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