“You think I haven’t seen that look before? You’re shaking.”
“I’m not—” I swallowed. “I’m not meant for you.”
“Maybe not in this life,” he said softly. “But the mark doesn’t lie.”
I pressed my hand against the burn. It still glowed beneath my palm. Like it was… answering him.
"A bond mark doesn’t lie. Not even to someone who doesn’t want it."
I backed away slowly, heart racing. “I can’t be bound to someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” He took a step forward, slow, deliberate. “You mean a demon?”
“No. I mean someone who… who destroys things when he touches them.”
He stopped—eyes narrowing, not in anger… but in something far worse.
Sadness.
“Then it’s a good thing,” Jisoo said, “that I don’t want to destroy you.”
The burn pulsed again. My knees buckled, and I dropped to the floor with a sharp breath. He was at my side before I could blink—kneeling, not touching. Just watching.
“Minji,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “I didn’t ask for this either. I’ve spent centuries breaking people apart. This is the first time I’ve ever been afraid to reach for someone.”
I met his gaze, and the fire in his eyes softened. He looked… young. Broken.
And for the first time since the mark appeared, I didn’t feel fear.
I felt something much, much worse.
Hope.
Jisoo
The pull of the thread
They say the bond is sacred.
I always thought it was a lie demons told themselves to cope with eternity.
I’d heard the stories—the way the mark flares, the way youfeelsomeone before they speak your name, how the world goes still when they’re near. I’d seen it destroy princes and peasants alike. Taeyang fought it like it was a sickness. Rheon bore it like a curse.
I never expected tofeelit.
Not until I saw Minji bleeding beneath the Guild’s blades.
Not until her blood hit the floor and something in my chest cracked wide open like a tomb.
Even now, as I strode behind Seori and Taeyang through the veil between worlds, I could feel the echo of her pain imprinted on my skin like flame. My fists clenched as the memory surged again—her limp body dragged across stone, her cheek bruised, her mouth bloodied.
They touched her.
Theyhurther.
I wanted to burn every last one of them.
I shook my head hard.
