No, Sunny. Please.
“Breathe, Ethan.” She kisses my forehead. “I’m not dead either.”
If neither of us are dead, then this could be ... real? Tender, vulnerable hope sprouts in my shattered heart. We could both be alive.
Can I really be this lucky?
“What happened?” With a grunt, I manage to flip to my side and push my torso off the ground. I squint into the distance.
How long have I been out?
The Kingdom of Sky is being ravaged by white fire as far as the eye can see. I try to bolt upright, then groan. I hurteverywhere, like I got reamed by a semi. But the pain makes this feel even more real. The Realm of Four Kingdoms is burning, and ...
Sunny is here.
“Hmm.” Sunny helps me sit up, and her touch makes every nerve ending in my body sing. “What do you remember up to?”
“You ... you lost control of your power, and I evacuated everyone to the Mortal Realm,” I hedge.
Inside, I am about to lose my shit.Sunny is alive.I shift my shoulders to see if I can manage a cartwheel or two. Maybe in a minute.
“And?” She raises her pretty brows. I want to kiss them. I want to kissher.
“You a-asked me to kill you, but I refused.” I jut my chin because I stand by my decision. Then my face crumbles because I don’t want to remember the rest. “Then you ... you killed yourself with the Shin’gwangdo.”
Maybe I have this all wrong. Maybe we’re both dead after all.
“So you basically remember everything.” She leans her head against my shoulder. “But you got one detail wrong.”
“Which part?” I gingerly place my cheek on top of her head.
I close my eyes and feel the silky strands of her hair beneath my cheek. I breathe in the fresh, warm scent of her.My wife. My love.I absorb her with all my senses.
“Istabbedmyself with the Shin’gwangdo,” she says matter-of-factly, and I flinch. “But I didn’tkillmyself.”
I’m afraid to believe that we’re okay. I’m terrified of the relief that wants to drain the tension and grief from my body.
I’m not strong enough to face my fury that she tried to sacrifice herself. I’m not ready to forgive her for doing what she had to do to save the worlds. I hate that she is good and noble. At the same time, I love her for it with all my heart.
I worship her.
“How did—” I push Sunny to the ground and cover her with my body as a piece of the sky plummets toward us after an earsplitting boom. I brace for impact, but the chunk of sky falls a few yards to our left.
“Oof,” she grunts.
“I know. I know.” I rise onto my forearms. “I need to stop using my body as your shield.”
“Actually ...” She pushes against my chest, and I reluctantly roll off onto my side. “I am no longer an immortal goddess. I don’t evenhave the Yeoiju anymore. So I don’t mind a little protection, especially when the sky is literally falling.”
“What?” I shake my head, squinting in confusion. “I ...”
“You were right, you know.” She flips to her side and runs the pad of her thumb across my cheekbone. “Iam the true heart of the righteous. It was never your destiny to shatter the Yeoiju. It was mine all along.”
I hold my breath and listen.
“The Shin’gwangdo was the only weapon that could destroy the Yeoiju, and I was the only one who could infuse it with the power of the Cheon’gwang.” Her hand trembles against my cheek, and I cover it with mine. “All I had to do was choose to give up my immortality and shatter the Yeoiju to release the four divine life forces back to nature.”
More of the sky rains down around us, and a fist-sized chunk falls a foot away from Sunny’s head.
