Sera's POV (Three Hours Earlier)
The slap echoed through the ceremonial hall.
I stood frozen on the bonding platform, my cheek burning, while three hundred guests watched in silence. My mother's hand was still raised, trembling with rage.
"How dare you accuse your sister of theft?" Mother hissed. "The phoenix chose Elena. It's not her fault you weren't worthy."
"I saw her!" My voice cracked. "Last night, she snuck into the incubation room—"
"Enough!" Father's shout made me flinch. He pointed at the magnificent firebird perched on Elena's shoulder, its flames casting golden light across her perfect smile. "Does that look like a beast that was stolen? Phoenixes only bond with the pure of heart. Clearly, it sensed Elena's superior talent."
Elena dabbed fake tears from her eyes. "Sister, I know you're disappointed, but accusing me won't change what happened. The phoenix simply knew who the better tamer was."
Behind her, Cassian—my fiancé, the man I'd loved since I was twelve—nodded. "Sera, perhaps it's time to accept reality. You're not strong enough for someone of my status. Elena and I have decided to marry instead."
The words hit harder than Mother's slap.
"You're... breaking our engagement?" I whispered. "In front of everyone?"
"It's politics, nothing personal." Cassian wouldn't even look at me. "My duchy needs a powerful alliance. Elena can provide that. You cannot."
The crowd murmured. Some laughed. I saw pity on a few faces, but mostly I saw satisfaction. The proud Whitstone girl, finally put in her place.
I ran. Pushed through the crowd, ignoring Mother's demands to come back, ignoring Father's threats. I ran until my fancy ceremonial dress was splattered with mud and my feet bled through my silk slippers.
I ran until I reached the Lower Market, where no noble ever went.
Now I stood in front of a beast merchant's stall, counting the coins I'd grabbed from my room. Twelve silver pieces. Everything I had left.
"Looking for a beast, little lady?" The merchant grinned, showing brown teeth. "Though I gotta warn you—twelve silver won't buy much."
"Show me what you have." My voice sounded dead even to my own ears.
He laughed and gestured at the sad collection of eggs on his table. Cracked shells. Discolored spots. These weren't legendary beasts. These were the rejects.
Just like me now.
"This one's a common slime." He tapped a gray egg. "Or this here's a basic wind rabbit. Useless in combat but makes a nice pet. Or—" He picked up the smallest egg, white with barely visible stripes. "—this white tiger cub. Won't grow bigger than a dog, won't develop magic, but hey, at least it looks cute."
I stared at the tiger egg. Something about it called to me. Maybe because it was small and forgotten, just like I'd become in the span of three hours.
"The tiger," I heard myself say. "How much?"
"For you? Ten silver. I'll even throw in a bonding cloth." His grin widened. "Though between you and me, you're wasting your money. That egg's been here six months. Might be dead inside."
I counted out ten coins with shaking hands. Two silver left. Enough for maybe a week of food if I was careful.
The merchant wrapped the egg in dirty cloth and shoved it at me. "Pleasure doing business. Don't come crying when it hatches defective."
I clutched the egg to my chest and walked home through the slums, taking the long way to avoid anyone who might recognize me. My feet left bloody prints on the cobblestones.
When I finally reached the tiny room Father had "generously" provided after disowning me, I collapsed on the floor. The egg rolled from my hands.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to it. "I'm sorry you got stuck with me. I can't give you a good life. I can't give you anything."
My vision blurred with tears. Everything hurt—my feet, my face, my chest. Mostly my chest.
Cassian had looked at me like I was garbage. My own parents had thrown me away. Elena had stolen my future and smiled while doing it.
I was eighteen years old, and my life was already over.
The egg suddenly shifted. A tiny crack appeared along its side.
I sat up, heart pounding. "No. No, please don't hatch yet. I'm not ready. I don't even have food for you—"
CRACK.
The shell split wider. A tiny paw pushed through, white and clumsy.
"Wait!" I scrambled closer, trying to help remove the shell pieces. "Okay, okay. It's okay. I've got you."
The egg fell apart, and a small tiger cub tumbled out, soaking wet and mewling weakly. It was the size of my hand. Its eyes were squeezed shut, and it shivered in the cold air.
"Oh." My breath caught. "You're alive. You're actually alive."
I scooped it up in trembling hands, pressing it against my chest to warm it. The cub stopped shivering and made a tiny sound—half purr, half squeak.
Something inside me cracked open, and warmth flooded out. Not magic. Something deeper. A bond snapped into place between us, and suddenly I felt the cub's emotions like they were my own—confusion, fear, but also... determination?
That couldn't be right. Newborn beasts didn't have complex emotions.
I looked down at the cub. It opened its eyes—bright amber, far too intelligent for a newborn—and stared directly at me.
For one impossible moment, I felt like it was thinking. Really thinking. Like a person trapped in a beast's body.
That's insane. I'm losing my mind from stress.
But the feeling didn't fade.
The door crashed open behind me.
I spun around, clutching my tiger protectively, and my heart stopped.
Cassian stood in the doorway, his thunder dragon's shadow looming behind him. His face was pale, his eyes wild.
"Sera, listen to me very carefully," he said, his voice shaking. "That egg you bought—where did you get it?"
"The Lower Market. Why?"
"Which merchant?"
"I don't know his name! Why does it matter?"
Cassian stepped forward, and I saw something I'd never seen before—fear. Real, genuine terror.
"Because three hours ago, the Imperial Vault reported a theft. Someone replaced a legendary Divine Beast egg with a fake." His eyes locked onto the tiny cub in my arms. "And the description matches exactly what you're holding."
The world tilted.
"That's impossible," I whispered. "This is a common tiger. The merchant said—"
"The merchant was probably a thief who didn't know what he had." Cassian moved closer. "Sera, if that's really a Divine Beast, and if you've already bonded it, then half the nobles in this kingdom will try to kill you to steal it."
The tiny cub in my arms made a sound—not a mewl this time, but something else. Almost like a growl.
And the temperature in the room suddenly dropped ten degrees.
Through our bond, I felt it: the cub's rage. Not the simple anger of an animal.
The cold, calculating fury of something that understood exactly what was happening.
What are you? I thought desperately at the creature in my arms.
The cub looked up at me with those too-intelligent amber eyes.
And I felt its answer pulse through our bond, clear as words:
Your only ally in a world that wants us both dead.