“You are right.” Dangun nods. “The Yeoiju will allow you to absorb all four divine life forces.”
Ethan kisses my fingertips before gently tugging them off his lips. Then he asks, “How can you know that for sure?”
“Because the Yeoiju showed me the truth a long time ago,” the god of Mountains says with a faraway look. “Sunny was always meant to be the one to vanquish the eternal darkness. She was always meant to be the light.”
“How d-do you know my name?” Icy fingers of trepidation scrape down my spine.
“A god knows many things,” he hedges, then plows forward after a jagged pause, “but I know your name because I am your father. The blood of the gods runs through you. That is how you survived absorbing Hwanin’s gi.”
Vertigo spins the cave in dizzying circles, and I sway on my feet. My laugh starts as a quiet giggle, then gradually snowballs into a shrill cackle. I wrap my arms around my aching ribs as tears rain down my face.
I keep laughing. I can’t seem to stop. Then, suddenly, I do stop with jarring abruptness, because despair rides through me in a merciless tidal wave of self-loathing.
“Daeseong is my father,” I say flatly. “He wasn’t lying—he couldn’t lie—because I stole his free will. Ibewitchedhim to tell me the truth.”
“The darkmudangbelieved that you were his daughter.” Dangun’s shoulders slump as though he feels the weight of the world on it. “Yourmotherbelieved that you were his daughter. It was the only way.”
It’s too much. I would give anything to beanyone’sdaughter but Daeseong’s. And to be Dangun’s daughter? I realize a part of me badly wants this kind-eyed god to be my father, but what if it’s not true?
“Stop talking in riddles,” I snap, my shoulders rising and falling. “Just tell me what youthinkyou know. You’re wasting time we don’t have, Dangun.”
“Sunny, you should listen to him.” Ethan rubs my back in soothing circles.
Normally, that would have worked wonders. But right now, no amount of comfort, even from my fated love, will calm my nerves. I want the truth. Yet finding out the truth terrifies me.
Then Ethan goes deathly still next to me, and the sounds of the mountain shut off in an instant.
“Wh-what’s going on? Ethan?Ethan.” When he doesn’t respond, I frantically run my hands over him. His body is warm, but he isn’t breathing. I spin on Dangun and rage, “What did you do to him?”
“Do not worry. Ethan is unharmed, merely frozen in time,” the god of Mountains reassures me. “But I can’t stop time for very long, so you must listen, Sunny.”
Ethan is okay. I focus on that and not on the time-stopping shit, lest my brain blow up.
“Fine.” I duck my head and dry my cheeks on my shoulder. “I’m listening.”
“I loved your mother. More than life.” Dangun’s voice breaks. “But I had to let her go when she became pregnant with you.”
“Why?” I don’t believe he’s my father—I don’t know what to believe—but this hurts anyway.Thisis why I shouldn’t get my hopes up. “Did you not want me?”
“You are everything I have ever wanted in a child.” Love shines from his eyes, and I look away. “The moment you were conceived, you already bore the Yeoiju in your soul, and it showed me your destiny.”
My brows knit above my eyes. What is he telling me?
“I don’t know why the Yeoiju chose to showme—perhaps because I was meant to be the first flap of the butterfly’s wings—but it showed meeverything. Far more than even a god could foresee.”
I stagger back as his words finally sink in. He has seen my destiny. Thewholeof it. Does he know how it ends?
“In order for you to fulfill your destiny, your mother had to leave me before she realized she was pregnant with you.” He wipes a hand down his mouth. “That very night, I told her that the novelty of toying with agumihohad worn off, which made her run into Daeseong’s arms, wishing she could be human.”
“How could you?” I gasp, my hand fluttering to my mouth.Oh, Mother.
Instead of making excuses, Dangun takes a bracing breath and continues, “I broke your mother’s heart because Daeseong had to believe that you were his daughter. He had to believe he had every right to the Yeoiju so that he would hunt you, even after death, by becoming the darkmudang.”
“You could have stopped everything before any of it happened,” I seethe. “It’s because of you ... Everything is because of you.”
If the god of Mountains had stayed with us, my mother would not have died at Daeseong’s hands. I wouldn’t have left Korea. I would never have met ... Ethan.
I grab my head in my hands, my breaths coming shallow and fast.
