Page 105 of Reign of the Talon
“We were about to perish in a multitude of terrible ways,” the Dokkaebi emperor continues over the violent crashing of the waves. The beach on which we stand is abandoned and bare, a long stretch of algae-slick stone underneath a gray, misty sky where gulls cackle and soar, dipping down to capture flapping fish in their beaks. “The least you can do is thank me.”
I ignore him, thinking hard, brushing my mind against Sonagi’s. She is alive and fighting. But I can tell—damn it, I can tell that this victory will also be a loss. The gods are strong, recovered from their eternal idleness, fueled by battle.
And I can also tell that the Prisoner ismovingagain. I feel her, that pathetic creature, worming around like a parasite. Growing closer. I feel her movements more clearly than before, feel that her being isintrudingon my own. It is a horrific feeling, to feel this parasitic being climbing out of its deep burrow, and I shudder.
This needs to end soon.
This needs to end now.
“Take me into the palace,” I demand over the roaring of the waves. I did not demand so before, unwilling to be separated from my Imugi, but now… “Take me,” I snarl as Haneul ignores me, “to the Bonseyo palace.”
“So you can slaughter all the Jeons and take the kingdom for your own? So your Imugi can take to the skies as dragons?” Haneul smiles nastily. “Again, Prophecy, I think that I will politely decline.”
“You don’t have achoice,” I spit. The firesword hilt is at my waist, and in one deft movement, I take it in my hand and summon the blue blade.
The Dokkaebi’s eyebrows flick upward, unimpressed. “Ooh,” he says. “I’m utterly terrified.” He laughs, cold and brittle, but he is not laughing as I hold the firesword to my own throat. The edge digs into my skin, and I make no movement to stop it. An identical cut appears on Haneul’s neck, and his terror suddenly turns true, assaulting me in waves.
“Do it,” I breathe, “or I cut my throat here.”
I do not jest. Without my Imugi, without Fulfillment, I’ve no reason to live. I will gladly slit my own throat if it means dragging Haneul down with me. I willwelcomethe rush of green blood. My lips pull away from my teeth in the smile Haneul hates, and his horrified recognition is delicious as he realizes that I’ll do it.
“The palace, Dokkaebi,” I prompt coldly.
He swallows hard, unwilling to be complicit in this taking, unwilling to see this body die. Too unwilling. My teeth gnash together.
“Thepalace,” I growl, digging the blade in a little deeper. The pain is welcomed, that sharp bite against my flesh. Haneul’s hand flashes to his own neck, fingers coming away wet and gold. The emperor’s eyes shutter in defeat, and with stiff, jerking movements, he strides toward me.
Victory is sweet as I laugh under my breath. I will make quick work of the Jeons. With the dynasty dead, surely there is room for a new dynasty to begin. A pity that I did not kill Jeon Eunwoo the moment he landed before me on those insufferable wings of his—but I am not overly concerned about a bastard prince who has never possessed the right to rule.
Only when Haneul stiffly hooks an arm around my waist and summons the shadow portal do I take the firesword away from my own throat.
I laugh as we tumble into that eternal, moving night.
So the war will end. Here. Soon.
Now.
INTERLUDE
In the Bonseyo Shadowshafts, serpents fall in sprays of emerald blood.
Two twin deities fight back-to-back, silver arrows splitting through the air, a golden sword flashing with alarming speed, spraying scales and severing serpentine tendons.
A wise advisor’s hands, gripping his gnarled staff, rise to prevent a hungry Imugi’s maw from closing around him. Wood splinters but holds steady, harvested from the strongest pines in the Wyusan Wilderness.
The last Gumiho shifts into her fox form, white and sleek, and fights with sharp claws and knife-point teeth. The Imugi, betrayed, hiss in grief as they battle, circling each other—a fox and snakes.
Bonseyo’s bastard prince swoops down from the Shadowshaft’s dirt ceiling, eyes narrowed in determination. After this, he tells himself, his father will see him. After this, he will have a place by his father’s side—a family, a home.
It is all he has ever wanted.
The soldiers fight, some slamming against the Shadowshaft walls, thrown by the serpents. Others shout in victory as they wield their fireswords in quartets. And although the Bonseyo soldiers are barely trained, they are bolstered in bravery by the presence of the gods.
Sonagi, Mother of Imugi, wails as her children begin to fall.
CHAPTER SIXTY
The Prisoner
