Chapter Twenty-Eight Ethan
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ethan
I stand back-to-back with Jihun at the gates of the capital, fighting the seraphim who make it over the wall. The forces of the Mountains and Underworld are pressing in, and the enemy troops are growing more and more reckless in their desperation.
Jihun grunts, jerking against me.
“Are you hurt?” I yell over my shoulder. “Answer me.”
I hear his long sword slashing through the air, and a soldier groans before thumping to the ground. Jihun finally answers, “Just a scratch.”
Gods damn it. He is hurt.
I cut across the chest of a seonnam with my golden axe, then cleave my silver axe into the stomach of another. I kick both of them away as they drop.
Blood. So much blood.
I spin out from behind Jihun and take on the soldiers coming at him.
I don’t let myself feel anything as I methodically chop them down.
They are shinbiins. They are seraphim. Their silver gi also flows through me, entwined with the green gi of Mountains.
But I can’t let them hurt Jihun. I have to protect my brother.
My cheeks are wet. I swipe the back of my hand across my face. I expect to see blood, but my hand comes away clear. Tears. They’re my tears.
With a wild roar, I ram my shoulder into an oncoming seonnam’s unguarded midriff, knocking him to the ground.
I whip around when I hear a choked gurgle at my back and come face-to-face with an enemy soldier, his sword raised high above his head.
But instead of striking me down, his stunned eyes meet mine, then drop to the blade protruding from his solar plexus.
He looks back up before his eyes roll back, and he crumples to the ground.
Jihun scowls at me as he pulls his long sword out of the soldier. “I told you it was just a scratch.”
“Fuck you,” I snap. Someone cut into his side, through his armor, deeply enough that the whites of his ribs peek through the gash. “Get your stubborn ass behind me. Give yourself time to heal.”
“I just saved your ass,” he growls.
Our argument falls to the wayside as we fight off another swarm of seraphim.
More and more enemy soldiers are breaching the wall.
Our troops at the top must be running out of steam.
And no wonder. The sun is setting on the second day of battle, and we have fought without rest the entire time. This has to end.
Panicked screams roar from beyond the wall. Jihun and I catch each other’s eyes and hurriedly fight past the remaining foe and race up the steps. I reach the top first and nearly collide into Captain Seo.
“Your Majesty,” she pants. “Reinforcements from the Kingdom of Water have reached the capital. General Bak and his forces are surrounded.”
“He cannot win this. He knows he cannot win this,” I breathe, then say louder, “I have to tell the general to surrender.”
“How?” Jihun steps in my way, a hand pressed against his wound. “The Kingdom of Sky has not stopped attacking the capital for over twenty-four hours. General Bak is unlikely to stop the battle to listen to reason.”
“I have to try.” I push past my royal adviser and approach the ledge of the wall.
“Ethan—”
I silence him with a look. “Clear some space for me, Lord Adviser.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he says, a muscle ticcing in his jaw.
A dozen soldiers move away from the ledge at Jihun’s order, but the infuriatingly obstinate male stands at my side. “Move, Jihun. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Come on.” Captain Seo tugs him by the arm, and they back away from me, giving me a wide perimeter.
I take a deep breath and draw the life force of Mountains into my veins. The violence has taken a toll on this land as well as my body, and my gi pulses sluggishly through me. I cross my axes over my chest, brace myself, then push out my power with a strained shout.
The front line of enemy forces falls like dominoes before they can even scream in fear. I recall my power on a long gasp and stumble as it slams back into me. Captain Seo and Jihun catch me by my arms, one on each side. I drag in another breath.
I nod my thanks before gently freeing my arms and stepping up to the ledge again. I’m grateful when they stay close behind me.
“General Bak.” I project my voice with my remaining magic. “You are completely surrounded by the forces of the Kingdom of Mountains, the Kingdom of Water, and the Kingdom of Underworld. Stop this madness and surrender.”
“Not until one of us takes our last breath,” the general answers, walking over his fallen soldiers to come closer to the wall.
“G-Grandfather.” I shudder as grief runs through my body. “We must end the bloodshed. We have a bigger enemy to face. Together.”
I can’t broadcast the coming of the Amheuk to the tired soldiers. Once we end this war, we can rest and regroup as a united realm. But General Bak has other ideas.
“Never,” he roars.
I realize with a jolt that my grandfather is . . . broken. My mother’s death irrevocably shattered his mind.
“I will not surrender, even if it means the death of every last one of us.” He waves his fist in the air. “Attack!”
His soldiers run out from behind him but falter at the sight of their unconscious comrades on the ground.
“Attack, you worthless cowards,” the general screams, spittle flying from his lips.
They take to the air en masse with no one to cover them. The general is treating the lives of his soldiers like disposable utensils. Even as our soldiers take down seraph after seraph, more follow and cross over the walls.
“Oh gods.” I look down the length of the wall—on the outside and the inside. The soldiers, fellow shinbiins, cut one another down. What a senseless waste of precious lives—all to satisfy one male’s twisted hate. “He won’t stop. He’s going to let them all die.”
I have to awaken the Queen of Sky. Only she can stop this war without more bloodshed.
“Protect Shinsi while I’m gone,” I say to Jihun.
“You won’t make it to the palace,” he warns, knowing what I plan to do. “Too many enemy soldiers have breached the capital.”
“If you must go, then allow me to accompany you,” Captain Seo implores. “I will protect you with my life, Your Majesty.”
“I have to do this on my own.” I give them a ghost of a smile. “I only have enough strength left to cloak myself.”
Then I make myself invisible, and the captain gasps, taking half a step back.
“Show-off.” Jihun huffs a tired laugh. “I’d forgotten you can do that.”
“I’ll be back before you can miss me,” I grouse.
Not bothering with the stairs, I jump down from the top of the wall, landing in a half crouch, then sprint for the Shinsi Palace. I can fly, but I am faster on the ground with the gi of Mountains propelling me.
“Captain Ha.” My sudden appearance startles the captain of the royal guards, who stands sentry outside my jimil. I hold out my hand. “Easy there. Has the Queen of Sky regained consciousness?”
I know the answer before the captain shakes his head. “Regretfully, no, Your Majesty.”
“I must see her.” I march up the stone steps to my inner chambers.
“If I may, Your Majesty.” Captain Ha follows me inside, and I nod at him to continue. “The uinyeos are administrating acupuncture on the queen. May I escort you to your chambers? I will bring word as soon as they are finished.”
“Very well.” Impatience sparks against my skin, but the acupuncture might push the last of the poison out and help her wake up. “There’s no need for you to escort me. I know my way.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” The captain bows. “I will take my leave.”
I walk into my chambers with weary steps, then slide down the nearest wall. I press a hand over my eyes, which sting with fatigue.
“Ethan.”
I jump to a stand, my head whipping left and right. I heard Sunny calling my name. Am I losing my mind?
“Ethan, can you hear me?” Her voice cracks at the end.
Listen for her in the mirrors.
I stumble through my chambers in a frantic search for a mirror . . . any mirror. The jimil is mine in name alone. I haven’t spent enough time in it to know where anything is.
“Fuck.” I grab my head with both hands.
“Ethan. Please.” I hear a muffled sob. “Tell me you can hear me.”
I race to my sleeping alcove and turn over the room. I feel like a fool when I fling open the armoire to find a full-length mirror on the inside of the door. I’m pissed I checked the most obvious place last, but I’m not in my right mind.
“I can hear you, Sunny,” I say, my heart bruising my ribs. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
For a moment, all I see is my reflection, my wild eyes skittering across every surface of the mirror. The wooden armoire protests under my punishing grip, but the mirror ripples like silvery water, and . . .
I see her.
“Sunny.” My hoarse growl is a prayer of gratitude—She is safe—and a vow of possession. Mine.
“E-Ethan?” Sunny raises her hand toward the mirror, then drops it, giving her head a sharp shake. “Don’t touch the mirror, okay? Our connection will be lost if we touch the mirror.”
She is wearing a black T-shirt and nearly black jeans—her favorite color palette—and her long hair falls down her shoulders.
I want to run my hand through its silky strands.
I want to cup her face, kiss those lips, run my hands over her body.
I want to touch her. But not if it means I lose even a second of seeing her . . . of hearing her warm, husky voice.
“I . . . I won’t.” I struggle to swallow as I stare at her like a man starved. I am starved. I don’t know how long we have, but it won’t be nearly enough. “Are you safe? You’re not injured?”
She spreads her arms and looks down at herself, then meets my eyes with a cocky smile. I immediately want to kiss it off her mouth. I want to hoard her every smile, every laugh. Even her tears. If they are hers, I want them . . . to hold and to cherish.
“As you can see, I’m still in one piece.” Her smile and her bravado falter as her gaze skitters over my face and body. “H-how about you? Are you okay?”
“Yes.” A corner of my mouth kicks up. “Still in one piece.”
We stare at each other for two heartbeats, grinning like the lovesick fools we are.
“I miss you, Ethan.” She clutches her shirt over her heart. “It hurts so much that I can’t be with you. It’s tearing me apart.”
“It nearly broke me when you left.” I reach out for her without thinking, then snatch my hand away from the mirror. “Not knowing where you were. Not knowing whether you were safe. I thought I was losing my mind. Y-you are okay, right?”
“I am.” She juts that pretty chin of hers. “And nothing will stop me from finding my way back to you.”
“To where you belong.” My voice drops a register. “You belong to me.”
“But . . .” She glances away, her throat working. “I’ve done things . . . I’m not the same person you fell in love with, Ethan.”
“No matter what you’ve done, you will always be Sunny Cho.” I search her face and see heartbreak there. What happened, Sunny? “You will always be my prickly, beautiful, perfectly imperfect Sunny.”
She sniffs and swipes the back of a hand across her eyes. “Still cheesy as ever.”
“Only for you, baby.” I grin at her as my gaze devours her.
A lovely pink steals into her cheeks, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, so shy and endearing. I grow painfully hard and bite my lip to hold back a groan.
“Whoa. Your pupils just swallowed your irises.” Sunny smirks, even though her blush deepens. “Having naughty thoughts, are we?”
“You have no idea.” I chuckle, low and dark. “You might go running if you could see the things that I want to do to you.”
“It can’t be as bad as everything I want to do to you,” she says in a breathless whisper. But she suddenly whips her head to the side with a sharp gasp.
I can’t see anything beyond her. Everything is a silvery blur except for her. I was more than fine with that—she is the only thing I want to see—but now fear clutches my heart.
“Sunny, what’s going on?” I step closer to the mirror. “Where the hell are you?”
“We don’t have much time, Ethan,” she whispers. “Once you defeat General Bak, you have to come to the Kingdom of Sky. I’ll wait for you there.”
“The Kingdom of Sky?”
“It is the kingdom farthest from the reaches of the Amheuk. We can prepare for the war there. Together.” She glances to the side again. “I love you, Ethan. I’m so happy you are my fated lo—”
A coil of darkness pierces the silvery haze and wraps around her throat. Her hands claw at the darkness as her eyes widen in fear.
“Sunny,” I scream. “Don’t touch her!”
The hilts of my axes press against my palms. I have no recollection of summoning them, but I grip them tight, my blood rushing in my ears. She is mine to love and protect. I will not let anything touch her.
With a roar, I lunge for her. But I hear the crack of wood and glass, then the door of the armoire crashes to the floor. The mirror is just a mirror again—shattered from the impact—and Sunny is gone. I fall to my knees with a hard thud, barely noticing the dig of the glass shards.
I would have gone mad . . . if I hadn’t seen white fire burst in her eyes before I lost sight of her. My fierce, glorious warrior. She harnessed the power of the Yeoiju.
Give the Amheuk hell, Sunny.