“I’myours.” He closes the space between us and takes my hands in his. “I am yours, Sunny Cho, body and soul. No matter what happens, please remember that.”
“Why?” My heart wants to take flight, but I clap an iron vise around it. “What’s going to happen?”
“Fuck the prophecy,” he growls, his eyes turning dark and wild. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Ethan Lee.” I tug my hands out of his grasp and fist them at my sides. “What in the ever-loving hell are you talking about? Just tell me who you are.”
A single tear trails down his cheek. “I’m the one who is destined to kill you.”
PROPHECY OF THE END OF DAYS
Darkness takes its final breath,
double dragons reunite.
Fierce shall jade and silver burn
the truth of tears and blood unchained.
Blinding sorrows extinguish dreams,
hope shines forth, the unveiled pearl.
The true heart of the righteous shall
shatter the light that reveals all paths.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I hear the yellow assassin’s approach and welcome the intrusion. Anything to stop Ethan’s words from echoing ceaselessly in my mind.I’m the one who is destined to kill you.
“Fuck destiny.” He grabs my shoulders, fingers tight with desperation, and searches my face. “I willneverhurt—”
“Yellow’s here,” I say, cutting him off.
His hands slide down my arms with one last squeeze. His eyes flare with a swirl of silver-and-green fire as he spins around, flexing his hands to summon the axes. I draw my hwando and stand back to back with him.
“Promise me you’ll give me a chance to explain everything later,” he pleads, his voice husky and broken.
“Later.” I can’t make him any promises. Not when my head is spiraling with betrayal, hurt, and fear. This isn’t a simple misunderstanding after all. No amount of talking will fix this.
Ethan glances over his shoulder but turns back after a split second. He’s not an idiot. He can’t lower his vigilance. Promises will be meaningless if we’re dead.
“What are his other powers?” I ask, tightening my grip on the hilt.
“Teleportation.”
The implications of his answer sink in. “You mean the yellow assassin teleported you out of the cave?”
“Yes.” He shifts as though he wants to turn around again, but he stops himself. “What did you think happened?”
“I don’t know,” I mutter a tad defensively. Ethan was summoning axes and shit. Who knew what other powers he had? He can’t blame me for assuming he teleported the golem away in some misguided attempt to protect me. Leaving me. Hurting me. But I don’t say any of that. “I didn’t have much time to mull over the possibilities. I wasn’t sitting on my ass, binge-watching Netflix, you know.”
“I have ... powers, but teleportation isn’t one of them. Sunny ... I ...” He pauses as though struggling to find the words. “I wouldn’t have left you. I would never leave you.”
“Were you going to come back to me?” I ask, before I can stop myself.
“Once I’d stopped Daeseong,” he says. “Once I was sure he couldn’t hurt you again. I wanted to come back to you right away, but I knew you wouldn’t be safe until Daeseong was dead. I couldn’t throw away my chance to have Yellow lead me to him.”
