I run toward Jihun and help him to his feet before pulling him into a tight hug. “Don’t ever pull a bullheaded stunt like that again.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” He weakly pats my back.
I step away from him and turn to face the last standing enemy soldiers.
“General Gim has colluded with General Bak to poison and imprison the Queen of Sky.” I project my voice, and uneasy whispers rise from the soldiers. “If you are loyal to the Kingdom of Sky and your queen, put down your blade and surrender.”
A soldier steps forward, flipping a dagger around and around in his hand. “I’m afraid my orders were to put my blade ... inside you.”
Shit.He’s an assassin.
I throw a shield over me and Jihun, and not a second too soon. The blade embeds itself into the dome, less than an inch away from my right eye. Then the shield flickers and dissolves. Mygihasn’t recovered enough to form a proper dome. And Jihun can hardly stand on his own.
But our soldiers pour out of the woods and surround us, and our archers aim their arrows at the assassin, stopping him in his tracks. Air rushes past my lips in relief. But the unconscious enemy soldiers stir on the ground. I can’t let this turn into an all-out battle.
“Soldiers of the Kingdom of Sky,” I shout. “I can end this war without any more bloodshed. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared. I swear it.”
The enemy soldiers steal uncertain glances at us, their nervous murmurs growing louder. When we make no move to attack, some of them cautiously help their dazed comrades to their feet.
This just might work.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sunny
“Stormy?” Haesan says as he steps through the doors of Jeoseung Palace’s throne room. “Why are you in the Kingdom of Underworld? Come to think of it, why wasIsummoned here?”
I can’t help myself. I take off in a run and launch myself at thein’eo. The mountainous merman doesn’t so much as stumble and wraps his arms tightly around me. His chuckle starts quiet, then grows into a full belly laugh as he spins me around in the air.
“You’re alive.” He carefully sets me back on my feet. “Gods, I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, me neither.” I grin. “How are you, Gang Haesan?”
His smiling face suddenly crumples. “Hana ... She’s dead.”
I haven’t forgotten about Hana, my cadet roommate, but I’d buried the memory of her tragic death deep inside me. After Santorini, I couldn’t bear to carry more grief. But for Haesan, who had been at the Kingdom of Sky all this time, Hana died, and I disappeared, then a war broke out in the span of days.
“I know,” I croak. “I’m so sorry.”
I wonder if the former King of Mountains made himself useful from the dungeon and took care of Shim Duna, his spy and Hana’s murderous twin sister. He had been furious when I told him that she divulged the truth of his “illness” to me. But with time and distance, I feel a twinge of regret for indirectly sentencing her to death.
“Hana was the sweetest person I knew.” Haesan clears his throat, glancing away. “I ... uh ... the suhoshin cadet training is in shambles. It’s no wonder with Captain Seo gone.”
I let him change the subject. “I can imagine.”
“And you won’t believe the rumors flying around.” He leans closer.
“What rumors?” I lower my voice.
“About Duna being a spy for the King of Mountains.” He peeks at me from beneath his lashes. “And some nonsense about the coming of the end of days.”
Like a long-forgotten dream, images of a weeping female standing in the midst of white fire flicker in my mind.Am I somehow involved in the prophecy of the End of Days?I grit my teeth and avoid the hell out of the sudden question. Besides, the Amheuk is the one hell-bent on destroying the worlds, not me.
Now all I have to do is break the news to Haesan that the apocalypse isnotsome nonsense ...
“At any rate”—the merman shakes his head, setting his golden barbels swaying—“who has time for rumors now that the Kingdom of Sky and the Kingdom of Mountains are at war?”
“And that brings us to why we invited you to Jeoseung Palace.” The King of Underworld smoothly interjects himself into the conversation.
