Page 84 of Reign of the Talon
Catching on, Iseul scours the stables for something that can double as a quill. In a stroke of luck, she spots a small gray feather, perhaps from an owl living in the rafters. Rui takes it from her with a nod of thanks, and Iseul watches as he crouches down near a clump of wet mud.
It’s almost hilarious, seeing the wealthy emperor reduced to such desperation, using mud as makeshift ink to write thick letters.
Almost hilarious, but not quite. Not quite. An uncomfortable feeling tightens in Iseul’s chest as Rui frowns in concentration. She remembers meeting him for the first time: that formidable aura of power around him as he’d stood behind Lina in the doorway of her Sunpo hanok, every inch of him cold royalty. To see him scrabbling around in the dirt is…honestly, it’s not a sight that Iseul delights in.
General Lee Yongmin is a traitor, the parchment painstakingly reads in smudged mud as Rui finishes his missive.
“How are you going to send that?” Iseul asks skeptically.
“Like this,” the emperor replies before a small corridor of shadow appears behind him—just the size of the paper. He pushes the paper through, and with awhoosh, it disappears.
“Who did you send it to?”
“Seojin,” Rui says simply. Iseul’s brows raise, but she knows Seojin will ensure it gets into the right hands. “General Lee must not be allowed to continue these correspondences. The goal is to slow down the Prophecy’s path to Fulfillment, not hasten it. Ending the missives will buy us more time. As will what I have planned for the route to Bonseyo.”
“She will not allow that,” Iseul manages to say after Rui explains his plot, involving a series of impediments along the route to Bonseyo.
He smirks. “What will she do? Kill me?”
“No, but she’ll killhim.” Iseul points to Chan, who is slowly blinking awake, green eyes bleary and confused from pain and drugs.
“Rui?” he rasps, voice thick with disuse. “What are you doing here?”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Rui
The emperor’s heart clenches in his chest as Chan wakes. He exchanges a quick, grim glance with Iseul, who suddenly becomes extraordinarily interested in the stable ground.
“Would you untie me?” Chan asks, words becoming more coherent as he narrows his eyes, blinking past the blur to focus on his emperor. “Rui,” he repeats hoarsely when his emperor does not respond. “Rui,untie me.” The Supreme Commander is still too weak to force these ropes off on his own.
Rui meets his friend’s eyes, forcing himself not to look away from the hurt, panic, and need for revenge burning within them.
“Chan,” he replies coolly, “you disobeyed direct orders and abandoned our army. You went rogue. Do you understand the consequences your foolish actions could have reaped?”
Chan spits on the ground, face straining with rage. “You were pulling your punches,” he growls. His muscles strain against the ropes, but it’s no use. His body is clearly weakened from whatever has been done to it. Rui blinks, slowly, to disguise a flinch.
“You still won’t do it, will you?” Chan gasps, continuing to struggle against his bonds. “You’ll damn all Three Kingdoms for her.”
Rui wills his face to remain icy. Impassive. Betraying no hint of the agony he feels.
If circumstances were different, he would open a shadowed corridor behind Chan, would push him back to Gyeulcheon and his troops—for Chan is too weakened by the sedative in his gag to do it himself. But this Dokkaebi is a warrior, one more sharply honed than any of his other soldiers—and is determined to kill Lina’s body. Not for the first time, Rui wishes that Gameunjang’s will was not a furtive, fated secret. Unlike Iseul, who seems to care enough about Lina that his inability to mention Gameunjang’s involvement did not deter her from understanding Rui’s plight, Chan is merciless when it comes to the Prophecy.
So for now, it is better that Chan remains in this weakened state…even if that means subjecting him to the cruelty of the Prophecy. Otherwise, Rui knows that Chan will hunt them back down the moment he is released and strike a killing blow.
Rui will not allow him to lay a hand on Lina’s body.
The extraction was their chance to reclaim Chan under controlled circumstances. He would have been returned to where Rui could keep ascrutinizingeye on him. Now that the both of them are trapped here, if Rui sends Chan back alone, the Supreme Commander will assume complete control of his forces.
“We made a promise,” Chan snarls, voice breaking halfway. “To Hana.On her deathbed. Does it mean nothing to you?”
He closes his eyes, an image of Hana—drenched in sweat, covered in a sickly pallor—flashing across his mind’s eye. Yes. Yes, he’d promised her…to stop the Prophecy. And this…thisis the way decreed by Gameunjang herself. A way to find light at the end of all of this.
And so help him, Rui will damn every oath he has ever sworn for that light. For Lina.
His Lina.
Chan takes his silence as denial. “Fuckyou, Haneul. I mean it. You godsdamned, selfish—” He cuts off with a growl of frustration.
