Page 118 of Reign of the Talon
And now, now as Yeomra looks down upon the two bodies in the rain—one a young woman with a teardrop scar, the other a Dokkaebi emperor as still and cold as ice—he smiles, finally feeling the last remnants of Jeoseung’s hold on him disappear. He can almost see it…their souls descending to the underworld, hand in hand, tied to one another by a scarlet thread.
Good, he thinks.At long last, a new goddess has been forged.
With a soft sigh, Jeoseung opens its eager maw for her. It has been waiting for her for so very long.
Satisfied, Yeomrawang does not notice Seokga the Trickster chuckling under his breath as he, too, looks down upon Iseung, all too pleased with himself for singlehandedly inciting a bloody war, a riveting love, and such delicious amounts of pain and suffering—all through the discontent of one, lonely death deity and an infatuated Lady of Luck.
For what, Seokga thinks smugly,is the role of a mortal, but to be the plaything of an ever-absent god?
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Lina
Standing on the jade Hwangcheon Bridge above the rushing Seocheongang River, a soft wind carrying stray cherry blossoms curls through my hair.
Silently, I hold Rui’s hand tightly in mine. We stand together here, past the middle of this bridge between life and death above rose-colored waters.
The lilac sky above glows with periwinkle stars, and a white mist curls around our ankles. Rui gazes silently at the colorful mountaintops in the distance, and the red thread swirls between us, carrying his heavy melancholy.
He is whole here, uninjured—and so am I. I wear not the bloodied stealthsuit I donned in the Bonseyo pavilion, but a white nightdress—one identical to the garb I wore when I first visited this strange realm. My necklace of keys is heavy around my neck. I clutch them in my palm, yet it is Rui I focus on; Rui, clad in plain white robes with his inky hair shifting in the wind, his skin whole and healthy and supple…
So unlike the ashen hue it was when we… When he…
I close my eyes. Swallow hard.
It is a slightdisturbancein the air, similar to the ripple of a flat stone skipping across a still pond, that warns me of another presence atop Hwangcheon Bridge. My eyes flutter open in the grim presence of Fate. Before us stands Gameunjang, her head bowed, red locks fluttering in the gentle breeze. In my hand, Rui’s tightens, spasming once, then twice as the goddess meets our gaze.
“For what it is worth,” she says quietly, “I did not enjoy this deception. For lying to you, I am sorry.”
My hand falls from Rui’s and twitches at my side, but Rui—turning sharply like a shark having scented blood—speaks first.
“There was never any way to defeat the Prophecy,” he breathes with uncontained rage, and the soft fury in his voice is more terrifying than any of his snarls ever could be. “Or our deaths.” I wince as he lets go of my hand, taking a small, predatory step toward the delicate goddess. The way that he prowls, catlike and intent, seems to unnerve even her, although I suspect she has tried not to show it. It is a faint tremor in her lips that gives her away. “Everything you urged me to do only led uscloserto Fulfillment. My only question, Gameunjang, iswhy? Why,” he growls softly, “damn the mortal realm in such a way? Why…”
I take quick steps toward him as his voice breaks. Rui shudders as I join his side. “Why torment Lina like this?” he finishes, voice shaking. He is trembling so violently that I suspect he is restraining himself from attacking Gameunjang. “She has done nothing to deserve your wrath.”
Gameunjang barely even looks at him, instead watching me steadily. I seethe underneath her gaze, but when she speaks, my shoulders slump.
“You still think you have lost this war? Dokkaebi. You havewon,” says Gameunjang, spreading her hands as if in supplication. “Don’t you see? Tell him, Lina,” she urges quietly, and Rui turns to me, his face softening in confusion. I let my hands rise unsteadily into the air.
That dream of Sonagi, the words she whispered to me in those shit-stained sewers—the one that my mind showed me in the depths of my despair… It comes back to me now, an answer hidden within me all along.
“One day, you will passs. And we will come with you, for we are linked. Wherever you go, we will not be far behind. We will follow you to Jeoseung and back if needed, my child.”
The Prophecy was never meant for victory. Its wording seemed to be its triumph, but all along it was its downfall.
“And the Child of Venom will rule all
Before making her home in Yeomra’s halls.”
It’s almost funny, I think, that triumph hid so well in plain sight. That, all along, the dreaded Fulfillment was the way to victory.
After all, it was never specified for how long the “Child of Venom” would reign, nor how long it would be before she made her home in Yeomra’s halls. A bitter smile twists my lips as I try, haltingly, to explain what The Empress told me in the hall of mirrors.
When the Yeouijudied, the Imugi would follow. My death will be their death. Final. Absolute. As long as I bind them here…
“Thisis why, Dokkaebi,” Gameunjang says, looking toward the mountains in the distance, turning to lean against the rail of the jade bridge. “This is why I had to ensure the Prophecy came to fruition, especially with the involvement of my…brethren. They do not listen to me; they do not understand why this Prophecy had to be fulfilled, how their involvement could possibly ruin everything… With Lina’s death will come the death of her Imugi. Yes. I did everything I could to ensure that this fate here, now, came to fruition. I gave you misleading orders. I sent Yego to Lina, hoping he would chase her, that she would thus return to her body faster.
“For there is another fate yet that must be met. One that necessitated that Lina be fullyherselfwhen she died, when she entered Jeoseung. It is Lina who will find her true destiny here, in this underworld. Not the Prophecy. Shin Lina.” Gameunjang pauses, watching the river below. “But first, she had to learn three truths.”
