He finally turned to me, shame darkening his eyes.
“What if I’m not good enough for her?”
I smiled, hollow and tired.
“None of us are. Not really. But they don’t want perfection. They want the fight. The choice. Yuna chose you. The question is, will you choose her back?”
He didn’t answer. But the tremble in his chest said enough.
A few steps away, Jisoo sat against the broken remnants of a stone gate. His face was drawn, bruised with guilt more than battle.
I walked to him, crouched beside him.
“She won’t even look at me,” he muttered, staring at his hands like they belonged to someone else. “And she’s right. I let them take Seori. I stood there. I let everything burn for a deal I didn’t believe in until it was too late.”
“You were scared,” I said. “And selfish. But you’re also trying to fix it. That’s not nothing.”
“She said I did it for myself. Not for her.” His voice cracked. “And she’s right.”
I nodded.
“Then show her who you are now. Not who you were in fear.”
He looked up, pain etched deep in his face.
“Do you think she’ll forgive me?”
“Eventually,” I said. “If you forgive yourself first.”
He let out a breath like it hurt.
“You sound like you’ve done this before.”
I stared out into the black horizon where my mate was still in the hands of monsters.
“I have.”
--------???--------
The fire continued to crackle low in the center of camp, casting long shadows on the faces I had come to trust — and nearly lost.
Minji stood apart, arms crossed, glancing toward the darkness where Jisoo lingered. Yuna sat beside Taeyang, though neither said a word. Their silences weren’t peaceful. They wereloaded— with unsaid things, unresolved wounds, and an ache none of us could outrun.
Seori’s absence hung heavy like ash in the air.
I stepped forward, cloak billowing behind me as I rolled the crude map across the stone slab we used as a makeshift table. All eyes turned to me. Even Jisoo finally emerged, his mark dull but pulsing.
“She’s at the palace,” I began, voice steady even though my chest burned. “He’s keeping her there because she’s the key. Not just to me — but to everything he’s been planning.”
“The Demon King?” Yuna asked.
I nodded.
“He wants her to lead. To rule the heavens and the underworld. He wants, no, needs a weapon.”
“Then we go in and tear him apart,” Taeyang said sharply, gripping the hilt of his blade.
Minji snorted.
