for five grand has been mine for two hours and he's already unconscious on my chest.
09:01Best money I've ever spent.
09:04I wake up because there's a hand around my throat.
09:07His whole palm covers my neck.
09:09His thumb sits on my pulse.
09:11He isn't squeezing.
09:13He's staring at the door.
09:14This isn't a threat.
09:15He's checking the room.
09:17I keep my voice low.
09:18Talk to me.
09:19What's at the door?
09:21Somebody's in the hallway.
09:22Get behind me.
09:23He's off the bed in one movement.
09:25Three hundred pounds of orc and not a sound on the carpet.
09:28He puts his eye to the peephole.
09:30His shoulders drop.
09:32Room service.
09:33He opens the door.
09:35The bellboy on the other side sees seven feet of scarred mongrel filling the frame and drops the tray.
09:41Lysander catches it before it hits the carpet.
09:43He closes the door.
09:45He stands with his back to me.
09:48Send me back to the traitor at sunrise.
09:51What?
09:51I sit up in bed.
09:52He keeps the five thousand.
09:54He puts me down anyway.
09:55You walk away clean.
09:57Lysander.
09:58Your pure-blood forgives you.
10:00Your family forgives you.
10:02The story is, you got drunk.
10:04You did something stupid.
10:05You came home.
10:06End of story.
10:06I get out of bed.
10:08I cross the carpet barefoot.
10:11I stand on my toes to put my palm flat against his sternum.
10:16His heart is jackrabbiting under my hand.
10:19He's terrified.
10:21Afraid last night was a lie.
10:23Did you sleep tonight?
10:27Yes.
10:28Three hours.
10:29How long since you slept three hours in a row before that?
10:33His mouth opens.
10:35He doesn't have an answer.
10:39I take a breath.
10:40I've been married for 18 months to the most beautiful orc in the city.
10:43He looks at me.
10:44He won't enter my bedroom.
10:46He won't touch my hand at dinner.
10:48He sleeps in a different wing because my perfume gives him a headache.
10:52He brushes my stepsister's hair every morning and pretends I'm not at the table.
10:56I curl my fingers in the fabric of his shirt.
10:59But I've been invisible in my own house for 18 months.
11:03Sienna.
11:04He looks at me.
11:06Tonight, you saw me first.
11:08I look up.
11:09You fell asleep on my chest in three minutes.
11:12Do you understand what that did to me?
11:14I'm not sending you back.
11:16He stares down at me.
11:18His eyes are wet.
11:20You shouldn't love a thing like me.
11:22Then we have a problem.
11:24Because I think I already do.
11:26I take his hand.
11:27I lead him back to the bed.
11:28Lay down.
11:29You haven't slept in three days.
11:31He lays down.
11:32I curl on his chest.
11:34My ear is right over his heart.
11:37Why did you really put your hand on my throat earlier?
11:43Habit.
11:44Mongrels reach for the threat first, always.
11:47You weren't threatening me.
11:50You were guarding me.
11:51He almost laughs.
11:53He tips my chin up with one knuckle.
11:55His eye catches the light.
11:56Sullivan never touched you, did he?
12:02He never sat on the same couch as me.
12:05Then I'm going to be the first thing on your skin.
12:08He leans down.
12:10He kisses me.
12:12Hard.
12:14The broken tusk drags my lower lip open.
12:17He licks the cut.
12:19I moan into his mouth.
12:21He grabs both my wrists in one hand and pins them above my head.
12:25Other hand grips my jaw.
12:28Open.
12:30I open.
12:30His tongue is in my mouth.
12:32His knee shoves my thighs apart.
12:34He drops his weight on me.
12:36The bed dips.
12:37The frame groans.
12:39He's hard.
12:40I feel him against my hip.
12:42Through the fabric.
12:42Heavy.
12:43Thick.
12:44Look at you.
12:46Tiny thing.
12:47Already shaking for me.
12:50He shoves my nightgown up to my waist.
12:53One hand with the other still pinning my wrists.
12:57His palm slides down between my things.
13:01Already wet.
13:04Lysianna.
13:05Say please.
13:07I gasp.
13:09Say it, Sienna.
13:12Please.
13:15His fingers work into me.
13:17Two at once.
13:19Thick.
13:20Rough.
13:21He's watching my face.
13:23That's it.
13:24There she is.
13:25He keeps going till I'm shaking under him.
13:28No.
13:28Don't.
13:29Don't.
13:30Then he stops.
13:32Hush.
13:33I want you on my tongue first.
13:39He drops down the bed.
13:42Shoulders shove my thighs wider.
13:44He hooks both my knees over his shoulders.
13:47His mouth goes to me.
13:48The intact tusk drags along my inner thigh.
13:51The sharp one.
13:53Just enough pressure to mark.
13:55I cry out.
13:56He eats me till my hands tear the sheets.
13:59Till my hips lift off the bed for him.
14:02He holds me down with one forearm across my stomach.
14:05When I come, he is watching me the whole time.
14:08He climbs back up me.
14:10His mouth is wet.
14:11He kisses me with it.
14:13Let's me taste myself.
14:15Now look at me when I take you.
14:17He pushes in.
14:19Slow.
14:20So slow.
14:21I feel every inch.
14:23I'm small under him.
14:24He's huge.
14:26He stretches me till my eyes go wet.
14:28He stops halfway.
14:30Breathe.
14:33He pushes the rest of the way in.
14:36I gasp his name.
14:37He swallows it.
14:38He starts to move.
14:40Deep.
14:41Hard.
14:42Steady.
14:43Each thrust pushes me up the mattress.
14:45His free hand pulls me back down onto him.
14:48He says it on every stroke.
14:50I sob it back.
14:51Mine.
14:54Fuck me harder, Lysanar.
14:56His good eye goes black.
14:58He bites the bond spot.
15:00Right where my neck meets my shoulder.
15:03My whole spine snaps tight.
15:05My hands fist in the sheets.
15:07I cry out into his hair.
15:08He holds me through it.
15:10He licks the blood off his lip.
15:12Then he licks the bite.
15:14Mine.
15:15Say it back.
15:16Yours.
15:17Again.
15:19Yours, Lysanar.
15:20He kisses me hard.
15:22I taste my own blood in his mouth and I don't care.
15:26It's done.
15:26You can't undo it.
15:28You're mine forever.
15:30Nobody is taking you from me.
15:33Good.
15:36I wake up to sunlight on his chest.
15:39He has been awake for a while.
15:40He is staring at the ceiling.
15:42His hand sits on my hip.
15:44He is afraid to move it.
15:48How long have you been up?
15:50Two hours.
15:51Why didn't you wake me?
15:53You were sleeping on me.
15:54I wasn't going to end that.
15:56The bite on my neck pulses with every heartbeat.
16:00Let me see.
16:01He sees me wince and sits up.
16:04He turns my head gently.
16:05His thumb traces around the mark.
16:08Never on it.
16:09It's scarred clean.
16:11It will show for the rest of your life.
16:14That's what I wanted.
16:16He studies me for a moment.
16:18You keep saying things like that.
16:21The words don't seem to cost you anything.
16:23They don't.
16:24They will.
16:26Your father will see the mark.
16:28Everyone you grew up around will see what bit you.
16:31I climb into his lap.
16:33I put his hand flat on my throat over the bite.
16:37Then they see it.
16:39He shakes his head once.
16:41Sienna.
16:42Take it off.
16:43I'll buy you a scarf downstairs.
16:44Wear it until the bruise fades.
16:46Walk back into that house clean.
16:49Tell them I was a bad dream.
16:50I pull back to look at him.
16:52You want me to hide you?
16:54I want you to survive me.
16:57Press.
16:58What?
16:58Press, Lysander.
17:00Hard enough to leave your prints next to your teeth.
17:03He doesn't press.
17:04I can't.
17:05Then stop telling me to take you off.
17:08His hands shake.
17:11He closes his eyes.
17:13He drops his forehead onto my collarbone.
17:15I feel him breathe out for the first time since he woke up.
17:19I order room service.
17:21Two of everything.
17:23Eat.
17:24Start with the eggs.
17:27He picks up a fork.
17:29He puts it back down.
17:31He picks up a piece of bacon with his fingers.
17:33He looks up.
17:34Waiting for me to correct him.
17:36I pick up my own piece with my fingers too.
17:39He almost smiles.
17:41My phone lights up on the carpet.
17:44The cell he shifted.
17:45Tusts won't retract.
17:46Dad locked him in the wine cellar.
17:48Mom is crying.
17:50Where are you?
17:51Lysander reads it over my shoulder.
17:54His hand doesn't leave my throat.
17:57Get dressed.
17:58We're going home.
18:02The estate gates are open.
18:04The guard is at his post.
18:06He doesn't look at us.
18:07Stay outside, Marco.
18:09Whatever you hear, stay outside.
18:11He looks relieved and nods.
18:13I walk up the gravel drive with at Lysander a step behind me.
18:17He doesn't speak.
18:19He is scanning every window.
18:21He is already counting exits.
18:23The foyer is wrecked.
18:25There's glass on the marble and a console table on its side.
18:28My mother is on the stairs with mascara down her face.
18:32Sullivan has my father against the wall.
18:34Six foot ten of him with tusks fully out.
18:37My father's feet are six inches off the marble.
18:39Cora is at the top of the stairs.
18:41She has her phone up.
18:42She is filming the whole thing.
18:44I walk into the middle of the foyer.
18:47Sully, put him down.
18:49Sullivan turns slowly.
18:51He doesn't recognize me for a beat.
18:53Then he does.
18:54And his nostrils flare.
18:58You smell like him, Sienna.
19:00Let my father down.
19:02I can fix this.
19:03I can wash it off.
19:05I can mark over it.
19:06Sullivan.
19:07Put.
19:08Him.
19:09Down.
19:10He drops my father.
19:12My father slides down the wall to the marble.
19:15Coughing, but alive.
19:17Sullivan crosses the foyer towards me.
19:20He stops three feet away.
19:21He cannot take the next step.
19:23Pure Blood Instinct won't let him cross the air between us.
19:26He has smelled the bond.
19:27He knows what it is.
19:29Lysander walks through the doorway behind him.
19:31Sullivan's whole body locks up.
19:33Lysander doesn't lift a hand.
19:35He walks to the middle of the foyer.
19:37He says four words in a language I don't know.
19:40Oh, no.
19:40Then, Sullivan drops to both knees.
19:47His tusks retract.
19:49The black in his eyes pulls back to gold.
19:51The foyer goes dead silent.
19:54My mother gasps from the stairs.
19:56Sully.
19:58What did he just say?
20:00Lysander answers in flat English.
20:02I told him my mother's name.
20:04My father lifts his head from the marble.
20:07Who is your mother, son?
20:09Lysander looks at me first.
20:10Then at my father.
20:13Her name was Merivin of the North Forest.
20:16My father stops breathing for a beat.
20:19My father pours brandy in his studi.
20:21His hands shake.
20:22He doesn't drink any of it.
20:24Lysander stands by the door.
20:25He won't sit in this house yet.
20:27Merivin of the North Forest married a human.
20:29That makes you highborn.
20:31And that makes Vark of House Drenhan your uncle.
20:35Yes.
20:36My father sets the brandy down very carefully.
20:39Sienna.
20:40Do you understand what you walked into an alley and bought?
20:44A husband.
20:45A highborn heir.
20:46There are seven of them on this coast.
20:48That sounds like my problem to handle.
20:51That is everyone's problem now.
20:53Including mine.
20:54He looks at Lysander.
20:56Why were you in that alley?
21:00My uncle put me there 15 years ago.
21:02He paid Ortloff and sons 12,000 pieces.
21:05They took my eye and snapped my tusk.
21:07They broke my horn.
21:08He didn't want anyone to buy me.
21:10No one was supposed to see whose blood I had.
21:13If I died young, my mother's lands passed to him.
21:15And you didn't die.
21:17He didn't die.
21:18He went through 12 cages.
21:20He walked out of an alley last night.
21:22He had my chain in his hand.
21:25My father is silent at his desk.
21:28And he bit you?
21:29After one night?
21:31Yes.
21:32Your grandmother died last month, son.
21:34Mero's mother.
21:35The estate is in probate.
21:36I don't care about the estate.
21:38You should care.
21:39The day Vec learns that Lysander is alive, he is coming through that gate.
21:43Lysander speaks from the doorway.
21:45Quiet.
21:46He already knows.
21:47He felt the bond pulse at 2 a.m.
21:52Then he is already on a plane.
21:54How long do we have?
21:56Six hours.
21:57Maybe less.
21:58I leave my father in the study.
22:00I find Cora in my bedroom.
22:01She is on my bed.
22:03She holds a phone in one hand.
22:05She holds a paring knife in the other.
22:07The blade is pointed at her own throat.
22:10Hi sis.
22:11We need to talk.
22:14I sit down across from her.
22:18Put it down, Cora.
22:20You took Sully.
22:21He was never yours.
22:23Mom and dad bought him for you and he chose me anyway.
22:27You imprinted a 12-year-old animal who was scared and confused.
22:31That's grooming.
22:33That's not love.
22:34Send your monster husband away.
22:37Send him back tonight.
22:40Or I'll do it on your bed.
22:41I lean closer.
22:43You won't.
22:46Watch me.
22:47A girl who actually wanted to die wouldn't come here.
22:50Not to her sister's bedroom.
22:52She would do it in her own room.
22:54You came here because you need an audience.
22:57She blinks at me.
22:58I'm the audience.
23:00Drop the knife.
23:01Her hand shakes.
23:02I've watched you cry on cue for 18 months.
23:06I've watched you switch the tears off the second the camera leaves.
23:10Sis.
23:12This morning you filmed dad choking against a wall.
23:15You didn't drop the phone to help him.
23:17You narrated it.
23:19Her face cracks open.
23:21A girl who films her dad choking.
23:23She doesn't slit her throat over a husband.
23:27Drop it.
23:28She drops the knife.
23:30Then she starts crying.
23:33Real crying.
23:34Not the kind I'm used to from her.
23:36I hate that you came back.
23:38I had everything.
23:39I had dad.
23:41And mom.
23:42And Sully.
23:42And this house.
23:44Then they found you.
23:46And I became the second one.
23:48You had a stolen life.
23:49It was always going to end the day they found me.
23:53Sis.
23:53Please.
23:54Switzerland.
23:56Friday.
23:57Lindenburg Academy.
23:59You don't come back until you're 21.
24:01She nods at me.
24:03She doesn't bargain.
24:05I pick the knife up off the bed thread.
24:08I walk out into the hall.
24:13Lysenar is in the hallway.
24:15He has heard every word through the door.
24:17You didn't have to be that hard with her.
24:19I was 17 once.
24:20Nobody was soft with me back then.
24:22She isn't broken.
24:23She is spoiled.
24:24There's a difference.
24:25You smell different right now.
24:27Just for one minute let me hold you.
24:28He opens his arms.
24:30I walk into him.
24:31I don't cry.
24:32He holds me in the hallway.
24:34Behind him down the corridor.
24:35My mother is standing in a doorway.
24:37She is watching us closely.
24:39She doesn't speak.
24:40She watches him put his hand on the back of my head.
24:43Then she goes back into her room and closes the door.
24:46The doorbell rings at 3 p.m.
24:48Al the Leister straightens up.
24:50The softness leaves his body fast.
24:52Who is at the door?
24:53Sienna?
24:53I'm not expecting anyone.
24:55He checks the camera in the front hall.
24:57There are three orcs on the step.
24:59They wear iron coats with full tusks and unbroken horns.
25:02My uncle's men.
25:04Six hours, you said.
25:07He was closer than I thought.
25:08He moves me behind him.
25:10He opens the door himself.
25:11The oldest of the three steps in.
25:13Six foot eleven.
25:14In a silk lined coat.
25:15He sees at Lysander.
25:17His eyes go to the broken horn in the dead eye.
25:19They go to the snapped tusk.
25:21They go to the brand under the shirt.
25:23He smiles at him.
25:25Forgive the intrusion.
25:26I'm Lord Vec of House Drenum.
25:29I've come to collect my nephew.
25:37He's married, I tell him.
25:39To you.
25:40A human.
25:41I admire your nerve.
25:43His smile widens.
25:44But my nephew is not property you can keep.
25:47He belongs to the house until he is twenty-five.
25:50Get out of my father's house.
25:52Vark turns to Atlithlim.
25:54He says something quiet in the old language.
25:57Listener's scar twidges.
25:58What did he say?
25:59He asked if I had taught the human pet to sit yet.
26:03My father grips the hall doorway hard.
26:05Lysanar steps fully into the foyer.
26:07Uncle.
26:08You paid Orphal and Ozon twelve thousand pieces.
26:11They put a knife in my eye when I was eight.
26:14Lysanar.
26:14You paid them to snap my tusk.
26:17To break my horn.
26:18To brawn me mongrel seventy-two.
26:20That is enough.
26:21You sold me to twelve cages over fifteen years.
26:24You're here today because Grandmother is dead.
26:27Her will makes me richer than you.
26:29Varek's smile sharpens.
26:30Your mother married beneath her.
26:32Your father was a stain on our bloodline.
26:35We did what was necessary.
26:37The three of them step toward me.
26:39Varek's hand comes up to strike.
26:41Lysander moves on him.
26:43The first hit cracks bone.
26:45The second is wetter.
26:46The third rattles the chandelier above us.
26:49My father grabs me and pulls me into the hallway.
26:51He clamps his hand over my mouth.
26:54The foyer doors swing back open.
26:56Lysanar stands in the frame.
26:58There's blood on his knuckles and a cut on his cheekbone.
27:01Three highborn Oryx lie on the marble.
27:03None of them are getting up soon.
27:04None of them are dead.
27:05My father starts to laugh.
27:06Quiet at first.
27:07Then louder.
27:09Lysamore turns to me.
27:10He looks wild.
27:11His hand is shaking hard.
27:13Take me somewhere I can put my back to a wall.
27:16I take him to my bathroom.
27:18I lock the door behind us.
27:20I sit him on the closed lid of the toilet.
27:22I turn on the hot water in the sink.
27:24He doesn't speak.
27:25He stares at the tile between his feet.
27:28His hands won't stop shaking.
27:30I run a washcloth under the tap.
27:32I wring it out.
27:33I kneel in front of him on the bath mat.
27:35Give me your hands.
27:37He gives them to me.
27:38I wash them.
27:39Knuckle by knuckle.
27:40The blood isn't his.
27:42It comes off easy.
27:43Look at me.
27:44He doesn't look up.
27:47Lysather.
27:48Look at me.
27:49He looks at me.
27:50And then he breaks.
27:52His shoulders drop.
27:54He starts to cry.
27:55He puts his forehead against my colivone and his whole body shakes.
27:59I hold the back of his head.
28:01I let him fall apart.
28:03I was eight.
28:05I was eight years old, Aunt Sienna.
28:08I tighten my hand in his hair.
28:11They told me my mother was on her way.
28:13They told me she was coming to take me home.
28:16I sat in that room for two hours waiting for her.
28:20Then the door opened.
28:22And it wasn't her.
28:24I'm here.
28:25My uncle paid them to do it.
28:27I was eight years old, in a chair.
28:30He watched the whole thing.
28:31He is making a sound now that isn't quite fine.
28:35Tonight I broke his tusk on his own floor.
28:37It didn't fix anything.
28:39I thought it would fix something.
28:42It doesn't work like that.
28:46No, it doesn't.
28:48Hey.
28:50Look at me.
28:52He looks at me again.
28:54It doesn't fix what he did to you.
28:56Nothing does.
28:58But it tells him you grew up.
29:01He sold an eight-year-old.
29:02The eight-year-old came back with a wife.
29:06I don't deserve this.
29:08You keep saying that.
29:10Because it's true.
29:12Then we have a problem.
29:13I'm not leaving you.
29:14I take his face in both my hands.
29:16I kiss the dead side first.
29:18The scarred one.
29:19Where the knife went in.
29:20He flinches the way he did with the towel last night.
29:23I do it again.
29:24Slower this time.
29:25The third time, he doesn't flinch at all.
29:28He looks at me steady.
29:29I'm going to need you for the rest of my life.
29:32I'm telling you now.
29:33You can decide before this gets worse.
29:35Already decided.
29:372 a.m. last night.
29:38Get in the bath.
29:39He gets in the bath.
29:40He doesn't fit at all.
29:41His knees come up over the rim.
29:43His broken horn taps the tile above him.
29:46He laughs at himself.
29:47The sound is short and surprised.
29:49I haven't been in a bathtub since I was a child.
29:52You're in one now.
29:54I sit on the edge in my clothes.
29:55I dip the washcloth in the water.
29:57I start at his shoulder.
29:59I work down his arm and across his chest.
30:01The brand on his ribs is the last thing I get to.
30:04The number 12 is burned into him in black ink.
30:07The brand is older than the knife scar.
30:09The skin around it is still raised after 15 years.
30:12I put my home flat on it.
30:14Tell me what this one is.
30:19Cage number.
30:20Twelfth owner.
30:21They burn the new number over the old one each time.
30:24The first six are under it.
30:25You can feel the ridges if you press.
30:28I can feel them.
30:29I do press.
30:31And the others?
30:32He starts to tell me about them.
30:35He doesn't stop for an hour.
30:37There was the owner who fed him once a week.
30:40There was the one who used him in the pit.
30:43There was the one in Maryland with the daughter.
30:45She slipped him bread under the door at night.
30:47Her father caught her doing it.
30:48He never knew what happened to the daughter after that.
30:51I listen to him.
30:52I keep the water warm.
30:54I don't cry.
30:55He doesn't need that from me.
30:56When he is done, he sits very still.
30:59Sienna.
31:01Yes.
31:02Nobody has ever asked me what they were.
31:05Nobody is ever going to skip that question again.
31:09He looks at me.
31:10He is steady for the first time all day.
31:15I want you to see the rest of them too.
31:17I help him stand.
31:18He drips water on the bath mat.
31:21I dry him with a towel I fetch twice from the closet.
31:24I find every scar he tells me to find.
31:27Six are on his back.
31:29One sits under his jaw.
31:30One is on the inside of his thigh.
31:32He won't explain that one.
31:34I put my mouth on each of them.
31:36When I get to the brand, I stay there longer.
31:40This one, we are going to put my name over.
31:43Sienna.
31:45Not removing it.
31:46Tattooing over it.
31:48I want my name on you.
31:50Not his number.
31:51He doesn't say anything for a long time.
31:57All right.
32:01Tomorrow, after we deal with the estate.
32:04After my father makes a call.
32:06Tomorrow night, we are going to a tattoo shop.
32:09We are covering that brand with my name.
32:13Tomorrow.
32:14I get up on my toes to reach his ear.
32:17And tonight, you are going to sleep in a real bed.
32:21In this house.
32:22In my bed.
32:24Sullivan can hear it through the wall, and I don't care.
32:27His eyes fill again.
32:29Different this time.
32:30We don't make it to my bed.
32:32We get as far as the bedroom door.
32:34He stops me in the doorway.
32:35He puts both hands flat on the frame.
32:38One hand on either side of my head.
32:40He looks down at me.
32:41I haven't had anyone since I was eight years old.
32:44I haven't been allowed to.
32:46I know that.
32:48I don't know how to do this slow.
32:50You did it last night.
32:52Last night, I was an animal you brought home from an alley.
32:55Tonight, I'm in your house.
32:56I'm in your father's house.
32:59I keep waiting for someone to come tell me to leave.
33:02I take his hand off the door frame.
33:04I put it on my throat.
33:05Over the bite mark.
33:07Nobody is coming to tell you to leave.
33:09He lifts me.
33:09Both hands under my thighs.
33:11He walks me to the bed.
33:13He lays me down gently.
33:15Slow tonight.
33:17He undresses me without taking his eye off my face.
33:21Each button and each strap.
33:23He folds the dress over the chair and sets it down carefully.
33:27Open for me.
33:28I open my knees for him.
33:30He kisses the inside of one, then the inside of the other.
33:33He works his way up slowly.
33:35He keeps his eye on my face the whole time.
33:37When his mouth gets where it is going, I make a sound.
33:40A sound I have never made in this house.
33:42I make sure it carries through the wall.
33:45He laughs against me.
33:46He doesn't stop what he's doing.
33:49When I come, he climbs back up me.
33:51He pushes in slowly, inch by inch.
33:55He watches my face the whole time.
33:57You're mine.
33:58Yours.
34:00He moves in long, slow strokes.
34:02The bed barely makes a sound.
34:03His weight rests on his forearms.
34:06His forehead presses it against mine.
34:07I have you.
34:10Nobody's taking you from me.
34:11He stops moving.
34:13He looks at me.
34:14Say that again, Sienna.
34:15Nobody's taking you.
34:16Not your uncle.
34:18And not the auctioneer.
34:19He is with me now.
34:20He closes his eyes.
34:22He starts to move again.
34:24Slower and deeper than before.
34:25He puts his mouth back on the bite on my throat.
34:28He doesn't bite this time.
34:30He just rests his mouth on the mark and holds.
34:32When I come the second time, it is quiet between us.
34:35My whole body shakes under him and I don't make a sound.
34:38I just hold his face and watch him watch me.
34:40He follows me a minute later.
34:42He whispers something in the old language against my colopone.
34:47What did you say?
34:49My mother's full name.
34:51I haven't said it to another person 15 years.
34:56I wanted her to hear yours.
35:02I wake up to my mother in the doorway.
35:05She is in her dressing gown with no makeup on.
35:07She has been up all night.
35:09Isander is asleep on his front beside me.
35:12One arm is thrown across my waist.
35:14The brand on his ribs is showing in the morning light.
35:17She sees the brand.
35:19She covers her mouth with both hands.
35:21I sit up slowly.
35:22I don't move his arm.
35:23Mom.
35:24Sienna.
35:25Come in or don't.
35:27Don't stand in the doorway.
35:28She comes in.
35:29She sits on the edge of the bed.
35:32She looks at his face.
35:34She looks at the bite on my neck.
35:36She looks back at his face again.
35:38Your father told me everything.
35:40The grandmother.
35:41The estate.
35:43The uncle who paid people to do this to him.
35:46And you brought him home this morning.
35:47Yes.
35:48After one night.
35:49She puts her hand on my knee through the blanket.
35:51I'm going to say something.
35:53You are going to let me say it.
35:55Go ahead.
35:57For 18 months I have watched the pure blood we bought you.
36:00I have watched him ignore you in this house.
36:02I told myself it was an adjustment.
36:05I told myself it was Cora's fault.
36:07I told myself it was the perfume.
36:10Mom.
36:11Let me finish.
36:12I am 60 years old.
36:16I don't know what to do with my face.
36:19I take her hand in mine.
36:21Tell me you're sorry.
36:23That's what you do with your face.
36:24She doesn't move for a while.
36:26I'm sorry.
36:28For Sullivan and for Cora.
36:30For all of it.
36:31For 18 years of looking for you and giving up.
36:35I am sorry, Sienna.
36:38I don't say anything back.
36:40She doesn't expect me to.
36:43She stands up from the bed.
36:45Your father is in the study.
36:46The lawyer is on his way.
36:48The estate must be moved out of probate today.
36:50Otherwise your uncle's brother will file a case by noon.
36:53Tell him I'm coming down.
36:55She stops at the door.
36:57She looks back at me.
36:59Sienna.
37:00What is it?
37:01Whatever this one is.
37:03Whatever they call him in their old language.
37:05He is the one I would have picked for you.
37:08If I had been the kind of mother who got to pick.
37:10She closes the door behind her.
37:13Lysaner's arm tightens on my waist.
37:15He has been awake for the last minute.
37:17Your mother just apologized to you.
37:20She did.
37:21In English.
37:22I noticed.
37:24My mother would have liked her.
37:25I kiss his shoulder.
37:27The scarred one.
37:30Get up.
37:31The lawyer arrives in 20 minutes.
37:35The lawyer arrives at 9.
37:37He sets his briefcase on my father's desk.
37:40He is 60-something in a gray suit.
37:42He has been delivering complicated news for 30 years.
37:46Mr. Quinn.
37:46Miss Quinn.
37:47Lord Drenman.
37:48Lysadar doesn't react to the title.
37:50He sits in the chair next to mine.
37:52His hand stays on the back of my chair.
37:54The estate of Lady Ayliss Drennan was propated in chambers last week.
37:58Her amended will was executed three days before her death.
38:02Three witnesses signed it.
38:04Read it to us.
38:05He reads it out loud.
38:06The estate of Lady Ayliss Drennan passes in full.
38:09It goes to the human woman bonded to her grandson.
38:12To Lysaldro of the North Forest.
38:14By name.
38:15Sienna Quinn.
38:16I sit there for a moment.
38:18The lawyer waits patiently.
38:21How much exactly?
38:23840 million dollars in assets.
38:25Lands in three districts.
38:27A coastal harbor.
38:28Two textile mills.
38:30A working mine.
38:31A house you will never need to set feet in.
38:33Not if you don't wish to.
38:35Why me?
38:36She didn't trust her own house to protect her grandson.
38:39She made you the shield instead.
38:41She never met me.
38:43She had three people watching you for nine months.
38:47She knew exactly who she was leaving it to.
38:50Lysima hasn't moved during any of this.
38:52I turn to him.
38:53Did you know about this?
38:54No, I didn't.
38:55Did you suspect?
38:56I suspected she had someone watching me.
38:58I didn't know it was you.
39:00I didn't know it was already done.
39:02I look at the lawyer.
39:04Can I refuse it?
39:05You can.
39:06The estate then passes to the next eligible heir.
39:09Your husband's uncle.
39:10Lord Virk.
39:11I look at Lysadar.
39:14I'm not refusing it.
39:19No.
39:20It's not for me.
39:22It's for the boy in the chair.
39:24Yes.
39:26I sign the papers.
39:27There are 43 pages of them.
39:29The lawyer's pen runs out halfway through.
39:32My father gives him a new one.
39:34When it is done, the lawyer stands up.
39:36He bows slightly to be polite.
39:38Lady Drenum.
39:39Don't call me that yet.
39:41It is the name on the deed now, ma'am.
39:44He leaves the study.
39:45My father pours himself the brandy he didn't drink yesterday.
39:49He drinks it down now.
39:51Sienna.
39:52Dad.
39:53I gave you a pureblood for your birthday.
39:56He was the most expensive thing in this house.
39:59I remember.
40:00He is now the fourth most expensive thing in this house.
40:04And that is only counting your husband.
40:06The estate is the first.
40:08He looks at At Lysler.
40:09Sotheby's takes Sullivan tomorrow.
40:12Open auction.
40:13No reserve.
40:15Dad.
40:15Not the auction.
40:16There's a retired doctor in Maine.
40:19He works with show orcs who couldn't adjust.
40:22Sullivan is going to relearn how to be a person.
40:25Without a master.
40:26My father studies my face.
40:29You are kinder than I would be in your place.
40:31I'm not kind.
40:33I'm just done with all of it.
40:35He nods.
40:36He picks up the phone to make the call.
40:40Six months later, the doctor in Maine writes back.
40:44Sullivan is feeding himself.
40:46He answers to his own name now.
40:48Lysener squeezes my hand under the desk.
40:51I squeeze back.
40:53Outside the study window.
40:56Cora is on the lawn with her suitcase.
41:00Cora is in the garden when I find her.
41:03Her suitcase is open on the lawn.
41:05The house caper is folding sweats into it carefully.
41:09Cora is sitting on the stone bench.
41:10Her arms are wrapped around her knees.
41:12She is 17 years old.
41:14She looks 12.
41:16I leave on Friday.
41:17I know.
41:18I packed half of this myself.
41:20I saw you did.
41:22I sit down next to her on the bench.
41:24Sis.
41:28What is it?
41:31I saw you and him in the hallway last night.
41:34And?
41:35He put his hand on the back of your head.
41:38The way Sully puts his hand on mine when I'm crying.
41:43Cora.
41:43That isn't what I want to say.
41:45What I want to say is this.
41:47That was the first time in 18 months.
41:49The first time I have seen someone touch you like a person.
41:53Mom and dad don't ever touch you.
41:55Sully doesn't touch you.
41:57I throw things at you.
41:59You don't have anybody, sis.
42:01I have him now.
42:03That's exactly what I'm saying.
42:05She turns on the bench to face me.
42:07I have been telling myself this story for two years.
42:11The story is that you stole my life from me.
42:14You came in.
42:16You pushed me out of every spot I had.
42:18Maybe that's true a little.
42:20But I watched you walk into the foite yesterday.
42:23Your hair was unwashed.
42:25There was a bite mark on your throat.
42:27A seven foot orc walked in behind you.
42:30And I realized something.
42:32What?
42:34You weren't pushing me out.
42:35You were finally walking in.
42:38You have been outside this family the entire time.
42:40I just couldn't see it before.
42:42I am quiet for a long moment.
42:45I'm not asking you to forgive me.
42:47I'm asking you to let me write to you.
42:49Every Sunday.
42:50Handwritten letters.
42:52Mailed at the end of every month.
42:54Yes.
42:55I'll write back to one in three.
42:57Not when you're performing.
42:58When you stop performing.
43:00Deal.
43:03She wipes her face with the back of her hand.
43:05He is going to be your husband for real, isn't he?
43:10He already is.
43:12We're doing the rest of the paperwork next week.
43:16Can I come to the wedding?
43:19Yes.
43:21Even from Switzerland?
43:22We'll fly you back for the day.
43:24You can come back at Christmas every year, too.
43:28Lindenburg until 21.
43:30Then we see who you've become.
43:32She nods at that.
43:34She puts her head on my shoulder.
43:37She hasn't done that since she was 11.
43:40I remember the exact date.
43:42Sis.
43:44Hmm.
43:45He loves you.
43:47I know that.
43:49He loves you in a way Sully never loved me.
43:52I figured it out this morning.
43:55How did you figure it out?
43:58Sully loved being mine.
44:00Lysither loves you.
44:01She gets up from the bench.
44:03She goes back to her suitcase.
44:06I sit there a moment longer.
44:08The housekeeper folds another sweater.
44:11The sun moves on the lawn.
44:13Tonight, Lester and I have a tattoo to get.
44:17That night, Lester and I drive into the city.
44:20We go to a tattoo shop on the Lower East Side.
44:24The artist is a woman in her 50s.
44:26Half her face is tattooed already.
44:29She doesn't blink at his size.
44:31Or at his face.
44:33She says only one thing.
44:35Show me what we're covering.
44:37He lifts his shirt.
44:39The brand is right there.
44:41The number 12.
44:42The raised ridges of the six older numbers are visible underneath.
44:47What do you want to put over it?
44:48Her name.
44:50She looks over at me.
44:52She doesn't ask if I am sure about this.
44:56What font?
44:58Whatever he wants.
45:00I want to be able to read it from across a room.
45:03She draws something on tracing paper.
45:06She holds the paper up to his ribs.
45:08The word reads Sienna in tall block letters.
45:11Tall enough to swallow the brand whole.
45:15Tall enough to swallow the six numbers underneath it.
45:18That one.
45:19She does the work.
45:21It takes four hours.
45:23He doesn't make a single sound the whole time.
45:26He keeps his eyes on me.
45:28I sit on a stool beside the table.
45:31I hold his hand.
45:32I don't let go once.
45:34When she is finished, she wipes him down.
45:37She wraps the ribs in plastic.
45:40She steps back to look.
45:43Lord Drenum.
45:44I don't work on Highborne.
45:46I have never been asked to.
45:48Why me tonight?
45:50Because you don't work on Highborne.
45:52Because you wouldn't have done this for my uncle.
45:54Because this is not a Drenum tattoo.
45:56She nods slowly.
45:58She understands what he means.
46:01He sits up on the table.
46:03He looks down at his own side.
46:05The word Sienna sits under the plastic.
46:08The skin is red around the edges and starting to scab over.
46:11The brand is gone.
46:13The six numbers under it are gone.
46:15Everything is gone except my name on him.
46:17He puts his hand flat over it.
46:19His eyes fill with tears.
46:22You did it.
46:23I told you I would.
46:27Your name is on me now.
46:29The number is gone.
46:33They do.
46:34He pays the artist three times what she charged him.
46:38She doesn't argue with that.
46:40In the car, he keeps his hand over the tattoo.
46:44The whole way home.
46:47Sienna.
46:48What is it?
46:50My grandmother left you 840 million dollars.
46:53I'm aware of that.
46:55And you took me to a tattoo shop and a strip mall.
47:01I had to keep my promise to you.
47:04He laughs quietly at that.
47:06Will you marry me, Sienna?
47:08The legal kind.
47:09With the paper and the witnesses.
47:12So when somebody asks me what I am,
47:14my answer doesn't start with the word mongrel.
47:18Yes.
47:19When?
47:20Next Saturday.
47:22The garden.
47:23Cora flies back for the day.
47:25My father walks me out.
47:27And your mother?
47:28My mother is doing my hair.
47:30She told me this morning.
47:32I didn't even ask her.
47:34He kisses my hand.
47:36The one I am still holding his with.
47:40Saturday is six days away.
47:43Six days to plan a wedding.
47:46It is Saturday in the garden behind the house.
47:50There are 40 chairs set out.
47:52And white ribbon on every one.
47:54The housekeeper has been crying since dawn
47:56for reasons he won't explain.
48:00My mother does my hair on the back porch.
48:02She works in silence for a long time.
48:06Your grandmother had this hair.
48:07I never told you.
48:10I never met her.
48:12No, you didn't.
48:13No, you didn't.
48:13She would have liked you.
48:15She would have hated him.
48:18Mom.
48:19That is a compliment.
48:21The women in my family always hated the right men.
48:25She secures the last pin.
48:27She steps back from the mirror.
48:30You look like her, Sienna.
48:33You haven't said that before.
48:35I haven't been able to say it.
48:38She sets the brush down.
48:40I'm going to sit in the front row.
48:42I am going to cry.
48:45Don't look at me.
48:46Look at him.
48:48I was already going to.
48:50She kisses the top of my head.
48:53She walks down to the garden.
48:57Cora comes in wearing a white dress.
48:59She is the maid of honor.
49:01We didn't announce this.
49:03She just showed up in it.
49:05He's already there, sis.
49:07I can see him through the window.
49:09He is in a black coat with a dark red lining.
49:12Those are the North Forest colors.
49:15His mother's scene is on the collar.
49:17The lawyer in Geneva sent it over.
49:20He is standing at the end of the garden in the sun.
49:24His eyes are closed.
49:26Cora hands me the bouquet.
49:29Don't trip, sis.
49:31I won't trip.
49:34My father is in the doorway behind us.
49:37He has stopped shaking these last few days.
49:40Sweetheart.
49:41Daddy.
49:43I gave you a pure blood for your 22nd birthday.
49:49I remember.
49:51I want to give you something today.
49:54Something I should have given you back then.
49:57Permission to walk out of any room.
50:00Any room you don't want to be in.
50:01You're a little late on that, Dad.
50:03I know.
50:04Take it anyway.
50:05He puts my hand on his arm.
50:08He walks me down the aisle.
50:10Lysander opens his eyes.
50:12He has been waiting since 10 in the morning.
50:14He isn't going to miss a single step now.
50:18My father puts my hand in his hand.
50:21Take care of her, son.
50:23The first 18 years I didn't.
50:27Yes, sir.
50:29The priest is the chaplain from our parish church.
50:32He reads in English.
50:34Lysander asked him for this.
50:36He says the vows.
50:37I say the vows back.
50:39The priest closes the book.
50:40There is one tradition I have been asked to honor.
50:44Lord Drenamon, speak the name your mother gave you, loud enough for the garden to hear.
50:50Lysander doesn't turn to face the chairs.
50:52He turns to face me, instead.
50:55He says it.
50:57Three syllables in the old language.
51:00The chairs are quiet for a beat.
51:02Then 40 people say it back in two languages at once.
51:05My parents.
51:07Cora.
51:08The housekeeper and the lawyer.
51:10The tattoo artist in the back row.
51:12The priest turns to me.
51:14Lady Drenard.
51:16There is no human tradition for this party.
51:19Say what you wish to say.
51:20I look out at the chairs and speak up.
51:22My name is Sienna Drevborn.
51:24I bought him in an alley with cash.
51:27He's mine now.
51:28The garden laughs at that.
51:30Lysander does not.
51:32His eyes are wet.
51:34He leans down to me.
51:36He kisses my face first.
51:39Then my mouth.
51:41The priest closes the book.
51:43It was an intimate reception.
51:4640 chairs were placed around round tables.
51:48At 8 o'clock, the garden was lit up with lanterns.
51:52My father stands first.
51:54He taps his glass with a fork.
51:56I had a speech written.
51:58I'm not going to give it tonight.
52:00I'm going to say one thing instead.
52:03He looks at Lysander.
52:06My daughter ate breakfast alone in this house for 18 months.
52:11She doesn't anymore.
52:13That's because of you.
52:16Sit down.
52:17Eat the cake.
52:19Lysander sits back down.
52:23Cora stands up next.
52:24She is shaking.
52:26She has never given a speech.
52:28My sister came home at 23.
52:30The day she walked through the door, I threw a butter knife at her head.
52:34I missed by an inch.
52:36I have spent two years wishing I had not missed.
52:40The garden goes very still.
52:42I'm leaving for Switzerland on Tuesday.
52:45I am going to be a different person when I come back.
52:50Not because she sent me away.
52:52Because she came and found me crying last week.
52:56And she didn't have to.
52:57I look up at her.
53:01My father has been talking to her about more than I knew.
53:06I want her husband to know something too.
53:09You take care of her.
53:10That's all I'm asking.
53:12For as long as you walk.
53:14Lysander stands.
53:16He bows slightly to her.
53:18Yes.
53:20She sits down crying.
53:23My mother takes her hand under the table.
53:26Later, there is dancing.
53:28Lysander has never been allowed to dance.
53:30The first thing he does is step on my foot.
53:34I'm sorry, Sienna.
53:36That was your foot.
53:37Try again.
53:39He tries again.
53:41He steps on foot again.
53:44I am terrible at this.
53:46You are terrible.
53:47Keep going anyway.
53:51By the fifth song, he isn't terrible anymore.
53:54He has stopped looking down at his feet.
53:56My mother dances with my father.
53:58They haven't danced together in a decade.
54:01He cries on her shoulder, quietly.
54:03She pretends not to notice.
54:05At eleven, I find at Lysander at the edge of the garden.
54:08He has two glasses of champagne.
54:12For me?
54:14For you.
54:15I take one.
54:16We sit on the stone bench.
54:19Where Cora and I sat last week.
54:22Lady Drenman.
54:23Don't start with that.
54:26You'll have to get used to it eventually.
54:29Just not tonight.
54:31We are quiet together for a moment.
54:33I have a question at Sienna.
54:35I've been holding it since the bath.
54:37Ask me anything.
54:39The first night in the alley, the trader said I was already ruined.
54:44Why did you say yes?
54:45I told you.
54:47Because nobody else would.
54:49Is that the whole answer?
54:50No, it isn't.
54:53Tell me the rest.
54:55I thought you were like me.
54:57That we could be together.
54:59He puts down his glass.
55:01Sienna.
55:03Since the first time I held you, I have been afraid you would not stay.
55:07I am staying.
55:10He picks me up off the bench.
55:12He carries me through the garden to the back door.
55:15The garden is empty by now.
55:17The lanterns are still on.
55:19Take me upstairs, husband.
55:22Yes.
55:23We are in our bedroom.
55:26The fire is in the hearth.
55:28The door is closed behind us.
55:30He sets me down on the rug.
55:32He kneels down in front of me.
55:34He undoes the dress slowly.
55:36The same way he did it the first night in this house.
55:41He stops when the bodies falls.
55:44I need to tell you something before tonight starts.
55:49I sit down on the rug with him.
55:51Tell me what it is.
55:52I am going to wake up tomorrow and you will still be here.
55:55And the day after.
55:57I did not believe that until today.
56:00What changed today?
56:02Forty men in your garden called out my mother's name.
56:05You stood before them all.
56:08You said you bought me from an alley.
56:10You said it loudly.
56:12He puts his hand over the tattoo on his ribs.
56:15Your name is on me.
56:17Everyone in that garden knows it.
56:19They do.
56:21He leans his forehead against mine.
56:23I'm yours.
56:24You're mine.
56:26I press my forehead back against his.
56:29I pull him down to the rug with me.
56:32I put my mouth on the tattoo.
56:36Lay back for me.
56:38He lays back on the rug.
56:41I want to look at you tonight.
56:43Look at me then.
56:45I sit on his hips.
56:46I put his hands on my waist.
56:48I move slow.
56:50He watches me the whole time.
56:52Neither of us is in a hurry.
56:54We have time now.
56:55When I come.
56:57He holds me through it.
56:58He doesn't look away once.
57:02He follows me a minute later.
57:06He sits up afterwards.
57:08He pulls me against his chest.
57:10He puts his mouth on the bite on my throat.
57:13The scar is healed now.
57:15He kisses it instead of biting it.
57:17I love you, Sienna Drennan.
57:20I love you too, Lissadar.
57:22He pulls the blanket down over us.
57:24The fire is still going in the hearth.
57:27He falls asleep on his back with his hand over the tattoo.
57:31His other hand stays on my hip.
57:33I lie awake for a few minutes.
57:36Listening to him breathe steady.
57:38Eighteen months ago, I ate breakfast alone.
57:41Three weeks ago, I bought a man in an alley.
57:44Tonight, my husband is asleep on the rug.
57:47My name is on his ribs.
57:50Best money I ever spent.
57:52I close my eyes and sleep.
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