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00:00Silas, what are you?
00:02They don't deserve to live.
00:03No, no, Silas!
00:05I was the Green Dragon Clan's most fertile princess.
00:08But to my husband, I was nothing but a breeding vessel.
00:11He could destroy when I stopped being useful.
00:14He killed our children, then made me kneel by his bed for three days
00:17and watch him take woman after woman into his arms.
00:20Then he grabbed my throat.
00:22Traitor.
00:23And threw me into the bottomless abyss.
00:25I thought I was falling straight into hell.
00:27I'm back.
00:28Back in my family's great hall, back before any of it happened,
00:31before I ever said yes to the monster who murdered my babies.
00:33And there he is, right in the center of the room, Silas.
00:37This time, I will never be the Black Dragon's queen.
00:40I don't know it yet.
00:41But the one who'll give me everything that Monster destroyed won't be some mere king.
00:45He's a god, an ancient, a golden dragon, waiting to claim me
00:48and take the heirs that Monster never deserved.
00:50I am Silas.
00:52I offer a hundred chests of enchanted gold to claim a green dragon princess as my queen.
00:57Those blood-red vertical eyes radiating danger like a blade left in the sun.
01:01Your majesty!
01:02I'll give you a clutch of god dragon eggs!
01:04Choose me!
01:05My bloodline is the purest in the clan!
01:07A hundred girls, all elbowing each other, screaming their bloodlines like livestock at auction.
01:11I press my back flat against a marble pillar and don't breathe.
01:14They have no idea.
01:15Behind that beautiful face is something cold, bloodthirsty.
01:18Something our clan could never hope to control.
01:20I have to get out of this room.
01:22Lyra!
01:24Come here and greet the king.
01:25My father's voice pins me to the floor.
01:28I drop into the smallest cursi I can manage.
01:30But he points at me anyway.
01:31Smiles like he's presenting a prize horse.
01:33This is my daughter Lyra.
01:35Strongest bloodline in the entire green dragon clan.
01:38Trained since childhood.
01:39Her fertility is unmatched.
01:40I wanted to sink into the marble and vanish.
01:43He was coming for me.
01:44So I grabbed my older sister and shoved her in front.
01:47Father, I'm too young.
01:48I'm not ready.
01:50Lilith is perfect for this.
01:52She's everything he's looking for.
01:53My father's face goes dark.
01:54Lilith is his second wife's daughter.
01:56The throne of the obsidian castle was supposed to be my prize, not hers.
02:00He isn't going to let me throw that away.
02:01But the memory of my past life is screaming in my skull.
02:04Silas's claw through my stomach.
02:06My eggs crushed one by one.
02:08There is no version of this where I become his queen again.
02:10Your majesty, both girls are yours.
02:12Whichever you prefer.
02:13Thank the gods.
02:14I just rejected the king in front of his whole court.
02:17His pride alone should send him to Limith.
02:18But he doesn't even glance at her.
02:20He walks straight up to me and stops.
02:22Princess Lyra, you'll do.
02:24My mind goes completely blank.
02:25And the second my eyes locked onto those blood-red pupils,
02:28every moment of my last life came tearing back at once.
02:34In my past life, the first time I saw Silas, I fell hard.
02:38He was gorgeous.
02:39I never stood a chance.
02:40So when my father offered me up, I practically ran to the altar.
02:43The black dragons were a cursed bloodline.
02:46They couldn't carry children on their own.
02:47The only way they survived was by mating with us.
02:50Green dragons.
02:51We heal.
02:52We breed.
02:53It's our gift.
02:54And my bloodline was the strongest of all.
02:56So Silas spoiled me rotten.
02:58Every night in my bed, he couldn't get enough, pouring his raw heat deep inside me.
03:02Under six months, I was pregnant.
03:04But the closer I got to my due date, the more he changed.
03:07He'd stare at my stomach with this dark look I couldn't read.
03:10Then he locked me in the highest tower.
03:12It was for the baby's safety.
03:14Cut me off from everyone.
03:15I sent message after message, begging him to explain.
03:19Nothing came back.
03:20Until one afternoon.
03:21I was napping when his hand closed around my throat.
03:23Traitor.
03:24He slammed me into the cold stone wall.
03:26Tore my nightgown off.
03:28His hand twisted into a dragon claw and drove toward my stomach.
03:31They don't deserve to live.
03:34Right through my skin, he crushed my eggs.
03:36All three, one by one.
03:38The broken shells tore me open from the inside.
03:40I screamed until my throat bled.
03:43Pressed a red hot iron to my collarbone and branded one word into me.
03:46Traitor.
03:47Then he filled his bed with other women.
03:49Made me kneel beside it and listen.
03:51Every night.
03:52Every sound.
03:53When they were done, I carried in the water and washed them clean with my own hands.
03:59And the cruelest part?
04:00He murdered my babies.
04:01Then made me wash his mistresses clean with my own hands and nurse them through their pregnancies.
04:07I carried their water.
04:08I warmed their beds.
04:09I smiled when they screamed his name.
04:12I did all of it.
04:13And I will never do it again.
04:15Because this time, I know exactly how he kills.
04:19Which means I know exactly how to kill him first.
04:23Your Majesty, I'm already in love with someone else.
04:27And I'm carrying his child.
04:29The whole hall freezes.
04:32Gasps everywhere.
04:33My sisters stare at me like I've lost my mind.
04:36Like turning down a king is something only a crazy woman would do.
04:39My father shoots me a look that could kill.
04:41But in front of Silas, he swallows its distremely men-shine and forces a smile.
04:45Your Majesty, Lyra is far too pampered.
04:48Perhaps you should consider the other ladies...
04:50No need.
04:51My heart stops.
04:52Did he come back too?
04:55My father wipes the cold sweat off his forehead.
04:58A noble daughter getting pregnant before marriage isn't unheard of.
05:01But not for me.
05:02I was groomed from birth for the crown.
05:04So finding out I've been harboring a secret lover?
05:07He's livid.
05:08To avoid a scandal, my father hosts Silas at our estate while a replacement is chosen.
05:12Me?
05:13Straight to house arrest.
05:15But here's the part that makes my skin crawl.
05:17They put Silas in the suite right next to mine.
05:20I can't leave my room.
05:21Doesn't matter.
05:23I feel it anyway.
05:24That dark, heavy stare tracking every move I make.
05:27Silas needs control.
05:29Over everything.
05:30Over everyone.
05:31Which means I can't let him dig into my little pregnancy lie.
05:34So I have my maid skeek someone in for me.
05:37A lover.
05:38Liam.
05:40Liam feeds me grapes and rubs my shoulders.
05:42All sculpted muscle and easy smiles.
05:44But that stare keeps crawling over my skin.
05:46Heavier every minute.
05:47Fine.
05:48If he's watching, let's make it good.
05:50I take Liam's hand and lead him into my bedroom.
05:52We barely reach the bed.
05:53The door explodes off its hinges.
05:55Silas storms in.
05:56Blade in hand.
05:57Murder in his eyes.
05:58I shove Liam back.
06:00A second too late.
06:01The blade catches his arm.
06:02Have you lost your mind?
06:04The green dragons aren't yours to command.
06:08So this is how the princess spends her nights?
06:12I'm having fun with someone I actually like.
06:15Jealous?
06:16Go find your own mistress.
06:18Who I entertain in my chambers is none of your concern.
06:21I don't see what comes next.
06:22He half shifts.
06:23A massive black tail snaps out, wraps around Liam, and hurls him clean out the window.
06:28My stomach drops.
06:30Liam was only here to play along, and now he could be dead on the rocks below.
06:34Before I can move, Simus grabs my wrist and throws me onto the bed.
06:40His full weight comes down on me.
06:43Get off me!
06:44He pins my hands above my head.
06:47His mouth drags down my neck.
06:50You let him touch you.
06:52Why not me?
06:54His eyes are rimmed red.
06:56The words tear out of his throat, stripped of all his usual arrogance, leaving only raw,
07:02bleeding desperation.
07:04Lyra.
07:06Just let me.
07:08I'll fuck him right out of your head!
07:10He's lost his mind.
07:11I fight with everything.
07:12Biting.
07:13Kicking.
07:14Cracking my head into his.
07:16He doesn't stop.
07:18I shut my eyes.
07:19I'd rather die than let him have me again.
07:22Then the weight is gone.
07:23My father's magic blasts Silas clear across the room.
07:31The two of them stand there, glaring like the room might catch fire.
07:35Silas!
07:37I said you could choose anyone from my clan to be your queen.
07:41I never gave you the right to take my daughter against her will.
07:52Cross that line again, and I will burn the treaty to ashes.
08:00And we will end this in blood.
08:02Simus tightens his jaw, knowing he overstepped.
08:05One wrong move, and he loses the black dragon's only hope of an heir.
08:10But before he turns to go, he looks back at me.
08:14He looks back at me.
08:16The obsession burning in his eyes makes every hair on my body stand up.
08:20Lyra.
08:21This is my fault.
08:22I almost let him hurt you.
08:25It's not your fault, father.
08:28I need to get out of his territory.
08:30I'll come back once he's chosen a queen.
08:33He presses an old amulet into my palm, forged from secret gold.
08:37Take this.
08:39Go to the Dragonbone Abyss.
08:41Something far stronger than the Black Dragon King sleeps there.
08:45Silas won't dare set foot near it.
08:47I don't waste a second.
08:51The abyss is filled with the bones of ancient dragons.
08:54They tower over me.
08:56The air is heavy with old power.
08:59The amulet parts the barriers as I walk.
09:02I just need a quiet corner to disappear into for a while.
09:05Then I step into an underground palace.
09:07And I freeze.
09:08The air is drenched in the scent of an apex dragon.
09:12A man appears in front of me, impossibly beautiful.
09:15And from the waist down, a thick, blazing tail of pure gold.
09:19The old legends come rushing back.
09:21Your scales.
09:23They're gold.
09:24You're an ancient.
09:26His gold eyes flick to me for half a second, then wrench away.
09:30Leave!
09:31Before I lose control.
09:34The mating bond is killing him.
09:36I could stop it, but he's holding back.
09:38Silas would have taken what he wanted.
09:39This dragon won't.
09:41That alone is enough.
09:42I climb the steps to the throne.
09:44Under his sushrocked, furious stare, I throw myself into his arms and kiss him.
09:50I'll help you survive your heat.
09:52In exchange, you give me a pure-blood air.
09:55Deal?
09:56He frowns.
09:57His hands come up to push me away.
09:59Then his eyes catch the golden scale on my collar zone.
10:02He stills, shock giving way to pure joy.
10:05His tail locks around my waist.
10:07One savage move, and I'm prinned against the throne.
10:09Legs parted by his knee.
10:12Buy one, get one free.
10:14Take the father, too.
10:15What do you say?
10:16My answer drowns in his kiss.
10:18By the time it's over, he's marked me.
10:20Deep, permanent.
10:21His magic threaded through me, down to the bone.
10:23For the first time since I came back, the knot in my chest finally loosens.
10:28This life.
10:28I'll carry the strongest dragon heirs alive.
10:31And I'll make Silas pay back every single thing he owes me.
10:35The stronger the bloodline, the worse the mating cycle.
10:37I spend seven days and nights with Callum in the abyss, before the worst of it finally
10:42breaks.
10:42Lyra, I'll give you the grandest wedding this continent has ever seen.
10:46I'm too wrecked to lift a finger.
10:47Sweet talk after the fact, I figure.
10:50I don't think twice about it.
10:51I sleep for a long time.
10:52When I open my eyes, the crystal my father gave me is flashing red.
10:57Something's wrong.
10:58The clan's in danger.
11:00Callum left to find me food.
11:01I can't wait for him to come back.
11:03I throw on my clothes and rush back to my family's great hall.
11:06My father pulls me aside the second he sees me.
11:08His face is grim.
11:10Silas says he'll burn our territory to the ground.
11:13Take every woman we have as breeding stock.
11:15I know exactly what this is.
11:17He's backing me into a corner.
11:18I find him by the garden fountain.
11:20He holds out a glass like nothing's wrong.
11:22Try it.
11:23Holy spring water.
11:24Your favorite.
11:24I take it and smash it into his face.
11:27Glass and all.
11:28He doesn't even flinch.
11:29Water dripping off his lashes.
11:31He just smiles.
11:32The green dragons have bred heirs for the black throne for centuries.
11:35It's law.
11:36Break the treaty and your whole clan dies with it.
11:38We are nothing to each other.
11:40Why does it have to be me?
11:42He stands.
11:43Towers over me.
11:43His eyes go strangely soft.
11:45What if I told you we're bound by fate?
11:47Would you believe me?
11:47That's insane.
11:49If you were my fated mate, my heart would have jumped the first time I saw you.
11:52I'd have wanted to be near you.
11:53Not this.
11:53Not pure disgust.
11:55He stood frozen in place.
11:56Like the words actually cut him.
11:58Behind him, that black tail whips back and forth.
12:00Do the right thing for both our clans.
12:02Don't force me.
12:04And if I force you anyway.
12:05Three days, I come for you myself.
12:06Wear the dress or bury your entire clan beside you.
12:09I trust the princess will choose wisely.
12:11Fineless.
12:11Shameless.
12:12How did I miss it last life?
12:14Playing at love while he twists my arm.
12:16He really thinks he's something.
12:18But cursing won't save anyone.
12:20I go straight to my father to plan.
12:22Three days later, Silas returns with a full black dragon procession.
12:29Under my father's furious glare, he claims his veiled bride, Princess Lyra.
12:36And he rides off into the distance.
12:40The second they're gone, the sky cracks open.
12:43A massive golden dragon pours out of the clouds.
12:48He lands in human form, draped in gold-thread silk.
12:51Aurora's spill across the sky wherever he steps.
12:54The next to him, Simus is like nothing.
12:55He snaps his fingers, and hundreds of chests crash down.
12:58My father, finally smiling, takes the real me by the hand, and places me into Callum's arms.
13:02By the next morning, two stories are tearing across the entire dragon continent.
13:06Bait and switch.
13:07King Siloist's maid instead of princess.
13:09Gold dragon returns.
13:10Rain's treasure and marries Princess Lyra.
13:11Meanwhile, I'm in the ancient palace, telling Callan I'm pregnant.
13:15I'm really going to be a father?
13:16He scoops me up like I'm made of glass, and sets me down on the soft down bed.
13:20You need rest now.
13:21Anything you want, just say it.
13:23I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
13:25They're barely a cluster of cells.
13:27You don't have to panic.
13:28For once, he ignores me completely, treats me like the most fragile thing in the world.
13:33Healing potions, elven spring water, thousand-year-old herbs, it all flows in like a river.
13:38You're this good to me because I got you through your heat?
13:40He smiles and points to the golden scale on my colicone.
13:43This is the divine dragon's mate bond.
13:46You really don't remember?
13:47800 years ago, a magic disaster nearly killed me.
13:50You saved me.
13:51You wanted a powerful, mateful, handsome.
13:53Badgered me into a soul contract.
13:54You made me promise to marry you.
13:56Falling for a pretty face and refusing to let go?
13:58Yeah, that racks.
14:00That's exactly something I'd do.
14:01His eyes crinkle as he kisses the back of my hand.
14:03Thank the dragon ancestors.
14:05I found you again.
14:06Then something occurs to me.
14:07Wait, exactly how big are you?
14:10You, didn't you already find out the other night?
14:13I meant your age.
14:15Oh, don't really remember.
14:16Maybe 9,000, maybe over 10.
14:18You're that old?
14:19Turns out, teasing a dragon about his age is a big mistake.
14:22For the next few days, he doesn't let me out of bed once.
14:25Proving, over and over, exactly how young and strong he still is.
14:29I almost forget I used a shifting spell to fool Simus.
14:32Until he traces the scent of the wedding dress.
14:34The one I put on the maid.
14:35All the way to the dragon bone abyss.
14:37Lyra.
14:38You put a lowborn servant in my marriage bed?
14:41I'm back at the estate, lying out in the sun.
14:43Callum flew a hundred miles to the Elton city, off to buy the fruit I've been craving.
14:48So when Simus comes storming in for his revenge, there's no one to stop him.
14:53I run.
14:55He corners me in seconds.
14:57Lyra.
14:58You're this cruel to me?
14:59You really can't see even a shred of what I...
15:01He stops.
15:02His eyes have landed on my stomach, the swell of it.
15:08Who?
15:09What mongrel touched you?
15:12I'll burn his soul with dragon fire.
15:14The green dragons honored the treaty.
15:16We sent you a bride.
15:19This child isn't yours.
15:20It's none of your business.
15:22His chest heaves.
15:23Claws push through his fingertips.
15:25Black magic bleeds off him, thick and suffocating.
15:28You belong to me.
15:29How dare you carry another man's child?
15:32How dare you let him touch you?
15:34His tail lash out, wraps my waist, yanks me hard against a marble pillar.
15:38His cold hand presses flat to my stomach.
15:40And the nightmare of my past life crashes over me all at once.
15:44I'm shaking.
15:46I can't stop.
15:47The scream rips out of me before I know it's coming.
15:50No!
15:51Don't touch my baby!
15:53Silas!
15:53Stop!
15:54Stop!
15:55It hurts.
15:56It hurts so much.
16:00Why did you do that to me?
16:01I did nothing.
16:04The babies were innocent.
16:05They were yours.
16:06Your own blood.
16:07How could you?
16:08Silas goes still.
16:09The shock passes.
16:10And what rises in his eyes is something sick.
16:13A twisted, desperate joy.
16:15He pulls me into his chest.
16:17Holds me too tight.
16:18It's alright, Lyra.
16:19You remember.
16:20You remember me, don't you?
16:22I'm your husband.
16:23I'm taking you home.
16:24Don't be afraid.
16:25Don't be afraid of me.
16:26I'm drowning in the grief of a past life.
16:28Children I already lost once.
16:30Crying until I can't tell what's real and what's the dream.
16:33And that's how he takes me.
16:35Back to the Obsidian Castle.
16:38Behind its walls.
16:40I wake up in the bed for my past life.
16:42There you are.
16:44You finally remembered me.
16:45So that's it.
16:46That's why he's been so strange this whole life.
16:49He came back too.
16:50He's carrying the memories.
16:51Same as me.
16:53What is it you actually want?
16:55Lyra, the tragedy of our last life is over.
16:58I want to love you again.
16:59I want to start over.
17:00I laugh.
17:01The kind of laugh that means I'm done.
17:03Then I slap him.
17:04Hard.
17:04Twice.
17:04The sound of both ray through the room.
17:06Where do you find the nerve to say that to me?
17:09You slaughtered my children.
17:11Stripped my title.
17:13Branded me like a slave.
17:15You made me watch you with other women.
17:18Made me serve them on my knees.
17:21You made death look like mercy.
17:23And you think.
17:25Let's move past it.
17:27Wipes all of that clean.
17:33Lyra, let me explain.
17:37The witch deceived me back then.
17:40That's why I...
17:42I don't want your excuses.
17:45The damage is done.
17:47You could give me your life to pay for it.
17:50I'd still never forgive you.
17:52He opens his mouth to say more.
17:54I lie back down and pull the blanket over my head.
17:56Get out.
17:57I want to look at your face.
17:58Silas lets out a long breath.
18:00Stands.
18:00Walks to the door.
18:02Miserable.
18:02Rest then.
18:03I'll come see you tomorrow.
18:04The second Silas leaves.
18:05I call a magic messenger bird.
18:07I send Callium word that I'm safe.
18:09Tell him not to make a move yet.
18:11And I tuck in a map of the Black Castle's magic defenses.
18:13The next morning.
18:14Silas walks in carrying the elven fruit I loved in my past life.
18:18I have no appetite.
18:19I cut him off flat.
18:20I don't need anything from you.
18:21I'm fine.
18:22I'm going home.
18:23Lyra, my regret is real.
18:26I want to make it up to you.
18:27I don't move an inch.
18:28So he forces me down to the dungeon instead.
18:30A beautiful red-haired dragon woman hangs chained to a cross.
18:34Broken.
18:35Branded.
18:35The word traitor burnt black into her collars bone.
18:38Lyra, in our past life, she's the one who turned us against each other.
18:41She's why we lost everything.
18:42When I came back, I threw her down here.
18:44I've made her pay.
18:45Day and night.
18:46This life, no one will ever come between us again.
18:48I avenged you.
18:49Surely now, even your worst grudge can finally rest.
18:51What exactly did she tell you?
18:54What made you turn on your own kind like this?
18:57His gaze skizz away.
18:58He won't answer.
18:59That guilty silence tells me everything.
19:01She wanted you.
19:02She was jealous of my place as queen.
19:05So she lied.
19:06Said I was sleeping around.
19:08Said the child in me wasn't yours.
19:11That's it, isn't it?
19:12No!
19:13Stop!
19:13I pick the bloody dagger up off the floor and drive it straight into his shoulder.
19:17The one to blame has always been you.
19:19Paranoid little tyrant.
19:21Too insecure to think straight.
19:23It doesn't matter what lies she told.
19:26You were the king.
19:27And you never asked me once.
19:29Never checked.
19:30You just swallowed her poisoned children and went to wipe out me and my children.
19:34Pinning it on her now?
19:35Spinless.
19:36Gutless.
19:37Trash like you doesn't deserve to be forgiven.
19:39Silas clutches his bleeding shoulder.
19:40He sways like the soul's just been drained out of him.
19:43And drop the heartbroken act.
19:44It makes me sick.
19:45I don't look at him again.
19:46I turn and I walk up the stairs.
19:48When the gifts and the begging don't move me.
19:50Silas switches tactics.
19:51A hand-carved rocking horse.
19:53Baby clothes stitched by elves.
19:55The finest potions on the continent.
19:57I back away.
19:57Hand-
19:58Something heavy and sad flickers in his eyes.
20:00Lyra, don't be afraid.
20:01Even if the child isn't mine, I won't hurt them.
20:03I'll raise them as my own.
20:04I'll make you the most honored queen this whole-
20:06Are you out of your mind?
20:07I stare at him like he's insane.
20:08Because he is.
20:09I have a husband.
20:10A real one, bound by contract.
20:11The baby has a real father.
20:13I don't need you playing some noble stepdad.
20:14Or what?
20:15You've got a thing for raising other men's kids?
20:17Lyra, I'm the black dragon king.
20:18Our kind lives forever.
20:19I have a whole eternity to wait for you to forgive me.
20:22And when you come around, I'll crown you.
20:23We'll have a dozen pure-blood heirs of our own.
20:25At first I fire back.
20:26But pretty soon I don't waste a single word on him.
20:29Lucky for me, the days of babysitting a lunatic end fast.
20:32Callum hits the Oblivion Castle.
20:33He arrives just as Silas is kneeling at my side.
20:36I'm treating him like furniture.
20:37Eyes shut, ignoring him completely.
20:39Callum tears through the barrier and walks in right as Silas leans in toward me.
20:42Dragonfire detonates loud enough to split the sky.
20:44My eyes fly open.
20:45Silas is gone.
20:46Blasted dozens of feet back.
20:48Smashed clean through a low-tearing wall.
20:50Callum!
20:50You came!
20:51He catches me.
20:52Checks me over head to toe.
20:53Slow and careful.
20:54Only once he's sure I'm not hurt does that world-ending blood rob pull back a little.
20:57I'm sorry.
20:58I shouldn't have left you alone.
20:59Let this piece of garbage find an opening.
21:01He slides an arm around my waist, ready to take me home.
21:03That's when Simus drags himself out of the rubble.
21:05Blood all over his face.
21:06He sees me tucked against Callum and his eyes go red with jealousy.
21:09This is the stray you found out there?
21:11We swore a soul contract under the guards.
21:13He's my lawful mate.
21:14So watch your mouth.
21:15Silas won't quit.
21:15He steps closer.
21:16Sizes Callum up and down.
21:17Wipes the blood off his lip and smirks.
21:19Lyra, an old man who won't even show his true form and this is who you settle for?
21:22I quietly let go of Callum's hand and step back to safety.
21:24Silas thinks he's hit a nerve.
21:25He starts to smile.
21:26Then Callum's wrist, wrapped in thunder, slams him straight back all together.
21:29They both drop the pretense, shift into raw dragon form and tear into each other.
21:31Turns out Callum holds a serious grudge about the words, old man.
21:34The almighty tyrant gets battered across the sky, barely able to stay ever.
21:36I don't lift a finger to stop it.
21:38Not until Callum comes back, untouched.
21:39Let's go, sweetheart.
21:40I'm hungry.
21:41All right.
21:42Let's get you home.
21:42He folds me again to him and spreads those huge golden wings to lunch.
21:45Then Silas, losing his mind all over again, screams after us.
21:48Lyra, keep hard.
21:49I'm a king.
21:49I can give you power and riches beyond imagining.
21:51He's just a rogue dragon with nothing.
21:53Follow him and all you'll get is suffering.
21:54A vein jumps at Callum's temple.
21:56I press down his urge to shape and turn around.
21:58I look at Silas with something close to pity.
22:00You should read more dragon history in your spare time.
22:02Or one day you'll provoke an ancient Anster and never even know what killed you.
22:04Callum barely leaves my side.
22:06I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
22:07But deep down, it warms me.
22:09Then Simus shows up again.
22:10Won't take no for an answer.
22:11It's only been a few days, but he looks wrecked.
22:13Sunken eyes.
22:14Days of stubble.
22:14The picture of a man falling apart.
22:15I lean back on the couch.
22:16Don't even bother opening my eyes.
22:17Well, let me guess.
22:20Realized you're outmatched.
22:21Came crawling to beg.
22:21He stares at me, raw with resentment.
22:23So he's a golden dragon.
22:24So what?
22:24Ancient blood or not?
22:25How long have you even known him?
22:26It's nothing next to what we had.
22:27We made children together.
22:30Your nerve could put a castle wall to shame if I'd love to carve you into a thousand pieces
22:33counts as feelings.
22:34Then sure, you're number one.
22:37Callum walks over.
22:37Top-tier dragon pressure rolls off him.
22:39Sick enough to flatten the room.
22:41What's this?
22:41Looking for another beating?
22:42You've just lived a few thousand years longer than me.
22:45Don't act like some ancient god.
22:46A few thousand years longer is all I need.
22:48I could crush.
22:49Crush your drag crystal whenever I feel like it.
22:52And wipe the black throne off the map.
22:53You wouldn't dare.
22:54Try me.
22:55Callum lays his warm hand flat over the swell of my stomach.
22:58Keep buzzing around Lyra like a fly.
23:00Disturb my air one more time.
23:02And I promise you, by tomorrow your throne is rubble.
23:05I know Silas better than anyone.
23:06He's a tyrant.
23:07And what he creases most is power.
23:08Last life, that red-haired mistress came from a family with serious clout.
23:11That's the real reason he swallowed her lies about me so easily.
23:12And sure enough, faced with real death.
23:14The end of his entire bloodline.
23:15Silas crushes his own fifth white.
23:17No way.
23:17He leaves one thing behind.
23:18This isn't over.
23:20Then he slinks out of the abyss with his tail between his legs.
23:22Moving is nearly impossible now.
23:24All I can do is lie in bed and rest.
23:26That night, a sharp dragging pain tears through my belly.
23:28At the same moment, magic detonates outside the abyss.
23:31Loud enough to shake the walls.
23:32Something's wrong.
23:32I force myself up to look.
23:34Out there, Callum is surrounded.
23:35Hundreds of elite black dragon soldiers locked in formation around him.
23:38I open my mouth to warn him.
23:39Pain explodes at the back of my neck.
23:41A hand clamps over my mouth.
23:42Thin moonlight catches the wild red of Scythe's eyes.
23:45I fight with everything.
23:45My nails dig deep into his skin.
23:47He doesn't even flinch.
23:48Not until a scream rips out of me.
23:50Raw, agonized.
23:50That stops him cold.
23:51It's coming.
23:52The baby's coming.
23:53The pain folds me to the ground.
23:54Cold sweat soaks through my dress.
23:55Silas completely loses his nerve.
23:57Why is it happening so fast?
23:58I bite through my own lip.
23:59Divine dragon blood is overwhelming.
24:01The pregnancy runs nothing like a common dragon's.
24:03How would this fool ever understand that?
24:04His plan's in pieces.
24:05With no other choice, he carries me into a hidden cave.
24:07What is it you actually want from me?
24:09He doesn't answer.
24:10He just stares at my swollen tongue.
24:12I grint through the pain, grab a rock off the ground, and curls it at him.
24:14What?
24:15You're going to do it again?
24:16Crush my children with your own hands just like last time?
24:18He lets the rock split his forehead open.
24:20Blood runs down.
24:21His face is frantic, unhinged.
24:22I won't.
24:23I'll wait for you to deliver them.
24:24Then I'm taking you away.
24:25I'll throw the children to that old monster.
24:27I only want you.
24:28I just want you to stay with me.
24:29Insane.
24:30Completely out of his mind.
24:31I shut my eyes.
24:32Breathe deep.
24:32Force everything I have away from this lunatic and onto bringing my babies into the world.
24:36But I underestimated what it means for divine dragon blood to enter the world.
24:38This birth is worse than the last one.
24:40Far worse.
24:40Raw power tears through me.
24:41Wild and uncontrolled.
24:42My whole body tears of ulcers.
24:44I'm slipping towards death.
24:44Silas sees my lips go white.
24:46Sees the life draining out of me fast.
24:47And pure terror takes me.
24:48He pours his own dragon power into me.
24:50Desperate.
24:50It's useless.
24:51It's useless.
24:52Your power's too weak.
24:53I can't hold back the backlash.
24:54I'm going to die any second now.
24:55He shakes his head.
24:56Frantic.
24:57Tears and blood drip onto my face.
24:58No.
24:59No.
25:00I won't let you die.
25:01I was wrong, Lyra.
25:02I was wrong.
25:03In the end, even the strength to breathe is drained out of me.
25:06And right before the dark takes me.
25:07For the first time, I see it on Sinus' face.
25:09The look of a man losing his entire world.
25:11Little by little I hear it.
25:13Heavy, stumbling footsteps fading away.
25:15I can't help the bitter laugh.
25:16The coward.
25:16He must be terrified Callum Weston will find my body so he's running.
25:19I sink into the dark.
25:20I don't know for how long.
25:21Then a pure, overwhelming warmth floods into my heart.
25:24Golden dragon power.
25:25Gentle and fierce at once.
25:27Threading through my body.
25:28Smoothing away the agony tearing me apart.
25:30When I open my eyes, there's a soft woven basket beside my pillow.
25:33Inside, lined up neat and careful.
25:35Over a dozen dragon eggs.
25:37Each glowing, faint gold.
25:39The moment I stir, a pair of warm hands closes tighter around mine.
25:42Callum's eyes are bloodshot.
25:43He lets out a long, shaking breath.
25:45Thank the dragon gods.
25:47Lyra.
25:48I made it in time.
25:49I follow his gaze.
25:50Not far off, Sinus lies crumpled in a pool of blood.
25:53Barely breathing, like a dog left for dead.
25:55I left him alive.
25:56He wasn't quite stupid enough.
25:58Scared you'd die in labor, so he dropped the barrier himself and let me in.
26:00So that's what happened.
26:01I touched my chest.
26:02There's a heartbeat there now.
26:04Scorching.
26:05Powerful.
26:05I'm not my own.
26:07I gave you your dragon crystal.
26:09Are you going to die?
26:10He leans down and kisses the tears away, soft and doting.
26:13I'm a god who's lived 10,000 years.
26:15A dragon crystal is just a trinket to me.
26:17Only then do I laugh through the tears.
26:19I close my eyes and sink into sleep, finally at peace.
26:22We rest in the cave one more day.
26:24Then Callium lifts me into his arms and carries me back to the palace.
26:27Before we leave, he looks down at Silas, still slumped on the ground.
26:30Ancient dragon pressure rolls out of him all at once and snaps Silas' spine.
26:33Show your face in front of her again, and I'll peel off your scales myself.
26:36Silas' bones shatter through his body, but he bites down and doesn't make a sound.
26:39He only looks at me.
26:40Those dead red eyes, deep and hopeless.
26:42When I turn away without a flicker of feeling, he finally shuts them for good.
26:45The month of recovery passes like a stretch of heaven.
26:47My dad sends mountains of blood-restoring elixirs and rare beast meat.
26:51Callie simmers it into rich broth himself and feeds it to me, spoon by spoon.
26:55My body's fully healed.
26:57My dragon power's even stronger than before.
26:59You should take the crystal back.
27:00There's no taking back a wedding gift once it's given.
27:03He's playing with one of the newly hatched little dragons, and he kisses my forehead.
27:07With it protecting you, I can finally breathe easy.
27:10Otherwise, I can't even imagine.
27:14If I ever lost you, I'd go mad and burn this whole continent to the ground.
27:18By the time the children all hatch and grow their first soft gold scales, I haven't seen Silas once.
27:23Only sometimes, walking the edge of our territory, I catch it.
27:26A faint, pitiful gaze watching from the dark.
27:28But one cold scarf from Callum, and it scrambles away in an instant.
27:32At the full moon feast for all 18 of our dragon babies,
27:35my dad shows up with a pile of rare bone relics and land deeds worth a fortune.
27:40Dad, who did you rob?
27:42You could sell the entire green dragon cran-jab and not afford one piece of this.
27:46It takes me a while to get the truth out of a maid.
27:48All of it came from Silas.
27:50He sold off the royal treasury to put it together, compensation for me.
27:54He knew that if he sent it himself, I'd throw it straight into the moat.
27:57So he swallowed every last shred of a king's pride,
28:00and knelt outside the green dragon castle, begging my dad to take it.
28:04Callum's first instinct was to torch the whole pile,
28:06but then he saw the hatchlings happily gnawing on the relics,
28:08and got so worked up he downed two whole barrels of vinegar.
28:11Couple days later, the ancient old man digs a stack of god-tier artifacts out of some ruin somewhere.
28:15Kids, toss that scrap metal!
28:16Look how shiny dad's holy sword is!
28:18I watch him show off like an overgrown child and laugh so hard I can't sit up straight.
28:22Two more years pass.
28:23Around the time I'm pregnant with our second,
28:25the outside world erupts with shocking news.
28:30The obsidian throne has fallen.
28:32The tyrant Silas lost his mind,
28:35slaughtered several of his own noble mistresses during a mating cycle,
28:38lost every scrap of support, and was dragged off his throne.
28:41The rival families he'd once persecuted laid a trap on the road to his exile.
28:44They cut his dragon tendals,
28:46branded the word slave into the tale he'd been so proud of,
28:49and kicked him into a bottomless chasm.
28:51No body, no bones, nothing left.
28:53I hear all of it leaning against Callum's broad chest,
28:55eating grapes he's peeled for me.
28:57I feel nothing at all.
28:58Silas did unspeakable things in his past life.
29:00In this one he nearly cost me my babies.
29:02An end like this, he earned every bit of it.
29:03As for me, I left the shadow of my past life behind a long time ago.
29:07In this era, full of magic and sunlight,
29:09I have a powerful mate who spoils me rotten,
29:12and a brood of gifted, extraordinary children.