“I am.” She juts that pretty chin of hers. “And nothing will stop me from finding my way back to you.”
“To where you belong.” My voice drops a register. “Youbelongto me.”
“But ...” She glances away, her throat working. “I’ve done things ... I’m not the same person you fell in love with, Ethan.”
“No matter what you’ve done, you will always be Sunny Cho.” I search her face and see heartbreak there.What happened, Sunny?“You will always be my prickly, beautiful, perfectly imperfect Sunny.”
She sniffs and swipes the back of a hand across her eyes. “Still cheesy as ever.”
“Only for you, baby.” I grin at her as my gaze devours her.
A lovely pink steals into her cheeks, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, so shy and endearing. I grow painfully hard and bite my lip to hold back a groan.
“Whoa. Your pupils just swallowed your irises.” Sunny smirks, even though her blush deepens. “Having naughty thoughts, are we?”
“You have no idea.” I chuckle, low and dark. “You might go running if you could see the things that I want to do to you.”
“It can’t be as bad as everything I want to do to you,” she says in a breathless whisper. But she suddenly whips her head to the side with a sharp gasp.
I can’t see anything beyond her. Everything is a silvery blur except for her. I was more than fine with that—she is the only thing I want to see—but now fear clutches my heart.
“Sunny, what’s going on?” I step closer to the mirror. “Where the hell are you?”
“We don’t have much time, Ethan,” she whispers. “Once you defeat General Bak, you have to come to the Kingdom of Sky. I’ll wait for you there.”
“The Kingdom of Sky?”
“It is the kingdom farthest from the reaches of the Amheuk. We can prepare for the war there. Together.” She glances to the side again. “I love you, Ethan. I’m so happy you are my fated lo—”
A coil of darkness pierces the silvery haze and wraps around her throat. Her hands claw at the darkness as her eyes widen in fear.
“Sunny,” I scream. “Don’t touch her!”
The hilts of my axes press against my palms. I have no recollection of summoning them, but I grip them tight, my blood rushing in my ears. She is mine to love and protect. I will not let anything touch her.
With a roar, I lunge for her. But I hear the crack of wood and glass, then the door of the armoire crashes to the floor. The mirror is just a mirror again—shattered from the impact—and Sunny is gone. I fall to my knees with a hard thud, barely noticing the dig of the glass shards.
I would have gone mad ... if I hadn’t seen white fire burst in her eyes before I lost sight of her.My fierce, glorious warrior.She harnessed the power of the Yeoiju.
Give the Amheuk hell, Sunny.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sunny
I kick my legs, struggling to breathe, as the creepy tentacle does its best to strangle me. Desperation fueling me, I claw at the strand of the Amheuk until my nails crack and bleed. With a tug at my heart’s center, my hands flare with white fire and burn the tentacle to ashes.
Sucking in a heaving lungful of air, I sprint out of the Queen of Water’s inner chambers. I have to get to the portal before the dome collapses. I put my head down and pump my legs harder. Then I stumble to a halt just outside the gates of the inner courtyard.
All hell has broken loose.
Countless tentacles have crashed through the dome, and they whip and slash at the shinbiins remaining in the palace. Anguished screams tear through the night, and blood and water swirl on the ground, rising higher by the second.
“No.” I summon the Shin’gwangdo and slash at the closest tentacle. I help a guard up from the ground and shove her in what I hope is the direction of the portal. “Run. Don’t look back. Get to the portal.”
Drawing from the strength and speed of thegumiho, I stab and cut as many tentacles as I can, helping as many people as I can. But soon,my arms, legs, abs, and chest burn, and I taste iron in the back of my throat. Still, I fight on until my swings grow sluggish and ineffective.
There are too many of them. I will never cut enough tentacles to save everyone. I need to attack the source of these monstrosities. I trace the snakelike cords of darkness to the top of the dome, wiping away the water raining down on my face. I almost expect to see the body of a kraken up there, but the Amheuk has no bloated, misshapen body or scary bulging eyes.
