The Alpha King Chose Wrong - FULL | Reelshort
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00:07I'm the true-born daughter of House Raventest, the lost heiress of the North, but I was crawling like a
00:14beggar to the gates of Hymir.
00:16My skin was rotting. A normal wolf takes a stab, heals in 20 minutes.
00:21Me? I'd been bleeding for three years.
00:23Seventeen years on Wolfby will do that to you.
00:26Only, I didn't know it was Wolfby. Not yet.
00:29Please.
00:30My voice was a wet rash.
00:32I need to see the Queen Consort.
00:35A boot caught me in the rigs. A silk slipper stopped two inches from my face.
00:39Oh, sweetheart, is that you down there?
00:42I lifted my head. Lillian, my sister, and on her brow, the Luna Queen's silver crown.
00:47Behind her, a man stepped from the carriage. Black coat, gold eyes, argent blood, every inch of him.
00:53Adrian Valentine Argin, the outful of the Silk King.
00:56Honey, what are you doing all the way out here?
00:59Lillian, please. Marcus, he's killing me.
01:03Hmm. Her finger brushed my split cheek.
01:06Selina, the cup of wine I gave you on your first moon to boot. I poisoned it.
01:10It's bright night. The world went still.
01:12Adrian was supposed to choose you.
01:14So I took your place. I took the throne.
01:17She stood, brushed snow, off her knees. You deserve to disappear.
01:22I caught her hem. If the moon gives me one more night, I'll take it all back.
01:27She smiled.
01:28You can try, sweetheart.
01:29A guard, silver saber, straight through my chest.
01:32Silver death, the snow. The snow was very white. Then nothing. Black. Then, music.
01:38A string quartet. Roses. Too much perfume.
01:42I opened my eyes. I looked down. Smooth, pale, sixteen-year-old hands.
01:47The ballroom of Ravenburst Manor. Three hundred nobles in high-pack colors.
01:52Argent, silver, and black over the days.
01:54I was reborn on the night of my first moon debut. The night that ruined my life.
01:59And across the marble floor, my seventeen-year-old sister Lillian walked towards me.
02:04Smiling softly. A small crystal cup gleaming in her hand.
02:08For my favorite sister. On the most important night of her life.
02:12I looked at the rim. There, in the candlelight. A tiny red scrap.
02:16The mark I never noticed last time.
02:18I took the poisoned cup.
02:20Thank you, Lillian.
02:21Sweetheart. You just poured your own funeral wine.
02:25This time, I'm going to make every single person in this room kneel.
02:29You first.
02:33The hall blazed with silver candlelight.
02:36Every high-packed daughter in high-milled was watching.
02:39Lillian moved through the crowd like she owned it.
02:42Holding two crystal cups.
02:44Drink up, sweetheart.
02:45The queen consort's watching.
02:47I looked past her shoulder.
02:48On the Dane, the queen concord sat very still.
02:51Black silk.
02:52Silver pins.
02:53Gold eyes.
02:54The most powerful woman in Argent Val.
02:57Last life.
02:58I drank.
02:59This life.
03:00The moment I'd turned toward the tray.
03:02I'd swap the cups.
03:03The poisoned one.
03:04Was back on the tray.
03:06Waiting for the next person.
03:08To you, Lillian.
03:09House Ravenhurst's finest daughter.
03:11We both drank the clean wine.
03:13Lillian set down her cup.
03:15A little pink in the cheeks.
03:16She hadn't noticed a thing.
03:18A tall figure in black cut across the hall.
03:20Unhurried.
03:21Adrian Valentine RJ.
03:22Lillian's whole body locked.
03:24I leaned close.
03:25Just a breath at her ear.
03:26He's right there, Lillian.
03:28And the queen consort is watching you do nothing.
03:30Her chin lifted half an inch.
03:32I reached back to the tray.
03:33Forced the poisoned cup into her hands before she could think.
03:37Offer him a cup of welcome.
03:38It's old custom.
03:39She loves the old customs.
03:41Lillian stepped forward.
03:43Her voice came out soft.
03:44Careful.
03:45Your highness.
03:46A cup of welcome.
03:48For the moon.
03:48Adrian glanced at the cup.
03:50He took it.
03:51Elegant.
03:52Reluctant.
03:52Tipped it back.
03:54Set the empty glass on a passing tray.
03:56Without a word and walked on.
03:58Lillian was still beaming at his back.
04:00I lowered my eyes.
04:01Before mine could give me away.
04:03Lillian.
04:04You know silver moon law.
04:06Dosing the crown is a court banned act.
04:08The smile didn't leave her face.
04:10Not yet.
04:11You handed it to him yourself.
04:13In front of the Queen Concord.
04:14In front of every witness in this hall.
04:16I let the silence settle.
04:18That wasn't a toast.
04:19That was your funeral wine.
04:21He left through the balcony doors.
04:23Twenty minutes after the toast.
04:25Bride and Nights kicking in.
04:26I waited a breath.
04:28Then I followed.
04:29Lost life.
04:30I was the one with Bride and Nite in my blood.
04:32Marcus pissed me behind the hydrangeas.
04:35That was the start.
04:36Of seventeen years in hell.
04:37Tonight, Lillian, there is no rogue in the gazo.
04:41Only the man Lillian wanted.
04:42And Adrian is not looking for Lillian.
04:45I found Adrian by the moon pond.
04:47One hand braced on a colin.
04:48The other hand grabbed at his collar.
04:50Argent gold eyes wide.
04:52Blown.
04:53Burning.
04:54Your Highness.
04:55Don't.
04:56Don't come near me.
04:58You're not well.
04:59Adrian pushed off the colin.
05:01His knee gave out.
05:03He collapsed into my arms.
05:04Adrian was burning.
05:05His face landed in the curve of my neck.
05:08Then he stopped.
05:10Adrian breathed in.
05:11His whole body went still against me.
05:14Then the heat surged back.
05:15Come on.
05:17Not here.
05:18I got Adrian's arm over my shoulder.
05:20I got Adrian inside the empty guest house.
05:23I shut the door.
05:25The lock clicked.
05:26My back hit the wall.
05:28Adrian's forearm caged me beside my head.
05:30His pupils were blown.
05:32Then...
05:32Lillian.
05:33There it is.
05:34The word Lillian worked six years to hear Adrian say in the dark.
05:38And he just said it to me.
05:40I slid my hand up the back of Adrian's neck.
05:43Shh.
05:43His forehead dropped to my shoulder.
05:45I leaned in until my lips were at his ear.
05:48It's alright, Your Highness.
05:49I'm here.
05:50It does not matter whose name Adrian said tonight.
05:53What matters is who leaves by morning.
05:55Wearing Adrian's coat.
05:57With Adrian's scent on my skin.
05:59Tonight, sweetheart.
06:00That is me.
06:01His forehead burned against my shoulder.
06:03Brightenite stays in the blood twelve hours.
06:05Anything that touches it gets dosed.
06:07I turn my face into his neck.
06:10Forgive me, Your Highness.
06:11I bit down.
06:12Hard.
06:13The blood flooded my mouth.
06:15He's hissed.
06:16Fisted my hair.
06:17Didn't pull me off.
06:18The drug hit me ten seconds later.
06:21His gold eyes focused.
06:22One second.
06:23I know you.
06:25No, you don't.
06:25Not yet.
06:26I caught his wrist.
06:28Pressed his hand to my colivone.
06:29Here.
06:30Bite here.
06:31Where they can see it.
06:32He lowered his head.
06:34Leave the bite marks on me.
06:36An hour later, he collapsed sideways.
06:38The drug had burned through him.
06:40I sat up.
06:40Wiped the blood from lips.
06:42His coat had slipped off the chair.
06:44I picked it up.
06:44Put it on.
06:45At the mirror, I loosened my hair.
06:47Tugged the coat half off one shoulder.
06:50The bite marks bloomed underneath.
06:52I sat on the edge of the bed.
06:54Waited.
06:54The footsteps in the corridor grew louder.
06:57I didn't move.
06:58I spoke to the closed door.
07:00Quietly.
07:00Marcus isn't in this bed.
07:02The crown alpha is.
07:04Right on time, Lillian.
07:05The door hit the wall.
07:06And the corridor spilled silk boots and royal silver into the room.
07:10Your majesty, in here!
07:11I saw Selina with a man!
07:13She did not even look at me.
07:15She crossed to the curtained bed.
07:17Her face went white.
07:18Adrian lay there.
07:20Gold eyes closed.
07:22It was her.
07:23She grew up above the velvet fang.
07:26Raised in a brothel.
07:27Crawling into a crown bed before the debut.
07:30I did not argue.
07:31I let the coat slip lower.
07:32Until the algin crest caught the candlelight.
07:35The bite marks bloomed underneath.
07:36One tear ran down my cheek.
07:38Your majesty, I only remember the cup.
07:40Lillian handed it to me.
07:41And then I woke here.
07:42No, it's not true!
07:43The queen consort lifted one hand.
07:45My breath stayed broken on purpose.
07:47Adrian sat up.
07:48Shirt buttoned.
07:49Hair pushed back.
07:50Gold eyes finally clear of the drug.
07:52Speak carefully, your highness.
07:54The next sentence out of your mouth chooses my life or hers.
07:58Adrian opened his mouth.
07:59The door slammed open again.
08:01A wounded man kneeled behind Caleb.
08:03I knew that face.
08:05Marcus dreary.
08:06Caleb unfolded a white handkerchief.
08:08Your majesty.
08:09Marcus waited behind the rockweck for Selen.
08:11This was in Marcus' coat.
08:12The high priest bent over the cloth, nostrils flaring.
08:15Red knight.
08:16Everyone who heard it went soggy.
08:18It was not my plan.
08:20Lady Lillian paid me.
08:21Lillian's face emptied.
08:23Lady Lillian gave me the bottle.
08:25I lowered my eyes before anyone could read me.
08:27For one breath, Lillian had no story ready.
08:30Adrian got off the bed, slow, pale.
08:32He did not look at Lillian or his mother.
08:35Adrian walked straight to Marcus.
08:37Adrian pulled the silver knife from his hip.
08:38Your highness, wait!
08:39I can give names!
08:40The judgment happened in one breath.
08:43Adrian did not clench.
08:45He held a piece of evidence in his hand.
08:47He walked three steps.
08:48A terrible poop dropped at the hem of Lillian's skirt.
08:51Hidden, but unmistakable.
08:52Lillian screamed once.
08:54Then Lillian went silent.
08:55The thorn girl folded over into the hem of her own gown.
08:57Adrian did not look at Lillian.
08:59Adrian walked back across the marble.
09:01He pulled off his own coat.
09:03He laid the coat on my shoulders.
09:05I stayed still.
09:06I let Adrian cover me.
09:07Adrian smoothed the silver crest flat across my back with his own hand.
09:12Let me smell Selina Ravencrest.
09:14The queen consort stepped closer and inhaled.
09:16Nothing.
09:17No scent.
09:18No rank.
09:18No wolf.
09:19Sixteen years of high-packed blood.
09:20You are empty air.
09:22A maid stepped forward with a black velvet cushion.
09:24A small silver blade waited on it.
09:26You may walk out of this room, or you may end it.
09:28The queen consort gave me death and called it mercy.
09:31Sparehouse Raventill, what comes next?
09:33The blade was placed in my hand.
09:35Cold.
09:36Final.
09:36In the corner, Lillian released the smallest breath of relief.
09:40I did not lift my hands.
09:41If she wanted me dead tonight, she would do it herself.
09:44A black sleeve cut across my sight.
09:47Adrian stepped between me and the ceremonial pillow and closed his bare palm around the blade.
09:52Silence held.
09:53Then, blood came.
09:55The queen consort's face went still.
09:58Adrian did not look at her and took my fingertips in his clean hand, gently.
10:02By the law of the Algin court.
10:03His voice stayed quiet.
10:05A crown alpha's public claim, once witnessed by the queen consort, the high priest, and the high pack matriarchs, cannot
10:13be revoked.
10:15I lowered my eyes.
10:16On the next full moon, I will exchange moon vows with Lady Selina Ravenhaust in the silver moon court.
10:22From tonight, she is the future luna queen of Highmore.
10:26He turned to his mother and lifted his bleeding hand, showing the silver gash slowly.
10:32If the law demands her death, bring a second blade.
10:35I will go with her.
10:36Lillian's face went past white.
10:37I lowered my eyes.
10:39Last life, I begged at his gate and was dragged out by my hair.
10:42This life, I said nothing, and he laid the court at my feet.
10:46By sunrise, Highmail had a new headline.
10:49The crown alpha had named his luna, House Ravencrest, the younger daughter, the quiet one nobody had ever looked at.
10:57At dawn, the senior high priest entered Ravencissed Manor, tracing every wine cup from cellar to ballroom.
11:03Two hours later, they found a silver thread carrying cedar and iris perfume.
11:07Inside a velvet purse Lillian had once gifted Marcus.
11:10Adrian folded the report once.
11:12Your Highness, we have enough to take her down tonight.
11:15No.
11:16Almost gentle.
11:17I want her to walk to it herself.
11:18I went back to my bedroom, locked the door, took out the small white porcelain bottle, Morwena's gift, the court
11:25midwife at my birth.
11:26For 17 years, they told me it was the only reason I didn't fall apart.
11:30I believed them.
11:31I drank it every morning, until I stopped asking what was in it.
11:34I set the bottle on the windowsill.
11:36This time, I didn't lift it to my mouth.
11:38Six hours later, the headache started behind my left eye.
11:41By dusk, I was sweating through my collar.
11:43My hands wouldn't stay still.
11:45Lillian, you've been burning me alive for 17 years.
11:48The girl in the mirror looked back.
11:50Her eyes were darker than I remembered.
11:52That fire's about to turn around.
11:54I'm gonna put it under your door.
11:56And then I'm gonna stand in the garden and watch the smoke.
11:59I had been off the bottle for three days.
12:01The headaches were duller now.
12:02What replaced them was harder to name.
12:04A low heat behind my ribs.
12:06A sharpness in my hearing I did not used to have.
12:09That morning, I caught the scent of rain 20 minutes before the rain came.
12:13I did not tell anyone.
12:15My wolf was waking up.
12:17Slowly, quietly, the invitation came on argent silver paper.
12:21Adoption tea.
12:22Highmere Westgarden.
12:23Thursday at 4.
12:24The Westgarden was set for war.
12:26Six high-packed daughters in pale silk.
12:28The thorn girl very carefully did not make eye contact with me.
12:31Lady Selina.
12:33Sit.
12:33A maid placed an argent silver cup in front of every girl.
12:37Heavy-rimmed.
12:38Handles shaped like a wolf's curled tail.
12:40A second maid stepped behind my chair and set down a plain white porcelain cup.
12:44No crest.
12:45Lady Vae's spoon stopped halfway to Lady Vae's mouth.
12:48The queen consort did not look at me.
12:49Some bloodlines react poorly to silver, dear.
12:53Your majesty is so thoughtful.
12:54Then the terrace door opened.
12:56Father Alaric.
12:57Senior high priest.
12:5861 years inside the silver moon walls.
13:01Alaric had blessed the queen consort's own moon vows.
13:04Alaric bowed to her majesty first.
13:06Protocol.
13:07Then Alaric stopped at my chair.
13:08And Alaric bent his head lower than he had just bent it to the queen consort.
13:12My lady.
13:13Alaric had just bowed to a raven crest.
13:15The true line.
13:16The one that should have sat at the head of this table.
13:19Alaric's body knew.
13:20The queen consort knew what it meant.
13:22So did every woman at that table.
13:24Back in my bedroom, I uncorked the porcelain bottle.
13:26I poured the rest into the wash basin.
13:29I pressed two fingers to my neck.
13:31My pulse was steadier than it had any right to be.
13:34Deeper.
13:34Nobody in that court knows what is coming back.
13:3717 years of being burned down to a quiet, pale, forgettable girl.
13:41First time as Salim's betrothed, Adrian walked up the ravenhess steps in dove gray mourning
13:47dress with a small black velvet box.
13:50Inside, an Algent royal hairpin.
13:53800 years old.
13:55Moonstone center.
13:56Wolf and moon engraving.
13:58Lady Ravenhust had been crying since breakfast.
14:00Happy crying.
14:01The kind Lady Ravenhust had never once cried for Selina before.
14:05Last life.
14:05When my husband first walked me in this door, Lady Ravencrest told the housekeeper to wipe
14:10the threshold after I crossed it.
14:11A maid came running.
14:13Lord Ravencrest, please, Lady Lillian, the east wing, she's...
14:17The maid could not finish the word.
14:20The whole house moved.
14:21Lord Ravenfield, Lady Ravenfield, Cassian Selene's older brother, in from his regiment.
14:26Adrian set the velvet box down without looking at it.
14:29Slow.
14:29Selina had seen this scene before.
14:31Not in this life.
14:32In the next one over.
14:34The attic.
14:34One window.
14:36Cedar beams.
14:37A length of white silk ribbon, folded neatly on the floorboards beside the chair.
14:42Lillian was already in Adrian's arms.
14:44Long lashes wet.
14:45A delicate flutter of breath against Adrian's collarbone.
14:49Not a mark on Lillian's throat.
14:51Cassian gripped Lillian's free hand.
14:53Lily.
14:54Lily, listen to me.
14:57Nobody in this family will leave you.
15:00Do you hear me?
15:01Nobody.
15:02Lady Ravencowls stroked Lillian's hair.
15:04Sweet girl.
15:06Sweet, sweet girl.
15:08Lord Ravencrest wiped his eyes with his sleeve like a farmhand.
15:12He saw me in the doorway.
15:13He did not see Lillian.
15:15What he saw.
15:16A pale girl.
15:17Lips bloodless.
15:18A thin pink ring of strain around my irises.
15:21He does not know Wolfsbane withdrawal when he sees it.
15:24He does not know I have been off the bottle for two days.
15:26What he knew.
15:27Something in his own chest pulled.
15:29Sharp and hot.
15:30He chalked it up to a poor night's sleep.
15:32Down the garden path.
15:33Alone.
15:34White roses.
15:36Lillian was at the attic glass.
15:38Color back in her cheeks.
15:39One small hand on the windowpane.
15:41She smiled at me.
15:43Soft.
15:44Sweet.
15:45Triumphant.
15:45Three days after the attic, the wind had turned in Ravencrest.
15:49Half the high-pack matrons found their way to Lillian's daybed before noon.
15:53By Thursday, Lady Ravencrest asked the housekeeper whether Lillian might still come to the Equinos
15:58reet.
15:59That afternoon, a courier from the Silvermoon Court came through the Algum West Wing.
16:04Six lines on sheep-filled parchment in the queen consort's own hand.
16:09Should Lady Selene Ravencrest, prior to the exchange of moon vows, be revealed to possess
16:14a flaw of bloodline, character, or conduct unbecoming of a future lunar queen?
16:18The Algern House reserves the unilateral right to withdraw said vows.
16:23A backup plan.
16:24A girl who could be torn up at any time.
16:27The Hall of Elders.
16:29Twelve along both sides.
16:31The queen concord at the head, hands folded.
16:33Adrian read it once.
16:34Adrian.
16:35Read it again.
16:37Stood up.
16:37Adrian picked up the parchment.
16:39Tore it.
16:40Crosswise.
16:41Then again.
16:42Then again.
16:43Adrian's gold eyes had gone to a color the Elders hadn't seen in four hundred years.
16:48A slow, banked fire.
16:50The pieces fell on the council table.
16:52Adrian faced his mother.
16:54Full court protocol.
16:55Hand on chest.
16:56Mother, the queen consort may add any clause to Adrian's moon vows.
17:01As long as the clause protects Selene, the queen consort may not add a single word that
17:06lets Adrian throw Selene away.
17:08The queen consort did not answer.
17:10He came back to Ravencrest before sundown.
17:12He found me in the small drawing room.
17:15Tea I had not drunk.
17:16Hands folded to hide the tremor.
17:18He did not ask about Lillian.
17:20Did not mention the attic.
17:21Did not perform anything.
17:22He knelt one knee.
17:24He opened the velvet box.
17:26He orin velva.
17:27May I?
17:29He lifted my hair off my shoulder with the back of his bandaged hand.
17:33The hand that had closed around a silver blade for me four nights ago.
17:37He slid the Argent royal hairpin in just above my left temple.
17:40Slow.
17:41The yellow gold settled cool against my scalp.
17:43His fingertip brushed the shell of my ear.
17:46Without warning.
17:47My eyes filled.
17:48He saw it.
17:50He did not say a word.
17:51He brought his bandaged hand up.
17:53He caught the one tear on his knuckle before it could fall.
17:57He came back at dawn.
17:59Adrian set it on the writing desk and opened it the way a surgeon opens a chest.
18:03A glass vial of Britonite.
18:05Court tagged.
18:05A list of every servant who touched a wine tray on first moon night.
18:09A velvet purse Lillian had once gifted Marcus.
18:11Slit open.
18:12One silver thread.
18:13One folded note.
18:14One dried sprig of irie.
18:16And, last, half a porcelain wine cup.
18:19On the underside, a single scratched red mark.
18:22He found my proof.
18:23The one detail I never told him.
18:25I'm not going to ask if you knew.
18:27Good.
18:28I'm going to ask you what you want to do.
18:30My sister doesn't die yet.
18:31He waited.
18:32She watches my moon vows.
18:34She watches the silver moon court bow when my name is read.
18:37She watches my father take back the seat at the head table she made him give her.
18:42She watches every high-pack matriarch who kurtzled to her three Oscars ago kurt to me instead.
18:47And then, only then, she finds out what's waiting at the bottom of the cup.
18:51Understood.
18:52You're not going to ask me why?
18:54No.
18:54I figured most of it out at the gate.
18:55When she pointed at you and called you a brothel pup, I'll wait for the rest.
18:58Two lifetimes.
19:00The first man who didn't ask me to explain my anger before he agreed to back it.
19:05He came around the desk.
19:07Looked at me.
19:08Bruise on my collarbone from his teeth four nights ago had faded to a pale violet ring.
19:12He lifted his hand.
19:14Stopped.
19:15Asked.
19:16With his eyes.
19:17I owe you a clean memory of me touching you.
19:19You don't owe me anything, your highness.
19:21He drew me into his chest.
19:23Slow.
19:24No drug in his blood this time.
19:26No haze.
19:27I let my forehead rest on his shoulder for exactly four seconds.
19:31Then I stepped back.
19:33He didn't try to keep me.
19:35Cross the gardens, in the east wing.
19:39Lillian Ravencrest on her knees, in front of a small panel of floorboards she'd plied up the night before.
19:45Under the panel, a flat priest's disc, etched with old runes.
19:50What do I do now?
19:52She'd been calling that name into the dock for years.
19:55A household prayer, a dead midwife's charm.
19:58She didn't know the woman who answered was the one who'd built her cage.
20:01Across the manor, in Adrian's harms, my eyes closed.
20:06The red ring around my irises had thinned by a shade.
20:09On the windowsill, the porcelain bottle was down to a quarter.
20:13Palace gates would not open.
20:15Lillian had been so sure the gates would open.
20:17She powdered her face for an hour.
20:20She wore the pearl blue cloak the queen consort once said brought out her eyes.
20:24Her majesty is not receiving visitors today.
20:27Three different guards.
20:28Her majesty is not receiving visitors today.
20:30Three identical sentences.
20:32Her majesty is not receiving visitors today.
20:34At the fourth gate, Lillian gave up.
20:37Lillian stood on the marble steps in pearl blue silk and watched a butcher's boy let through
20:42a side door because the boy had a delivery.
20:44Home before nightfall.
20:46Cloak off.
20:47East wing.
20:48Attic door locked.
20:50Panel up.
20:51Palms flat on the priest's disc.
20:53Morwenna.
20:54Lillian's voice cracked.
20:55The queen consort won't see me.
20:58The matriarchs are starting to talk.
20:59Adrian tore up my supplemental clause in front of the council.
21:02I need you to fix the blessing again.
21:04Just reinforce it.
21:06Please.
21:07Silence.
21:08Then not in Lillian's ears, but in the back of Lillian's skull, the way Morwenna's answers
21:13always came.
21:14Use Cassian.
21:16Three words.
21:17Cold.
21:17Final.
21:18She sat back on her heels.
21:19He had loved her like a first daughter since she was four.
21:22An unmated alpha with a soft spot that size was exactly the kind of weapon she knew how
21:28to use.
21:29She unlocked the bottom drawer.
21:31She pulled out the vial.
21:33Velvet Fang's mark was etched in the glass.
21:36One dose of Bride Knight was left inside.
21:38She smoothed her hair.
21:40She practiced the smile.
21:42Cassian will believe anything Lillian tells Cassian.
21:46Cassian always has.
21:49The family dinner was Mother's idea.
21:51Just direct blood.
21:53We need to be a family again before the moon vows.
21:56Which meant Lillian was coming back to the table.
21:58Neither of them had the spine to say no.
22:00Father at the head.
22:02Mother to his right.
22:03Cassius to his left back from the regiment.
22:06Lillian below Mother.
22:07Then me.
22:08Then Adrian.
22:10Sitting on my side.
22:11His bandaged hand resting open beside mine.
22:14Between the soup and the lamb.
22:16Mother brought it out.
22:17A small lacquered box.
22:19Five generations old.
22:20She lifted out the silver comb.
22:22My grandmother held this on her first moon.
22:25My mother.
22:26Me.
22:27Tradition says.
22:28A true born ravenfished daughter passes a hand over it.
22:31And if the blood is good.
22:32The silver knows.
22:33Lillian took the comb.
22:35She'd taken it 18 times in her life.
22:37She knew the trick.
22:39What she had not been raised on was how much it would hurt the 18th time.
22:43After three days kneeling on a priest disc asking a witch for fresh favors.
22:46The silver bit.
22:47A clean line of white pain shot up her wrist.
22:50She felt the skin start to lift in a blister.
22:52She held the comb for the regulation three seconds.
22:55Set it back.
22:56Light hand.
22:57Beautiful.
22:57Her smile was perfect.
22:59Under the linen her left fist was tight enough the nails broke skin.
23:02Mother turned to me.
23:03Salona.
23:04Mother had never put this comb in front of me before.
23:07Last life.
23:08By the time I came back to Ravenwith the comb had been lost in a move.
23:12Just for tradition dear.
23:14Just so we can all see.
23:17I let the comb settle into my palm.
23:19No bite.
23:20No heat.
23:21Then the silver caught light that wasn't in the room and gave it back.
23:25A faint white glow ran the length of the handle.
23:27Mother's hand was halfway to her mouth.
23:30Cassian's chair scraped a quarter inch backward on its own.
23:33Father set his fork down very carefully.
23:36Lillian laughed.
23:37Very lightly.
23:38Oh.
23:38Mother.
23:39You know Selina.
23:40She's always been a bit off.
23:42Probably some funny low blood reaction.
23:45Even silver gets confused.
23:47Across the city.
23:48In his study at High Meal Palace.
23:49Adrian Valentine Rowe was reading a report on grain prices.
23:53At 8.14pm.
23:54The exact minute the silver glowed in my palm.
23:56He set the report down.
23:57Put one hand flat against his sternum.
23:59And waited for whatever was happening inside his chest to stop.
24:03It didn't stop.
24:04For almost a minute.
24:07He told himself he hadn't slept well.
24:10I went back to my room before pudding.
24:12Knelt on the hearth in my dinner slicks.
24:15Pushed the white porcelain bottle deep under the bed of cold ash.
24:19Lillian came to my door at sunrise.
24:22Pale silk wrapper.
24:23Eyes red around the edges.
24:24The careful walk of a girl who had not slept.
24:27Selina.
24:28Please.
24:29Cassian wants to apologize.
24:31For First Moon.
24:32For taking my side too fast.
24:33Cassian is too proud to say it in the house.
24:35Cassian will only say it at the West Tower.
24:37The West Tower.
24:38Cedar Woods.
24:3920 minutes walk from the Manon.
24:41Last life.
24:42Lillian sets Selina up with Marcus in a garden gabbo.
24:44This life.
24:45Selina's big brother in a tower.
24:47Same script.
24:48Better casting.
24:49Of course.
24:50Lead the way.
24:52Last life.
24:52She set me up with Marcus in a garden gabobi.
24:55This life.
24:55My big brother in a tower.
24:57Same script.
24:58Better casting.
24:59Lillian walked ahead.
25:01Lillian looked back once.
25:03Lillian smiled once.
25:05Then Lillian looked back again.
25:08Three times.
25:09Three smiles.
25:11Each one a little wider.
25:1320 paces from the tower door.
25:14The wind shifted.
25:16Selene caught it on the back of Selina's throat.
25:17The smell of a man Selene had bitten through the skin four nights ago.
25:21Bright and night.
25:21There you are.
25:22Found you in the trees.
25:23The tower door was unlashed.
25:25Lillian stopped.
25:26Turned.
25:27The careful smile was gone.
25:28After you, Selina.
25:29She lifted her hand to my shoulder.
25:31A small push.
25:32I let her hand land.
25:34While her weight was on it.
25:35While she was already mid-shove.
25:37I stepped sideways.
25:39Half a body's length.
25:40Clean.
25:41Her push went through empty air.
25:43She stumbled forward.
25:44I caught her under the arms.
25:45Dragged her three feet through the open door.
25:47Set her down inside.
25:48Gently.
25:49The way I would lay down a dress.
25:50On the bed at the back of the room, Cassian was already half gone.
25:53Shirt open.
25:54Skin slick.
25:55Argent blue eyes blown black.
25:56Shirt open.
25:56Shirt open.
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