Minji went still. Her jaw tightened. Yuna’s eyes widened — but not in shock. Inconfirmation.
“We knew,” Yuna said, her voice quiet but unshaking. “We knew something was different.”
“Minji was the one who figured it out first,” she added, nudging her gently.
Minji turned to me, her voice soft.
“Marks don’t lie, Seori. You can’t fake that kind of bond. It’s ancient. It’s... sacred.” I pressed my face into my palms.
“What the hell do I do now?” I said, voice breaking. “I’m a hunter. I was raised to kill his kind. And now I’m bound to him. I feel him. Ineedhim, and it terrifies me.”
Yuna didn’t hesitate.
“You survive.”
Minji added,
“And you don’t do it alone.”
Minji knelt first, right there on the rooftop, under the sharp white eye of the moon.
“I swear by fire and blood,” she said, taking my hand, “I will protect you, even from the darkness you choose to walk through.”
Yuna knelt beside her.
“And I swear by fae light and shadow — your secrets are mine, your fight is mine, your bond is sacred to me.”
The night pulsed with quiet magic — ancient, binding,true.
My throat closed with emotion.
“You don’t have to—”
“We do,” Minji said. “Because you’re ours.”
“And if anyone tries to tear you away from what you love,” Yuna added, “they’ll have to go through us first.”
“I don’t know if choosing him will destroy me,” I whispered.
“Then let us be your shield,” Minji said softly. “Even if you choose to burn.”
--------???--------
We were back on Yuna’s rooftop, steam curling from our ramen cups, sweat still clinging to our skin from training. For once, there were no ambushes. No curses. No fire.
Just us. And, somehow,them.
Yuna slurped her noodles dramatically and raised an eyebrow. “So… are you going to tell us what the hell those two other demons were doing crashing through the Guild like sexy shadows of death?”
Minji looked up from her cup.
“The one with the wings—Jisoo? I saw him through the flames. He looked… ancient. And unfairly hot.”
I choked.
“I mean,” Yuna continued, “you said Rheon hadfriends,plural. One was a wholefallen angel, and the other was straight out of a villain origin montage. Who are they?”
I groaned, setting my ramen aside.
