We don’t talk until the last crumb of the apple pie is gone. I consider licking the melted vanilla ice cream from the plate to stave off the inevitable. Becausethisisn’t the norm. Not anymore. The stakes have changed, and so have we.
“I do have to go back, you know.” Ethan picks up the thread of our conversation. “The king’s hunger for wealth and power knew no end, and it led him to tax his own people to the point of poverty. When my mother became queen, she helped their people as much as she could. They loved her for it, but the king hated her for it.”
“But maybe he’s changed,” I say weakly, not believing for a second it could be true.
“I spoke with Jihun while you were sleeping, and the King of Mountain’s reign has grown even more oppressive since my mother died.” The prince’s face twists into a snarl. “Since he killed her.”
I close my eyes against the horror ... against my own fury. The king hurt Ethan in unspeakable ways. And I want to hurt him right back. I want to make him pay. I want the King of Mountains to burn for what he did.
“Even knowing all this,” Ethan rasps, his eyes drinking in my face with heart-wrenching longing. “I would’ve walked away. I would’ve turned my back on my people—on my destiny—if you’d asked. But now I can’t because I ... I’ve bound myself to the crown.
“On that small mountain in South Korea ... I didn’t know who I was praying to, but I prayed to anyone who would listen. I begged them for a way to save you from the blue assassin. I promised to do anything ... to pay any price. That’s when the golden axe and the silver axe appeared to me.”
“No ...,” I say as dark premonition washes over me.Please, no.
“When I picked up the axes, I felt the power of the vow lock around me. Even when I knew nothing about the Shingae, Ifeltit.” Devastation contorts his face. “So you see, I can’t walk away. Not anymore.”
“Only a fool would make a vow to the Shingae without knowing the price.” My voice is barely above a whisper.Oh, Ethan. What have you done?
“Desperation makes fools of us all. And I’ve always been a fool for you, Sunny. I’ve loved you since I was sixteen.” Ethan’s lips quirk at my gasp. “After you left, I convinced myself that I’d outgrown my teenage infatuation. But that lie went out the door the moment you scowled at me from across this very table.”
“Don’t.” I shake my head.
“I’m not asking you to love me back,” he rushes to add. “I only wanted to tell you that I love you ... more than anything, because you deserve to know.”
I swallow the sob gathering in my throat and steel myself with a deep breath. “Was it another prophecy that foretold you were destined to kill me?”
“I know what I said before, but that will never happen. I will battle fate itself before I hurt you,” he says with quiet conviction. “And my mother believed prophecies were only meant to shine light on one of the many paths to the future. You and I ... we could travel the pathwechoose.”
“So your answer is yes.” I swallow past my dry throat. “You were prophesized to kill me.”
“The King Foretold is destined to kill the one who possesses the Yeoiju.” He drags a weary hand down his face. “I learned of that prophecy when I broke the jade disk, but I only realized who it meant when I found you at Heaven Lake. Seeing you again jarred something in my memory. The lone cypress said you possessed the gift of the Cheon’gwang, and the Yeoiju is that gift, the last of the true light.”
I blink at him like an owl. I wish I’d figured out that little tidbit for myself and saved Minju the trouble of stabbing me. I suppress the unhinged laughter bubbling up my throat.
“A part of me still wanted to deny it until you saved us from Daeseong with that gift. I can’t deny it any longer, and I don’twantto deny any part of you.” Ethan takes my hand in his warm, calloused one. “I love you, Sunny. All of you. No prophecy can change that. Nothing can ever make me hurt you.”
You’re hurting me now,I want to say.Your love is hurting me.
I close my eyes to hide my pain from him. I understand his vow to the Shingae, even if he doesn’t yet. He didn’t bind himself to the crown. He bound himself to hisdestiny. No matter how hard I’ve tried to deny my own destiny, I know I can’t hide from it forever. I can’t run from it anymore. Ethan accepted his destiny to become the King Foretold. And the King Foretold is destined to kill me because I possess the Yeoiju. The gift of the Cheon’gwang is not something I can choose to give up. It’s inside me, tied to my life force. Thereisno other path for us.
I never imagined I could ever love someone and be loved in return. I never knew a love like this even existed. And it guts me that our lovecannot be. I can never accept his love or reveal my love to him. Because if I can’t outrun destiny, then I intend to fight it.
I refuse to let destiny manipulate Ethan into killing someone he loves. Someone who loves him back. That will destroy him. This has to end now. I’ll make him stop loving me, even if it wrecks me. And I will hide my love from him. If Ethan kills me, he’ll do it never knowing that I love him. I will spare him that pain, at least.
But I’ll love him, even as I die at his hands. I willalwayslove him. And hiding that love from him is the best way I can love him. I can’t forget that no matter how much it hurts. I pull my hand out of his and will my face into a cold mask.
“Come with me to the Realm of Four Kingdoms,” Ethan says in a hoarse whisper.
“I left you and Ben eight years ago for a reason.” I arch my brow with disdain, my icy hands trembling under the table. “I don’t want any attachments. And I definitely don’t wantlove.”
“I don’t ... expect anything from you.” His crestfallen expression stabs my heart, and stark red blood seeps into my ashen soul. “You’re in danger in the Mortal Realm. The Jaenanpa won’t stop hunting you until the Yeoiju is in their hands. And ... and Daeseong will be back.” He takes a shuddering breath to stanch the flow of his desperate words. “I just want to keep you safe, Sunny. Let me do that much.”
“And how will you do that?” I force a bitter laugh. “The Shinbiin in the Kingdom of Sky don’t want my kind anywhere near their precious kingdom. They were disgusted I even set foot in their realm. Do you think your people in the Kingdom of Mountains will be any different? I doubt they would let someone as lowly as me within a mile radius of their prince.”
“I willendanyone who dares insult you,” he snarls, his eyes churning with silver-and-green fire.
“You can’t kill everyone in that realm,” I scoff. Then I freeze, my stomach turning over. Did Daeseong see something in the future?If you stay with her, you’ll be laying the path to the destruction of yourkingdom—the destruction of the Realm of Four Kingdoms.Could this be what the dark mudang meant? I force myself to continue, “Your people will never accept a creature like me.”
