You Were Wrong I Am a Dragon - FULL | Reelshort
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00:04For three years, Seraphine has been saying that she is pregnant with a dragon child.
00:09The midwife brought the bundle out, and the room went completely silent.
00:13It was not a dragon.
00:15It was not even a snake.
00:17It was a small, soft, pale worm.
00:20A common earthworm wrapped in royal linen.
00:22And I thought, this is her punishment.
00:25My name is Wren.
00:26I have lived twice.
00:27The first time, I came into the world as Seraphine's daughter.
00:31Just a black snake that nobody wanted.
00:33My dragon father only glanced at me.
00:35My snake mother decided I was the reason her life had fallen apart.
00:39She cut out my tongue and gouged out my eyes.
00:42She threw me into the thrall pens before I was six months old.
00:45Finally, they fed me to the hunting dogs and ate me.
00:48When I died, I met the ancient.
00:51She gave me a chance.
00:52I chose to be Aunt Selene's child.
00:55What I didn't account for was Seraphine.
00:57She had been given the same second chance.
01:00The healer had just confirmed the pregnancy.
01:02The moment she heard the news, she demanded three doses of an abortifacient draft.
01:07She thought that if she ended the pregnancy, Aldric would never leave her.
01:11But what she was carrying this time was a true dragon heir.
01:17The dragon king had declared it flammable.
01:19Whichever of his nine princes fathered a dragonborn child would inherit the throne.
01:24Of all nine princes, the third prince, Aldric, had the strongest claim.
01:28His own blood was pure.
01:30And his chosen consulant, Seraphine, carried traces of true dragon lineage.
01:36This is wonderful, Seraphine.
01:38We are both with children.
01:40I never thought I would carry it again.
01:43The familiar voice confirmed it.
01:45I was truly inside my Aunt Selene's womb.
01:49Selene was gentle and kind.
01:51Her health, however, was fragile.
01:52She had entered the palace at the same time as Seraphine.
01:55And being given to the seventh prince.
01:57A man as quietly ailing as she was.
01:59While Seraphine was tormenting me.
02:01Selene had been the only one who treated me with any kindness.
02:04After I died.
02:06It was Selene who wrested my body from the dog's mouths.
02:09She built me a small grave marker.
02:11And said prayers over it every day.
02:13That was how I accumulated enough spiritual merit.
02:16To stand before the ancient at all.
02:18Before I had long to enjoy it.
02:20I heard Seraphine's voice from outside.
02:22Physician.
02:23I don't want this child.
02:25Give me a droth to end it.
02:29Seraphine.
02:30Have you lost your mind?
02:31You have waited so long for this child.
02:34Why would you end it?
02:35In my previous life.
02:37Seraphine had been cautious throughout her pregnancy.
02:40Now she was demanding an abortifacient.
02:42The moment the healer confirmed the news.
02:44She had been reborn too.
02:46There was no other explanation.
02:49Because it's a wretched thing.
02:51Selene.
02:52I know what I'm carrying.
02:54It is not a dragon.
02:56It's a little black snake.
02:58And when Aldric sees it, he will leave me.
03:00I won't let that happen.
03:04The child isn't even born yet.
03:06How can you know what it is?
03:09And if Aldric truly leaves you over a child, your anger belongs with him.
03:13Not with it.
03:14Seraphine wasn't listening.
03:16Physician!
03:16Come here at once!
03:18My lady.
03:20Dragon blood is sacred.
03:22By the Dragon King's own decree, no one may end a pregnancy of their own will.
03:26Those who do are exiled from Dragon King permanently.
03:29If you persist, I will have no choice but to report this to the Dragon King himself.
03:34Seraphine would die sooner than leave Aldric.
03:36She would never willingly leave the Dragon Court.
03:39I was joking.
03:41Of course I want this child.
03:43I love this child dearly.
03:46But the moment she stepped somewhere with no one watching, she drove her fist hard into her own belly.
03:53You little wretch.
03:55This life, I will be rid of you.
04:02News of both pregnancies reached the Dragon King quickly.
04:05With only two of his prince's consorts expecting heirs, he was openly delighted.
04:09The seventh prince, Edric, was so overjoyed when he learned of Selene's pregnancy that he didn't sleep the whole night.
04:16He pressed his lips to her belly.
04:18Little one, don't give your mother trouble.
04:20Be good and quiet.
04:22And when you come out, I'll take you to the market and buy you meat pie.
04:26The child won't even have teeth.
04:30Whatever she wants, I'll find a way.
04:32I'd pull stars out of the sky if she asked.
04:35Edric.
04:37What if it isn't a dragon?
04:38What if it's only a snake?
04:39Would you still want us?
04:40He went still.
04:41Then he pulled her close.
04:43Selene, do you want to leave me?
04:45He held her tighter.
04:46Dragon or snake or anything else in between, I won't let either of you go.
04:50Not ever.
04:51It sounded like something a lovesick boy would say.
04:54Selene laughed and cried at the same time.
04:56I felt it too, that warmth.
04:58He built my cradle himself and carved small wooden horses for me to play with.
05:03Every evening, he pressed his ear to Selene's belly and told me stories.
05:07He even sought out the most experienced midwives in the palace and learned everything they knew about tending to mothers
05:13and infants.
05:15Selene, for her part, took care of everything.
05:18Every step, every movement, so as not to disturb me.
05:21I did my part in return.
05:23And whenever I found something wrong in Selene's body, old illness, stagnant blood, a quiet weakness she had carried for
05:30years, I quietly consumed it.
05:34Four months have passed like this.
05:37Selene had not gained so much as an ounce.
05:39But her face was flushed and healthy.
05:41Her skin had color.
05:42The shadows under her eyes were gone.
05:49Most women weaken during pregnancy.
05:51Their bodies are drawn upon.
05:52But your highness has grown stronger.
05:54Old elements I once thought permanent have simply vanished.
05:57The only time I have ever seen a pulse like this was when the late dragon queen carried the dragon
06:02king himself.
06:04Edric, did you hear that?
06:06The baby is healing me.
06:08She's so small and already so thoughtful.
06:11She's going to be the kindest, most remarkable child.
06:14She really is a blessing.
06:16And she hasn't even arrived yet.
06:18Neither of them had paid any attention to the physician's final words.
06:21That my pulse resembled the dragon king's own.
06:25Whatever I turned out to be, they would have held on to me.
06:28Selene, once she had calmed herself.
06:30How Seraphine was faring.
06:32At the mention of Seraphine, the physician's expression darkened.
06:35I have never in my life seen a mother less willing to protect her own child.
06:40Seraphine had spent the past four months making herself miserable.
06:43She ate food that inflamed the baby.
06:46Hot, bitter things in turns.
06:48The child reacted violently, kicking without rest.
06:51And Seraphine's own suffering was considerable.
06:53She vomited constantly.
06:57Aldric found her revolting and stayed away.
07:00Seraphine, furious, blamed everything on the child inside her.
07:04When she heard that strenuous movement might disturb the baby's sleep,
07:08she began moving without pause.
07:10When she learned the hot springs could cause damage,
07:14she soaked in them until her skin peeled.
07:17Whatever is inside her is remarkable, frankly.
07:20After everything she's done to it, it's still holding on.
07:23Thank every power that existed that I was not the one there.
07:31Selene was genuinely kind.
07:33When she heard what Seraphine had done to herself,
07:35she packed a cart full of tonics and medicinal parcels and went to see her.
07:39She wanted to try one more time to talk sense into her.
07:41She had barely crossed the threshold.
07:43When she smelled something wrong,
07:44Seraphine was standing in the middle of the room
07:46and drinking in long, desperate thoughts.
07:49Seraphine!
07:50What is this?
07:51What are you drinking?
07:53It's a remedy.
07:54It can turn what's inside me,
07:56change the snake to a dragon.
07:59Seraphine,
08:00there is no such drug in the world.
08:02You will kill your child.
08:04Good.
08:05I'd rather it die than have to do it myself.
08:08Seraphine,
08:08whatever you carries,
08:09it is still your child.
08:10If it ever knew how you treated it,
08:12it would hate you.
08:13Easy for you to say, Selene.
08:14You didn't end up carrying a wretched little snake.
08:16And don't pretend you don't know what's in your belly.
08:17Everyone's whispering that you're carrying a true heir.
08:19Try swapping what you have for what I have.
08:21Then we'll see how saintly you are.
08:23Since the physician's visit,
08:24rumors have spread through court
08:25that Selene might be carrying a true dragon heir.
08:28But everyone who knew them understood.
08:30Edric loved Selene truly.
08:31Only Seraphine believed the child was the reason.
08:41Bring both women into the palace
08:42and place them under careful watch.
08:44Even surrounded by the Dragon King's own people,
08:47Seraphine found ways to punish the child inside her.
08:50Selene watched and grieved and said nothing more.
08:52She had stopped trying.
08:54Seraphine stopped eating.
08:55Her belly swelled enormously.
08:56Her skin went dull and yellowish.
08:58Aged a decade in months, she stopped.
09:00Then she came to Selene and confessed with tears in her eyes.
09:03I believed I had been under some kind of enchantment.
09:09All of it!
09:10I had been bewitched!
09:11I was herself again now.
09:13I intended to be a proper mother.
09:16Whatever the child was, I would raise it with love.
09:19That is all I have ever wanted to hear from you.
09:21Seraphine, I have been reading the old histories.
09:23Even a serpent-born child can ascend,
09:25with training and time.
09:27It is not hopeless.
09:28Seraphine said and smiled back.
09:30You are right, sister.
09:32I should have come to you sooner.
09:34She stayed to ask questions about the pregnancy.
09:36Selene answered everything with patience.
09:38When Seraphine left,
09:40Selene even pressed a package of restorative herbs into her hands.
09:44That night, she told Edric,
09:47I think Seraphine has finally grown up.
09:51Everyone said she had changed.
09:53Seraphine has finally come to her senses.
09:56She's a changed woman now.
09:57The warmth, the questions, the tears.
10:00It was a performance.
10:01She was planning something.
10:02A month later,
10:04with Selene's birth nearing,
10:06I need you to do something for me.
10:09The girl slipped something into Selene's drink
10:11that put her under.
10:17I heard Seraphine enter with several others.
10:21Give her the forcing, Drage.
10:23Once we've both delivered,
10:25swap the inference.
10:26She moved to Selene's side
10:28and laid a hand on her bay.
10:32Selene,
10:34you always love to lecture me about how
10:36it doesn't matter what comes out.
10:38Well,
10:40let's see how enlightened you are
10:42when you're the one holding the wretched thing.
10:45She laughed softly to herself,
10:46pleased with the thought.
10:48I understand it all now.
10:49The kindness,
10:50the visits,
10:50the questions,
10:51learning which handmaids could be bought.
10:53Panic spiked through me.
10:54I kicked hard against the wound.
10:56Selene didn't stir.
10:57I felt the walls of Selene's body begin to contract.
10:59I kicked it again,
11:00more desperate now.
11:02Wake up,
11:02please wake up.
11:03And then,
11:04impossibly,
11:08Selene's voice.
11:09She was awake,
11:10shouting,
11:11calling for help.
11:12Get away from me!
11:14Within moments,
11:14voices flooded in from the hall.
11:16Edric,
11:16the dragon king.
11:17The relief that moved through me
11:19was so complete.
11:22Make way.
11:23She is in labor.
11:25Light hit me from every direction at once.
11:27I was born.
11:29I was lifted and placed against Selene's chest.
11:33I smelled her.
11:33I had been smelling her for months from the inside.
11:36And now,
11:36here it was from the outside.
11:38Edric,
11:39look.
11:40She's smiling already.
11:42She's only just arrived and she's already smiling at us.
11:45I was still looking around the room
11:47when I spotted Seraphine pushing through the crowd.
11:51Selene noticed her too.
11:55Seraphine,
11:56come and look.
11:57She's beautiful.
11:59Seraphine stepped forward.
12:00Her brow was tight.
12:01Then she looked at me.
12:03Her gaze caught on something at my forehead.
12:05She went completely white.
12:06It's you.
12:07She lunged forward and seized my arm.
12:10It's you.
12:12You.
12:13How do you have that mark?
12:15What mark?
12:16Seraphine's grip was trembling.
12:18There was a mark
12:18on her forehead.
12:20It's glowing.
12:23She looked again.
12:24The glow was gone.
12:26I lay there, ordinary and unremarkable.
12:29A small, dark snake child blinking up at the torchlight.
12:34Seraphine's face crumpled.
12:39How can you be hers?
12:41Then what am I carrying?
12:43Who is inside me?
12:45Before anyone could answer,
12:46a rush of water soaked the floor to eat.
12:49Seraphine doubled over,
12:51shrieking.
12:52She was in labor.
12:58Compared to Selene's birth,
13:00Seraphine's was a nightmare.
13:02She labored for three days and three nights.
13:04She screamed for all three.
13:06The sound kept me from sleeping.
13:08Thank every power,
13:09it wasn't like this for us.
13:11She told Edric,
13:12her voice still shaken.
13:13I didn't suffer at all.
13:14I have a name now,
13:15two lives,
13:16and I finally had a name.
13:17In my first life,
13:18I had been called nothing.
13:20Nothing kind, anyway.
13:21Seraphine had two names for me,
13:23Little Wretch and Little Whore.
13:24This life,
13:25Selene named me Wren.
13:27Not dragon,
13:27not serpent,
13:28just Wren.
13:30Whatever I was,
13:31only wanted you safe.
13:33Edric came and pinched my cheek
13:35and declared me in the history of the dragon court.
13:38The best behaved child.
13:39Him,
13:40most newborns fuss and wail for days.
13:42You only ate and slept.
13:44I smiled up at them both.
13:46Just as the warmth was settling in,
13:48someone ran to find me.
13:50Seventh Prince,
13:51your highness,
13:51the third princess concert has delivered.
13:53Edric and Selene carried me over to sea.
13:55The room was packed.
13:56Seraphine's laughter rang out over everything.
13:59The heavens have not forgotten me.
14:01I knew it.
14:02I always knew I could do this.
14:06Hello, my sweet girl.
14:09Like a prize,
14:11and pressed it into Aldric's arms.
14:12Husband,
14:13I didn't,
14:14I tell you.
14:15Aldric's face had gone soft
14:16in a way I had never seen.
14:18He took the child
14:19and carried it straight to the dragon king.
14:23The heir is born.
14:25The curse is broken.
14:27The dragon king took it with great care,
14:29turned it over slowly,
14:30examined it from every angle,
14:31then his expression changed.
14:35He said,
14:36this dragon,
14:37this dragon,
14:38why does it only have two claws?
14:40The room went quiet.
14:42People looked closer.
14:44It was true.
14:45A dragon should have four.
14:46This one had one.
14:47Then someone else said quietly,
14:49it hasn't opened its eyes.
14:51It's been some time now,
14:52it should have opened its eyes.
14:53It doesn't look right.
14:55It looks like it's fading.
14:57You dare?
14:58My dragon is perfectly well.
15:00Don't you put that on my child!
15:02But even as she said it,
15:04the small golden dragon
15:05in the dragon king's arms
15:06began to convulse.
15:07Its mouth foamed white.
15:09It shuddered once.
15:10Its head fell to the side.
15:12It was dead.
15:12The physician pushed through
15:13and examined the child.
15:15Your majesty,
15:16the heir was healthy at the start,
15:17but the third princess concept
15:18consumed something during the pregnancy,
15:20I believe a harmful compound
15:21that damaged the child from the inside.
15:23It held on as long as it could,
15:25but it was never going to survive.
15:28Aldric's face dark,
15:29he grabbed Seraphine by the collar.
15:30What did you take?
15:32What did you put into your body?
15:35What did you do to my son?
15:37Seraphine had gone grey.
15:38I didn't.
15:39I never.
15:40I only.
15:41Her eyes sharpened.
15:43Then she saw Selene across the room.
15:44It was her.
15:46It was Selene.
15:47She pointed.
15:48She gave me those herbs.
15:49She was jealous.
15:50She knew what I was carrying
15:52and she poisoned me.
15:53She poisoned my child.
15:54It was the gaze of a man
15:55who wanted someone to blame
15:57and had just been handed a target.
15:59Aldric turned his gaze on Selene.
16:02Seventh Prince!
16:04Your wife killed my son.
16:05What do you intend to do about that?
16:08Selene was calm.
16:09She waited a beat,
16:10then spoke.
16:11Seraphine.
16:12You say the herbs I gave you were poisoned,
16:14but I ate from the same supply.
16:17My child is right here perfectly well.
16:19Can you explain that?
16:20Have you forgotten the potion you drank?
16:22You said it could turn snakes into dragons.
16:25Everyone in that room knew about Seraphine's pregnancy.
16:28Every foolish thing she had done
16:30had been witnessed and whispered about for months.
16:33Selene's words shifted the room.
16:35People murmured.
16:35People remembered.
16:37Seraphine scrambled.
16:38She insisted compound her arms.
16:39She demanded someone fetch the formula to prove it.
16:42The physician read it over.
16:43This compound is dangerous.
16:45It is almost certainly why the child had only two claws.
16:48Whatever was inside her,
16:50it did not deserve what it endured.
16:52It is remarkable it survived as long as it did.
16:54Seraphine heard this,
16:55and the color drained entirely from her face.
16:58You're saying...
16:58You're saying I did this?
17:00I turned it into that?
17:02I had a true dragon all along,
17:04and I did that to it myself?
17:06She stood there,
17:07pulling at her own head,
17:08sinking under the weight of it.
17:10Then,
17:10All at once,
17:11she looked up.
17:12Then we try again!
17:14She grabbed Audric's arm with both hands.
17:16She said,
17:17Husband,
17:18we try again!
17:19Her smile was wrong.
17:21I did it once,
17:22I can do it again.
17:23Like another pregnancy,
17:25another heir,
17:26another heir!
17:27I know I can give you a dragon!
17:30Seraphine's story spread through the dragon court,
17:32like fire through dry grass.
17:35She had delivered a true dragon heir,
17:37and it had died in the dragon king's arms within minutes of birth.
17:41Most people said it behind their hands and laughed.
17:44Seraphine didn't care.
17:45She shut herself in her chambers with Aldric and got to work.
17:48She was serpent-born,
17:49and serpent-born women were extraordinarily fertile.
17:52Within two months,
17:53she was with child again.
17:54This time,
17:55she was careful,
17:55obsessively careful.
17:57She ate well,
17:58she rested,
17:58she took every tonic and restorative the palace healers prescribed without argument.
18:02She told everyone who would listen,
18:04had a feeling,
18:05a certainty,
18:06that this child was a dragon.
18:08People were skeptical,
18:10but they believed her more than they might have otherwise.
18:12She had,
18:13after all,
18:13conceived a true dragon voice.
18:15That was more than anyone else in a hundred years could claim.
18:18The dragon king sent attendants from the palace to watch over her.
18:21Aldric stayed close.
18:22For the first time in their marriage,
18:23he was faithful and present.
18:25Everyone assumed this pregnancy would follow the same pattern as the first,
18:28that when the time came,
18:29the child would arrive and be a dragon.
18:32Instead,
18:32she carried it for three years.
18:34Three years was unnatural by any measure.
18:37It should have been a scandal.
18:38But Seraphine had heard of a figure from old legend,
18:40whose mother had carried him for three years before he was born,
18:43and he had become something close to divine.
18:46So,
18:46she put that story in circulation.
18:48He told everyone,
18:49This child was no ordinary little dragon.
18:53It was something rarer.
18:55The court chose to believe her.
18:59Those three years were very good to me.
19:01Just as I'd expected,
19:03Edric and Selene gave me everything.
19:04They played with me,
19:06taught me,
19:06took me everywhere.
19:07Even the dragon king had grown fond of me,
19:09despite me being only a snake-born child.
19:11On my third birthday,
19:13he held a feast in my honor,
19:14and placed around my neck the dragon seal pendant
19:16that only dragon-born princesses were meant to wear.
19:19He patted my head,
19:20little Ren,
19:21tell me.
19:21What do you want most?
19:22Whatever you say,
19:23your grandfather will provide it.
19:26I want the dragon king to live forever.
19:30The room laughed.
19:31Warm,
19:32genuine laughter.
19:33Seraphine,
19:34standing at the edge of the crowd,
19:35looked like she had bitten into something rotten.
19:38She muttered under her breath,
19:39The old man has lost his senses,
19:41fussing over a little black snake.
19:43That charm belongs on my child's neck,
19:45not hers.
19:46The feast wound down.
19:47The dragon king invited me to spend the night in the palace.
19:50A nursemaid led me toward my rooms,
19:52but the walk felt wrong.
19:54The corridors were unfamiliar.
19:55We turned into an empty courtyard with no torches lit,
19:58and I saw Seraphine waiting in the dark.
20:00I ran.
20:01She caught me by the shoulder before I cleared the gate.
20:03Rin,
20:04where are you going?
20:05I'm not going to hurt you.
20:08Aunt Seraphina,
20:09did you want something?
20:10I have a birthday gift for you.
20:12I made it myself.
20:13Go on,
20:14eat it.
20:14I looked at the cake.
20:15I looked at her.
20:16Every instinct I had said,
20:18Do not.
20:19I took it from her hand,
20:20raised it toward my mouth,
20:21and threw it directly at her face.
20:23Then I ran again.
20:24The gate slammed shut before I reached it.
20:26Seraphine caught me and wrapped one hand around my throat.
20:28Her expression had dropped all pretense.
20:31You little ingrate.
20:33I brought you a gift and you wasted it.
20:35Open your mouth.
20:37I fought her.
20:39I was three years old and she was a grown woman.
20:42Someone help me!
20:43The third princess consort is trying to kill me!
20:46Seraphina,
20:47if you kill me again,
20:49I will ask the ancient to turn your child into a worm.
20:52She stared down at me with an expression I had never seen on her face.
20:56Something between fury and terror.
20:57You!
20:58The gate burst open.
20:59Selene stood in the frame.
21:01Red.
21:01I ran to her.
21:02Mother,
21:03she tried to poison me!
21:05Edric and the Dragon King were right behind Selene.
21:08Someone had noticed I was missing and raised the alarm.
21:10They had gone from courtyard to courtyard looking for me.
21:12The Dragon King looked...
21:13You were trying to harm Rint?
21:15Father,
21:16please,
21:17don't listen to her.
21:18I brought her a birthday gift.
21:19She threw it at me and started screaming.
21:21I don't know why she would say something like this.
21:24Wren,
21:25I know you're young,
21:26but to accuse me of something so terrible,
21:28what were you thinking?
21:29She had her attendants bring forward the gift box she had prepared.
21:32Inside,
21:33a neat arrangement of small cakes,
21:35beautifully made.
21:36Her attendants confirmed...
21:37She had been in the kitchens all afternoon working on them.
21:40She had done it in secret,
21:41they said,
21:42because Selene didn't like Wren eating sweets,
21:44and she hadn't wanted Selene to confiscate them.
21:48People started looking at me the way adults look at children who lie.
21:51Serafine pressed her advantage.
21:53Little Wren,
21:54I know you were afraid I'd get you in trouble,
21:56but you don't have to make things up.
21:57Your aunt forgives you.
21:59Just say sorry and we can forget it.
22:02Children do invent things when they're frightened.
22:04I had heard enough!
22:07She didn't bring me here for cake.
22:09Lies!
22:09You're lying!
22:10She's been trying to get rid of me since before I was born.
22:12Three years ago,
22:13she bribed one of Mother's handymaids and drugged Mother's drink.
22:17She was going to use a forcing draft to deliver both of us early and switch us.
22:20She only failed because Mother woke up in time.
22:23It's a lie!
22:24Three years ago,
22:24I was carrying a true dragon heir.
22:26Why would I swap anything?
22:28What could I possibly have gained?
22:30Because you weren't sure yet,
22:32you thought Mother might be carrying the dragon
22:34and you might be carrying the snake.
22:35So you wanted to switch us before anyone found out.
22:38Serafine's face went into a very particular...
22:40Father,
22:40she is a three-year-old child
22:42making accusations about things she could not possibly have witnessed.
22:45Exactly.
22:46Everyone went still.
22:48Selene spoke
22:49before the silence could stretch too long.
22:51My daughter does not lie.
22:53If you want to know whether this is true,
22:55ask the handymaid.
22:56The handymaid was found.
22:57The dragon king's people had ways of getting at the truth.
23:00It didn't take long.
23:02The testimony came back in writing.
23:04Every detail confirmed.
23:06Serafine had bribed her.
23:07The draft had been administered.
23:09Selene had woken before the swap could happen.
23:11The dragon king read it.
23:12Then he dropped the paper on the floor at Serafine's feet.
23:15Serafine had gone white to the lips.
23:17Well.
23:17She's lying.
23:18The testimony is a forgery.
23:20Selene put her up to this.
23:21She and this...
23:21You tried to kill my child.
23:23You wanted to destroy her before she was born.
23:25You have been trying to destroy her since.
23:28And now you stand here and call on our bond as sisters.
23:32She looked at Serafine directly for a long moment.
23:35Did you think of that bond when you went after her?
23:37Selene and Edric pushed together for the dragon king to render punishment.
23:40Sister.
23:41We are blood.
23:43Would you truly have me punished her over a snake?
23:46The moment you went after my child,
23:48you made your choice about what our bond was worth.
23:52The dragon king straightened.
23:53He was about to speak.
23:54Serafine dropped to the ground with a shriek.
23:56My stomach.
23:58The baby.
23:59I think it's coming.
24:00Someone fetch the midwife.
24:01Now.
24:03Nothing in the dragon court could stop the end.
24:05Not for punishment.
24:06Not for justice.
24:07Not for truth.
24:08If a possible dragon heir was on its way into the world.
24:11The dragon king called for the midwives immediately.
24:13Half the court planned timely.
24:15The other half followed Serafine to her chambers to watch history happen.
24:18This time, birth was easy.
24:19Not even half a day.
24:21The bundle was brought out and placed in Serafine's arms.
24:23The room went absolutely silent.
24:25It was a small, soft, pale worm.
24:29Barely moving.
24:30A common earthworm wrapped in royal linen.
24:32The dragon king's face did something complicated.
24:35Aldric looked as though the floor had dropped out from under him.
24:37Serafine didn't understand.
24:38She was reaching for the bundle.
24:40Her face still openly and expectant.
24:42Let me see.
24:42Let me see my little dragon.
24:44She looked.
24:45What is this?
24:46She whispered.
24:47Where is my dragon?
24:49This isn't mine.
24:50Someone has switched them.
24:51Someone switched my child.
24:53This isn't...
24:54Aldric said.
24:55His voice was flat and terrible.
24:57Whose child is it then?
24:58Then, just as she had done the first time, Serafine's gaze found me across the room.
25:03You did this.
25:04She said.
25:04I know you did this.
25:06I stepped back.
25:07One small step.
25:09Instinctive.
25:09Nobody in the room was ready for what happens next.
25:12Serafine moved fast.
25:14She had a hand around my throat before anyone reached her.
25:16And she had a sword from the nearest guard's belt before anyone knew she'd taken it.
25:20She pressed the blade on my neck.
25:21She had lost her mind entirely.
25:23Her voice shook with it.
25:25Tell me what you did.
25:27I left you alone this life.
25:28I left you alone and you still came after me.
25:31What did you do to my child?
25:33Why won't you just let me have this?
25:36Nobody else understood what she meant.
25:38Sleeved and white.
25:38Serafine, put the blade down.
25:41Rink is three years old.
25:43She hasn't done anything.
25:45You don't understand!
25:46Serafine's grip tightened.
25:47She's done this to me before.
25:49She ruined everything before.
25:51And now she's done it again.
25:52She won't stop until I have nothing.
25:55She looked at me.
25:56Her eyes were wild and wet.
25:58Die!
25:59She said.
25:59Just die!
26:00She dropped the sword into my chest.
26:02I heard Selene and Edric scream.
26:04And then, light.
26:05A warmth so sudden and total.
26:07It swallowed the pain whole.
26:09My thoughts scattered and then pulled back together.
26:12Sharp and clear.
26:12I remembered the ancient.
26:14After my first death, I had stood before she.
26:16She had offered me another chance.
26:18And then, as I was leaving, she had said something else.
26:21What had she said?
26:21I had almost forgotten.
26:23She had told me,
26:24You are a true dragon.
26:27You are a true dragon.
26:29You have always been one.
26:30But your dragon blood was sealed at birth.
26:33It is locked in your heart.
26:34And the seal can only be broken one of two ways.
26:37The first is to wait until you come of age.
26:40The second is to break it open yourself.
26:42Something vast was on my chest.
26:45It rose through the wound.
26:46It filled my ribs, my throat, my skull.
26:49I opened my mouth.
26:50And what came out was not a scream.
26:52It was a dragon's roar.
26:54It tore through the wound.
26:56A flap of thunder.
26:56I felt my body leaving the ground.
26:58I felt myself expanding into something enormous.
27:01Something with wings and scales and weight.
27:04And I circled the hall twice.
27:06Enormous and gold and real.
27:08And then I came back down.
27:10When I returned to my small human shape,
27:12the wound was gone.
27:13The room stared at me.
27:14She shifted.
27:16Wern shifted.
27:16She's a true dragon.
27:18She's been a true dragon this whole time.
27:20I knew she wasn't ordinary.
27:22The dragon kin has an heir.
27:24We have an heir.
27:25The room erupted.
27:27Seraphine stood completely still in the middle of it.
27:31Staring at me.
27:33She said.
27:35I was always one.
27:36I told her.
27:36I was one in my first life too.
27:38There were two ways to unlock my blood.
27:40The first was to reach adulthood.
27:41The second was for my heart sealed to be broken by force.
27:44I looked at the sword she was still holding.
27:46You never had any patience.
27:47That's why you'll never be a dragon's mother.
27:50Before Seraphine could raise the sword again,
27:52it was over.
27:53Several people moved at once.
27:54She died there in the hall.
27:56The small worm she had carried for three years
27:58did not outlive her for long.
28:00Within a few years,
28:01it was gone too.
28:02Because I had revealed my true form,
28:04the dragon king honored the oath he had made
28:06before all the court.
28:07The prince whose bloodline produced a true dragon heir
28:10would take the throne.
28:11On the day Edric was crowned,
28:13I told them everything.
28:14The first life.
28:15The second.
28:15All of it.
28:16I expected to be scolded
28:17for keeping it secret.
28:19Instead,
28:19they both wept.
28:21We're,
28:21she said,
28:22we should be thanking you.
28:23You chose us.
28:25Out of everyone you could have gone to,
28:27you chose us.
28:28That is not something we will ever take lightly.
28:30Dragon,
28:31or snake,
28:31or anything in between,
28:33you were always exactly who we wanted.
28:35Two lives,
28:36a lot of dying,
28:37a lot of cruelty to wade through.
28:39Before I got here.
28:39But I got here.
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