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Follow a powerful story where relationships are tested, hidden truths are revealed, and lives change forever. From romantic moments to shocking surprises, this drama keeps you engaged from beginning to end.
Featuring stories about CEO, billionaire lifestyles, family connections, and life-changing decisions, this movie delivers strong emotions and unforgettable scenes.
Watch the full movie and discover what happens in the end.
New full drama movies uploaded regularly. Stay tuned for more captivating and trending stories.
#drama #fullmovie #lovestory #dramatic #billionaire #ceo #family #relationships #movie #story
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00:00My cousin Sarah and I were both given to the Dragon Court.
00:03I went to the firstborn, Aldric.
00:04She went to the second son, Dorian.
00:06A year later, Sarah bore a white dragon.
00:09While I came out, nine, ugly, malformed, nothing resembling a dragon.
00:13The Dragon King cared deeply about appearances.
00:16He named Dorian his heir on the spot.
00:18Aldric, in his fury, handed all nine of my children to the Phoenix Court as blood catalysts.
00:23Me along with them.
00:24If I marry Sarah, the throne will be mine.
00:28I couldn't survive the shame.
00:29I walked into the Sacred Flame and let it take me.
00:32He didn't know.
00:32Sarah was hybrid.
00:33I was pure.
00:34My children had been ugly because they took after him.
00:37When I opened my eyes, I was back on Selection Day.
00:39Aldric, Dorian, the Fox Clan has sent two.
00:43Each of you choose.
00:44I understood immediately.
00:45I had been reborn.
00:46This life, I could not let Aldric choose me.
00:49But as I stood there scheming, Aldric walked past me with a look of distaste and pulled
00:53Sarah forward instead.
00:54I understood immediately.
00:56Aldric had been reborn too.
00:57I reached for Sarah's hand, shook my head at her.
00:59The Dragon King wasn't a tyrant of these things.
01:02If she refused, she could go home.
01:04Sarah yanked her hand away.
01:05Liar.
01:06Satisfaction dripped from her voice.
01:08Don't tell me you're jealous that Aldric chose me.
01:10The Dragon Court passed its throne the same way most courts did.
01:14Bloodline first, then birth order.
01:16Aldric and Dorian were both sons of the Dragon Queen.
01:18Aldric had precedence.
01:20Sarah was blinded by the crown she thought she could see.
01:22I cursed her silently for a fool, then let her go.
01:26If Aldric took Sarah, that left me with Dorian.
01:28Except Dorian refused on the spot.
01:30Father, I'm not ready for a consort.
01:33I blinked, touched my face.
01:34I really wasn't that bad.
01:36Fine, go home.
01:37Find a fox-blooded man who actually deserved me.
01:39I was pleasantly imagining exactly that when a figure stepped out from the back of the hall.
01:44He wore a mask.
01:45Two short horns curled from his brow.
01:47Brother, did you forget I haven't taken a consort either?
01:50Brother, was this Caelan, the Dragon King's youngest sibling?
01:54Rumor had it the Dragon King doted on him.
01:56Had even once considered naming him heir.
01:58But Caelan was wild, unpredictable.
02:00Refused to take consort or sire children.
02:03The idea was shelved.
02:04He hadn't appeared in my first life at all.
02:06Caelan strolled toward me, easy and unhurried.
02:09His dark eyes fixed on me.
02:10Brother, she's beautiful.
02:12You let your sons choose first and didn't think of me?
02:14Hardly fair.
02:15The Dragon King called him an insufferable wretch and waved his hand.
02:18I was given to Caelan.
02:20Aldric, still holding Sarah's arm, couldn't resist.
02:23Uncle, don't let her face fool you.
02:25Caelan's fingers locked around my wrist.
02:27His dark eyes sharpened instantly.
02:30Who I choose is not your business.
02:33Caelan brought me to his quarters.
02:35No intention of removing the mask.
02:37Not even that night.
02:38Alone, together.
02:39What surprised me more?
02:40He had no intention of sharing the bed.
02:42He placed a folded blanket down the center of the stone bed.
02:45Divided it precisely in two.
02:46You sleep on the inside.
02:48I'll take the outside.
02:49I sat there clutching my blanket, genuinely confused.
02:52Dragon men were known for their appetites.
02:54In my first life, Aldric had been relentless.
02:57Illness didn't slow him.
02:58My discomfort didn't slow him.
03:00Was Caelan perhaps unable?
03:02He seemed to read my thoughts.
03:03His expression cooled.
03:05I married you because I pitted you.
03:06If I hadn't, do you know where you'd be right now?
03:09Aldric had planned to have me killed again.
03:11He wasn't going to marry me, but he wasn't going to release me either.
03:14The moment I stepped outside the dragon court unattached, I would have been bound and delivered
03:18to the Phoenix Lord as a gift.
03:20Aldric carried memories from our first life.
03:22He knew the Phoenix Lord wanted me.
03:24He intended to use that.
03:25The thought of what the Phoenix Lord did to the women in his court made me cold all over.
03:29That cold fear turned quickly into hatred.
03:31In our first life, Aldric had bled my nine children dry.
03:35He had cornered me into the flame.
03:36Now, reborn, he still wasn't finished.
03:39How could something so brutal claim the right to rule?
03:41The thought followed me into sleep.
03:43Dawn.
03:43Kaelin pulled me up to pay morning respects to the Dragon King.
03:46I was still yawning when we arrived.
03:48Aldric and Sarah were already there.
03:50Composed.
03:51Impeccable.
03:51Sarah looked radiant.
03:52Her legs were shaking slightly.
03:54Marks on her neck.
03:55A great many of them.
03:56I winced.
03:57That must have been brutal.
03:58Aldric was rough even when welcomed.
04:00For Sarah's first time, she probably needed help getting out of bed.
04:03She caught my expression and mistook it for envy.
04:06She tugged her collar and leaned close.
04:08How was your night, Lyra?
04:09Word is, he didn't touch you at all.
04:11I glanced pointedly at her inner thighs.
04:14Worry about yourself, Sarah.
04:15She drew back with a huff.
04:17Enjoy it now.
04:18Wait until the king finishes with you.
04:20Sure enough.
04:21The Dragon King's voice came cold and measured.
04:23Kaelin, explain yourself.
04:26Kaelin looked entirely unbothered.
04:28Thought she was interesting yesterday.
04:30Changed my mind by evening.
04:31The Dragon King hurled his crystal goblet into the courtyard.
04:35Disgraceful.
04:36After the morning audience, the Dragon King summoned me privately.
04:39He wanted to know what had actually happened.
04:42I told him I'd been too shy.
04:43He studied me for a long time.
04:45Told me to give Kaelin an air soon.
04:48Then sent me on my way.
04:49I returned to find Kaelin waiting, frost in his eyes.
04:52What did he ask you?
04:53I told him everything.
04:54He was quiet for a moment.
04:56Then he told me to avoid private meetings with the Dragon King going forward.
05:00If anything came up, redirect it to him.
05:02It only deepened the mystery.
05:04The dynamic between these two was as unreadable as the mask Kaelin never removed.
05:08Before I could untangle any of it, news swept through the entire court.
05:12Sarah was with child.
05:13A golden light surrounded her belly.
05:15Aldrich was beside himself.
05:17He invited the whole court to witness at dawn.
05:19I was invited too.
05:21Of course.
05:21Sarah opened with a performance.
05:23She dropped the Dragon Pearl on the floor and smiled at me sweetly.
05:26Leia, I'm carrying Dragon Young.
05:29Could you pick that up for me?
05:31She was barely a month along.
05:32She could bend perfectly well.
05:33This was theater.
05:34The court watched with amusement.
05:36Aldrich joined in, implying I was a pretty bird who couldn't lay eggs.
05:40I was about to respond when a sharp gust lifted the pearl,
05:43knocked it against Sarah's face, and dropped it neatly back into her hand.
05:46Kaelin lowered his wrist.
05:48He looked at Sarah with no particular expression.
05:50Did you lose the use of your hands?
05:52Sarah burst into tears against Aldrich's chest.
05:55Aldrich, humiliated, redirected me.
05:57Uncle!
05:58She only asked her to pick something up.
05:59Why the outburst?
06:00Lyra's pretty, I'll give her that.
06:02But she can't even carry a dragon child.
06:04You're the only one who sees anything in her.
06:05Kaelin's response was immediate.
06:07She's beautiful, at least.
06:08The two of you are ugly and useless.
06:10That puts her ahead.
06:11Aldrich went white, then shifted into Dragon Pearl, who looked ferocious.
06:15He fought like a beginner.
06:16Kaelin played with him, barely tried.
06:18The court watched Aldrich crumble under what amounted to light sparring, and the question
06:22moved quietly through the room.
06:24Was this really the man meant to be king?
06:26Aldrich stopped before he could lose more thoroughly.
06:29He grabbed Sarah and walked out.
06:31When my white dragon is born and takes the throne, none of you will be laughing!
06:35Gone before anyone could point out he'd forgotten entirely about the golden light he'd summoned
06:40everyone to see.
06:41Aldrich didn't forget to slice.
06:43He waited until Kaelin was away, and came for me.
06:45He wove mist across the back courtyard, trapping me on the hillside.
06:49Called wind and rain down until I was soaked through and shaking.
06:53Only then did he appear.
06:54He looked at me, drenched, and something greedy moved across his face.
06:57Lyra.
06:58He still hasn't touched you, hasn't he?
07:01He came toward me.
07:02I backed up.
07:02He seized my wrist.
07:03Your bloodline isn't quite right for a proper consort.
07:06But a secondary one?
07:08That could work.
07:09I slapped him.
07:10He grabbed me by the throat.
07:12I couldn't breathe.
07:12Then he let go.
07:13Even now, Kaelin's name keeps him from going all the way.
07:16When he finds out the only things you can produce are malformed little monsters, let's
07:20see how long he protects you.
07:21You're a low-clan princess, Lyra.
07:23When that day comes, I'll crush you like nothing.
07:26He didn't know.
07:27The clan he despised was about to ruin him completely.
07:29I cast my glamour.
07:31Between one breath and the next.
07:32We were standing in front of the Dragon King's council chamber.
07:35Every word Aldric had just said had fallen on the Dragon King's ears, and the ears of
07:39every allied clan lord present.
07:41The Fox Clan was low-ranked, yes, but they were under Dragon Court protection.
07:45What Aldric had said amounted to announcing, in public, that the Dragon Court held its
07:50subject clans in contempt.
07:51Not something a future king could afford to say aloud.
07:53The Dragon King's crystal scepter cracked against Aldric's nose.
07:57You have deeply disappointed me.
07:59Aldric hit the ground.
08:00His shoulders trembled.
08:02The Dragon King stripped him of his privileges and confined him to quarters.
08:05The air presumptive, favored of the court one hour ago, became invisible by afternoon.
08:10I had won cleanly.
08:11Kaelin was furious.
08:12Do you understand how dangerous that was?
08:14What if he had actually killed you?
08:16He'd figured it out, of course.
08:17I had used an enchantment to lure Aldric in deliberately.
08:20Revenge, yes, but also self-preservation.
08:23Aldric wasn't going to leave me alone regardless.
08:25Better to move first.
08:26I hadn't consulted Kaelin because he didn't know about my first life.
08:29He looked at me, soaking wet, and couldn't bring himself to say much more.
08:33He exhaled.
08:33Don't do something like that without telling me.
08:36I'm your husband.
08:37Protecting you is my responsibility.
08:39Something warm moved through my chest when he said it.
08:42Something I hadn't expected.
08:43Time moved quickly after that.
08:45The night Sarah went into labor, a storm rolled in.
08:48Lightning, black clouds, golden light pouring off the palace walls.
08:52The court's ritual seers declared it the sign of a golden dragon's birth.
08:56The dragon king got out of bed and went to Sarah's chambers to wait.
08:59I wasn't going to miss this.
09:01Aldric's bloodline wasn't pure enough for a golden dragon.
09:04If that light was real, it wasn't his.
09:06Sarah labored all night.
09:07Dragon young were large.
09:09She screamed until dawn.
09:10Then the screaming stopped.
09:11The child was not brought out.
09:13The dragon king went by himself.
09:14What followed was a silence somehow worse than the screaming.
09:18Then came his order.
09:18Seal it.
09:20Tell no one.
09:21Word leaked anyway.
09:22It always does.
09:23Sarah had delivered something golden.
09:25It was not a dragon.
09:26A one-clawed golden serpent.
09:28A common golden serpent could, with enough medicine and time, be coaxed into dragon form.
09:33A one-clawed one could not.
09:34Too weak.
09:35It would never transform.
09:36And across its face, a large, dark birthmark.
09:39Ugly and unmistakable.
09:40The dragon king took one look and left without naming it.
09:44The dragon court hadn't seen a birth to this poor in over a thousand years.
09:47In my first life, Sarah and Dorian produced a white dragon together.
09:51Sarah and Aldric produced this.
09:53The bloodline failure was obvious.
09:55Aldric's own lineage wasn't as pure as he'd always believed.
09:58The dragon king began arranging a match for Dorian the very next morning.
10:02He also issued a command.
10:03I was to produce a dragon child within the year.
10:06The entire court now understood exactly what Aldric had fathered.
10:09Aldric locked himself in his rooms.
10:12Sarah's situation was no better.
10:13Aldric blamed her for everything.
10:15Threatened to cast her out with the child and start over.
10:17My father wrote, asking me to help her.
10:20I went, reluctantly.
10:21Sarah was not grateful.
10:23Don't look so pleased with yourself, Lyra.
10:24You know why Kaylin wears that mask?
10:26Because he's Heereus under it.
10:28You'll end up just like me, producing nothing worth keeping.
10:31And even if you do manage something,
10:33it'll just be catalyst stock for the king's workings.
10:36Catalyst stock.
10:37My blood went cold.
10:38I thought of my nine children in my first life,
10:41their deaths,
10:41and my hand went to my stomach before I could stop it.
10:44Sarah refused to say more and threw me out.
10:46I went to Kaylin.
10:47Asked him directly what was going on.
10:49He deflected.
10:50Said it was to protect me.
10:51My hand was still on my stomach.
10:53I was done being patient.
10:54Kaylin, stop.
10:56I'm telling you I'm pregnant.
10:58He went very still.
10:59I held his gaze.
11:00That night,
11:01after the spiced plum wine,
11:03I'd caught a chill standing in Aldrich's reign.
11:05I'd demanded wine to warm up.
11:08Kaylin had relented.
11:09We'd both had more than intended.
11:11And somewhere in the middle of it,
11:12ended up on the same half of the bed.
11:15Why won't you let me see your face?
11:17I traced my fingers along his mask.
11:19He caught my hand and pressed his lips to my wrist.
11:22From my wrist,
11:23to my arm,
11:24then to my mouth.
11:28Dragons are creatures of desire.
11:30He said,
11:31voice low.
11:32I know.
11:33I reached up and pulled him closer by the back of his neck.
11:36Come here, Kaylin.
11:37I want this.
11:38Neither of us had expected it to matter.
11:40I took his hand.
11:41I'm this child's mother.
11:43I have every right to know what threatens him.
11:45Let's protect him together.
11:46Kaylin looked at me for a long time.
11:48Then the mask slipped from his fingers and fell.
11:51I stared.
11:52Kaylin was not ugly.
11:53He was, without question,
11:54the finest looking man in the dragon court
11:56or anywhere else I had ever been.
11:58Except for the scar.
11:59It ran the full length of his left cheek.
12:01Deep.
12:02Old.
12:03Terrible.
12:03I touched it.
12:04A wound that left a mark like this had been profound.
12:07That night he told me everything.
12:09Kaylin and the dragon king were not full brothers.
12:12Kaylin had been born to the true dragon queen.
12:14The dragon king was the son of a lesser consort.
12:17A concubine elevated to queen
12:19only after the true queen died in childbirth.
12:22By rights,
12:23Kaylin should have inherited.
12:24But he had no mother to protect him.
12:25And the new queen had no interest in his survival.
12:28So he did the only thing that kept him alive.
12:30He destroyed his own face.
12:31There was an old rule in the dragon court.
12:33Unwritten but absolute.
12:35The king must be unblemished.
12:36A scarred face was a sign of heaven's disfavor.
12:39It disqualified.
12:40That was why the dragon king obsessed
12:41over the appearance of his grandchildren.
12:43That was why he had demanded I carry Kaylin's child.
12:46And why he wanted that child as a ritual catalyst.
12:48Pure blood.
12:49Bound to the rightful bloodline he had stolen.
12:51No wonder Kaylin wore the mask.
12:53No wonder he hadn't touched me.
12:54He had been trying to make sure I never became pregnant at all.
12:57And now I am.
12:58I looked at him.
12:59Are we giving this child up?
13:00Kaylin gripped my shoulders.
13:01Lyra.
13:03This child chose us.
13:05I'm not letting go.
13:07Not of either of you.
13:08I'm done retreating.
13:11We decided immediately to conceal the pregnancy with glamour until we had a plan.
13:15The physical signs I could mask.
13:17The body's reactions I could not.
13:19At the dragon king's feast, I vomited in front of everyone.
13:22Sarah was at my side in an instant, rubbing my back, radiating delight.
13:26Lyra?
13:28You're not pregnant, are you?
13:29What wonderful news that would be.
13:31The dragon king's eyes lit up before I could speak.
13:34The royal physician was summoned at a near run, his fingers on my wrist before he'd fully
13:38stopped moving.
13:39I kept my expression neutral and thought, this is over.
13:42Kaylin was at the eastern sea, reaching out to his mother's people.
13:45I was alone.
13:47The physician looked up from my pulse with great solemnity.
13:50My lady is not with child.
13:52A digestive concern, I believe.
13:54Nothing more.
13:55He caught my eye.
13:56He was winking at me.
13:57I understood instantly.
13:58I arranged my expression into embarrassment.
14:01I did eat rather a lot of roasted chicken last night.
14:04Five, I think.
14:05The hall went silent.
14:07The dragon king dismissed me with barely concealed irritation.
14:10On the way back, I crossed paths with a physician, who had caught the king's displeasure
14:14as a side effect of his performance.
14:16He told me he was making amends.
14:18I could not save the queen.
14:19Let this be what I owe, Lord Kaylin.
14:21The true dragon queen had been killed by the dragon king's household too.
14:24I couldn't let myself think about what would happen to my child if we failed.
14:27I sent a sealed letter to my mother that same day, requesting the complete glamour grimoire.
14:32As the Fox Clan's legitimate princess, I had the right to inherit it.
14:36As a reckless child, I had only learned a fraction of it.
14:38Learned it fully, and I could deceive anyone.
14:41My mother sent it within days.
14:42The weeks that followed, drilling the grimoire by day, managing Sarah and Aldrick's attempts
14:47to catch me out by night.
14:48Sarah appeared at my door daily.
14:50She was certain I was pregnant.
14:51Confirmation would earn her favor with both Aldrick and the dragon king.
14:54My glamour held.
14:56Then Sarah arrived with a small, ornate box.
14:58Your clan's Radiance Elixir arrived.
15:00I brought it over for you.
15:02The Radiance Elixir was a staple among Foxwomen.
15:04Most took several times a month.
15:05It preserved beauty and complexion.
15:07It also contained one ingredient that harmed unborn children.
15:10Every pregnant Foxwoman stopped taking it immediately.
15:13Sarah knew this.
15:14I didn't reach for the box.
15:15You've looked exhausted lately.
15:17Has the Elixir stopped agreeing with you?
15:19She tried to watch me take one on the spot.
15:21I showed her the door.
15:22My refusal, of course, looked exactly like guilt.
15:25Within the hour, she was back.
15:26With Aldrick, the dragon king, and a clan priestess, Sarah pointed at me.
15:30The Fox clan has a glamour craft that can conceal the truth.
15:35I believe Lyra is using it right now to hide her pregnancy.
15:38The dragon king's scepter tapped the floor.
15:41His eyes settled on me.
15:43Is that so?
15:44I burst into tears and said I had no idea what she was talking about.
15:47Sarah's patience snapped.
15:49Stop performing.
15:51I've brought someone who can see through you.
15:53The priestess stepped forward.
15:54I recognized her the moment she entered.
15:56Sarah had gone all the way back to the Fox clan and brought Nora, the most powerful ritual
16:00practitioner our people had.
16:01Nora raised her staff toward my face.
16:04My lady, forgive the intrusion.
16:06She was talented, genuinely.
16:08Her craft swept through the room in broad circles.
16:11What Sarah had apparently forgotten, the most talented practitioner in the Fox clan was my
16:15mother.
16:15Under my mother's direct instruction, I had reached the highest level of glamour craft.
16:19Nora had not.
16:20She had no chance.
16:21Nora circled me three times, then three more.
16:24Her expression shifted from confidence to confusion.
16:27That's impossible.
16:28She used her last resort.
16:30Sacred flame bloomed in her palm.
16:32Pure foxfire.
16:33The kind that burned through all illusion.
16:35Using it costs enormous reserves.
16:37Whatever Sarah had promised her, it had been worth it to Nora.
16:40Nora stood holding the sacred flame.
16:42I quietly brought out my reflecting talisman.
16:45Her expression troubled.
16:46Your majesty, I find nothing irregular about Lady Lyra.
16:50It's possible she has reached the highest level of glamour craft.
16:54That is beyond my ability to penetrate.
16:56The dragon king's gaze moved me.
16:58His frown eased into something calculating.
17:01I underestimated Kaelin.
17:02Something in his tone made my skin tighten.
17:05Before I could respond, his hand moved.
17:07Everything went dark.
17:08I woke in a quiet wing of the palace I didn't recognize.
17:11The dragon king sat above me, studying my stomach with calm, unhurried interest.
17:15Awake?
17:15I have to say, you and Kaelin managed to hide it longer than I expected.
17:18I pulled my hands over my belly instinctively.
17:20No point in performing anymore.
17:21Is this what we're calling it?
17:22Imprisonment?
17:23He smiled the way people smile when they want you to feel stupid for asking.
17:26Imprisonment?
17:26I'm concerned for Kaelin's child, that's all.
17:28He's away.
17:29Someone should look after things.
17:30When he returns, you'll all be together again.
17:31He knew.
17:32He knew Kaelin had gone to the Eastern Sea to call in forces.
17:35I had to do something.
17:37After he left, I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
17:40The chamber was sealed tight, warding circles on every surface.
17:43My glamour was useless here.
17:45Nothing living could pass in or out.
17:47Then, the next morning, two servants whispered outside my door and forgot how thin walls were.
17:52Lord Aldric is taking a new consort.
17:54Already?
17:55His last one just gave birth.
17:56And didn't she do something for the king?
17:58Doesn't matter anymore.
17:59She's been sent back to the Fox Clan.
18:02Terrible, really.
18:05The child went with her, they say.
18:07Sarah had been sent away.
18:09No.
18:10Aldric didn't send people away.
18:11That wasn't how he operated.
18:13I reached into the lining of my robe and found the feather whistle.
18:16My father had pressed one into each of our hands the day we left home.
18:19One for me, one for Sarah.
18:21So we could always find each other.
18:23I had never expected to need it.
18:24Through the whistle, I learned the truth.
18:26Sarah had been handed to the Phoenix Lord.
18:29Exactly as I had been in my first life.
18:31Her child was missing.
18:32Hearing my voice through the whistle, Sarah finally understood why I had tried to stop her from taking Aldric's hand
18:38that day.
18:38She was frantic.
18:39She begged me to save her.
18:41Save her child!
18:42I told her I couldn't do it alone.
18:44We had to work together.
18:45She went quiet.
18:46I started thinking of other ways to reach Kaelin.
18:48Then her voice came back through the whistle.
18:50Steady this time.
18:51She would help me.
18:52She would get a message out.
18:54Something had changed.
18:55She had found her child's body the night before.
18:57The one-clawed serpent had been too low-ranked for a blood catalyst.
19:00So they used it for something worse.
19:02A test subject.
19:03The body was covered in bruising.
19:05Dark purple from end to end.
19:06Sarah had looked at it.
19:07And something in her simply stopped functioning the way it used to.
19:10She would get my message to Kaelin.
19:12And after that, she wanted Aldric.
19:14We made our plan quickly.
19:15My part was simple.
19:16Wait.
19:16Kaelin came back faster than I thought he would.
19:19Lyra.
19:20It's me.
19:21He was suddenly there, his hand around my wrist.
19:23No time.
19:24We're leaving.
19:24Then the Dragon King materialized in the doorway like smoke given form.
19:28Kaelin.
19:28You return and don't come to greet your brother first?
19:31Kaelin put himself between me and the door.
19:33I reached past his arm and took his hand.
19:35I wanted him to know I wasn't standing behind him.
19:37I was standing with him.
19:38The Dragon King looked at our joined hands and something crossed his face I hadn't expected.
19:42Something that looked almost like grief.
19:44Kaelin, why has fortune always favored you?
19:47Your father's regard, your mother's love, that face.
19:50And now a wife who would walk into ruin beside you.
19:53His voice went flat.
19:54I refuse to accept it.
19:56He looked at me.
19:58Leave him.
19:59I'll see you safely delivered.
20:01Name you a lady of the court.
20:03Comfort for the rest of your life.
20:04What do you say?
20:06I almost laughed.
20:08Aldric had been disgusting.
20:10This old man was somehow worse.
20:11I looked at the lines of his face.
20:15Why would I leave him for someone who looks like you?
20:18The Dragon King's vanity was his deepest wound.
20:21In truth, he wasn't ugly.
20:22No man ruled the dragon court on an ugly face.
20:25But next to Kaelin, he had always known the difference.
20:27My words landed exactly where I meant them to.
20:30You've chosen the hard way.
20:32He gave the order.
20:34Armed guards poured in from every entrance.
20:37Take them both.
20:38Let's see how defiant they are after.
20:40What he didn't know.
20:41The soul-binding relic from the Eastern Sea was already pressed against his spine.
20:45Before his guards could reach us, Kaelin's forces had taken every one of them.
20:48The Elder Council entered from the outer hall and knelt.
20:51We welcome the return of our true king.
20:53The Dragon King stood very still.
20:55Then he shouted.
20:56Have you all lost your minds?
20:57I am king!
20:59This is treason!
21:00These elders had served the court before the Dragon Nord's time.
21:04They had always belonged to Kaelin's cause.
21:06They had simply been afraid for too long.
21:08The Dragon Nord had made too many enemies, pushed too many allies toward resentment.
21:13When Kaelin came to them, they did not hesitate.
21:16The Dragon King was forced to his knees.
21:17He kept his chin up.
21:19You're all blind!
21:20His face is damaged!
21:22A scarred king is no king at all!
21:23Release me or I'll have every one of you destroyed!
21:25I looked at him for a moment.
21:27Then I reached up and removed Kaelin's mask myself.
21:29The scar was gone.
21:31His face was unmarked.
21:32Clean.
21:33Because Fox Clan women knew, above everything else, how to heal what had been broken.
21:37From the night Kaelin showed me the scar, I had been treating it.
21:40The mask continued after the healing for one reason only.
21:42To let the Dragon King believe nothing had changed, right up until everything had.
21:46I looked at the Dragon King.
21:48I should have mentioned.
21:49The Fox Clan's greatest gift isn't glamour.
21:52I let him work out the rest.
21:57Facing the United Elder Council, Kaelin's forces, and a husband whose disqualifying flaw no longer existed,
22:03the Dragon King did the only thing left to him.
22:05He picked up the crystal seppler and drove it into his own throat.
22:08Blood crossed the throne room floor.
22:10Aldric collapsed.
22:11He scrambled to his knees and begged.
22:12Loudly.
22:13Repeatedly.
22:14Technically, his fate was mine to decide.
22:15But Cira's price for helping me had been simple and non-negotiable.
22:18She wanted Aldric.
22:19A deal was a deal.
22:20I glanced at him on the floor and patted Cira's shoulder.
22:22Don't disappoint me.
22:23Don't disappoint me.
22:26Sarah looked at Aldric with the expression of someone who had thought about this moment for a very long time.
22:30I won't.
22:31I'll make sure he can't die and can't bear to live.
22:34She meant it.
22:35She kept it.
22:36The day she took him back, she had his bloodline formally tested.
22:39The results, which the Dragon King had been falsifying for years, showed Aldric at the lowest rank the Dragon Court
22:44recognized,
22:45barely above the one-clawed serpent he had fathered.
22:47Without Sarah's own strong bloodline, even that much wouldn't have been possible.
22:50She made the results public.
22:53Every accusation Aldric had leveled at her inverted in a single afternoon.
22:56When Aldric saw the numbers, something in him broke.
22:59He kept saying it.
23:01He'd been reborn.
23:01This wasn't supposed to happen.
23:03He wanted to die.
23:04He didn't get to.
23:06Sarah had him placed with the lowest-ranked clan in the territory, assigned as an alchemical thrall.
23:10He woke up to it every day.
23:11I spent my pregnancy eating well and watching events unfold from a comfortable distance.
23:16Perhaps it was contentment.
23:18Perhaps it was Kaylin.
23:20Perhaps it was simply this life being different from the last.
23:23When my time came, I delivered nine dragons young.
23:25Every one of them carried something from my first nine children.
23:28A feature, a quality, something I recognized.
23:31But this time those things fit.
23:33What had seemed strange before was beautiful now.
23:36Each one entirely, completely themselves.
23:39Ugly or lovely, it would not have mattered.
23:43Kaylin and I had already decided we would love them exactly as they came.
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