Page 43 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 13-16

Jun stared the man in the eye. “Only if I leave the other four alive to be sold.”

The man paused, tensing. You wouldn’t, his body signaled, but he wasn’t sure.

Jun’s lips twitched, but his eyes remained hard.

“We could break you. You’d bend, for your lawyer.”

Jun narrowed his eyes, stalking closer. “It’s much more likely I’d burn down another mansion. Did your witness tell you that? I didn’t care. I wasn’t even really there, not until he threatened Su-jin. So tell your boss, whoever they are, tell them that. I’ll pay the damned debt. But keep your fucking hands off my people. I’d rather see them dead than ever know what it feels like to be treated less than human.”

The Merchari hesitated.

Jun leaned forward. “They trust me. There wouldn’t even be any pain. They’d just go to sleep, loved. Beautiful, safe forever. My songs in their ears. They’d wake up free, beyond you, beyond me. But you and I, Bak Gyeong, Bak Sakyuk, the Merchari, you would all still be here with me.”

The Merchari stared at Jun, at his mouth. “What could you possibly do to us?”

“I’d start by cutting Bak Gyeong’s secrets out of his mouth. He’s still out there. I could find him. Then I’d take that visit to my father they keep offering me.”

The Merchari said nothing.

“Send me the numbers. I’ll show you how to make cash. I think we’d both rather I pay the damned debt. I live my life, I keep my people, you keep yours, you get your fucking money.”

Jun walked away. An ugliness had him by the throat. He lifted his eyes. Yohei stood in front of the tent, looking straight at him.

The others deserved to know. It was time.

Episode 15

Jun

Jun shoved his hands into his pockets to hide the fact they were shaking. He walked straight towards Yohei, trusting that security had his back. He didn’t dare look behind to see. Ellisandre had certainly been paying attention. The mic that had been put on his clothes would have alerted them, if not Damian and Cedric, as well. They were playing a dangerous game. He couldn’t worry about any part but his own.

“How much longer is Su-jin scheduled for?” Jun said.

Yohei gave him a probing look, but let it go. “Two more songs.”

They made chitchat for a few moments before people came up to talk with them. The rest of the event passed in a blur. As soon as he could, he signaled Mi Hi he was finished and escaped to the seclusion of the Church sanctuary. Maleko, his security shadow, followed him inside but stayed discreetly back. Jun sank down on a plastic bin of equipment and covered his face with his hand.

The door opened and closed. Jun looked up from between his fingers. Damian. A sigh went out of Jun, welling up from a place deeper than his lungs, deeper than his muscles. It must have come from his bones.

“Are we . . . did I . . . ?” Jun’s voice trailed off.

“They left.” Damian crossed the foyer and pulled Jun up against him.

Jun went willingly, his head falling down against Damian’s shoulder. “We have to tell them.”

“I already told Mi Hi to send everyone here as they finish.”

Jun nodded against Damian’s neck. The makeup on his face was going to smudge, but he didn’t care. This is what he needed, the warmth, the humanity, the real aliveness of Damian after the cold deathfulness of the Merchari. That was what he had written about in Haunted Doll:

Glory, for dowry

Cheeks bones of ivory

And money changes hands

Lashes, like gashes

Black flashes over ashes