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The Scarred Orc Who Bit Me First - watch englishsub fullmovie 🍿🍿
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00:002 a.m. I'm crouched outside a bar, chain-smoking. Makeup wrecked. Heels kicked off. Whiskey down the front of
00:08my dress. I look like a woman whose life just blew up in her face. That's because it did.
00:15A man drops onto the curb beside me. Cheap suit. Breath that could peel paint off a wall.
00:21You look stressed, sweetheart.
00:23Move.
00:24I've got something cheap. Won't bleed much on your carpet.
00:27I almost stand up to knock his teeth in.
00:29Tonight's auction left over. Nobody bid on him. We torch him at sunrise.
00:33Here's how it works in this country. Orc auctions are the biggest industry on the East Coast.
00:37The pretty ones go for millions. The ugly ones go to labor camps. The leftovers get burned.
00:42And tonight, I happen to need something to burn.
00:45What's wrong with him?
00:46Faster if I tell you what's right. Mongrel, half-breed, one-eyed dead, tusk-snap, big bastard, tank of a
00:53body, takes a hit, keeps coming.
00:55Show me.
01:01I forget how to breathe.
01:03Seven-foot-two. Ash-gray skin. Scar tissue running from his hairline down to his collar.
01:08The left side of his face is wrecked. A white scar cuts him from temple to jaw.
01:12That eye is dead. Cloudy. Half-blind. Left tusk snapped in half.
01:17The right one filed sharp. His horn broken clean at the tip. Shoulders so wide they nearly scraped both walls
01:24of the alley.
01:25The traitor kicks the back of his knee.
01:27Look at that face, sweetheart. Do whatever you want to him. You can't ruin what's already ruined.
01:36The orc lifts his head. His one good eye finds mine. Amber. Way too calm for someone scheduled to be
01:44ashes by sunrise.
01:45Then I think about Sullivan.
01:47My husband. Silk shirts ironed by staff. Six-foot-ten of factory-perfect pure-blood orc.
01:54He sleeps in my stepsister's wing. The official reason is my perfume gives him headaches. He brushes her hair every
02:01morning.
02:01I eat breakfast alone. Eighteen months of that.
02:04You getting this? Me, Sienna Quinn. Heiress to the biggest fortune in New York.
02:10Twenty-three years old.
02:13Two million dollars I paid for a husband who thinks I smell bad.
02:17How much to keep him?
02:21You don't keep a mongrel.
02:24You rent him for an hour till you...
02:27Number.
02:28Sixty grand.
02:30Five.
02:30Lady, are you out of your...
02:32Five.
02:32Cash. Right now. Or I call my father. He sits on the welfare bureau board.
02:37He'd love to hear what your operation moves through this alley.
02:41Deal.
02:43I peel off the bills.
02:46The chain drops into Pine Palm. Cold.
02:51Heavier than I expected.
02:53The orc tilts his head.
02:55When he speaks, his voice comes out low and rough.
02:59If you wanted to hurt something pretty, you should have walked past me.
03:03I don't want to hurt anything.
03:06Then why?
03:08I look up at his face.
03:10Because tonight, the world's most beautiful orc is at home.
03:14He won't look me in the eye.
03:16And this half-blind mongrel just did.
03:19I tugged the chain.
03:21Gentle.
03:22Just once.
03:24Because nobody else would.
03:26He follows me out of the alley.
03:34The Uber driver locks every door the second Lysander folds in.
03:38He has to fold himself sideways to fit.
03:41I haven't been this close to another body in a long time.
03:45What's your name?
03:47Lysander.
03:48My mother named me Lysander.
03:50The auction tag calls me Mongrel 72.
03:5471 before him.
03:55All burned.
03:57I'm at Siena.
03:59I'm not calling you a number.
04:01He doesn't say thank you.
04:03He doesn't believe me yet.
04:05That's fine.
04:06He will.
04:07The plaza.
04:08Penthouse.
04:10I slipped the bellman 300 bucks to wipe the security footage.
04:14He doesn't ask why.
04:15That's the thing about money.
04:17The right amount makes problems vanish.
04:20In the suite, Lysander has to duck to clear the doorway.
04:23His broken horn scrapes plaster off the ceiling.
04:26Sit.
04:27The couch will hold you.
04:30I don't sit on furniture.
04:32You do now.
04:33The frame groans under him.
04:35He puts his hands flat on his knees.
04:37Palms down.
04:38Fingers spread.
04:40The pose you train an animal to hold.
04:42Somebody taught him that.
04:43I'll deal with that later.
04:48Don't.
04:49It's just water.
04:50That side of my face is dead, Siena.
04:53My body remembers the hand.
04:55Not what's in it.
04:5918 months in a marriage with no contact.
05:02Two hours in a hotel room with a stranger who flinches when I try.
05:06God, we're a pair.
05:08Tell me who took the eye.
05:10The owner's son.
05:12He got his first hunting knife for his 12th birthday.
05:15His father told him to practice on something that didn't matter.
05:19I pick up his hand.
05:21I turn it over.
05:22The inside of his wrist is covered in burn scars.
05:25Old slave casels over older slave casels.
05:28Layers of them.
05:29I press my mouth to the inside of his wrist.
05:32He stops breathing.
05:36Don't be soft with me, Aunt Siena.
05:40I'll break.
05:42Then break.
05:45He drops his forehead into my shoulder.
05:47He shakes against me.
05:49I put my hand on the back of his head.
05:52His hair is rough.
05:54Not like Sutherland's silk and conditioner mane.
05:57But somehow it makes me feel safer than Sutherland ever did.
06:02My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
06:05Sully is losing it.
06:06He smells another orc on you.
06:08He's pacing the foyer.
06:09Tusks won't retract.
06:10Where are you?
06:12I read it twice.
06:13Then I smile.
06:15First real smile in 18 months.
06:18You have to understand my life.
06:20I was five years old when somebody snatched me off a sidewalk in Queens.
06:25My parents looked for me for one year.
06:27Then they gave up and adopted a baby girl from the system.
06:31They named her Cora.
06:33She got 18 years of birthday parties, ballet lessons, piano recitals, family vacations.
06:39I got 18 years of foster homes, a juvie cell at 11, a girl gang in Bushwick at 14, and
06:45a DNA test at 23 that matched me to the Queens.
06:48When I walked through their door at 23, my little sister was 17.
06:53She'd been the only daughter her entire life.
06:55She screamed.
06:56She broke a vase.
06:58She threw a butter knife at my head and missed by an inch.
07:01Get out of my house, you trash!
07:04My mother held her and stroked her hair.
07:06Your sister's been spoiled.
07:08Try to be patient, sweetheart.
07:09That was the day I learned the rules of this family.
07:12I keep my mouth shut about Bushwick.
07:14I keep my mouth shut about the pickpocketing.
07:16I smile pretty at brunch.
07:17I cry on cue when the inheritance lawyer drops by.
07:21The allowance keeps showing up.
07:22Every birthday, my parents buy me something extravagance,
07:25paying down the guilt of 18 years they spent not looking hard enough.
07:28On my 22nd, they bought me Sullivan.
07:30$2 million pure-blood orc, show-quality bloodline, brushed coat, polished tusks.
07:36Your sister's so quiet, sweetheart.
07:39A companion orc would help her come out of her shell.
07:43Cora screamed for three days.
07:46Then she ran away with him for ten.
07:49She brought him back skin and bones.
07:51My mother slapped her across the face for the first time in her life.
07:54And from that day forward, Sullivan only responded to one set of footspets in the hallway.
07:59Hers.
08:00He'd lived ten days as her stray.
08:02He decided she was his real owner.
08:05I was just the woman whose name was on the paperwork.
08:08Eighteen months of eating breakfast alone in a house with five other people in it.
08:13I look down at the phone.
08:16Tell him to get used to it.
08:18I press end.
08:20I put both my hands on it lice of his face.
08:22I make him look at me.
08:24You're staying with me.
08:27You don't know what you just bought.
08:29Then tell me in the morning.
08:31He pulls me against his chest.
08:33His arm is bigger around than my waist.
08:37His heartbeat is slow and heavy under my ear.
08:40He's asleep in three minutes.
08:42I lie in the dark, listening to him breathe.
08:44In eighteen months, my pure-blood husband has never once fallen asleep in the same room as me.
08:49The mongrel I bought for five grand has been mine for two hours and he's already unconscious on my chest.
08:55Best money I've ever spent.
08:58I wake up because there's a hand around my throat.
09:01His whole palm covers my neck.
09:03His thumb sits on my pulse.
09:05He isn't squeezing.
09:07He's staring at the door.
09:08This isn't a threat.
09:10He's checking the room.
09:11I keep my voice low.
09:13Talk to me.
09:13What's at the door?
09:15Somebody's in the hallway.
09:16Get behind me.
09:17He's off the bed in one movement.
09:19Three hundred pounds of orc and not a sound on the carpet.
09:22He puts his eye to the peephole.
09:25His shoulders drop.
09:26Room service.
09:28He opens the door.
09:29The bellboy on the other side sees seven feet of scarred mongrel filling the frame and drops the tray.
09:35Lysander catches it before it hits the carpet.
09:37He closes the door.
09:39He stands with his back to me.
09:43Send me back to the traitor at sunrise.
09:45What?
09:45I sit up in bed.
09:46He keeps the five thousand.
09:48He puts me down anyway.
09:50You walk away clean.
09:51Lysithor.
09:52Your pure blood forgives you.
09:54Your family forgives you.
09:56The story is you got drunk.
09:58You did something stupid.
09:59You came home.
10:00End of story.
10:01I get out of bed.
10:03I cross the carpet barefoot.
10:05I stand on my toes to put my palm flat against his sternum.
10:10His heart is jackrabbiting under my hand.
10:13He's terrified.
10:15Afraid last night was a lie.
10:17Did you sleep tonight?
10:21Yes.
10:22Three hours.
10:23How long since you slept three hours in a row before that?
10:27His mouth opens.
10:29He doesn't have an answer.
10:33I take a breath.
10:34I've been married for 18 months to the most beautiful orc in the city.
10:37He looks at me.
10:38He won't enter my bedroom.
10:40He won't touch my hand at dinner.
10:42He sleeps in a different wing because my perfume gives him a headache.
10:46He brushes my stepsister's hair every morning and pretends I'm not at the table.
10:50I curl my fingers in the fabric of his shirt.
10:53I've been invisible in my own house for 18 months.
10:57Sienna.
10:58He looks at me.
11:00Tonight, you saw me first.
11:02I look up.
11:03You fell asleep on my chest in three minutes.
11:06Do you understand what that did to me?
11:08I'm not sending you back.
11:10He stares down at me.
11:12His eyes are wet.
11:14You shouldn't love a thing like me.
11:16Then we have a problem.
11:18Because I think I already do.
11:20I take his hand.
11:21I lead him back to the bed.
11:22Lay down.
11:23You haven't slept in three days.
11:25He lays down.
11:26I curl on his chest.
11:28My ear is right over his heart.
11:31Why did you really put your hand on my throat earlier?
11:37Habit.
11:38Mongrels reach for the threat first, always.
11:41You weren't threatening me.
11:44You were guarding me.
11:45Kilmos laughs.
11:47He tips my chin up with one knuckle.
11:49His eye catches the light.
11:50Sullivan never touched you, did he?
11:56He never sat on the same couch as me.
11:59Then I'm going to be the first thing on your skin.
12:02He leans down.
12:04He kisses me.
12:06Hard.
12:07The broken tusk drags my lower lip open.
12:11He licks the cut.
12:13I moan into his mouth.
12:14He grabs both my wrists in one hand and pins them above my head.
12:19Other hand grips my jaw.
12:22Open.
12:23I open.
12:24His tongue is in my mouth.
12:26His knee shoves my thighs apart.
12:28He drops his weight on me.
12:30The bed dips.
12:31The frame groans.
12:32He's hard.
12:34I feel him against my hip, through the fabric.
12:36Heavy.
12:37Thick.
12:38Look at you.
12:40Tiny thing.
12:41Already shaking for me.
12:44He shoves my nightgown up to my waist.
12:47One hand, the other still pinning my wrists.
12:51His palm slides down between my things.
12:55Already wet.
12:58Lysianna.
12:59Say please.
13:01I gasp.
13:03Say it, Sienna.
13:06Please.
13:09His fingers work into me.
13:11Two at once.
13:13Thick.
13:14Rough.
13:14He's watching my face.
13:16That's it.
13:18There she is.
13:19He keeps going till I'm shaking under him.
13:22No.
13:22Don't.
13:23Don't.
13:24Then he stops.
13:25Hush.
13:27I want you on my tongue first.
13:33He drops down the bed.
13:35Shoulders shove my thighs wider.
13:37He hooks both my knees over his shoulders.
13:40His mouth goes to me.
13:42The intact tusk drags along my inner thigh.
13:45The sharp one.
13:47Just enough pressure to mark.
13:49I cry out.
13:50He eats me till my hands tear the sheets.
13:53Till my hips lift off the bed for him.
13:55He holds me down with one forearm across my stomach.
13:59When I come, he is watching me the whole time.
14:01He climbs back up me.
14:03His mouth is wet.
14:05He kisses me with it.
14:07Let's me taste myself.
14:08Now look at me when I take you.
14:11He pushes in.
14:13Slow.
14:13So slow.
14:15I feel every inch.
14:16I'm small under him.
14:18He's huge.
14:19He stretches me till my eyes go wet.
14:22He stops halfway.
14:24Breathe.
14:27He pushes the rest of the way in.
14:29I gasp his name.
14:31He swallows it.
14:32He starts to move.
14:34Deep.
14:35Hard.
14:35Steady.
14:36Each thrust pushes me up the mattress.
14:39His free hand pulls me back down onto him.
14:41He says it on every stroke.
14:43I sob it back.
14:45Mine.
14:48Fuck me harder, Lysenar.
14:50His good eye goes black.
14:52He bites the bond spot right where my neck meets my shoulder.
14:56My whole spine snaps tight.
14:58My hands fist in the sheets.
15:00I cry out into his hair.
15:02He holds me through it.
15:04He licks the blood off his lip.
15:05Then he licks the bite.
15:07Mine.
15:09Say it back.
15:10Yours.
15:11Again.
15:12Yours, Lysenar.
15:14He kisses me hard.
15:16I taste my own blood in his mouth and I don't care.
15:19It's done.
15:20You can't undo it.
15:22You're mine forever.
15:23Nobody is taking you from me.
15:26Good.
15:29I wake up to sunlight on his chest.
15:32He has been awake for a while.
15:34He is staring at the ceiling.
15:36His hand sits on my hip.
15:38He is afraid to move it.
15:42How long have you been up?
15:44Two hours.
15:45Why didn't you wake me?
15:46You were sleeping on me.
15:48I wasn't going to end that.
15:49The bite on my neck pulses with every heartbeat.
15:53Let me see.
15:55He sees me wince and sits up.
15:57He turns my head gently.
15:59His thumb traces around the mark.
16:01Never on it.
16:02It's scarred clean.
16:05It will show for the rest of your life.
16:07That's what I wanted.
16:10He studies me for a moment.
16:12You keep saying things like that.
16:14The words don't seem to cost you anything.
16:17They don't.
16:18They will.
16:19Your father will see the mark.
16:22Everyone you grew up around will see what bit you.
16:25I climb into his lap.
16:27I put his hand flat on my throat over the bite.
16:31Then they see it.
16:33He shakes his head once.
16:35Sienna.
16:36Take it off.
16:37I'll buy you a scarf downstairs.
16:38Wear it until the bruise fades.
16:40Walk back into that house clean.
16:42Tell them I was a bad dream.
16:44I pull back to look at him.
16:46You want me to hide you?
16:47I want you to survive me.
16:50Press.
16:51What?
16:52Press, Lysander.
16:54Hard enough to leave your prince next to your teeth.
16:57He doesn't press.
16:58I can't.
16:59Then stop telling me to take you off.
17:01His hands shake.
17:04He closes his eyes.
17:06He drops his forehead onto my collarbone.
17:09I feel him breathe out for the first time since he woke up.
17:13I order room service.
17:15Two of everything.
17:17Eat.
17:18Start with the eggs.
17:20He picks up a fork.
17:22He puts it back down.
17:24He picks up a piece of bacon with his fingers.
17:27He looks up.
17:28Waiting for me to correct him.
17:30I pick up my own piece with my fingers too.
17:33He almost smiles.
17:35My phone lights up on the carpet.
17:37Sully shifted.
17:38Tusk won't be trapped.
17:40Dad locked him in the wine cellar.
17:42Mom is crying.
17:43Where are you?
17:45Lysander reads it over my shoulder.
17:47His hand doesn't leave my throat.
17:50Get dressed.
17:52We're going home.
17:56The estate gates are open.
17:57The guard is at his post.
17:59He doesn't look at us.
18:01Stay outside, Marco.
18:03Whatever you hear, stay outside.
18:05He looks relieved and nods.
18:07I walk up the gravel drive with At Lysander a step behind me.
18:11He doesn't speak.
18:12He is scanning every window.
18:15He is already counting exits.
18:17The foyer is wrecked.
18:19There's glass on the marble and a console table on its side.
18:22My mother is on the stairs with mascara down her face.
18:25Sullivan has my father against the wall.
18:28Six foot ten of him with tusks fully out.
18:30My father's feet are six inches off the marble.
18:33Cora is at the top of the stairs.
18:35She has her phone up.
18:36She is filming the whole thing.
18:37I walk into the middle of the foyer.
18:40Sully, put him down.
18:42Sullivan turns slowly.
18:44He doesn't recognize me for a beat.
18:46Then he does.
18:47And his nostrils flare.
18:51You smell like him, Sienna.
18:54Let my father down.
18:55I can fix this.
18:56I can wash it off.
18:59I can mark over it.
19:00Sullivan.
19:01Put.
19:02Him.
19:02Down.
19:03He drops my father.
19:05My father slides down the wall to the marble.
19:08Coughing, but alive.
19:11Sullivan crosses the foyer towards me.
19:13He stops three feet away.
19:15He cannot take the next step.
19:16Pure blood instinct won't let him cross the air between us.
19:19He has smelled the bond.
19:21He knows what it is.
19:22Lysander walks through the doorway behind him.
19:24Sullivan's whole body locks up.
19:27Lysander doesn't lift a hand.
19:28He walks to the middle of the foyer.
19:30He says four words in a language I don't know.
19:34Then, Sullivan drops to both knees.
19:40His tusks retract.
19:42The black in his eyes pulls back to gold.
19:45The foyer goes dead silent.
19:47My mother gasps from the stairs.
19:49Sully.
19:51What did he just say?
19:53Lysander answers in flat English.
19:55I told him my mother's name.
19:57My father lifts his head from the marble.
20:00Who is your mother, son?
20:02Lysander looks at me first.
20:04Then at my father.
20:06Her name was Merivin of the North Forest.
20:10My father stops breathing for a beat.
20:12My father pours brandy in his studi.
20:14His hands shake.
20:16He doesn't drink any of it.
20:17Lysander stands by the door.
20:18He won't sit in this house yet.
20:20Merivin of the North Forest married a human.
20:23That makes you highborn.
20:25And that makes Vark of House Drenhan your uncle.
20:28Yes.
20:29My father sets the brandy down very carefully.
20:33Sienna.
20:34Do you understand what you walked into an alley and bought?
20:37A husband.
20:38A highborn heir.
20:40There are seven of them on this coast.
20:42That sounds like my problem to handle.
20:44That is everyone's problem now.
20:46Including mine.
20:47He looks at Lysander.
20:49Why were you in that alley?
20:53My uncle put me there 15 years ago.
20:56He paid Ortloff and sons 12,000 pieces.
20:58They took my eye and snapped my tusk.
21:00They broke my horn.
21:02He didn't want anyone to buy me.
21:03No one was supposed to see whose blood I had.
21:06If I died young, my mother's lands passed to him.
21:09And you didn't die.
21:10He didn't die.
21:11He went through 12 cages.
21:13He walked out of an alley last night.
21:16He had my chain in his hand.
21:18My father is silent at his desk.
21:21And he bit you?
21:22After one night?
21:24Yes.
21:25Your grandmother died last month, son.
21:27Mero's mother.
21:28The estate is in probate.
21:29I don't care about the estate.
21:31You should care.
21:32The day Vec learns that Lysander is alive, he is coming through that gate.
21:36Lysander speaks from the doorway.
21:38Quiet.
21:39He already knows.
21:40He felt the bond pulse at 2am.
21:45Then he is already on a plane.
21:47How long do we have?
21:49Six hours.
21:50Maybe less.
21:51I leave my father in the study.
21:53I find Cora in my bedroom.
21:55She is on my bed.
21:56She holds a phone in one hand.
21:58She holds a paring knife in the other.
22:00The blade is pointed at her own throat.
22:03Hi, sis.
22:04We need to talk.
22:08I sit down across from her.
22:11Put it down, Cora.
22:13You took Sully.
22:14He was never yours.
22:15Mom and dad bought him for you and he chose me anyway.
22:20You imprinted a 12-year-old animal who was scared and confused.
22:24That's grooming.
22:26That's not love.
22:28Send your monster husband away!
22:31Send him back tonight!
22:33Or I'll do it on your bed!
22:35I lean closer.
22:36You won't.
22:39Watch me.
22:40A girl who actually wanted to die wouldn't come here.
22:43Not to her sister's bedroom.
22:45She would do it in her own room.
22:47You came here because you need an audience.
22:50She blinks at me.
22:51I'm the audience.
22:53Drop the knife.
22:53Her hand shakes.
22:55I've watched you cry on cue for 18 months.
22:59I've watched you switch the tears off the second the camera leaves.
23:03Sis.
23:05This morning you filmed dad choking against a wall.
23:08You didn't drop the phone to help him.
23:10You narrated it.
23:12Her face cracks open.
23:14A girl who films her dad choking.
23:16She doesn't slit her throat over a husband.
23:20Drop it.
23:21She drops the knife.
23:23Then she starts crying.
23:26Real crying.
23:27Not the kind I'm used to from her.
23:30I hate that you came back!
23:31I had everything!
23:32I had dad!
23:34And mom!
23:35And Sully!
23:35And this house!
23:37Then they found you!
23:39And I became the second one!
23:41You had a stolen life.
23:43It was always going to end the day they found me.
23:46Sis, please.
23:47Switzerland.
23:49Friday.
23:50Lindenburg Academy.
23:52You don't come back until you're 21.
23:55She nods at me.
23:56She doesn't bargain.
23:58I pick the knife up off the bed thread.
24:01I walk out into the hall.
24:06Lysenar is in the hallway.
24:08He has heard every word through the door.
24:10You didn't have to be that hard with her.
24:12I was 17 once.
24:13Nobody was soft with me back then.
24:15She isn't broken.
24:16She is spoiled.
24:17There's a difference.
24:18You smell different right now.
24:20Just for one minute let me hold you.
24:21He opens his arms.
24:23I walk into him.
24:24I don't cry.
24:25He holds me in the hallway.
24:27Behind him, down the corridor.
24:28My mother is standing in a doorway.
24:30She is watching us closely.
24:32She doesn't speak.
24:33She watches him put his hand on the back of my head.
24:36Then she goes back into her room and closes the door.
24:39The doorbell rings at 3 p.m.
24:41Now the Lyster straightens up.
24:43The softness leaves his body fast.
24:45Who is at the door?
24:46Sienna?
24:46I'm not expecting anyone.
24:48He checks the camera in the front hall.
24:50There are three orcs on the step.
24:52They wear iron coats with full tusks and unbroken horns.
24:55My uncle's men.
24:57Six hours, you said.
25:00He was closer than I thought.
25:01He moves me behind him.
25:02He opens the door himself.
25:04The oldest of the three steps in.
25:06Six foot eleven.
25:07In a silk-lined coat.
25:08He sees at Lycender.
25:10His eyes go to the broken horn in the dead eye.
25:12They go to the snapped tusk.
25:14They go to the brand under the shirt.
25:16He smiles at him.
25:18Forgive the introsion.
25:19I'm Lord Vec of House Drenum.
25:22I've come to collect my nephew.
25:30He's married, I tell him.
25:32To you.
25:33A human.
25:34I admire your nerve.
25:36His smile widens.
25:37But my nephew is not property you can keep.
25:40He belongs to the house until he is twenty-five.
25:43Get out of my father's house.
25:45Vark turns to Atlithlin.
25:47He says something quiet in the old language.
25:49Listener's scar twitches.
25:51What did he say?
25:52He asked if I had taught the human pet to sit yet.
25:55My father grips the hall doorway hard.
25:58Lycener steps fully into the foyer.
26:00Uncle.
26:01You paid Orphal and Ozon's twelve thousand pieces.
26:04They put a knife in my eye when I was eight.
26:07Lycener!
26:07You paid them to snap my tusk.
26:10To break my horn.
26:11To brawn me mongrel seventy-two.
26:13That is enough.
26:14You sold me to twelve cages over fifteen years.
26:17You're here today because Grandmother is dead.
26:19Her will makes me richer than you.
26:22Varek's smile sharpens.
26:23Your mother married beneath her.
26:25Your father was a stain on our bloodline.
26:28We did what was necessary.
26:30The three of them step toward me.
26:32Varek's hand comes up to strike.
26:34Lysander moves on him.
26:36The first hit cracks bone.
26:38The second is wetter.
26:39The third rattles the chandelier above us.
26:41My father grabs me and pulls me into the hallway.
26:44He clamps his hand over my mouth.
26:47The foyer doors swing back open.
26:49Lysamar stands in the frame.
26:51There's blood on his knuckles and a cut on his cheekbone.
26:54Three highborn Oryx lie on the marble.
26:56None of them are getting up soon.
26:57None of them are dead.
26:58My father starts to laugh.
26:59Quiet at first.
27:00Then louder.
27:01Lysamore turns to me.
27:03He looks wild.
27:04His hand is shaking hard.
27:05Take me somewhere I can put my back to a wall.
27:09I take him to my bathroom.
27:10I lock the door behind us.
27:12I sit him on the closed lid of the toilet.
27:15I turn on the hot water in the sink.
27:17He doesn't speak.
27:18He stares at the tile between his feet.
27:20His hands won't stop shaking.
27:22I run a washcloth under the tap.
27:24I wring it out.
27:26I kneel in front of him on the bath mat.
27:28Give me your hands.
27:29He gives them to me.
27:31I wash them.
27:32Knuckle by knuckle.
27:33The blood isn't his.
27:35It comes off easy.
27:36Look at me.
27:37He doesn't look up.
27:39Lysander.
27:40Look at me.
27:41He looks at me.
27:43And then he breaks.
27:44His shoulders drop.
27:46He starts to cry.
27:48He puts his forehead against my colivone and his whole body shakes.
27:52I hold the back of his head.
27:54I let him fall apart.
28:24I was eight.
28:28I don't know.
28:34I want to say that.
28:38I don't know.
28:40I want to say that.
28:52I want to say that.
28:54eight-year-old the eight-year-old came back with a wife i don't deserve this you keep saying that
29:02because it's true then we have a problem i'm not leaving you i take his face in both my hands
29:08i kiss the dead side first the scarred one where the knife went in he flinches the way he did
29:14with
29:14the towel last night i do it again slower this time the third time he doesn't flinch at all
29:20he looks at me steady i'm going to need you for the rest of my life i'm telling you now
29:25you can
29:26decide before this gets worse already decided 2 a.m last night get in the bath he gets in the
29:32bath
29:32he doesn't fit at all his knees come up over the rim his broken horn taps the tile above him
29:38he laughs at himself the sound is short and surprised i haven't been in a bathtub since i
29:43was a child you're in one now i sit on the edge in my clothes i dip the washcloth in
29:49the water
29:50i start at his shoulder i work down his arm and across his chest the brand on his ribs is
29:55the
29:55last thing i get to the number 12 is burned into him in black ink the brand is older than
30:00the knife
30:01scar the skin around it is still raised after 15 years i put my home flat on it tell me
30:08what this one
30:11cage number 12th owner they burn the new number over the old one each time the first six are under
30:17it
30:18you can feel the ridges if you press i can feel them i do press and the others he starts
30:26to tell me
30:26about them he doesn't stop for an hour there was the owner who fed him once a week there was
30:33the one
30:33who used him in the pit there was the one in maryland with the daughter she slipped him bread
30:38under the door at night her father caught her doing it he never knew what happened to the daughter
30:42after that i listen to him i keep the water warm i don't cry he doesn't need that for me
30:48when he is
30:49done he sits very still sienna yes nobody has ever asked me what they were nobody is ever going to
30:59skip
31:00that question again he looks at me he is steady for the first time all day i want you to
31:08see the
31:09rest of them too i help him stand he drips water on the bath mat i dry him with a
31:15towel i fetch twice
31:16from the closet i find every scar he tells me to find six are on his back one sits under
31:22his jaw
31:22one is on the inside of his thigh he won't explain that one i put my mouth on each of
31:28them when i get to
31:29the brand i stay there longer this one we are going to put my name over sienna not removing it
31:38tattooing over it i want my name on you not his number he doesn't say anything for a long time
31:49all right
31:53tomorrow after we deal with the estate after my father makes a call tomorrow night we are going to
32:00a tattoo shop we are covering that brand with my name tomorrow i get up on my toes to reach
32:08his ear
32:09and tonight you are going to sleep in a real bed in this house in my bed sullivan can hear
32:18it through
32:18the wall and i don't care his eyes fill again different this time we don't make it to my bed
32:24we get as far as the bedroom door he stops me in the doorway he puts both hands flat on
32:29the frame
32:30one hand on either side of my head he looks down at me i haven't had anyone since i was
32:35eight years old
32:36i haven't been allowed to i know that i don't know how to do this slow you did it last
32:44night last night i
32:45was an animal you brought home from an alley tonight i'm in your house i'm in your father's house
32:51i keep waiting for someone to come tell me to leave i take his hand off the door frame i
32:56put it on my
32:57throat over the bite mark nobody is coming to tell you to leave he lifts me both hands under my
33:03thighs
33:03he walks me to the bed he lays me down gently slow tonight
33:10he undresses me without taking his eye off my face
33:13each button and each strap he folds the dress over the chair and sets it down carefully
33:19open for me i open my knees for him he kisses the inside of one then the inside of the
33:25other
33:25he works his way up slowly he keeps his eye on my face the whole time when his mouth gets
33:30where it is
33:30going i make a sound a sound i have never made in this house i make sure it carries through
33:36the wall
33:37he laughs against me he doesn't stop what he's doing when i come he climbs back up me he pushes
33:44in slowly inch by inch he watches my face the whole time you're mine yours he moves in long slow
33:53strokes
33:54the bed barely makes a sound his weight rests on his forearms his forehead presses it against mine
33:59i have you nobody's taking you from me he stops moving he looks at me say that again sienna
34:07nobody is taking you not your uncle and not the auctioneer he is with me now he closes his eyes
34:14he starts to move again slower and deeper than before he puts his mouth back on the bite on my
34:20throat he doesn't bite this time he just rests his mouth on the mark and holds when i come the
34:25second
34:25time it is quiet between us my whole body shakes under him and i don't make a sound i just
34:30hold
34:31his face and watch him watch me he follows me a minute later he whispers something in the old
34:36language against my kolopon what did you say my mother's full name i haven't said it to another
34:45person 15 years i wanted her to hear yours
34:54i wake up to my mother in the doorway she is in her dressing gown with no makeup on
34:59she has been up all night isander is asleep on his front beside me one arm is thrown across my
35:06waist
35:06the brand on his ribs is showing in the morning light she sees the brand she covers her mouth with
35:12both hands i sit up slowly i don't move his arm mom sienna come in or don't don't stand in
35:20the doorway
35:20she comes in she sits on the edge of the bed she looks at his face she looks at the
35:27bite on my neck
35:28she looks back at his face again your father told me everything the grandmother the estate the uncle
35:36who paid people to do this to him and you brought him home this morning yes after one night she
35:41puts her
35:42hand on my knee through the blanket i'm going to say something you are going to let me say it
35:48go ahead for 18 months i have watched the pure blood we bought you i have watched him ignore you
35:53in
35:53this house i told myself it was an adjustment i told myself it was cora's fault i told myself it
36:01was
36:01the perfume mom let me finish i am 60 years old i don't know what to do with my face
36:10i take her hand
36:12in mine tell me you're sorry that's what you do with your face she doesn't move for a while i'm
36:19sorry
36:20for sullivan and for cora for all of it for 18 years of looking for you and giving up
36:27i am sorry sienna i don't say anything back she doesn't expect me to she stands up from the bed
36:37your father is in the study the lawyer is on his way the estate must be moved out of probate
36:41today
36:42otherwise your uncle's brother will file a case by noon tell him i'm coming down she stops at the
36:48door she looks back at me sienna what is it whatever this one is whatever they call him in
36:56their old language he is the one i would have picked for you if i had been the kind of
37:01mother
37:01who got to pick she closes the door behind her lysaner's arm tightens on my waist he has been awake
37:08for the last minute your mother just apologized to you she did in english i noticed my mother would
37:16have liked her i kiss his shoulder the scarred one get up the lawyer arrives in 20 minutes
37:27the lawyer arrives at nine he sets his briefcase on my father's desk he is 60 something in a gray
37:33suit
37:34he has been delivering complicated news for 30 years mr quinn miss quinn lord drenman lysidar doesn't
37:41react to the title he sits in the chair next to mine his hand stays on the back of my
37:45chair
37:46the estate of lady alice drennan was propated in chambers last week her amended will was executed
37:52three days before her death three witnesses signed it read it to us he reads it out loud
37:58the estate of lady alice drennan passes in full it goes to the human woman bonded to her grandson
38:03to lysaldro of the north forest by name sienna quinn i sit there for a moment the lawyer waits patiently
38:13how much exactly 840 million dollars in assets lands in three districts a coastal harbor two textile
38:21mills a working mine a house you will never need to set feet in not if you don't wish to
38:26why me she
38:28didn't trust her own house to protect her grandson she made you the shield instead she never met me she
38:35had
38:36three people watching you for nine months she knew exactly who she was leaving it to lysima hasn't moved
38:42during any of this i turned to him did you know about this no i didn't did you suspect i
38:48suspected she
38:49had someone watching me i didn't know it was you i didn't know it was already done i look at
38:54the lawyer
38:56can i refuse it you can the estate then passes to the next eligible heir your husband's uncle lord
39:03virke i look at lysidar i'm not refusing it
39:11no it's not for me it's for the boy in the chair yes i signed the papers there are 43
39:20pages of them
39:21the lawyer's pen runs out halfway through my father gives him a new one when it is done
39:26the lawyer stands up he bows slightly to be polite lady drenum don't call me that yet it is the
39:33name on
39:34the deed now ma'am he leaves the study my father pours himself the brandy he didn't drink yesterday
39:41he drinks it down now sienna dad i gave you a pure blood for your birthday he was the most
39:48expensive thing
39:49in this house i remember he is now the fourth most expensive thing in this house and that is only
39:56counting your husband the estate is the first he looks at at lyslar sotheby's takes sullivan tomorrow
40:03open auction no reserve dad not the auction there's a retired doctor in maine he works with show orcs who
40:12couldn't adjust sullivan is going to relearn how to be a person without a master my father studies
40:19my face you are kinder than i would be in your place i'm not kind i'm just done with all
40:26of it
40:26he nods he picks up the phone to make the call six months later the doctor in maine writes back
40:35sullivan is feeding himself he answers to his own name now lysaner squeezes my hand under the desk
40:43i squeeze back outside the study window cora is on the lawn with her suitcase
40:52cora is in the garden when i find her her suitcase is open on the lawn the housekeeper is folding
40:58sweats
40:58into it carefully cora is sitting on the stone bench her arms are wrapped around her knees she
41:04is 17 years old she looks 12. i leave on friday i know i packed half of this myself i
41:12saw you did
41:13i sit down next to her on the bench sis
41:19what is it
41:23i saw you and him in the hallway last night and he put his hand on the back of your
41:29head
41:30the way sully puts his hand on mine when i'm crying cora that isn't what i want to say what
41:37i
41:37want to say is this that was the first time in 18 months the first time i have seen someone
41:43touch
41:43you like a person mom and dad don't ever touch you sully doesn't touch you i throw things at you
41:51you don't have anybody sis i have him now that's exactly what i'm saying she turns on the bench to
41:58face me i have been telling myself this story for two years the story is that you stole my life
42:05from me
42:06you came in you pushed me out of every spot i had maybe that's true a little
42:11but i watched you walk into the foite yesterday your hair was unwashed there was a bite mark on
42:18your throat a seven foot orc walked in behind you and i realized something what you weren't pushing me
42:26out you were finally walking in you have been outside this family the entire time i just couldn't
42:32see it before i am quiet for a long moment i'm not asking you to forgive me i'm asking you
42:39to let me
42:40write to you every sunday handwritten letters mailed at the end of every month yes i'll write back to
42:47one in three not when you're performing when you stop performing deal she wipes her face with the back
42:56of her hand he is going to be your husband for real isn't he he already is we're doing the
43:04rest of
43:05the paperwork next week can i come to the wedding yes even from switzerland we'll fly you back for the
43:15day
43:15you can come back at christmas every year too lindenburg until 21 then we see who you've become
43:23she nods at that she puts her head on my shoulder she hasn't done that since she was 11 i
43:32remember the
43:32exact date sis he loves you i know that he loves you in a way sully never loved me i
43:44figured it out this
43:44morning how did you figure it out sully loved being mine lysither loves you she gets up from the bench
43:55she goes back to her suitcase i sit there a moment longer the housekeeper folds another sweater
44:02the sun moves on the lawn tonight lester and i have a tattoo to get
44:08that night lessender and i drive into the city we go to a tattoo shop on the lower east side
44:15the artist
44:16is a woman in her 50s half her face is tattooed already she doesn't blink at his size or at
44:23his face
44:24she says only one thing show me what we're covering he lifts his shirt
44:30the brand is right there the number 12 the raised ridges of the six older numbers are visible underneath
44:38what do you want to put over it her name she looks over at me she doesn't ask if i
44:45am sure about this
44:48what font whatever he wants i want to be able to read it from across a room she draws something
44:56on
44:56tracing paper she holds the paper up to his ribs the word reads sienna in tall block letters tall enough
45:04to swallow the brand whole tall enough to swallow the six numbers underneath it that one she does the
45:11work it takes four hours he doesn't make a single sound the whole time he keeps his eyes on me
45:19i sit
45:20on a stool beside the table i hold his hand i don't let go once when she is finished she
45:27wipes him down
45:29she wraps the ribs in plastic she steps back to look lord drennan i don't work on highborn i have
45:38never
45:38been asked to why me tonight because you don't work on highborn because you wouldn't have done
45:44this for my uncle because this is not a drennan tattoo she nods slowly she understands what he means
45:53he sits up on the table he looks down at his own side the word sienna sits under the plastic
45:59the skin
45:59is red around the edges and starting to scab over the brand is gone the six numbers under it are
46:05gone
46:06everything is gone everything is gone except my name on him he puts his hand flat over it his eyes
46:11fill with tears you did it i told you i would your name is on me now the number is
46:21gone
46:24they do he pays the artist three times what she charged him she doesn't argue with that
46:31in the car he keeps his hand over the tattoo the whole way home
46:39sienna what is it my grandmother left you 840 million dollars i'm aware of that
46:46and you took me to a tattoo shop in a strip mall
46:52i had to keep my promise to you he laughs quietly at that will you marry me sienna
46:59the legal kind with the paper and the witnesses so when somebody asks me what i am
47:06my answer doesn't start with the word mongrel yes when next saturday the garden cora flies back for the
47:15day my father walks me out and your mother my mother is doing my hair she told me this morning
47:24i didn't even ask her he kisses my hand the one i am still holding his with
47:31saturday is six days away six days to plan a wedding
47:37it is saturday in the garden behind the house
47:41there are 40 chairs set out and white ribbon on every one the housekeeper has been crying since
47:47dawn for reasons he won't explain my mother does my hair on the back porch she works in silence for
47:55a
47:55long time your grandmother had this hair i never told you i never met her no you didn't she would
48:05have
48:05liked you she would have hated him mom that is a compliment the women in my family always hated the
48:15right men she secures the last pin she steps back from the mirror you look like her sienna you haven't
48:25said that before i haven't been able to say it she sets the brush down i'm going to sit in
48:32the front row
48:33i am going to cry don't look at me look at him i was already going to she kisses the
48:42top of my head
48:44she walks down to the garden cora comes in wearing a white dress she is the maid of honor we
48:52didn't
48:52announce this she just showed up in it he's already there sis i can see him through the window
49:00he is in a black coat with a dark red lining those are the north forest colors his mother's scene
49:07is
49:07on the collar the lawyer in geneva sent it over he is standing at the end of the garden in
49:14the sun
49:14his eyes are closed cora hands me the bouquet don't trip sis i won't trip
49:25my father is in the doorway behind us he has stopped shaking these last few days sweetheart
49:33daddy i gave you a pure blood for your 22nd birthday
49:38day i remember i want to give you something today something i should have given you back then
49:48permission to walk out of any room any room you don't want to be in you're a little late on
49:53that
49:53dad i know take it anyway he puts my hand on his arm he walks me down the aisle lysander
50:01opens his eyes
50:02he has been waiting since 10 in the morning he isn't going to miss a single step now
50:09my father puts my hand in his hand take care of her son the first 18 years i didn't
50:17yes sir the priest is the chaplain from our parish church he reads in english lysander asked him for
50:26this he says the vows i say the vows back the priest closes the book there is one tradition
50:32i have been asked to honor lord renaman speak the name your mother gave you loud enough for the
50:39garden to hear lysander doesn't turn to face the chairs he turns to face me instead he says it
50:48three syllables in the old language the chairs are quiet for a beat then 40 people say it back in
50:55two
50:55languages at once my parents cora the housekeeper and the lawyer the tattoo artist in the back row
51:03the priest turns to me lady drenard there is no human tradition for this party say what you wish to
51:11say i look out at the chairs and speak up my name is sienna drevorn i bought him in an
51:16alley with cash
51:17he's mine now the garden laughs at that lysidar does not his eyes are wet he leans down to me
51:26he kisses
51:28my face first then my mouth the priest closes the book it was an intimate reception 40 chairs were
51:37placed around round tables at eight o'clock the garden was lit up with lanterns my father stands first he
51:45taps his glass with a fork i had a speech written i'm not gonna give it tonight i'm going to
51:51say one
51:52thing instead he looks at lysidar my daughter ate breakfast alone in this house for 18 months she
52:02doesn't anymore that's because of you sit down eat the cake lysinar sits back down
52:13cora stands up next she is shaking she has never given a speech my sister came home at 23 the
52:22day she
52:22walked through the door i threw a butter knife at her head i missed by an inch i have spent
52:27two years
52:28wishing i had not missed the garden goes very still i'm leaving for switzerland on tuesday
52:36i am going to be a different person when i come back not because she sent me away because she
52:44came
52:44and found me crying last week and she didn't have to i look up at her my father has been
52:53talking to
52:53her about more than i knew i want her husband to know something too you take care of her that's
53:01all
53:02i'm asking for as long as you walk lysilor stands he bows slightly to her yes she sits down crying
53:13my
53:14mother takes her hand under the table later there is dancing lysithor has never been allowed to dance
53:21the first thing he does is step on my foot i'm sorry sienna that was your foot try again
53:30he tries again he steps on foot again i i am terrible at this you are terrible keep going anyway
53:41by the fifth song he isn't terrible anymore he has stopped looking down at his feet my mother dances
53:47with my father they haven't danced together in a decade he cries on her shoulder quietly she
53:54pretends not to notice at eleven i find at lysilor at the edge of the garden he has two glasses
54:00of
54:00champagne for me for you i take one we sit on the stone bench where cora and i sat last
54:11week
54:13lady drenman don't start with that you'll have to get used to it eventually just not tonight
54:21we are quiet together for a moment i have a question at sienna i've been holding it since the bath
54:27ask me anything the first night in the alley the trader said i was already ruined
54:34why did you say yes i told you because nobody else would is that the whole answer no it isn't
54:44tell me the rest i thought you were like me that we could be together he puts down his glass
54:51sienna
54:53since the first time i held you i have been afraid you would not stay i am staying
55:00he picks me up off the bench he carries me through the garden to the back door
55:05the garden is empty by now the lanterns are still on take me upstairs husband yes we are in our
55:14bedroom
55:16the fire is in the hearth the door is closed behind us he sets me down on the rug he
55:23kneels
55:23down in front of me he undoes the dress slowly the same way he did it the first night in
55:29this house
55:32he stops when the bodious falls i need to tell you something before tonight starts
55:39i sit down on the rug with him tell me what it is i'm going to wake up tomorrow and
55:44you'll still be here
55:45and the day after i didn't believe that until today what changed today 40 men in your garden called out
55:54my mother's name you stood before them all you said you bought me from an alley you said it loudly
56:02he
56:03puts his hand over the tattoo on his ribs your name is on me everyone in that garden knows it
56:10they do
56:11he leans his forehead against mine i'm yours you're mine i press my forehead back against his
56:19i pull him down to the rug with me i put my mouth on the tattoo
56:26lay back for me he lays back on the rug i want to look at you tonight look at me
56:34then i sit on his
56:36hips i put his hands on my waist i move slow he watches me the whole time neither of us
56:43is in a
56:43hurry we have time now when i come he holds me through it he doesn't look away once he follows
56:53me a
56:53minute later he sits up afterwards he pulls me against his chest he puts his mouth on the bite on
57:02my
57:02throat the scar is healed now he kisses it instead of biting it i love you sienna drennan
57:10i love you too lissadar he pulls the blanket down over us the fire is still going in the hearth
57:17he falls asleep on his back with his hand over the tattoo his other hand stays on my hip i
57:24lie awake for
57:24a few minutes listening to him breathe steady 18 months ago i ate breakfast alone three weeks ago i
57:32bought a man in an alley tonight my husband is asleep on the rug my name is on his ribs
57:40best money i ever
57:42spent i close my eyes and sleep
57:46you