“There’s the Yeoiju ...” The historian bites her lip.
“The Yeoiju isn’t real ...” A nervous laugh bubbles up my throat until I see that she’s serious. “Are you saying the pearl of enlightenment really exists?”
“What did you call it?” Minju’s gaze sharpens on me. “Who told you the Yeoiju is the pearl of enlightenment?”
“My mother ...” I shake my head. “Why does it matter?”
“Not many people know about that facet of the Yeoiju.” She taps her fingers on the table as though she’s keeping time with a song in her mind. “The Yeoiju is many things, but at its core, it’s the last of the Cheon’gwang—the true light.”
“Why take the long way around when we already possess the sacred ashes?” Jihun interrupts, with a frown between his brows. “Even if the Yeoiju could be used to defeat Daeseong, no one knows where it—”
“Whoit is,” the historian corrects.
“The Yeoiju is a person?” I breathe.
“Not exactly, but ...” She stares at me until I squirm.
“But coming back to the point, we don’t have the Yeoiju. We have the sacred ashes.” Jihun crosses his arms. “We need to focus on what we have to stop the dark mudang.”
“Hmm.” The historian drops some coins onto the table and rises to her feet, her mind already elsewhere. With a preoccupied wave, she hurries away, muttering under her breath.
I watch her disappear into the crowd, and I slump with disappointment.
“She’ll find something soon.” Jihun gives my arm a squeeze before quickly withdrawing his hand. “We still have time. He is stronger than you think.”
I’m too disheartened to snap at him that I can’t know what to think because I don’t know who Ethan is. I just nod listlessly and take a bite of rice soaked in rich broth. “At least the gukbap’s good.”
“I’m glad you approve.” Wry remark delivered, he gives his full attention to his gukbap and wolfs it down like he hasn’t eaten in days.
Maybe hehasn’teaten in days, since he was busy tracking me and Ethan. And he nearly died less than a day ago saving my life. I watch him from beneath my lashes. The damned male even inhales his food with elegance. I should cut the guy some slack, but I don’t know how to tell him that I don’t want to kick his ass anymore. So with my nose to the bowl, I shovel rice and soup into my mouth instead.
I hear a faint cough beside me, but my eyelids are too heavy to lift. At Jihun’s insistence, I came to my room to rest. I fell into a restless sleep after hours of tossing and turning, only to encounter endless nightmares. A hand gently shakes my shoulder.
“Ethan!” I sit up on my sleeping mat with a startled gasp. “What is it? What’s happening?”
“Nothing, my lady.” Miok wrings her hands. “I’m sorry I woke you, but you slept through the afternoon, and I wanted to make sure you had dinner before you retired for the night.”
I press my hand against my forehead and breathe to calm my pounding heart. “You don’t need to apologize, Miok. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Of course, my lady.” Smiling shyly, she pours a cup of warm tea and sets it on a round wooden platter by my side. “I’ll have the sisters bring in your dinner in a moment.”
I obediently take the tea from the platter and sip on it. When Seonah and Yoonah bring in a table laden with food, I eat without protest. I cried myself to sleep after I came back to the Sunset Pavilion. It’s like my body wanted to expel all the tears I’d kept pent up inside for the last hundred-some years. But I’m done with crying. I need to stay strong and alert. So I’ll eat, sleep, and exist until I can return to the Mortal Realm and save Ethan from Daeseong.
After they clear away the table, I open my window and stare out into the courtyard. It’s dark out, but the moon and the stars shine brightly enough for me to admire the lovely pond. Lost in my thoughts, I don’t see Jihun until he stands directly in my line of vision and waves a hand at me. I stop myself from waving back like an idiot. He’s not waving hello. He’s beckoning me to him.
I walk out to the courtyard to meet him, smoothing out the skirt of my sunset hanbok. I fell asleep in it, but even wrinkled, it’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever worn. Jihun watches my progress with a hooded gaze, and I stop a few steps away from him.
“What?” I sound a tad rude, but he doesn’t blink an eye.
“I didn’t want to anger you by not inviting you to our team meeting,” he says mildly.
I scoff. “I’m not easy to anger.”
He looks at me with astonishment and I give him the bird. With one of his almost smiles, he cocks his head toward the archway. “Come.”
I follow him to the other side of the estate, which is just as beautiful as the guest quarters but with less pink all around. He leads me inside what looks like a study and ... there are modern office chairs lining the long conference table in the middle of the room. I round on him with wide eyes. He just shrugs his broad shoulders.
“I spend a great deal of time in the Mortal Realm,” he says, taking a seat at the table. “I’ve grown accustomed to some of their ways.”
