Fish Cares
The Southlands priest once prophesied that the Duke of Winslet's house would produce a Saintess who could command every beast alive.
I'd hidden the golden serpent mark on my wrist since childhood, but my cousin, Rose Winslet, flaunted a poisonous snake coiled around hers every day.
When the marriage decree came, she got exactly what she wanted: the Crown Prince.
I was given to the Seventh Prince instead, a man with two ruined legs whom the entire court despised.
For six years after that, I trained hawks to carry messages and drove wolves through enemy lines, and it was my hands that put him on the throne.
The day he was crowned, I told him, overjoyed, that I was the true beast-commanding Saintess all along.
He had my hand tendons severed and threw me into the Serpent Pit.
"Monica, if you had to pretend to be someone, why did it have to be Rose? If you hadn't hidden that mark on purpose, how could I have mistaken my true savior for someone else?
"Rose was tortured to death by the Crown Prince, and it's all because of you!"
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the priest tested the Saintess's identity before the entire court.
The Seventh Prince got there first, slicing open his palm and letting his blood drip into the mouth of the venomous snake Rose kept as a pet.
"Father, I'll give up my claim to the throne. I only want to marry Rose Winslet."