- 17 hours ago
The Halfblood They Trew Away
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00:04Celeste, my Celeste.
00:12The person you married is me, Victor.
00:30No blood, no marks.
00:39This letter... I've actually been reworn.
00:43In my past life, I knelt here begging for a chance till I passed out.
00:50Now I see the truth. The Bloodstone family never cared for me.
00:54I'll never drain myself for people who have no mercy for me.
00:58Their fake compassion is useless against me now.
01:03This time, I won't waste myself on people who never cared for me.
01:20Last time, I waited for someone to look at me.
01:23But this time, I won't be able to do it.
01:28In their eyes, I have always been nothing but an unwanted intruder.
01:33I spare them not a single glance.
01:36Aren't you going to sit down?
01:39I'm not hungry.
01:41I came to let you know I've been accepted into Iron Vale Academy.
01:44I leave in three days.
01:45Iron Vale Academy sat deep in Lycan territory, designed to forge warriors out of wolves.
01:54Absolutely not.
01:56No daughter of the Ashford bloodline will set foot in a wolf nest!
02:05You've spent five years reminding me that my wolf blood is a stain on the Ashworth name.
02:10Now you're upset I'm taking that stain somewhere it belongs.
02:13Sarah, you don't have to do this.
02:15I know the Coven Academy rejected your application.
02:19But Iron Wheel?
02:20You'll be torn apart.
02:22Wolves hate vampires even more than my own family does.
02:26In my last life, Celeste's fake kindness was the leash she used to drag me into every humiliation she would
02:32push.
02:33I would snap and suddenly I was the unstable half-blood while she played the saint.
02:38My decision is final.
02:40I don't need your permission or your money.
02:44Let her go.
02:45She'll come crawling back within a week.
02:49Pure bloods will never welcome a half-wolf like her.
02:54They were wrong in this life.
02:56I will never turn back to beg anyone.
03:05Almost nothing in this house truly belonged to me.
03:10Only this old relic was mine alone when I fled in my youth.
03:19This photo has told the truth since I was little.
03:22I was never anything but an outsider.
03:35I hear you're running off to wolf territory.
03:38Should I be offended that my fiancé is choosing fleas over me?
03:42In my last life, I was utterly devoted to him.
03:45I memorized all his routines, painstakingly learned his favorite blood dishes,
03:50and practiced pure blood etiquette day and night.
03:53On our wedding night, as he held me in his arms, he whispered Celeste's name instead of mine,
03:58then drained my blood until my heart stopped beating.
04:02Victor, let's end the engagement.
04:06Excuse me?
04:07The engagement. I want to dissolve it.
04:10You? You want to end it?
04:12You literally begged your father to keep this engagement when he suggested transferring it to Celeste.
04:17In my last life, father had tried to swap me for Celeste as Victor's fianchi.
04:22I had fought it tooth and nail, sobbing, pleading, humiliating myself.
04:26Because I had mistaken obsession for love.
04:29Because I believed earning enough affection would eventually make someone love me back.
04:33I've changed my mind. You should be relieved.
04:36You always hated being tied to a half-blood. Now you're free.
04:42You don't get to decide that. The engagement is a contract between our families. You can't just...
04:50I already spoke to my father. He'll agree he's wanted this for years.
04:57You'll regret this.
04:59Never.
05:08Nothing had changed for my previous life. Everything.
05:15Will there be an ascension ball for me too?
05:20Don't embarrass yourself. Half-bloods don't ascend.
05:23Be grateful we even let you attend.
05:27Don't worry sis. You can help me get ready. It'll be almost like it's your celebration too.
05:43Why not me?
05:47Sarah?
05:49You're really leaving today?
05:52It's your sister's ball today. Do you really have to ruin it for everyone?
05:58My shuttle leaves in two hours.
06:03The Northern Territories are dangerous for vampires.
06:06The wolves won't welcome someone with our blood.
06:09I'm only half vampire, remember?
06:12Maybe the wolf half will keep me alive.
06:14Don't confuse mixed blood with belonging.
06:16Neither side will ever claim you.
06:19Mom! I can't find the ruby earrings!
06:28If you insist on leaving, don't come crawling back when they reject you.
06:36No one had arranged a car for me.
06:39I hadn't expected them to.
06:56Is this Serafina Ashworth?
06:59Yes.
07:00This is the Office of Admissions at Iron Wheel Academy.
07:03We're calling to confirm your enrollment.
07:06But you'll be the first vampire-blooded student in Ironweed's history.
07:11Your evaluation will be conducted personally.
07:15By whom?
07:17By the Lyland King himself.
07:26The Lycan King Kael Voss.
07:28Commander of the Northern Territories.
07:31I had never left the Bloodstone Coven.
07:34Never ventured beyond vampire territory.
07:36I had lived and died within the gilded cage my family builds around me.
07:41But even inside that cage, I had heard the stories.
07:44They said he was the youngest Alpha King in three centuries.
07:47They said he had united the Warring Wolf Pacts by the time he was 22.
07:52Not through diplomacy.
07:53But through sheer, terrifying dominance.
07:57So why would he personally evaluate a Half-Blood?
08:00Nobody from the Bloodstone Coven.
08:09You're the Half-Blood?
08:11Serafina Ashworth.
08:14Didn't ask your name.
08:16And don't try anything.
08:17I can smell the dead blood in your veins.
08:20Charming.
08:21I didn't mind.
08:40I had survived ten years as the Family Disgrace.
08:41A Half-Blood, I heard.
08:42The Father's a Vampire Lord.
08:44She won't last a week.
08:45Why would the King allow this?
08:47I had survived ten years as the Family Disgrace.
08:51A few years ago, I had survived ten years as the Family Disgrace.
08:52A few wolf whispers were not going to break me.
09:03Enter.
09:11KL Voss was not what I expected.
09:14He was terrifyingly beautiful.
09:23Out.
09:25Everyone out. Now!
09:34What's your name?
09:36Serafina Ashworth.
09:38Do you know what you are?
09:40A Half-Blood.
09:41Vampire Father, Wolf Mother, it's in my file.
09:47No.
09:48You're my mate.
09:54The word hit me like a thunderclap.
09:57Mate.
09:57In the vampire world, we had bonding contracts.
10:01Cold, transactional negotiated between families over blood wine.
10:05The concept of a fated mate was purely a wolf thing.
10:08A once-in-a-lifetime soul bond that even the strongest alpha couldn't resist.
10:12And this man, the Lycan King, the most powerful wolf alive, was claiming I was his.
10:18I said.
10:18That's impossible.
10:19My voice came out steadier than I felt.
10:22I'm half-vampire.
10:24Vampires don't have fated mates.
10:26But wolves do.
10:28His hands were clenched at his sides.
10:30The tendons in his neck stood out like cords.
10:33I took a step back.
10:34Not out of fear.
10:35Out of fel preservation.
10:37I had spent one lifetime giving my heart to a man who didn't want it.
10:41I wasn't about to hand it to another just because fate said so.
10:44I didn't come here to be anyone's mate.
10:47I came to train as a combat healer and earn my place in your territory on my own terms.
10:52Something shifted in his expression.
10:55The wild intensity didn't fade, but a flicker of respect joined it.
10:59He said.
11:00I'm not asking you to be anything.
11:01His voice low and controlled now.
11:03I'm telling you what you are to me.
11:06What you do with that information is your choice.
11:08I stared at him.
11:10In two lifetimes, no man had ever given me a choice.
11:14Victor had treated me like a burden.
11:16Matthew, the ghost of a life I hadn't lived but somehow remembered in fragments, had treated me like a debt
11:22he owed.
11:23Neither of them had ever looked at me and said,
11:25Your choice.
11:26Then I choose to ignore it.
11:28I said.
11:29For now.
11:30A muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth.
11:33Not a smile, but close.
11:35He stepped back and the suffocating pressure in the room eased.
11:38He returned to his desk, picked up a file.
11:41My file.
11:42And flipped it open.
11:44Your combat scores from the entrance exam are above average.
11:48Your healing aptitude is exceptional.
11:50But your physical endurance is ranked last among all incoming cadets.
11:54I'm aware.
11:56The wolves here won't go easy on you because you're a half-blood.
12:01In fact, they'll be harder on you.
12:04I'm aware of that too.
12:07He studied me for a long moment.
12:09Then closed the fight.
12:12Lieutenant Marin will be your direct supervisor.
12:15Training starts at dawn.
12:16Don't be late.
12:17I nodded and turned to leave.
12:20Seraphina.
12:21I stopped, hand on the door.
12:24Whatever happened to you before you came here?
12:26Whatever made you look at a faded bond like it's a trap?
12:29I won't ask.
12:31But I want you to know something.
12:33I glanced back.
12:34His gray eyes held mine with a steadiness that felt almost unbearable.
12:38In my territory.
12:40No one will make you feel like you don't belong.
12:43Not while I'm breathing.
12:44I left his office before he could see how badly those words shook me.
12:49I made it halfway down the corridor before I had to stop.
12:52Press my back against the cold stone wall and close my eyes.
12:56No one had ever promised me belonging.
12:58Not my parents.
12:59Not Victor.
13:00Not anyone.
13:01Not anyone.
13:01And here was a stranger.
13:03A wolf king who should have despised my vampire blood.
13:06Offering it like it was the simplest thing in the world.
13:09I pressed my palm over my chest where something warm and terrifying had begun to pulse.
13:14Don't.
13:14I told myself.
13:16Don't you dare hope.
13:17Hope was the cruelest thing anyone had ever taught me to feel.
13:24Training at Iron Vale was exactly as brutal as promised.
13:28Every morning began at dawn with a five mile run through mountain terrain.
13:32Then two hours of combat drills followed by field medical training then sparring.
13:37The wolf cadets were faster, stronger and had heightened senses that made my vampire reflexes look sluggish in comparison.
13:44My wolf blood gave me better endurance than a pure blood vampire.
13:48But among actual wolves I was the weakest in the past.
13:51And they made sure I knew it.
13:52Careful half blood.
13:54Don't break a fang.
13:55Does she even shift?
13:56Or is she just a walking blood bag?
13:58I heard the king let her in as a political stunt.
14:01There's no way she passed the entrance exam for real.
14:04I ignored all of it.
14:05I had survived worse.
14:07Ten years as the Ashworth family's dirty secret had taught me that words only had power if you let them
14:12in.
14:12What I couldn't ignore was the physical gap.
14:15During my first sparring match a wolf cadet named Ren, built like a small mountain, slammed me to the ground
14:20in under three seconds.
14:21He didn't even use his full strength.
14:25Stay down, Leech.
14:26This isn't a place for your kind.
14:28I got up wiped the blood from my split lip and walked back to the starting line.
14:33He put me down again and again and again.
14:35By the fifth time my vision was blurring and my ribs screamed with every breath.
14:40But I stood up.
14:41Ren hesitated for the first time something other than contempt crossed his face.
14:46You're either brave or stupid.
14:48Probably both.
14:50Again.
14:51A low murmur rippled through the watching cadets.
14:53Even Marin, who had been observing from the sideline with her usual stone-faced expression, gave an almost imperceptible nod.
14:58I lost every single match that first week.
15:01But I never stayed down.
15:05The combat healer training, however, was where I thrived.
15:08Wolves healed fast on their own, but battlefield injuries, silver poisoning cursed wounds, severed bonds required specialized treatment that raw
15:17regeneration couldn't fix.
15:18That was where combat healers came in.
15:21My vampire blood, it turned out, gave me an unexpected advantage.
15:24Vampires had a natural sensitivity to blood composition we could detect infections, toxins, and irregularities by scent alone.
15:32Combined with wolf healing techniques, I could diagnose faster and more accurately than any of my peers.
15:38My instructor, a grizzled old healer named Dr. Voss, no relation to the king, he insisted gruffly noticed immediately.
15:45Your blood work analysis is the best I've seen in 20 years.
15:50Who taught you?
15:51No one. I taught myself.
15:53In my previous life, I had spent years learning vampire blood cuisine, studying the properties of different blood types to
16:00please Victor.
16:00That knowledge meant to serve a man who never cared now had a purpose that was entirely my own.
16:06Dr. Voss stared at me, then grunted.
16:08Don't let it go to your head. You still can't bandage worth a damn.
16:12I practiced bandaging until my fingers bled. Then I practiced some more.
16:17Three weeks in Marin pulled me aside after drills.
16:19The king requested your progress report.
16:22My stomach tightened. Since that first meeting, I had barely seen Kale.
16:26Occasionally, I caught a glimpse of him crossing the training grounds or standing on the command building's balcony.
16:32Every time his eyes found me with an unsettling precision, as if he always knew exactly where I was.
16:38But he never approached. He never interfered. He had given me space, just as I had asked.
16:44Tell him the truth. Last in combat. First in field medicine.
16:48Marin's lips twitched the closest thing to a smile it ever seen from her.
16:52He already knows. He reads every daily report himself.
16:56She paused, then added,
16:58He's never done that for another cadet.
17:01Before I could respond, a commotion erupted near the academy gates.
17:04Raised voices the screech of an expensive car breaking too hard on gravel.
17:09A sleek black vehicle unmistakably vampire-made sat at the entrance completely out of place against Iron Vale's rugged stone.
17:16And stepping out of it in a white fur coat and blood-red heels was Celeste.
17:24She looked exactly like she always did Immaculate Radiant, every strand of golden hair catching the light as if the
17:30sun existed solely to flatter her.
17:32Behind her, Victor emerged from the driver's side.
17:35He wore a tailored black coat his expression carved from ice, but his crimson eyes swept the compound with barely
17:41concealed disdain.
17:42The wolf cadets nearest the gate bristled immediately.
17:44The scent of pure-blood vampire was unmistakable, and in Lycan territory it was the smell of an enemy.
17:51Stand down.
17:52Maren barked at the cadets before turning to the visitors with cold professionalism.
17:56This is a military academy, not a tourist destination. State your business.
18:01Celeste ignored her entirely.
18:02Her eyes found me across the training yard, and she broke into that devastating smile, the one that looked like
18:08warmth but cut like glass.
18:09Sarah! Oh my god! Look at you!
18:12She rushed toward me, arms outstretched her heels, sinking into the dirt with every step.
18:17You're so thin, and your face is that a bruise. What have they done to you?
18:22She reached for my cheek, I stepped back.
18:24What are you doing here, Celeste?
18:25What do you think? We came to bring you home.
18:29She clasped her hands together, eyes glistening with perfectly calibrated tears.
18:33Mom's been crying every day since you left. Dad hasn't slept. We were all so worried.
18:38In my last life, I would have melted. I would have believed every word packed my bag, and followed her
18:43home like the obedient love-starved fool I was.
18:46Now I just felt tired.
18:48I'm not going back.
18:49Sarah, please. You don't belong here.
18:52Look at this place.
18:54She gestured around at the stone walls, the muddy training yard, the wolves watching us with open hostility.
18:59You re a vampire. I'm half-wolf.
19:02I corrected.
19:02And I belong wherever I choose to be.
19:05Victor stepped forward his presence, sending a wave of unease through the nearby cadets.
19:11Serafina, this is absurd. You've made your point.
19:14What-
19:18You broke off our engagement, abandoned your family in a wolf military school. If that's not a tantrum, what is
19:23it?
19:24I looked at him, really looked at him, and felt nothing. No anger, no longing, not even hatred. Just the
19:30hollow echo of a love that had never been real.
19:32It's a decision, Victor. My first real one. And I'm not changing it.
19:37Celeste's mask slipped just for a second. Beneath the concern I saw what was really their irritation. She hadn't expected
19:44resistance. In her world, I was the sister who always yielded, always crumbled, always came back begging.
19:50She recovered quickly, her eyes filling with fresh tears.
19:53Is this because of me? Because of the Ascension Ball? I never meant to make you feel excluded. If I'd
19:59known you were this upset.
20:00This isn't about you, Celeste.
20:02The words landed like a slap. Her mouth opened, then closed. Behind me, I heard heavy boots on stone. The
20:08cadets who had been watching suddenly straightened their casual postures, snapping to rigid attention. I didn't need to turn around
20:15to know who was there.
20:18The shift in the air told me everything the way the temperature seemed to drop, and the pressure increased as
20:24if gravity itself bent toward him.
20:26Is there a problem?
20:27Kale's voice was calm, but underneath it thrummed something dangerous. Celeste's eyes went wide. She stared up at him, and
20:34for the first time in my memory, my sister looked genuinely intimidated. Victor, to his credit, held his ground.
20:40King Vos, we're here on family business. My fiancery.
20:44Former fiancery, I said.
20:46Seems to have made some impulsive decisions, and we've come.
20:50She made a decision.
20:51Kale cut him off, not harshly, almost conversationally. But the authority in his tone left no room for argument.
20:57She enrolled in my academy through proper channels. She passed the entrance evaluation.
21:02She's a cadet under my command. He paused, and those gray eyes settled on Victor with the quiet patience of
21:09a predator who had already decided how this would end.
21:12Unless you're Ake suggesting Im holding her against her will.
21:15Victor's jaw clenched. Even he wasn't foolish enough to challenge the Lycan king on his own territory.
21:21Celeste tugged Victor's arm, her voice dropping to a whisper. I could still hear with my heightened senses.
21:27Let's go. We'll figure out another way.
21:30She shot me one last look, not sad, not worried, calculating. Then they left the black car disappear down the
21:36mountain road, and the tension drained from the yard like a receding tide.
21:40Kale stood beside me watching the car vanish.
21:43Your sister?
21:44Unfortunately.
21:45And the male?
21:45No one.
21:46And I said,
21:47Not anymore.
21:48He was quiet for a moment.
21:50You handle that well.
21:51Ivy've had practice.
21:52He glanced down at me, and something almost gentle softened the hard line of his jaw.
21:58Get back to training.
21:59Maren says your left guard is still weak.
22:01I nodded and turned to go.
22:03Serafina.
22:04I stopped.
22:04If they come back, you don't have to face them alone.
22:08My throat tightened.
22:08I managed a nod before walking back to the training yard, his words settling into my chest like an ember
22:14that refused to go out.
22:19After Celeste's visit, something changed among the cadets.
22:22Not dramatically, not overnight, but the whispers shifted.
22:26Before, they called me the half-blood, or the leech.
22:30Now, some of them used my actual name.
22:32A few even nodded when I passed, which in wolf culture was practically a standing ovation.
22:37Wren, the mountain-sized wolf who had flattened me on my first day, started pulling his hits during sparring.
22:43When I called him out on it, he had the decency to look embarrassed.
22:46You took five consecutive takedowns without quitting on day one.
22:51And you told two purebloods to go to hell in front of the king.
22:55He shrugged his massive shoulders.
22:57I still think you're weird, but you've got spine.
23:02How touching.
23:03Now hit me properly.
23:05He grinned, a real one, and swept my legs out from under me so fast I saw stars.
23:10Progress.
23:11By the end of my first semester, I had climbed from dead last to middle ranked in combat,
23:16and I held the top position in field medicine by a significant margin.
23:20Dr. Voss began including me in actual medical calls.
23:23When border skirmishes flared, rogue wolves testing the Northern Territory's defenses,
23:28I went with the response teams to treat the wounded.
23:30The work was grueling.
23:32Blood, pain, warriors screaming as I pulled silver shrapnel from their flesh.
23:36But it was real, and it was mine.
23:38One night, after a particularly brutal skirmish near the eastern border,
23:42I was stitching up a young wolf's shoulder when my phone buzzed.
23:46Mother.
23:49I stared at the screen, hands still bloody, and let it ring.
23:53It rang again and again.
23:55On the fourth call, guilt, that old familiar parasite, made me answer.
23:59Sarah.
24:00Her voice was smaller than I'd ever heard it.
24:03I wasn't sure you'd pick up.
24:05I'm busy.
24:07What is it?
24:08Your father had a blood fasting episode.
24:11He collapsed during a council meeting.
24:13My hands stilled mid-stitch.
24:15Blood fasting episodes were serious for older vampires.
24:19It meant his body was rejecting sustenance, usually triggered by extreme stress or guilt.
24:24Is he in the medical ward?
24:25Yes.
24:26The healers say he'll recover, but…
24:29She hesitated.
24:30He keeps asking for you.
24:32The young wolf beneath my hands whimpered.
24:34I finished the stitch with steady fingers, even as something cracked inside my chest.
24:39He didn't ask for me once in five years.
24:43And now that he's sick, he suddenly remembers he has another daughter?
24:47Silence.
24:49Sarah.
24:50That's not fair.
24:53We…
24:53Not fair.
24:54I laughed softly.
24:55The wolf on the table flinched at the sound.
24:57Do you know what's not fair?
24:59Being twelve years old and waking up in a rogue wolf den, miles from home with no one
25:04coming to find you, that's not fair.
25:07We searched for you.
25:09For three years!
25:11And then you stopped.
25:12You stopped searching, stopped hoping, and poured everything into Celeste.
25:20Don't pretend that didn't happen.
25:22Her breathing was ragged.
25:24When she spoke again, her voice cracked.
25:27You're right.
25:28We failed you.
25:30I failed you.
25:31I can't undo that.
25:33But your father is ill, and whether you believe it or not, part of the reason is that he can't
25:38live with what he did to you.
25:40I closed my eyes.
25:41The old me, the Sarah from my first life would have been on the next flight home, would
25:46have sat by his bedside, held his hand, and forgiven everything just for a single moment
25:51of being wanted.
25:52But I had already lived that version.
25:54And it ended with me dead on my wedding night, drained by a man who never loved me, mourned
25:59by no one.
26:01Tell him I hope he recovers.
26:03I said quietly.
26:05But I'm not coming home.
26:06I hung up before she could respond.
26:09The young wolf on the table looked up at me with wide, confused eyes.
26:12You okay, healer?
26:13I gave him a small, practiced smile.
26:17I'm fine.
26:18Hold still.
26:19Two more stitches.
26:25That night, I sat alone on the academy's eastern wall, legs dangling over a hundred-foot
26:30drop, staring at the moon.
26:32I didn't hear Kale approach.
26:34For a man his size, he moved like smoke.
26:37You missed the evening meal.
26:38No.
26:38He said, settling beside me on the wall as casually as if we were sitting on a park bench,
26:43and not a cliff's edge.
26:45Not hungry.
26:46Maren said you received a call from the Bloodstone Coven.
26:49Maren talks too much.
26:50A beat of silence.
26:52Then…
26:52My father died when I was sixteen.
26:55Killed by a rival pact during the border wars.
26:57I didn't speak to anyone for six months after.
27:00I looked at him, surprised.
27:02He wasn't looking at me.
27:04His eyes were fixed on the horizon, and the moonlight carved his profile in silver.
27:09The point isn't that I understand your pain.
27:11I don't.
27:12Your story is yours.
27:14He paused.
27:15The point is that you're allowed to feel it.
27:18You don't have to sit up here pretending you're fine.
27:21My vision blurred.
27:22I blinked hard, but a single tear escaped anyway, tracing a hot path down my cold cheek.
27:27He didn't wipe it away.
27:28He didn't reach for me or offer empty comfort.
27:31He simply sat there, solid and warm, close enough that I could feel his presence like a wall between me
27:37and the dark.
27:38We stayed like that until the moon climbed high and the cold drove us both inside.
27:43At the door to my quarters, he paused.
27:45Good night, Serafina.
27:47Good night, your majesty.
27:49The faintest ghost of a smile.
27:51Kale.
27:51Just Kale.
27:52He walked away, and I stood in the doorway long after he'd gone, pressing my hand to my chest where
27:57that stubborn ember still burned.
28:03By my second year, I was no longer the weakest link.
28:07The combat training had reshaped me.
28:09I was faster, leaner, and my vampire senses had sharpened in ways I hadn't thought possible.
28:14Living among wolves had awakened the dormant half of my blood, and for the first time, both sides of me
28:19worked in harmony.
28:20Dr. Voss officially recommended me for the Fang and Claw Unit, Kale's elite rapid response team.
28:26It was the Northern Territory's most dangerous assignment and its highest honor.
28:30You've earned it.
28:31Dr. Voss said gruffly, shoving the recommendation letter into my hands.
28:35Don't make me regret it.
28:37Maren, who would be my direct commander in the unit, looked me over with her usual severity.
28:42You'll be deployed to active conflict zones. The survival rate for first your field healers is 60%. Still one in?
28:51Yes.
28:52Good. Report to the Fang and Claw Barracks at 10-5 and tomorrow. The King will brief you personally.
29:00My pulse spiked at that, and I hated myself for it.
29:03Over the past year, Kale and I had developed something I didn't have a name for, not a relationship.
29:08He had kept his word and never once pressured me about the mate bond, but something, a gravity between us
29:14that I felt every time he walked into a room.
29:16He attended my field assessments, he reviewed my medical reports, and on the rare evenings when I sat on the
29:22eastern wall, he would appear beside me like clockwork, never asking, never pushing, just present.
29:27The other cadets had noticed. Wren teased me mercilessly.
29:31The King doesn't personally review anyone's file, half-blood. He's got commanders for that. You know what it means when
29:39an alpha can't stay away, right?
29:42It means he's thorough.
29:44Wren howled with laughter.
29:46Sure, thorough. That's what we're calling it.
29:49I threw a bandage roll at his head. But privately, in the quiet of my room, I couldn't deny what
29:55I felt. Every time Kale was near, the wolf's side of my blood sang. It was a resonance I couldn't
30:00explain, and couldn't silence. And when his eyes found mine across a crowded room, something ancient and certain whispered, his,
30:07his, his.
30:08I was terrified. Not of him. Of myself. Of the part of me that wanted to trust again. To lean
30:14into someone. To believe that this time it wouldn't end with me broken and bleeding on the floor.
30:22The morning I reported to the Fang and Claw barracks, Kale was waiting in the briefing room. Just the two
30:28of us. He stood over a table spread with maps, marking positions with small black stones.
30:33He looked up when I entered, and for a moment, just a moment, his composure cracked. His eyes traced over
30:38me in my new unit uniform, and something raw and hungry flickered in those grey depths before he locked it
30:44down.
30:44Hela Rashworth. Welcome to Fang and Claw.
30:50Thank you, Yor. I caught myself. Thank you, Kale.
30:55That almost smile again. We have a situation at the southern border. A rogue faction has been attacking supply convoys.
31:02I'm leading the response team personally. You'll be our field healer.
31:07Understood. He hesitated. This was new. Kale never hesitated.
31:11The faction is mixed. Wolves and vampires working together. There are reports of a new weapon, some kind of silver
31:18venum hybrid that prevents healing. Wolf or vampire, it shuts down regeneration completely.
31:24My blood went cold. A weapon that stopped both wolf and vampire healing? That was a death sentence for any
31:30soldier hit by it.
31:31I need your expertise. He continued. Your dual blood gives you insight into both physiologies. If anyone can figure out
31:39a countermeasure, it's you.
31:40He wasn't flattering me. He was stating a tactical fact with the same directness he applied to everything. And somehow,
31:47that meant more than any compliment ever could.
31:49I'll figure it out. I said. I know you will. We held each other's gaze for a beat too long.
31:55The air between us thickened, charged with something neither of us acknowledged. Then he cleared his throat and turned back
32:01to the maps.
32:02We deploy at sundown. Get your kit ready.
32:06I was halfway to the door when he spoke again, his voice quieter.
32:12Seraphina, on the field you stay close to me. That's not a request.
32:17My heart hammered.
32:19Is that an order from my king? Or a request from my mate?
32:23The word slipped out before I could stop it. Mate. I had never used it before. Never acknowledged the bond
32:29out loud.
32:30Kale went very still. When he looked at me, the careful control he always maintained was gone.
32:35What I saw underneath was devastating. Longing so fierce it bordered on pain.
32:40Held in check by Iron Will and the promise he'd made to let me choose.
32:43Both.
32:44He said roughly.
32:46It's both.
32:47I nodded, not trusting my voice, and left before I did something irreversible.
32:52Like close the distance between us and never step back.
32:59The southern border mission was worse than the briefing suggested.
33:03We found the first convoy in ruins.
33:06Wagons overturned, supplies scattered, and wolves.
33:10Hardened Northern Territory warriors.
33:12Writhing on the ground, their wounds black and festering.
33:16I dropped to my knees beside the nearest soldier.
33:19The gash across his chest should have been closing already.
33:23Wolf regeneration could seal a wound like this in minutes.
33:26Instead, the flesh around the cut was necrotizing, spreading like ink, water.
33:31I muttered, leaning close to smell the wound.
33:34My vampire senses picked up something else underneath.
33:37Something I recognized.
33:38Silver venum hybrid.
33:40Night blood extract.
33:41A compound found only in the bloodstone coven's restricted laboratories.
33:46My stomach dropped.
33:48Seraphina.
33:50Can you treat them?
33:53The base compound is vampire derived.
33:56Night blood extract.
33:57It's designed to attack wolf regeneration at the cellular level.
34:01But it's been modified.
34:03There's a silver catalyst bonded to it that also neutralizes vampire healing.
34:10A weapon that kills wolves and vampires equally?
34:15Whoever made this wanted to make sure nothing survives it.
34:21Can you counter it?
34:23I think so.
34:25My blood carries both wolf and vampire antibodies.
34:28If I can synthesize a neutralizing agent from my own blood.
34:32Kale's hand shot out.
34:34What are you doing?
34:37Drawing my blood.
34:38I need to test whether my antibodies can break down the compound.
34:42You're gonna use yourself as a test subject.
34:47I'm the only test subject available.
34:50His grip tightened.
34:51Not enough to hurt.
34:52Just enough to tell me he hated this.
34:55There has to be another way.
34:59There isn't.
35:01And your soldiers are dying.
35:03We stared at each other.
35:05The sounds of groaning wolves filled the air around us.
35:08Every second of delay was a second closer to death for each of us.
35:11I all released my wrist.
35:13If anything goes wrong.
35:15Then you'll have a very talented replacement healer in about three years.
35:19I trained cadet Yori myself.
35:21She's almost as good as me.
35:25That's not funny.
35:30It wasn't meant to be.
35:31I drew my blood and applied it to the Mugus soldier's wound.
35:36Nothing happened.
35:38Then the blackened flesh stopped spreading.
35:40The necrosis retreated just a fraction.
35:42And the soldier gasped as his neutral helix began to fight back.
35:46It's working.
35:47I breathed.
35:49Over the next six hours, I treated every wounded soldier in the convoy.
35:53By the end, I had drawn so much of my own blood that my vision kept graying out.
35:57And my hands shook uncontrollably.
36:00Kale stayed beside me the entire time.
36:02He held soldiers down while I worked.
36:04I can walk.
36:05I protested weakly.
36:08You can barely see straight.
36:14So is my patience.
36:16Be quiet.
36:19He carried me to the medical tent and set me down on a cot with a gentleness that contradicted every
36:25hard line of his body.
36:26He pulled a blanket over me.
36:28You saved eleven wolves tonight.
36:30Eleven of my people.
36:34That's my job.
36:36No.
36:37Your job was to provide field support.
36:39What you did was sacrifice yourself for strangers who spent your first month here calling you a leech.
36:44They're not strangers.
36:47They're my unit.
36:48Something broke in his expression.
36:50Just for a second.
36:51A crack in the fortress that let me see what lived underneath.
36:54Not just the king.
36:55Not just the alpha.
36:57But the man.
36:57He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead.
37:00It was brief.
37:01Barely a touch.
37:02But it burned through me like sunlight.
37:05Sleep.
37:06I'll keep watch.
37:10And for the first time in two lifetimes, I closed my eyes and felt safe.
37:17News of what happened at the southern border spread faster than wildfire.
37:21The half-blood combat healer had single-handedly developed a countermeasure to the deadliest weapon the Northern Territory had ever
37:28faced.
37:28Using her own blood, the soldiers I treated told everyone who would listen, and suddenly the girl they called, Leech,
37:34had a new name.
37:35Blood shield?
37:36Blood shield?
37:37I hated it.
37:38But I couldn't deny it opened doors.
37:41The Northern Territory's pack leaders who had initially opposed my presence now requested my expertise.
37:49Medical teams across the territory began implementing my blood-based treatment protocols.
37:54For the first time in my-
37:56I wasn't surviving.
37:57I was thriving.
37:59And then the letter arrived.
38:01It came on thick cream paper, sealed with the Ashworth family crest.
38:06Inside, in father's precise handwriting,
38:11Siracena.
38:12Asterisk at the Coven Council, has been made aware of the weapon used against the Northern Territory's forces.
38:18The night blood extract at its core was stolen from our laboratory six months ago.
38:23We are conducting an internal investigation.
38:26However, the council is concerned about political fallout.
38:29The wolves will want someone to blame, and the Ashworth name is already linked to the compound.
38:34Your mother and I believe it would be best if you returned home.
38:37Your presence in wolf territory makes us vulnerable.
38:40If they discover your connection to the Ashworth family, and, by extension, to the source of the weapon.
38:45Asterisk thyktis come come home, Sarah.
38:48Before this gets worse.
38:50Father.
38:51I read the letter three times.
38:53Then and I folded it carefully and set it on fire.
38:56He wasn't worried, and even now, after everything, I was nothing more than a liability to be managed.
39:04But the letter raised a question I couldn't burn away.
39:09The night blood extract had been stolen from the Ashworth laboratories.
39:13Father.
39:14The head researcher.
39:15And one other person who had recently been granted clearance as part of her advanced studies.
39:21Celeste.
39:22I pushed the thought aside.
39:24Even Celeste, with all her manipulations, wouldn't weaponize a compound that could kill vampires and wolves alike.
39:33Before I could dwell on it further, Maren burst into my quarters.
39:38Full unit assembly. Now. The king has new intelligence on the rogue faction.
39:43In the briefing room, Kyle stood before a wall of maps and intercepted communications. His expression was granite.
39:51We've identified the rogue faction's leader, Alan Underwood.
39:55Former heir of the Grey Wolf Pack.
39:57Exiled five years ago for unauthorized experiments on vampire prisoners.
40:01My blood turned to ice.
40:04Alan Underwood. I knew that name.
40:06In my previous life, I had never encountered him.
40:09But in this life, in the memories that carried over, Celeste had been kidnapped by him when she was three.
40:14I had fought him to get her back.
40:16He had been a cruel, vicious boy even then.
40:20Now, he was leading a rogue army armed with weapons to kill anything that healed.
40:25Underwood has been recruiting disaffected wolves and rogue vampires for years.
40:28His goal is to destabilize both territories and establish his own domain in the borderlands.
40:32The silver venium weapon is just the beginning.
40:34Healer Ashworth, your countermesure is the only defense we have.
40:38I need you to scale up production immediately.
40:42The countermesure requires my blood.
40:45There's a limit to how much I can provide.
40:48Then find another way.
40:49You have the full resources of the Northern Territory at your disposal.
40:54But my mind was already racing, not just about the countermeasure, but about Celeste.
40:59If the Nightblood Extract came from the Ashworth labs and Alan Underwood somehow obtained it, a leak, or worse, a
41:06collaborator.
41:07After the briefing, I called Kai.
41:12I need to tell you something about the weapon's origin.
41:16His eyes sharpened.
41:18Go on.
41:19The base compound, Kim Nightblood Extract Kim, comes from my family's laboratories.
41:24Only three people have access.
41:26My father, the head researcher, and my sister.
41:29The silence that followed was heavy.
41:32You think your sister is involved?
41:36I think someone in my family is.
41:38And I think that's why my father sent me a letter today begging me to come home.
41:42Not because he's worried about me, because he's worried about what I might uncover.
41:46This could get dangerous.
41:49If your family is connected to Underwood.
41:52Then I'm the best person to investigate.
41:55I know the Ashworth laboratories.
41:57I know the security protocols.
41:59And I know my sister.
42:02I don't like it.
42:05You don't have to like it.
42:07You just have to let me do my job.
42:13You know.
42:15Most people don't talk to me like that.
42:21Most people aren't your mate.
42:24Kael's eyes darkened, and the air between us pulled taut.
42:27He took one step closer, then stopped himself with visible effort.
42:32Be careful.
42:34That's an order from your king.
42:40And from my mate?
42:43For one electric second, I thought he would close the distance.
42:47Instead, he exhaled slowly and said, his control wavered.
42:53I returned to the bloodstone coven alone.
42:57Kyle wanted to send a security detail.
42:59I refused.
43:03Wolves in vampire territory would cause a panic, and I needed discretion, not a show of force.
43:09The coven looked exactly the same.
43:12Glittering spires.
43:13Blood-red banners.
43:15The sweet metallic scent of preserved blood hanging in the air.
43:18Walking through the gates felt like stepping backward in time.
43:22Mother was waiting at the estate entrance.
43:24She looked older, thinner.
43:25Her eyes were red-rimmed, and when she saw me, her composure crumbled.
43:30Seraphina?
43:32She reached for me, then stopped, her hands hovering as if she'd forgotten she was allowed to touch me.
43:38You came.
43:40I'm not here for a visit.
43:42I need access to the laboratories.
43:45Your father said you'd skim he's in his study.
43:49He wants to speak with you first.
43:53I don't have time for politics, mother.
43:56Just five minutes.
43:58He's not the same man he was, Sarah.
44:01None of us are.
44:03Against my better judgment, I followed her inside.
44:09Father was in his study, but the man behind the desk was barely recognizable.
44:13He had lost weight.
44:14His skin had the gayish pallor of a vampire who wasn't feeding properly.
44:19When he saw me, his eyes filled with something I had never seen in them before.
44:23Shame.
44:26Seraphina.
44:28Thank you for coming.
44:30I need full answers on the night blood theft.
44:32Who had access when discovered why the Northern Territory wasn't alerted?
44:37Discovered four months ago.
44:39We kept quiet because...
44:42Because you didn't want anyone to know an Ashworth compound was being used to kill wolves.
44:49I only wanted to protect this family.
44:53This family?
44:54Who exactly are you protecting?
44:57Clearly not me.
45:00He sank back into his chair.
45:02I deserve that.
45:04You deserve far worse, but I have no time.
45:08Grant me lab access now.
45:10He stared at me.
45:11At the woman I had become.
45:13Stronger.
45:13Harder.
45:15Nothing like the broken girl who had left this house with a single bag.
45:19Celestis spent extensive time in the labs.
45:23The confirmation I dreaded.
45:26You suspected her all along?
45:28I refuse to believe it.
45:31She's my...
45:33The irony of what he'd almost said hung between us like a blade.
45:37She is my daughter.
45:38Asterisk as if I wasn't.
45:40Give me lab access.
45:42And do not stand in my way.
45:45The Ashworth laboratories were buried three levels below the estate.
45:49State of the upped equipment.
45:51Climate controlled vaults.
45:52I spent hours combing through access logs, security footage, and research notes.
45:56What I found made my stomach turn.
45:58Celeste hadn't just stolen the extract.
46:01She had been communicating with Alan Underwood for over a year.
46:05Encrypted messages.
46:06Hidden in the lab's internal network.
46:08She had provided him with the formula, the production method,
46:11and enough raw material to manufacture the silver venom weapon at scale.
46:16And buried in the messages was something worse.
46:18A plan.
46:19Underwood wasn't just destabilizing the border.
46:21He was planning a full-scale assault on the Northern Territory.
46:24Timed to inside with the winter solstice.
46:26The one night when wolf shifting was weakest.
46:29The attack was three weeks away.
46:31I copied everything onto a secure drive and turned to leave.
46:40That is when I found Celeste standing in the laboratory doorway.
46:43She wasn't wearing her mask anymore.
46:45No sweet smile.
46:47No glistening tears.
46:48Just cold, hot fury.
46:52I knew you'd come snooping eventually.
46:55You were always too stubborn to stay in your place.
46:59Celeste.
47:00What have you done?
47:02I only did what I had to.
47:05I could not live forever trapped in your shadow.
47:09I could not live forever trapped in your shadow.
47:10Everyone fixated on you.
47:12Sem the missing tragic eldest daughter.
47:14Even when you left they never stopped talking of you.
47:18Sarah this.
47:19Sarah that.
47:20If only Sarah were here.
47:22I stood right in front of them.
47:24Yet they never saw me.
47:28So you armed a murderous psychopath with a lethal biocapon.
47:33I gave him the power to break the territory divide.
47:36When wolves fall, the Coven conquers the North.
47:39Father becomes the continent's strongest lord.
47:42And I am the heir who achieved it.
47:44Sem not you.
47:45Countless innocent people will die in wolves.
47:48Vampires, ordinary folks from both sides.
47:51People like you.
47:53If you die fighting alongside wolves in their territory.
47:57Do you think parents will finally realize which daughter they ought to love more?
48:01The words hit like a physical blow.
48:03Not because they were cruel.
48:05But because beneath the cruelty was a pain I recognized intimately.
48:08The desperate, consuming need to be enough.
48:11We were the same.
48:12Both starving for love from parents who had enough for one daughter.
48:15But never for two.
48:17Celestine.
48:18Don't.
48:21Hand went to her pocket and she pulled out a small vial of crimson liquid.
48:27I truly am sorry Sarah.
48:30But I cannot let you leave with that evidence drive.
48:33She threw the vial at my feet.
48:34The glass shattered and a toxic red mist exploded upward.
48:40Night blood extract.
48:41Concentrated.
48:42Airborne.
48:43My vision blurred instantly.
48:46My lungs locked up.
48:48Searing suffocation flooding my chest.
48:51I staggered back, crashing into a lab table.
48:55The last thing I saw before darkness took me was Celeste's face and the tears streaming down her cheeks.
49:07I woke to the sound of my own heartbeat.
49:10Slow.
49:10Too slow.
49:11My body felt like it was filled with lead.
49:14Every breath was a battle.
49:15And the darkness behind my eyelids pulsed with red.
49:18Night blood extract.
49:20Concentrated dose.
49:21It was eating through my system.
49:22Attacking both my wolf and vampire healing simultaneously.
49:25I was dying again.
49:27Not like this.
49:28I thought savagely.
49:29I didn't survive two lifetimes to die on a laboratory floor.
49:33I forced my eyes open.
49:35The lab was empty.
49:36Celeste was gone.
49:37And so was the secure drive.
49:39But she had made a mistake.
49:40She'd assumed the night blood extract would kill me quickly.
49:43Like it did full blooded wolves or vampires.
49:46She'd forgotten or never understood that my hybrid blood didn't follow either species rules.
49:51The extract was devastating.
49:53But my dual antibodies were fighting back.
49:55Slowly.
49:56Painfully.
49:57But fighting.
49:58I dragged myself to the nearest workstation.
50:00My fingers were numb and clumsy.
50:02But I managed to pull up the lab's emergency communication system.
50:06I had one chance to get a message out before the extract overwhelmed what was left of my strength.
50:11I typed a single encrypted message to Marin's secure channel.
50:15Winter solstice.
50:16Full assault.
50:17Northern Territory.
50:18Allen Underwood.
50:19Three weeks.
50:20Celeste Ashworth is the source.
50:21Tell Kale.
50:22I hit send.
50:23Then my arms gave out.
50:25And I collapsed.
50:26Time became liquid.
50:27I drifted in and out of consciousness.
50:29My body alternating between burning and freezing as the extract.
50:33And my antibodies waged war in my bloodstream.
50:36At some point.
50:37I heard voices.
50:38Fathers.
50:39Panicked.
50:40Mothers.
50:40Screaming.
50:41Hands lifting me.
50:42Carrying me.
50:43And then.
50:44A sound that cut through everything.
50:46A roar that shook the walls of the estate.
50:48Not vampire.
50:49Not human.
50:50Wolf.
50:50Wolf.
50:50Even in my delirium.
50:52I knew that roar.
50:53I had felt it in my bones every time he stood near me.
50:56Kale.
51:00The sounds of chaos erupted around me.
51:02Snarling.
51:03Crashing.
51:04Vampires shouting orders.
51:05And through it all.
51:06That roar getting closer.
51:08Getting louder.
51:08Until the door to whatever room I was in exploded inward.
51:11I felt arms around me.
51:13I felt arms around me.
51:13Not gentle.
51:14Desperate.
51:15I was lifted against a chest that radiated heat like a furnace.
51:18And a voice rough with barely contained terror spoke against my hair.
51:22I'm here.
51:23I'm here.
51:25Open your eyes.
51:26Serafina.
51:28Look at me.
51:30I tried.
51:31My lids were so heavy.
51:32That's an order.
51:34He growled.
51:35Not.
51:36My king.
51:38I whispered.
51:39Then it's a plea from your mate.
51:43Please.
51:46Open your eyes.
51:48I opened them.
51:49Kale's face swam into focus above me.
51:52His gray eyes were wild, red-rimmed, more wolf than human.
51:55Behind him, I glimpsed Marin and an entire squad of Fang and Claw operatives
52:00holding the Ashworth estate guards at bay.
52:03The message.
52:05I managed.
52:07Did you?
52:08We got it.
52:10The entire Northern Territory is mobilizing.
52:13Underwood won't get within a hundred miles of our border.
52:16Relief washed through me so hard it hurt.
52:19Seliskim.
52:21She took the drive.
52:23We'll handle it.
52:25Right now.
52:27The only thing that matters is you.
52:29He pressed his forehead to mine.
52:31His skin was burning and I realized he was shaking.
52:34The Lycan king, the most powerful wolf alive, was trembling because of me.
52:38Stay with me.
52:39He whispered.
52:41I can't, Sim.
52:42I won't lose my mate.
52:46Not when I just found her.
52:48Bossy.
52:49I breathed.
52:51He choked out something between a laugh and a sob.
52:54Always.
52:54Please.
52:55He carried me out of the Ashworth estate, past my stunned parents, past the shattered remains
53:00of the front door he'd apparently torn off its hinges, and into the cold night air.
53:04Mother tried to follow.
53:05Sarah M.
53:06Please.
53:07Let us help.
53:09Kale turned on her with a snarl that stopped her dead.
53:12You've done enough.
53:14She nearly died under your roof.
53:17In your laboratory.
53:19Because of a daughter you chose to protect over her.
53:22Mother crumbled.
53:24Father caught her, his face ashen.
53:26She's our daughter.
53:27Father said hoarsely.
53:28Then act like it.
53:29Kale said.
53:32Because right now.
53:34I'm the only one fighting to keep her alive.
53:37He carried me to the transport waiting outside the coven gates.
53:40Marin had a medical team standing by.
53:43They worked on me the entire flight back to the Northern Territory.
53:46Pumping me with every countermeasure I had developed.
53:50Adapted now for intravenous use.
53:52I survived.
53:53Because of course I did.
53:55I was too stubborn to die twice.
53:57But it took 11 days before I could stand on my own.
53:5911 days of Kale barely leaving my bedside.
54:02Sleeping in a chair beside my cot.
54:04Personally reviewing every treatment the medical team administered.
54:08On the 12th day.
54:09I woke to find him asleep in that chair.
54:11His hand wrapped around mine.
54:13His face finally relaxed.
54:15I studied him in the grey morning light.
54:17The hard lines softened in sleep.
54:18The dark circles under his eyes.
54:20The way his fingers held mine.
54:22Firm.
54:22Even unconscious as if letting go wasn't something his body knew how to do.
54:26Mate.
54:27My wolf blood whispered.
54:28Mine.
54:29My vampire blood agreed.
54:31For the first time.
54:32Both halves of me wanted the same thing.
54:34I squeezed his hand.
54:35His eyes flew open instantly.
54:37Alpha reflexes.
54:39And when he saw me awake and watching him.
54:41Something luminous broke across his face.
54:43Hi.
54:44I said.
54:45Hi.
54:45His voice was rough with sleep and relief.
54:48How do you feel?
54:50Like I got hit by a building.
54:52How do I look?
54:55Like everything I almost lost.
54:58My breath caught.
54:59Kale.
55:00You don't have to say anything.
55:02You don't have to decide anything.
55:03I just need you to know that whatever you choose.
55:06Whatever happens next game I am yours.
55:08Completely.
55:09Irrevocably.
55:10Whether you accept the bond or not.
55:12I looked at this man.
55:13This impossible.
55:15Infuriating.
55:16Steady.
55:16Fierce man.
55:17Who had given me space when I needed it.
55:19Stood beside me when I didn't ask.
55:21And torn through an entire vampire coven to reach me.
55:24I choose you.
55:25I said.
55:26I choose this.
55:28I'm done.
55:30Running from the one thing that's actually mine.
55:32He stared at me.
55:33For three full seconds.
55:35The Lycan king looked completely stunned.
55:37Then he leaned forward.
55:39Cupped my face in both hands.
55:41And kissed me.
55:44The Winter Solstice battle was won before it began.
55:48My message had given the Northern Territory three weeks to prepare.
55:51When Alan Underwood's forces reached the border.
55:53They found not a weakened territory but a fortress.
55:56Every pack united.
55:57Every soldier armed with my countermeasure.
56:00Every healer trained in the protocols I had developed.
56:03The battle lasted six hours.
56:05Underwood's army shattered against the Northern Territory's defenses.
56:08Like waves against a cliff.
56:10Underwood himself was captured by Kale personally.
56:13I was told it took the king approximately 90 seconds.
56:16I was also told that Kale's restraint in not killing him on the spot.
56:19Was considered his most impressive feat of self-control to date.
56:23Celeste was found three days later.
56:25Hiding in a safe house near the border.
56:27She surrendered without a fight.
56:28When they brought her before the joint tribunal.
56:31Wolves and vampires for the first time in history.
56:33She looked small.
56:34Stripped of her designer clothes and careful composure.
56:37She was just a girl who had been so desperate for love.
56:40That shed.
56:41Tried to burn the world down to get it.
56:43I attended the tribunal.
56:44Not to condemn her.
56:45Not to forgive her.
56:46Just to be there.
56:47Because someone should.
56:48When her eyes found mine across the chamber.
56:50They filled with tears.
56:52I'm sorry she mouthed.
56:53I nodded.
56:54That was all I could give her.
56:55Maybe in time.
56:56There would be more.
56:57But not today.
56:58She was sentenced to 50 years of monitored exile.
57:01No title.
57:01No family resources.
57:03She would have to build a life from nothing.
57:05Just as I once had.
57:06Part of me thought that might be the making of her.
57:08After the tribunal.
57:09Mother approached me in the corridor.
57:11She looked like she had aged a decade.
57:13Father stood behind her.
57:14Leaning on a cane.
57:15His blood fasting episodes having taken a permanent toll.
57:19Sarah.
57:19Mother's voice was barely a whisper.
57:21We don't expect your forgiveness.
57:23We know we don't deserve it.
57:25You don't.
57:26But I agreed.
57:27She flinched.
57:28But didn't retreat.
57:29But we'd like the chance to try.
57:31Not to earn your love back.
57:33We lost that right long ago.
57:35Just to know you.
57:37The woman you've become.
57:39If you'd allow it.
57:40I studied them.
57:41These two people who had given me life.
57:43And then spent years making me wish they hadn't.
57:46Who had chosen comfort over courage.
57:47And the easier daughter over the one who needed them most.
57:50They were broken now.
57:51Truly broken.
57:52And not because of what Celeste had done.
57:54But because of what they had failed to do for me.
57:56I'm not coming back to the coven.
57:58I said.
57:59Mother nodded tears spilling.
58:01But you can visit the northern territory.
58:03If you call first.
58:05The hope that broke across their faces was almost too much to bear.
58:08Father reached into his coat.
58:10And pulled out something small.
58:11A silver locket.
58:12The one I had left on my nightstand.
58:14The day I walked out of their house.
58:15You left this behind.
58:16He said.
58:17Your mother has carried it every day since.
58:20I took it.
58:20Inside was the same old family photo.
58:23Four people smiling.
58:24I closed it gently and slipped it into my pocket.
58:27Not because I needed it anymore.
58:28But because it was proof that we had once been happy.
58:30And that was worth remembering.
58:32Even if we could never go back.
58:35I walked out of the tribunal building.
58:38And into the northern territory's sharp winter sunlight.
58:41Kale was waiting on the steps.
58:42Leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed.
58:44Looking like he owned the world.
58:46Which technically he did.
58:47At least this part of it.
58:49How did it go?
58:49I didn't forgive them.
58:51Good.
58:51But I left the door open.
58:53He studied me then nodded slowly.
58:55Also good.
58:56I descended the steps to stand beside him.
58:59He uncrossed his arms and.
59:00With a casualness that belied everything it meant.
59:03Took my hand.
59:04So.
59:04He said.
59:05What now?
59:06I looked out at the mountains.
59:08The snow covered pines.
59:09The sprawling territory that had become my home.
59:12I thought about the girl who had died on her wedding night.
59:15Unloved and unmourned.
59:16And I thought about the woman standing here now.
59:19Scarred.
59:19Stubborn.
59:20Alive.
59:21And finally impossibly whole.
59:23No.
59:23I said.
59:24Lacing my fingers through his.
59:26I live.
59:26He brought my hand to his lips.
59:28And pressed a kiss to my knuckles.
59:30Then let's live.
59:31We walked down the steps together.
59:33Into the cold bright air.
59:34Into the life I had chosen.
59:36And the love I had earned.
59:38And I never looked back.
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