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00:00My half-sister and I both chose a shifter mate.
00:03In our previous life, she picked first and chose the Hawk Clan heir
00:06with the perfect looks and powerful family background.
00:09She left me the lowly serpent.
00:11Three years into her marriage, the Hawk Shifter's mistress and illegitimate son
00:15knelt before my sister and humiliated her completely.
00:19Meanwhile, I took control of the entire serpent clan and earned my husband's devotion.
00:24She pushed me off a cliff out of jealousy.
00:27When I opened my eyes, I was back on the day we chose our mates.
00:30My sister barely concealed the excitement in her voice
00:33as she rushed to wrap her arms around the serpent's tail.
00:36I knew then that she had been reborn too.
00:39The serpent clan are lustful by nature.
00:41I wonder how long she'll last.
00:42When Victoria threw her arms around that serpent tail,
00:45face flushed with open adoration, even Lady Hargrove went still.
00:50Everyone knew the serpent clan was considered the lowest of the shifter races.
00:54Cold-blooded in every sense.
00:56The Hawk Clan, by contrast, mated for life.
00:59One wife, no exceptions.
01:01Loyalty written into their bones.
01:03And the Hawk male, standing in the room today, was the future clan leader.
01:07Sharp-eyed, broad-shouldered,
01:09the kind of man every woman in the room had been silently hoping to catch.
01:13Victoria still wouldn't let go of that tail.
01:15Lady Hargrove's expression curdled.
01:17She'd brought the serpent here specifically to humiliate me.
01:21She hadn't planned on her own daughter falling for it.
01:23Are you sure about this?
01:26Mother, he's the only one I'll ever marry.
01:28Even the serpent turned to look at her.
01:30His tail coiled hard around her waist, pulling her tight against his chest.
01:34That was what a serpent did when he felt something.
01:37The beginning of desire.
01:38Victoria's face went scarlet.
01:40Her resolve locked into place.
01:41Lady Hargrove pressed her lips together and gave in.
01:44With that settled, the Hawk male, Adrian Ashford, turned to me.
01:48He dipped his head in a slight, unhurried bow.
01:51Then it's you, Miss Alara.
01:53I'll send the betrothal gifts tomorrow.
01:55In my past life, it was Victoria who had chosen Adrian.
01:59She'd walked into the Ashford estate as its new mistress,
02:02draped in the prestige of the most powerful Hawk family in the region.
02:05He seemed devoted on the surface.
02:07Three years of polished appearances.
02:09Then, a woman appeared at the gate with his ten-year-old son.
02:12Victoria came apart.
02:14She ran home to her mother, dignity in pieces.
02:17But Adrian had spent years building his reputation carefully.
02:20He brought the woman and boy home under the excuse of a drunken mistake.
02:24And to protect the Hawk Clan's tradition against taking a second wife,
02:27he divorced Victoria outright.
02:29Lady Hargrove marched back to the Ashford estate to demand answers.
02:33The mistress met them at the door, chin lifted.
02:35I'm Mrs. Ashford now.
02:37My son has awakened his abilities.
02:39What exactly are you going to do about that?
02:41Give it time.
02:42I'll be the clan leader's wife, then his mother.
02:45They were thrown out publicly.
02:47After that, Victoria unraveled.
02:49She sat in the courtyard every day, vacant and muttering.
02:52When someone passed close enough,
02:54she grabbed their leg with both hands, her face twisting.
02:58I'm the clan leader's wife!
02:59I am! I am!
03:01She never came back from it.
03:03My serpent husband, by contrast, had been born into nothing.
03:06But he dismissed every one of his kept women.
03:09He trained relentlessly and built his clan up from scraps.
03:12People said I'd made the better choice, after all.
03:15Even Lady Hargrove, who had never bothered to hide her contempt for me,
03:19started showing up at my door with smiles she didn't mean, asking me to visit.
03:24Then, Victoria had one of her lucid moments.
03:27She lured me to the edge of the cliff.
03:29I'll drag you down to hell with me.
03:31Her eyes were turning for hatred as she shoved me over.
03:34Now she's chosen my husband instead.
03:37I wonder if she can handle the serpent's excessive affection.
03:41The Ashford betrothal gifts arrived quickly.
03:44They filled half the courtyard.
03:45Victoria didn't spare a glance for the serpent clan's meager offering.
03:49She sweet-talked Lady Hargrove into patting her trousseau until it groaned.
03:53Ivy told me that Victoria and her serpent had been meeting in secret.
03:57Someone had spotted them coming out of an alley together,
03:59clothes barely clinging to them, her face still flushed.
04:03Half the street had seen it.
04:04She came to me the same afternoon, brimming.
04:07My fiancé loves me.
04:09What does that have to do with you?
04:11This is just how he shows his love for me.
04:14And if you say a single word to mother about any of it,
04:18I'll make your life miserable.
04:20I just watched her go.
04:22She looked nothing like the girl she used to be.
04:24The softness was gone.
04:26Whatever innocence had been in her face had been thoroughly used up.
04:29On our wedding day, two wedding horse carriage left the estate together.
04:33Drums, horns, the whole performance.
04:35Adrian Ashford sat high on a pale horse in his wedding white,
04:39all clean lines and devastating bone structure,
04:42looking exactly like someone who knew it.
04:44I knew why he'd gone through with this.
04:46The matriarch once said to him,
04:48You are the only heir.
04:49You must marry a noblewoman to continue the bloodline.
04:52That was the only condition for me to inherit the clan leadership.
04:55But his mistress was low-born, ineligible.
04:57He needed a proper wife.
04:59If she gave him a son first, better.
05:01Either way, he didn't lose.
05:03I set down my wedding bouquet.
05:04Two familiar figures had appeared at the side of the road.
05:07Father!
05:08The boy lunged toward Adrian's horse.
05:10The word was barely out before a beautiful woman yanked him back
05:12and smothered his mouth with her hand.
05:14Forgive us, everyone.
05:15My son misses his father.
05:17He got confused.
05:19He didn't mean anything by it.
05:21Adrian pulled his reins top.
05:22He exhaled once.
05:23Today is my wedding.
05:25Can't you keep your child in hand?
05:27If he'd startled the horse carriage,
05:29I'd have had all your heads.
05:30Get them out of here.
05:31The woman's face went white.
05:33She bit her lip and stepped back.
05:34I'm so sorry.
05:36We're leaving.
05:37I wasn't about to let this dissolve quietly.
05:40Husband, don't be so hard on them.
05:43The child didn't mean any harm.
05:44And today is a happy occasion.
05:46Why not do a good deed?
05:47I actually need another servant woman as my side.
05:50If she's willing, she could come along with us.
05:53This woman had one obsession, becoming Mrs. Ashford.
05:56Now that Adrian had taken a wife,
05:58she was already fraying at the edges.
06:00One of my people needed barely three sentences
06:02to maneuver her into showing up here today.
06:04If I offered her a door to the estate,
06:06she'd walk through it without thinking.
06:08She hesitated for half a breath,
06:10then looked away from Adrian's sharp, warning stare.
06:13Thank you, ma'am.
06:13The carriage rolled on.
06:14She followed behind, boy in hand.
06:17The crowd murmured approvingly along the route.
06:19The new Mrs. Ashford is something else.
06:21Even after that scene, she finds them a position.
06:25Must run in the family.
06:27The Ashfords are good people.
06:28After the ceremony,
06:29I sat at my vanity and began fixing my hair.
06:32Ivy dismissed the others and shut the door,
06:34her face barely holding its composure.
06:37Ma'am,
06:37the master just had a servant
06:39quietly move that woman and boy
06:40into the side courtyard.
06:42I wasn't surprised.
06:43Ma'am,
06:44the Hawk Clan has rules
06:46against taking a second wife
06:47and he's doing this on your wedding night.
06:49We could expose him right now.
06:51Go back to your family.
06:52End this before it starts.
06:54Calm down.
06:54I didn't come here to lose to a kept woman.
06:56I had no family worth running back to.
06:59No mother,
06:59no father who would take my side
07:01against the Ashfords.
07:02I'd walk through that gate
07:03as a piece on someone else's board.
07:06If I walked back out,
07:07I'd be spit on from every direction.
07:09I hadn't come all this way for nothing.
07:11What I wanted
07:12was the Ashford estate itself.
07:15Adrian could rot on the inside.
07:17I didn't need him to be good.
07:19I needed him to give me an heir.
07:21A knock at the door.
07:22I smiled at Ivy.
07:23My leverage just arrived.
07:25Adrian was drunk,
07:26but gracefully so.
07:28His steps wandered a little.
07:29It did nothing to make him less attractive.
07:31Ivy moved to steady him.
07:33He shrugged her off.
07:34I only want my wife.
07:35I swallowed the contempt rising in my chest
07:37and sent Ivy out.
07:39He played the part of a restrained gentleman,
07:41even when he was half gone.
07:43I had to admire the consistency.
07:45I took his arm.
07:46You've had too much.
07:47Should I have the kitchen send sobering soup?
07:50The kitchen sat close to the side courtyard.
07:52At this hour,
07:53they'd probably be preparing food
07:54for his little family.
07:56Adrian's shoulders went rigid.
07:58Then his hand caught mine.
07:59He buried his face against my shoulder.
08:01No.
08:03This is our wedding night.
08:04Don't leave.
08:05He let out a slow breath and lifted me.
08:07I looped my arms around his neck.
08:10In my past life,
08:11Adrian had used drunkenness
08:12as an excuse
08:13to avoid Victoria's wedding bed entirely.
08:16She'd had to fight for three months
08:17before he relented,
08:18and only after she humiliated herself
08:21back into his good graces.
08:23If this was going to happen eventually,
08:25I'd rather it happen on my terms
08:27and in my time.
08:28I let myself go still,
08:30let my body stop resisting.
08:32Adrian's voice dropped.
08:33Whatever restraint he'd been maintaining
08:35came loose.
08:36The candles burned down to nothing
08:38before the room went quiet.
08:40I was too exhausted to move a finger.
08:42I passed out where I lay.
08:44He was the one who cleaned me up afterward.
08:46We were late for the morning tea ceremony.
08:48The matriarch was good-natured about it.
08:49She directed her mild scolding at Adrian,
08:51who was leaning back in his chair
08:52looking thoroughly satisfied,
08:54in a generous mood for once.
08:55He cut her off to defend me
08:57before she could finish.
09:24I kept my hands steady
09:25as I accepted them.
09:26With those keys,
09:28no one in this estate
09:28could question my standing.
09:30No one could use my birth against me.
09:32In my past life,
09:33as a wife in the Serpent Clan,
09:35I'd had to claw my way
09:36through sisters-in-law
09:37who outranked me by blood
09:39and never let me forget it.
09:41It had taken months
09:42of careful maneuvering
09:43just to find my footing.
09:45That was behind me now.
09:46The matriarch saw my expression shift.
09:48She sighed softly
09:49and took the necklace off her own neck,
09:51placing it onto mine.
09:52This child has suffered enough.
09:54You treat her well from here on.
09:55I mean it.
09:57Adrian blinked.
09:57He looked at my slightly reddened eyes
09:59and almost without meaning to,
10:00nodded.
10:00On the way back
10:01from the matriarch's rooms,
10:02I walked half a step behind Adrian,
10:04already thinking through
10:04which accounts to look at first.
10:06He spoke without turning around.
10:07What do you plan to do
10:08about that woman and the boy?
10:09And tucked my hand
10:10into the crook of his arm.
10:11I didn't realize
10:12you were so concerned about them.
10:13Isn't that sweet of you?
10:15He avoided my eyes.
10:16I just feel sorry for them.
10:17A widow with a child.
10:19Perhaps they could work
10:20in the outer courtyard,
10:21do some light tasks.
10:21The outer courtyard
10:22was full of staff.
10:23No one would track
10:24a woman's particular history there.
10:25Adrian would find ways
10:26to meet with her in private,
10:27use the crowd as cover.
10:28I exhaled slowly,
10:29as if thinking it through.
10:30A pretty woman with a child,
10:32alone people might take advantage.
10:33You really haven't
10:34thought this through,
10:35have you?
10:35What if we put them
10:36somewhere quieter,
10:38near the garden
10:38behind the study?
10:39Adrian's brow tightened,
10:40almost imperceptibly.
10:42A long pause.
10:43Then his face settled
10:43into something soft.
10:44Good thinking.
10:45There's a small room
10:46off the study anyway.
10:47They can stay there.
10:48How thoughtful of you.
10:49I smiled.
10:50My nails were nearly
10:51through my palm.
10:52The study.
10:52He'd have every excuse
10:53to be near her.
10:54And the boy.
10:55He'd be able to teach him
10:56in private,
10:56pass him what he needed
10:57to awaken properly.
10:58Adrian didn't notice.
10:59The careful coldness
11:00he usually wore
11:01had softened around the edges.
11:02In a few years,
11:03when our child comes,
11:04I'll make sure
11:04they have the best of everything.
11:06I leaned against him.
11:07The passing maids
11:08whispered to each other,
11:09the master and mistress,
11:10so in love.
11:12Rosalind heard it too.
11:13That same night,
11:13she went to find Adrian,
11:15and he turned her away
11:16at the door.
11:16Three nights in a row,
11:17he came to my room instead.
11:18He was decent enough
11:20to read the room.
11:21He didn't push past
11:21what I could manage.
11:28The day we returned
11:29to visit my family home,
11:30Victoria didn't arrive
11:31until almost noon.
11:32She swept into the room,
11:33glowing,
11:34cheeks high with color,
11:35trailing a thick cloud
11:36of powder and perfume.
11:37Lady Hargrove stared at her
11:38for a long moment.
11:39Don't fuss, mother.
11:40My husband spoils me.
11:42Very restorative herbs.
11:43She straightened,
11:44and I noticed that her figure
11:46had changed,
11:46filled out in a way
11:47that read less like health
11:49and more like something
11:50under strain.
11:51She looked at me.
11:52Your husband runs cold,
11:53I hear.
11:53If he's distant with you,
11:55that's just how it goes.
11:56Don't take it personally.
11:58I said nothing.
11:58I took my time looking at her.
12:00She seemed bright on the surface,
12:01but her steps were unsteady.
12:02She kept touching her lower back
12:03without realizing it.
12:04That kind of bloom
12:05didn't come from nourishment.
12:06It came from something
12:06taking more than a physical.
12:08The serpent was greedy.
12:09When she noticed I wasn't reacting,
12:10something dark moved through her.
12:12She reached for me
12:13the way she used to
12:13when we were younger,
12:14to grab and drag.
12:16Adrian walked in.
12:17There was a smile in his eyes
12:18as he spoke to me gently.
12:19Alara,
12:21I just came from the room
12:22you used to live in.
12:24Victoria's hand froze in midair.
12:26She stared at Adrian in shock,
12:28stunned by how different he was
12:29from the man in our previous life.
12:34How is this possible?
12:35Lady Hargrove's expression folded.
12:37They both knew.
12:38The room I'd been given in this house
12:39was barely a storeroom.
12:40The dishes had chips in them.
12:41Lady Hargrove laughed awkwardly
12:43and cut him off.
12:44Now that everyone's here,
12:45why don't we sit down for lunch?
12:47She looked at me.
12:48It was almost a plea.
12:49Once,
12:49when my birth mother had a bad fever
12:51and I'd gone to beg for a doctor,
12:52I'd knelt in the courtyard in the snow.
12:54The snow piled up on my shoulders
12:56while Lady Hargrove and Victoria
12:57stayed warm inside,
12:59laughing at something I couldn't hear.
13:00She finally came out
13:01when I nearly passed out.
13:02Get the doctor.
13:03Don't let her die in my yard.
13:05It's bad luck.
13:06The doctor came.
13:06He kept my mother alive
13:07a little longer.
13:08I held her hand and sobbed
13:09until I couldn't breathe anymore.
13:10Keep going.
13:12No matter how hard it gets,
13:15don't give up.
13:16I never got to go back to her.
13:18By the time I was reborn,
13:19she was already gone.
13:20I smoothed the front of my dress
13:21and stood up.
13:22Husband,
13:23let's eat.
13:24The table,
13:24Victoria and the serpent fed each other
13:26and giggled like they were alone in the room.
13:28She shot me looks every few minutes,
13:29daring me to react.
13:30Lady Hargrove could see something was wrong.
13:32She kept trying to quietly reel Victoria in.
13:34Victoria snapped back,
13:35loud enough for the table to hear.
13:39My husband loves me.
13:40Am I supposed to be ashamed of that?
13:42Should I live like I'm already a widow?
13:46The moment the meal was over,
13:47she dragged him out the door.
13:49Adrian and I didn't linger long after that.
13:50When we got back to the main hall
13:52of the Ashford estate,
13:53I found Rosalyn crouched beside the matriarch,
13:55kneading her shoulders with practiced hands.
13:57The matriarch had her eyes half closed,
13:59looking more comfortable
14:00than I'd seen her in days.
14:05Rosaline,
14:05you have such skilled hands.
14:11Come do this for me often.
14:16I didn't realize she'd caught your eye.
14:18She came in with us on the wedding day.
14:21Quite a hard life raising a child alone.
14:24I've tried to look out for her.
14:26I know what kind of heart you have.
14:28The Ashfords are lucky to have you.
14:31Rosalyn stepped back,
14:32her teeth pressed into her lip.
14:34The matriarch and I moved naturally
14:36into conversation about the estate,
14:38the accounts,
14:39a few household matters that needed settling.
14:42When something important came up,
14:43the matriarch waved Rosalyn out of the room
14:46without thinking about it.
14:47I watched the hatred pool behind Rosalyn's eyes
14:50as she left.
14:51Over the days that followed,
14:53Rosalyn pushed hard for the matriarch's favor,
14:55massaged every ache,
14:57laughed at every small joke.
14:59It worked.
14:59The matriarch grew genuinely fond of her
15:01and started giving her gifts.
15:02Master Adrian says be careful.
15:04Don't draw attention.
15:05He was so frustrated,
15:06he stopped seeing her altogether
15:08and started conducting estate business
15:10from my room instead.
15:12I was deep into the Ashford accounts.
15:15Shops, properties, land deeds.
15:17The full picture of what this family actually owned.
15:20It was substantial
15:21and deliberately tangled.
15:23Once I understood it,
15:24I called in the shop managers.
15:26They came in uncertain, squinting.
15:28Then, they read the room.
15:30New wife, asserting herself.
15:31A few of them visibly relaxed into condescension.
15:34I let them sit with that for a moment.
15:36I finished my tea.
15:37The matriarch has placed all Ashfield business in my hands.
15:41I'm not going to waste her trust.
15:43I've been reviewing the last three months of records.
15:46I've already noted the discrepancies.
15:49I set down my cup.
15:50Ivy laid the ledgers open.
15:51A small personal notebook slipped out,
15:54filled with my annotations.
15:55Some of the managers exchanged glances.
15:57The ones with nothing to hide sat straight.
16:00The ones who didn't went pale.
16:01I looked at Ivy.
16:02She picked up the notebook
16:03and dropped it into the fire.
16:07New management.
16:09Old accounts are closed.
16:11But I have no tolerance for what comes next.
16:14I trust everyone understands that.
16:17Yes, ma'am.
16:18The estate's internal structure wasn't enough.
16:20Real power in the Hawk clan
16:22ran through these shops,
16:23these trade networks,
16:25the money that had kept the family elevated for generations.
16:29They needed the root.
16:30I came home late, satisfied.
16:32In the courtyard, I stopped.
16:34Roslyn was crouched beside her boy,
16:36face lit with joy.
16:38Adrian stood nearby,
16:39watching them with a small smile.
16:41I moved before I'd finished thinking.
16:43I walked over and took Adrian's hand.
16:48What's happened?
16:50The boy.
16:52His abilities came in.
16:53A smile dropped off my face.
16:55In my past life,
16:56this had happened three years later,
16:58right before they entered the estate.
16:59Not now.
17:00Not this early.
17:01Aren't you something?
17:03Abilities at your age,
17:05giving your mother so much to be proud of.
17:07You'd better take good care of her when you grow up.
17:11You're the bad woman who stole my dad.
17:14I'm so sorry, ma'am.
17:17I've spoiled him terribly.
17:19He doesn't know what he's saying.
17:21He really is spoiled.
17:22Speaking to his beauties this way is a serious breach.
17:25Per estate rules,
17:26he kneels in the courtyard for two hours.
17:29Roslyn's color drained.
17:30She looked instinctively at Adrian.
17:32Adrian's brow pulled together.
17:34He's only a child.
17:35This is excessive.
17:36Let it go.
17:37If a child has no father to correct him,
17:39the mother answers for it.
17:41Or have I lost even that much authority in my own home?
17:45Is a servant woman more important to you than your wife?
17:47He closed his mouth.
17:49Roslyn grabbed my sleeve.
17:50Her face was wet.
17:52I don't matter.
17:54But I'm due at the matriarch's,
17:56and if I'm late, she'll be displeased.
17:58I laughed once, short and cold,
18:00and had a chair brought out to the courtyard.
18:03How bold.
18:03A woman brought in off the street is lecturing me in my own house.
18:07Someone go ask the matriarch if she'd to weigh in on a servant
18:09who just spoke down to the estate's mistress.
18:11You're going too far.
18:13The boy didn't mean anything.
18:15Roslyn stood just behind his shoulder.
18:17She reached out and curled her fingers gently around his sleeve.
18:20The three of them, together in the moonlight,
18:22they looked like a family portrait.
18:23Adrian was trembling with anger.
18:25He grabbed Roslyn and the boy and started to walk them away.
18:28Ivy was faster.
18:29The matriarch says he kneels three hours and cut off their meals
18:32and moved them to the servant's storage room for the night.
18:34I looked at Adrian.
18:36Well, I left before he could answer.
18:39Adrian wouldn't defy the matriarch.
18:41The clan leadership still hadn't been formally transferred,
18:43and the matriarch said little, but punished any disobedience.
18:47Even Adrian knew better than to cross her.
18:49That was why I had spent every effort from the beginning
18:51making the matriarch love me.
18:53That night, Adrian didn't come to my room.
18:56He sent a servant boy with a message.
18:58He'd be sleeping in the study.
19:00Ivy didn't take it well.
19:01The study.
19:02Right.
19:03She paced the length of the room, voice rising.
19:06Before the wedding, I actually thought you'd finally caught a break, miss.
19:09A decent man for once.
19:11Turns out he's just another wolf in silk.
19:13She caught herself.
19:14A hawk.
19:15Whatever.
19:15Same thing.
19:16I sat at the desk.
19:17Ledger open in front of me.
19:18Perfectly calm.
19:19Adrian was a predator.
19:21Fine.
19:21Then I'd be the still water he didn't notice
19:24until he was already drowning in it.
19:27By the following morning, it was everywhere.
19:30Adrian Ashford kept a mistress.
19:32The boy was seven years old.
19:34No one knew where the information came from,
19:36but the woman's name, her background, her address,
19:39the boy's face and description
19:41had all surfaced with the kind of precision
19:43that suggested someone very organized had done the releasing.
19:46Adrian's years of carefully maintained reputation
19:49collapsed in a single day.
19:51Within the hawk clan, doors that had been open quietly shut.
19:55Victoria sent a letter.
19:56It said I'd be divorced within the year,
19:59and when I was out on the street,
20:00I shouldn't come crawling to her.
20:02I set it down on the corner of the desk.
20:05Ivy mentioned, almost as an aside,
20:08that Victoria had been passing out in bed,
20:11that several doctors had told the serpent in plain terms
20:14that they needed to stop,
20:16that neither of them had listened.
20:19Victoria was swallowing expensive tonics by the handful
20:22just to keep upright,
20:24while the serpent was looking sharper
20:26and more energetic every week.
20:30His abilities growing stronger.
20:32I'd figured this out in my past life,
20:34stumbled onto it late.
20:36The serpent clan could only train and advance
20:39if the physical appetite was fed.
20:41Without that release,
20:43their cultivation stalled.
20:45With it, they drained whoever was closest to them.
20:48In that life,
20:49when I finally understood,
20:51I'd spent a sleepless night deciding what to do.
20:54And then I'd done the only thing that made sense.
20:58I found a doctor,
20:59confirmed it wouldn't block his ability to train,
21:02and introduced something into a gift
21:04from one of my sisters-in-law.
21:06A substance that made him permanently unable
21:09to function that way.
21:10He found out.
21:12Eventually.
21:12I cried until I couldn't breathe,
21:15and told him that sister-in-law
21:17had been plotting against him for months.
21:19That she'd wanted to destroy him.
21:21That I'd only just discovered it myself.
21:24He checked.
21:26Everything I said was true,
21:27because I had made sure it would be true.
21:31After that, he dismissed the kept women,
21:33stopped visiting other beds,
21:35and trained with a focus he hadn't had before.
21:38He treated me like something worth keeping.
21:41Victoria didn't have that knowledge.
21:44She'd decided the serpent was simply devoted to her,
21:47and she'd locked herself inside that story.
21:50I wondered how much longer her body could hold.
21:53Adrian's voice came through the door,
21:55strained and urgent.
21:56Madam, please.
21:57Please, you have to believe me.
22:00That boy has nothing to do with me.
22:03Ivy opened her mouth.
22:04I let her go.
22:05She told him exactly what she thought of him,
22:08in considerable detail,
22:10for several minutes.
22:11He didn't fight back.
22:12He knew he had no ground to stand on.
22:14When she finally ran out of breath,
22:16I walked out.
22:19Madam, you believe me, don't you?
22:21The matriarch came through the courtyard gate behind him.
22:24She had her walking stick in hand.
22:26She brought it down across his back
22:28until blood showed through the fabric.
22:30Then she stopped.
22:32Her eyes were wet when she looked at me.
22:34My child,
22:35this family owes you an apology.
22:38She exhaled.
22:40I know you've been wronged,
22:42but the clan is pushing to have this one thrown out entirely,
22:46and I'm running out of ways to argue against it.
22:49Write him a letter of divorce.
22:51The Ashfords will take care of you.
22:53You have my word.
22:55I let my eyes go soft.
22:57I lowered my head and pressed one hand gently to my stomach.
23:00My voice came out barely above a whisper.
23:03But I'm carrying his child.
23:05Are you asking me to leave with a baby?
23:07Both of them went completely still.
23:11Adrian stared at my hand against my stomach.
23:14The color left his face.
23:16I'm sorry.
23:17His voice cracked.
23:18I'm so sorry.
23:20The matriarch needed a breath to decide.
23:24Get that woman and her boy off this property immediately.
23:27The Ashfords family has one mistress of this house,
23:30and the child she's carrying is the only heir I'll recognize.
23:34I turned my face into the matriarch's shoulder,
23:36and let myself cry.
23:39I thought you didn't want me anymore.
23:41None of it touched me inside.
23:44This was what had needed to happen.
23:47Adrian had just lost any path to the clan leadership through that boy.
23:51Without the matriarch's recognition,
23:53Rosalyn and her son were nothing.
23:56All the groundwork I'd laid had just closed around them like a door.
24:01In the corner where no one was looking,
24:03something in me smiled.
24:06Rosalyn and the boy stood at the estate gate for half the day.
24:10She screamed every promise Adrian had made.
24:12The people passing stopped and listened with wide eyes.
24:16The last of Adrian's golden reputation crumbled in real time.
24:22The story that came out of it, somehow,
24:25was that the new Mrs. Ashford had handled everything with grace.
24:29Victoria had come by to watch.
24:31She was there at the gate when it happened.
24:33She drifted into the main hall afterward,
24:36looking like she'd forgotten how to arrange her face.
24:39I was eating the pastries Adrian had walked three streets to find for me.
24:45What brings you all the way here in person?
24:48She was tired.
24:49The brightness she'd walked in with last time was gone.
24:53Her smile, when she tried it, didn't work properly.
24:57How did you do it?
24:59I smiled and touched my stomach.
25:02When you have something better, why would you settle?
25:06She understood immediately.
25:08Her eyes dropped to my hand.
25:11She went very still.
25:12Then the stillness broke.
25:14And what came out was pure envy.
25:17You're just lucky.
25:19Everything always falls into place for you.
25:21The smile left my face.
25:23I set down my tea.
25:25Lucky.
25:25My birth mother died in front of me.
25:28I spent years in this house as furniture,
25:31useful only when needed and invisible the rest of the time.
25:35Every gain I'd made in my past life and this one
25:39had been mapped out, move by move, late at night, alone.
25:44Lucky wasn't the word.
25:47I hear things haven't been going so well for you.
25:50You look thin.
25:51She shot to her feet.
25:53I'm perfectly fine.
25:54My husband comes only to my room.
25:56He dismissed all the others.
25:58I run my own household.
25:59No one dares touch me.
26:01I let myself laugh.
26:03She heard it for what it was,
26:05and it hit her somewhere deep,
26:06because she spun around and walked out without another word.
26:11The serpent had dismissed those women
26:13because he was afraid of being found out,
26:16not because he felt anything.
26:18His visits to her room were maintenance, nothing more.
26:22The more she gave, the more he took.
26:25Her body was already paying the bill.
26:28In the end, she'd believed what she'd wanted to believe.
26:32I didn't know how much longer she had.
26:35The pregnancy was easier than I'd expected.
26:38The baby was cooperative,
26:39which gave me room to keep running the shops
26:41and managing the estate.
26:42Adrian hovered constantly,
26:44asking after every small discomfort,
26:47following me from room to room.
26:49I found it exhausting
26:50and started leaving the estate to get away from him.
26:52It was on one of those outings
26:53that I heard Victoria had miscarried.
26:55I didn't know she'd been pregnant.
26:57I went to see her myself.
26:58I regretted it the moment I stepped into her room.
27:01The smell hit first.
27:02Powder, sweet and thick.
27:04And beneath it, something rotten.
27:06Something that didn't belong in a living body.
27:09The doctor stood to one side
27:10with the face of a man
27:12who had stopped expecting to be listened to.
27:14I told you both repeatedly.
27:16No more.
27:17Why won't you listen?
27:19The serpent's expression was distant.
27:21He made a soft sound of dismissal and walked out.
27:23Victoria coughed.
27:25Hard, wracking coughs.
27:27The kind that bent her forward.
27:28She'd gone skeletal.
27:30Her skin, the color of old paper.
27:32She looked up at me.
27:33Even like this, she squared her jaw.
27:36Happy now?
27:36Lady Hargrove rushed in from the doorway
27:38before I could answer.
27:39She was the only person in the room
27:41who was genuinely frightened for Victoria.
27:44Who wanted to take her home and hold her.
27:47No!
27:47I'm not going back.
27:49I'm fine here.
27:51Why would I go back?
27:52Her voice climbed, sharpened.
27:55And then, something changed in my body.
27:58I grabbed Ivy's wrist.
27:59The doctor had said she wasn't far enough along.
28:02There shouldn't have been a reaction this sudden, this strong.
28:05I stopped thinking about Victoria and let Ivy steer me out.
28:09The Ashford midwife was already prepared.
28:12The doctor arrived within minutes of being called.
28:14Outside the delivery room, I could hear the matriarch and Adrian talking in short, urgent sentences.
28:20I was soaked through, Ivy's hand almost breaking in mine.
28:24If something goes wrong, save me.
28:27If I didn't survive this, Adrian would bring Rosalind's boy back.
28:31And whatever happened to my child without me here to stand between them,
28:34I didn't want to imagine.
28:36I had to stay.
28:37The pain came in waves and then in walls.
28:40Then a cry split the room and I went under completely.
28:44When I opened my eyes, there was a small, warm weight on the bed beside me.
28:48Ivy was kneeling, smiling so wide it looked like it hurt.
28:52Congratulations, ma'am.
28:54It's a girl.
28:55I stared at her for a long time.
28:57Then I reached out very carefully and poked her cheek with one finger.
29:02She woke up.
29:03She didn't cry.
29:04She just looked at me and smiled.
29:06Something in my chest came loose.
29:08I closed my hand around her tiny fingers.
29:11From today, she was the Ashford heir.
29:14And I was going to make sure she lived her life on her own terms.
29:18Not mine, not anyone else's.
29:20Adrian was happy about the baby.
29:22And also, a little lost.
29:24The way men get when reality lands differently than they'd planned.
29:27He circled around the subject for weeks before finally floating the idea of trying again in a few years.
29:33A son, he meant, to carry the Ashford name.
29:36I told him no without softening it.
29:39The matriarch promised me, if you'd like to revisit that conversation, go talk to her.
29:44He didn't.
29:44He went back to making faces at our daughter instead.
29:47After my recovery, I finally turned my attention to why the birth had come early.
29:51The doctor could only tell me that something sharp and chemical had triggered it.
29:54He couldn't identify the specific substance.
29:56I thought about Victoria's room.
29:58The smell that had sat in the back of my throat.
30:00Ivy came back from asking questions with her face flushed red.
30:04Mom, Rosaline has been meeting with Miss Victoria.
30:07The place she's been living since she left here.
30:09Miss Victoria arranged it.
30:11Two women with nothing to lose and the same target.
30:14If I'd lost the baby, Rosaline's boy would have been the only option left.
30:18She'd have been back through the gate within the week.
30:20But I'd learned every corner of this estate before the baby came.
30:23The staff here were mine in the way that mattered.
30:25They were careful, attentive, loyal enough when loyalty was earned.
30:29Nothing had reached me that shouldn't have.
30:30Has Adrian had any contact with them since they left?
30:33Once.
30:34Right after they were removed, he went to see them.
30:36They had a fight.
30:37He hasn't been back.
30:38He's cut the boy off too.
30:39Good.
30:40I exhaled.
30:41He's finally reading the room.
30:43And my half-sister.
30:44Lately.
30:44Ivy's voice took on a certain quality.
30:46She's determined I'll give her that.
30:48Her body is in the state it's in and she's still having people in,
30:51still calling doctors, trying to keep going.
30:53I sighed.
30:53She was stubborn to the point of self-destruction.
30:56She always had been.
30:57Life in the Ashford estate settled into something close to peace.
31:00The baby's name was Sarah.
31:01The matriarch chose it herself.
31:03And she announced formally in front of the clan
31:05that Sarah Ashford would be the next family head.
31:08Some members objected.
31:09Lord Ashford Sr. shut them down in four sentences
31:11and didn't look up from his tea.
31:13Adrian sulked quietly about it for a while, then adjusted.
31:16He spent his mornings making Sarah laugh
31:18and telling her she'd better remember who her father was
31:21when she was running things.
31:23It might have stayed that way indefinitely.
31:25Then one of my shop managers came in with a report.
31:28He could barely get through it without going red in the face.
31:31Victoria had purchased something from one of our suppliers.
31:34A particular kind of compound.
31:37When I pressed for details,
31:39the man turned the color of a peony
31:41and started examining the floor.
31:43I understood.
31:44Victoria was pregnant again.
31:45She announced it with a dinner party.
31:47The invitation arrived on my desk.
31:49Ivy told me not to go.
31:51Why wouldn't I?
31:52Running away was never my style.
31:55The party drew the wives of every major shifter clan.
31:58They found me within minutes of arriving
32:00and pulled me into a circle of warm, elaborate compliments.
32:04Victoria's face went through several difficult stages
32:07before she managed to control it.
32:09She breathed in, breathed out, and crossed the room to me.
32:13The smile I gave her was direct and had teeth.
32:16Look at you.
32:17Jealous?
32:18Her composure buckled.
32:19She turned and walked away in fast, rigid steps.
32:23I finished my drink.
32:24My eyes drifted to the maid standing just behind her.
32:27I smiled to myself, said something low to Ivy,
32:30and watched her slip away through the crowd.
32:33Later, a group of us walked out to the back garden.
32:35We heard it before we saw it.
32:37There, half hidden behind a stone wall,
32:40the serpent was pressed against a serving girl,
32:42unhurried, as if he'd forgotten or didn't care
32:45that there were guests 20 feet away.
32:48When we got close enough, he still didn't stop.
32:51One of the wives sucked in a sharp breath.
32:53Isn't that the woman who was thrown out of the Ashford Palace?
32:56Every head turned toward me.
32:58Someone clicked her tongue.
32:59Honestly, and that boy, who even knows?
33:02Victoria came through the garden gate with her attendants,
33:04reached the two of them, and wrenched them apart
33:07with shaking hands.
33:08How dare you?
33:10She hit him.
33:11He looked at her the way you look at something
33:13mildly inconvenient, the smear of lip color still on his jaw.
33:17You can't keep up.
33:18I'm not going to starve because of that.
33:19Don't make a scene.
33:21He shoved her back, not gently.
33:23Then curved a protective arm around Rosalyn
33:25as they retreated through the gate.
33:27Victoria hit the ground.
33:28Red bloomed beneath her.
33:30She stopped being a person for a moment.
33:32She curled into herself and started murmuring over and over.
33:37Even again?
33:39Why is it always like this?
33:41She tried to crawl toward me, hands reaching.
33:44Adrian came through the gate behind her and kicked her back before she could reach me.
33:48Not carefully.
33:49The gathered wives had lost their appetite for the evening.
33:51They called for their maids and started for the carriages.
33:54After that, I never saw Victoria again.
33:56Three days later, Ivy came to me with her jaw set tight.
34:00Ma'am, Rosalyn is back.
34:02I looked up from my ledger.
34:03Where?
34:04At the gate.
34:05She says she has information about the compound used before your delivery.
34:08She's saying she wants to bargain.
34:10I set down my pen.
34:11Is Adrian home?
34:12In the east courtyard with the clan elders.
34:14The succession discussion ran long.
34:16Good.
34:17I needed to handle this myself first.
34:18I put on my outer robe and walked to the gate unhurried.
34:21Rosalyn looked smaller than I remembered.
34:23Her clothes were decent, but worn at the hem.
34:26I can give you proof.
34:27The woman who sourced the compound, the transaction record, everything.
34:31And what do you want in return?
34:32My son, just recognition.
34:35He has abilities.
34:36He deserves to be trained.
34:37I'm not asking for anything else.
34:39I studied her for a long moment.
34:41You came to me with this.
34:42Not to Adrian.
34:44She didn't answer.
34:45That was answer enough.
34:47She knew that door was closed.
34:48She'd come to the one person with actual authority over this gate.
34:51Leave the documents with my servant.
34:53I'll review them.
34:54And my son.
34:55I said I'll review them.
34:57I turned and walked back inside.
34:58The documents were thorough.
34:59Ivy sat across from me, reading carefully.
35:01This is enough to bring for the clan council.
35:04Attempted harm to an heir.
35:05That's not a minor offense.
35:07No.
35:07I folded the document closed.
35:09We wait.
35:10Ivy looked up.
35:11Victoria is already broken.
35:12Filing this now does nothing except make me look like I'm kicking someone already on
35:16the ground.
35:16That afternoon, Adrian walked into my room with a careful expression.
35:20The clan elders want to discuss Sarah's succession formally.
35:23Some of them are pushing back.
35:24On what grounds?
35:26She's a girl.
35:26And young.
35:27They're suggesting we revisit the matter when she's older.
35:30How much older?
35:31Old enough to be replaced by a son.
35:33I told them I had no plans for a son.
35:35They didn't believe me.
35:36I turned back to the window.
35:37Then we give them something they can't argue with.
35:39I sent for the clan's senior historian the next morning.
35:42He arrived in the afternoon.
35:43An elderly man with excellent posture.
35:46I need to understand the succession law in full.
35:49Every claw love.
35:50Every exception.
35:51Every precedent.
35:52That evening, I walked into the east courtyard, where Adrian was running forms with Sarah
35:57propped against the practice post.
35:59He stopped when he saw my face.
36:01What did you find?
36:02The matriarch can formally vest the succession in Sarah before she reaches training age.
36:07The elders can object, but they can't overturn a formal vesting by the sitting matriarch.
36:12Adrian was quiet for a moment.
36:13She'll do it, if I ask her.
36:15He picked Sarah up.
36:16She grabbed his ear.
36:17Dad?
36:18She said clearly.
36:19We both went still.
36:20It was her first word.
36:21Did she just...
36:22Yes.
36:23She said my name first.
36:25Don't make it a competition.
36:27Too late.
36:27The elders made their move at the monthly clan meeting.
36:30Elder Crane stood first.
36:31The succession of Sarah Ashfield was announced prematurely.
36:35The child has not yet demonstrated ability.
36:38We move to defer the designation until she reaches the age of eight.
36:41Several others nodded.
36:42Matriarch said firmly.
36:43No.
36:44The designation stands.
36:46I have already submitted the formal vesting to the clan record.
36:49She set a sealed document on the table.
36:51It was received and witnessed this morning.
36:53Next day, I was at the market with Ivy, and someone grabbed my sleeve.
36:56I turned.
36:57It's Victoria.
36:57She looked nothing like herself.
36:59Her hair was loose.
37:00Her eyes red-rimmed.
37:01You have to help me.
37:03He's gonna kill me.
37:04I know he is.
37:05He said if I left again, he'd...
37:07Let go of me.
37:08She didn't.
37:08Her grip tightened.
37:09I have nowhere to go.
37:11Mother can't help me.
37:13She's already tried.
37:14He threw her out.
37:15And I can't...
37:16I can't go back there.
37:18I can't...
37:18Victoria.
37:19You're making a scene.
37:22Please.
37:22She said, very quietly this time.
37:25A desperate Victoria, loose in public, was exactly the kind of loose end someone like
37:29Crane would find a use for.
37:30Come with me.
37:31Don't speak.
37:32Don't draw any more attention.
37:33I took her back to the estate.
37:34I sat Victoria in the outer garden with tea and told her to stay put.
37:38She did.
37:39Adrian found me in the corridor.
37:41Tell me you didn't bring her inside.
37:43Outer garden.
37:44Supervised.
37:45She's not a threat today.
37:46If I leave her in the street, she becomes someone else's tool.
37:50He looked at me steadily.
37:51What about Sarah?
37:53Sarah is in the training hall with two senior clan guards and her father, who was just here.
37:58Which means you left her there alone.
38:00He turned around immediately and went back.
38:02I returned to the garden.
38:03Victoria murmured like a crazy person.
38:06The serpent is going to kill me.
38:08He's run out of use for me.
38:10I sat down across from her.
38:11What do you want?
38:12I need to go somewhere he can't reach me.
38:14I won't come near you or the girl again.
38:16In last life, she had been cruel to me in every small way she could manage.
38:20In this life, she had tried to take my child from me before she was even born.
38:24I can't let anything go wrong again.
38:26I'll arrange a departure.
38:28Documents, escort, a new name.
38:30You will leave before the week is out.
38:32You will not contact anyone in this city.
38:34You will not come back.
38:35She froze, not expecting I would help her so easily.
38:37Why?
38:38She asked.
38:39Because it costs me nothing.
38:40And it costs you everything to own me.
38:43Before she stepped into the carriage, she turned back.
38:45Crane paid the serpent to keep me close to you.
38:48I don't know what he was planning, but I thought you should know.
38:50I'm not telling you for your sake.
38:51I just want him to lose something too.
38:53The carriage door closed.
38:55I brought her words to Adrian.
38:56He was in the middle of teaching Sarah how to hold her stance.
38:59She kept toppling sideways and laughing about it, which was not making him a more effective instructor.
39:03Crane, I suspected him.
39:06You didn't say anything.
39:08I was waiting for confirmation.
39:10Now I have it.
39:11Sarah pulled on his sleeve.
39:12Again, Dad.
39:13In a moment.
39:15Now, Dad.
39:15He crouched down to Sarah's level.
39:17If you hold the stance for ten full breaths, we do it again.
39:21She squared up with tremendous seriousness.
39:23She made it to seven before she started giggling.
39:26Adrian caught her when she fell over.
39:27I want to deal with Crane openly, in front of the full clan.
39:31That's a risk.
39:32I have the documents from Rosany.
39:35The succession vesting.
39:36Victoria's testimony in writing.
39:38Witness before she left.
39:40If I lay it all at once, there's no recovery from it.
39:43And the serpent?
39:44That I'll leave to the serpent clan's own politics.
39:47They'll handle it faster than we could.
39:49At the formal clan gathering, Elder Crane held high a document.
39:52I have evidence of financial misconduct within the Ashfield estate accounts.
39:57Dating back to the very year the current mistress arrived.
40:00May I see the document?
40:02He handed it over with confidence.
40:04I read it.
40:04Looked up.
40:05Those discrepancies were identified, documented, and corrected in the first month after I took over management.
40:12The shop manager responsible was dismissed.
40:14I turned to the matriarch.
40:15I believe you have the original corrective record in the household archive.
40:19The matriarch nodded.
40:20Crane's composure cracked.
40:21Furthermore, I withdrew a folded document.
40:24I have a record here of payments made from Elder Crane's personal accounts to a third party.
40:29That third party is the serpent clan's finance manager.
40:33The same serpent clan that housed Victoria, the woman who attempted to harm the Ashfield heir before her birth.
40:39The hall erupted.
40:41Crane sat down.
40:42He didn't speak again.
40:43After that day, neither did anyone else bother to listen when he tried.
40:46That evening, the estate was quiet.
40:48Word had come earlier that day.
40:49Victoria had killed the serpent.
40:51He tracked her down despite everything, and she'd fought back.
40:54The serpent clan handled it themselves.
40:55Trial, verdict, exile to somewhere far enough that no one would hear from her again.
40:59I felt nothing.
41:00The only people I cared about were already with me.
41:03Sarah had fallen asleep in the courtyard after dinner, still wearing the small practice gloves Adrian had fitted to her
41:07hands.
41:08He carried her inside without waking her.
41:09He laid her down, and then he came out and stood beside me.
41:12She held the starts for eleven breaths today, while you were with the elders.
41:16I counted.
41:17I know.
41:18She told me herself.
41:19Twice.
41:21Crane will resign by morning.
41:23The elders talked after you left.
41:24Even the ones who were supporting him have pulled back.
41:26Good.
41:27When did you know?
41:28About Crane?
41:29How long had you known?
41:30Long enough.
41:31You waited.
41:32Timing is everything.
41:34He exhaled slowly.
41:35Not quite a laugh.
41:36You're terrifying, you know that?
41:38You married me.
41:39I know.
41:40I'm starting to think that was the smartest thing I ever did.
41:43He was watching Sarah through the doorway.
41:45She's going to be extraordinary.
41:46I turned back to the doorway.
41:48Sarah stirred in her sleep, and smiled at something in her dream.
41:52I thought of my mother's voice, barely audible, telling me to keep going.
41:56I had.
41:57This was what keeping going looked like.
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