“Yes, they will enjoy that.” Cheyun’s voice breaks.
I clench my hands at my sides. “Sunny avenged the kid, right?”
“Right,” the captain says grimly. “Daeseong is dead.”
“Good.” I take vicious comfort in knowing that the darkmudangwill never hurt anyone again. “And Minju? Where is she?”
“She’s at the Kingdom of Underworld, searching for ways to defeat the Amheuk ...” Captain Seo trails off, her eyes going wide. “Your Majesty, I—”
“The Amheuk?” I feel ice run through my veins.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” She bows her head. “The Amheuk has breached the Realm of Four Kingdoms.”
My lungs seize, and my ears ring like someone struck a gong right next to me.The Amheuk?I widen my stance to maintain my balance. As the dizzying shock passes, my blood heats to a simmer. The eternal darkness is at our doors, and we’re wasting our time and energy on this senseless war? All will be lost unless the four kingdoms unite.
A volley of arrows strikes the soldiers at the top of the wall before I can form a coherent response, and the night erupts into a hellscape of blood, fire, and screams. I summon my axes with a roar.
This ends now, Grandfather.
But when I take a step toward the wall, Cheyun stops me with a hand on my arm. “I have a message for you. Sunny said to listen for her in the mirrors.”
“What?” I shake my head when more screams tear through the night. “Go alert the Kingdom of Underworld’s troops. Press in from the west, and we’ll hold the wall.”
When Cheyun takes to the sky, I race up the stairs. I can’t make sense of her message, but I know one thing for sure. I will subdue the Kingdom of Sky. Iwillsee Sunny again. Not even the Amheuk can stand in my way.
We will be together in life. And I will love her till the end of days.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sunny
As we stand outside the Queen of Water’s inner chambers, the night deepens over the Dragon Palace, and the tentacles of darkness slither frantically against the curve of the dome—a few strands licking at the barrier like black, forked tongues. Something about the movement feels ... obscene, like the Amheuk is aroused. Bile churns in my stomach as fear and disgust choke my throat.
“Has the Kingdom of Sky responded to your request?” I turn to the Queen of Water. “Will they offer asylum for your people?”
“I have heard nothing from them.” Her gaze remains fixed on the Amheuk’s frenzy. “While relations between the four kingdoms are often tense, the Queen of Sky and I have always remained cordial. This isn’t like her.”
The Kingdom of Water doesn’t have time to wait patiently for an answer. Its people and the kingdom itself will be gone by tomorrow. I scrub a hand over my face.Gods damn it.I need to go there myself.
I have no idea how a lowly cadet will get an audience with the Queen of Sky, but I have to try. Or maybe I can sweet-talk that curmudgeon, Keeper Bae, into letting the people of the Kingdom of Water comethrough. I can get permission for them to stay once we get everyone to the Kingdom of Sky.
Too bad I don’t speak “sweet talk” and Keeper Bae is persnickety about proper documentation. Now, if I were in the Mortal Realm, I knew a guy who knew a guy that was a master forger. For the last few decades, assuming a new identity in a new city became much smoother. But he might be retiring soon ...
Shit. I’m really doing this.
I glance back at the Queen of Water’s inner chambers, my mind’s eye zeroing in on the mirror of water. I have to call Ethan tonight. This might be my last chance to see his face, to hear his voice.
What if he isn’t my fated love?
I shake away my doubts. He believed we were, and I believe in him. I believe inus. I’ll come back after I convince someone in the Kingdom of Sky to grant asylum to the people of the Kingdom of Water. I just have to make it back in time.
“I’ll go to the Kingdom of Sky and talk to the queen ... or to anybody who will listen,” I say before I can change my mind.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” The Queen of Water finally looks away from the looming darkness and meets my eyes. “Keeper Ahn was standing post when the Amheuk came for the Kingdom of Water.”
“Gods.” I don’t need her to tell me that the keeper is dead. The portal is in the water outside the protection of the dome. There is no other possible outcome. My heart constricts. Now Haesan will never get that drink with his childhood nemesis. “A-and the other keeper? Each kingdom has two, right?”
“Yes,” she sighs, “but I had to deploy my army to the Kingdom of Mountains.”
