Page 25 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

She chuckled. His confusion was understandable. With so many masked fighters, any one of them could have been the elusive vigilante.

“What’s the matter? Afraid you’ve seen a ghost?” Part of her knew engaging with him wasn’t the wisest move; at any moment, she might slip up and say something that gave away her identity.

But he was simply too fun to tease.

“You . . . saved me,” he said incredulously.

“So I did. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stab me again if you can help it.” She winked, then lifted her eyebrows at his sword, which had clattered to the ground when she’d pushed him to safety.

He blinked a few times, still looking a bit dazed, then bent to retrieve his weapon.

Chin Sun bolted behind a pavilion while he was distracted.

After a few seconds, she peeked out to check how everyone else was faring.

Min Joon had managed to fend off his attackers, but two of his men had fallen in the process.

Only a few bandits remained, but they didn’t appear to be in any hurry to leave.

They moved across the courtyard with purpose, heads sliding from side to side, as if they were looking for something.

A new thug surged toward her, brandishing a long sword. She leaped aside, and the blade cut through the air an inch away from her. She moved into a defensive position. Her opponent was tall and broad-chested with sharp, fearless eyes.

Chin Sun blocked his blows over and over, but each time their swords met, her arms trembled from the sheer force of his attacks. How she missed her gumiho strength.

Another thug approached on her left, shorter than the first, laughter rumbling in his throat. “Finally. We weren’t sure you’d show up.” He swung at her, and she dove into a roll before springing back to her feet.

She spun around, eying the two men as they fanned out on either side of her. “Show up? What are you talking about?”

The broad-chested man grumbled something to his associate. His voice was so low it took Chin Sun a moment to make sense of his warning to be silent. She’d assumed these were ordinary thieves, but what she’d just heard wasn’t Korean. It was Japanese.

She gaped. But that meant?—

“You . . .” She whipped forward and brought her sword tip to the short man’s neck before he could defend himself. She ripped the mask off his face, noting his foreign features with a sinking dread. “Did Hong send you?” she demanded.

The short man lowered his weapon, glancing nervously between her and his companion. “He?—”

The broad-chested man pulled a dagger from his clothes and flung it at his associate’s heart. Chin Sun stepped back as the short man collapsed with a grunt, but when she turned to the other thug, he was already fleeing toward the gate.

She threw a dagger of her own, but the shot went wayward when something sliced her leg. An arrow.

Chin Sun yelped and dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding two more arrows that sailed through the air. Her head swiveled in all directions before homing in on her newest adversary.

A lone archer crouched atop the main pavilion, beady eyes menacing in the moonlight. He nocked another arrow and took aim.

Chin Sun zoomed forward, throwing herself under the shelter of the pavilion’s eaves. She listened for footsteps on the tiles above.

A nearby thump told her the archer had dropped to the ground. She gripped her sword against her chest, blood trickling from her leg. Her heart spiked with a heady mixture of fear and adrenaline. Maybe coming here hadn’t been a good idea, after all.

The man’s dark form appeared at the edge of her vision. She took a deep breath and turned, ready to take on this new assailant.

She froze mid-step.

His hwando was glowing with fire. Blue fire. Chin Sun lifted her eyes, meeting a pair of dark orbs that were all too familiar.

“It’s so good to see you again, little fox.” The figure approached her slowly, haughtily, as if he had all the time in the world. He swung the long, decorative sword in a wide sweep.

“You’re—you’re the goblin from the forest.”

He laughed, sending a chill down to the marrow of her bones. “Did you think you wouldn’t be seeing me again? How amusing you are.”

“But the last goblin I fought?—”

“Got caught by a grim reaper? He was stupid enough to attack in broad daylight. Though I do understand”—he licked his lips—“his eagerness. It isn’t every day a power such as yours is right there in front of us, ripe for the taking.

You’ve done well to keep your human close.

” He took another step, leaving only a short distance between them.

“But you never should have underestimated us goblins. We may have lost one, but our cause is too great to abandon.”

Chin Sun gulped, the temptation to flee growing stronger by the second. “What cause? And what does my bead have to do with it?”

The goblin laughed again. “Beat me, and I’ll tell you.” His sword slammed against hers, sending scorching heat up Chin Sun’s arm.

She let out a high-pitched shriek, blade falling from her hand. The burning sensation in her arm vanished, but the goblin kicked away her hwando before she could retrieve it.

“Not so powerful without your abilities, are you? You gumiho always were too confident in yourselves.” He clicked his tongue. “Even now, when your numbers are so few.”

Chin Sun’s eyes flicked to Kim Min Joon for help, but her friend was still engaged in a fight on the other side of the courtyard. She was on her own.

“Why come after me when I don’t have the bead?” she asked, hoping to stall him long enough to find an escape. “You certainly seem powerful enough to overcome my—my human on your own.” Heat rushed to her cheeks. Calling Mr. Park hers felt so wrong—yet why did it send a thrill through her blood?

The goblin scoffed. “Like I said, you’ve hardly let it out of your sight, and you know making a spectacle of ourselves will bring those grim reapers to the human realm faster than I could get away. Your protectiveness has forced my hand.”

He waved his palm, and a swath of blue fire flew toward her.

Chin Sun dove out of the way, the flames soaring past before disintegrating midair.

A spectacle would draw grim reapers? That was a wonderful tidbit to know. She didn’t want that one from before to find out she still hadn’t retrieved her bead, but if it meant scaring the goblin off . . .

She turned and shouted to the others in the courtyard, “Help! It’s a goblin! There’s a goblin here!”

An officer rounded the corner of another pavilion and rushed over, spear in hand. “What is it?”

Chin Sun grabbed her sword off the ground and directed it at the goblin?—

But she found herself pointing at an empty space. She let out a ragged sigh of relief, then glanced down. Good. Now to make sure everyone else was all right.

“False alarm, sir. Please carry on.”

The policeman’s eyes narrowed in recognition. “Wait, aren’t you?—”

Chin Sun raced out of sight, then climbed atop one of the pavilions to get a better view.

She counted fifteen masked intruders, five household servants, and two police officers, plus Mr. Park and Min Joon.

The servants were still trying to put out the fire, but the flames had spread to the building’s rafters.

The house’s residents must have already fled.

Unless . . .

Chin Sun sprinted across the rooftop tiles and jumped off the far side. She landed with a thud, pain shooting through her ankles as they absorbed the impact. When she reached the nearest servant, a thin ahjussi urging the others to move faster, she barked, “Where are your masters?”

The servant turned to her, expression shifting from despair to tremulous hope. “Gwishin, is that you? I’m so glad you’re here. They—they couldn’t get out in time. Please help!” He gestured to the burning building helplessly.

Chin Sun bit back a curse. The blaze was too great now; the pavilion wouldn’t last much longer. Anyone inside was probably unconscious from inhaling all the smoke—if not already dead. She tore around to the back and forced her way through the window, avoiding the flames as best she could.

She was in a woman’s quarters. Two men and a woman lay in a heap on the floor, their clothes singed but still intact.

Chin Sun grabbed the nearest person and dragged her toward the window.

Her muscles strained from the effort, sweat pouring down her back, but she wasn’t about to give up. Not when innocent lives were at stake.

Smoke filled her mouth and stung her eyes. Through blurry vision, she shoved the woman through to the other side, then turned to gather the next victim.

She was coughing so much she could barely concentrate on anything but her growing need for air, her surroundings becoming hazier by the second.

Licks of flame fell from the ceiling, sending sparks across the floor.

Chin Sun pushed one man out and was about to grab the second, but he opened his eyes and stood up with a sneer.

Chin Sun yelped and jumped back as his face shifted from that of a young man to an ahjussi.

“Don’t think I’m that easy to get rid of,” he growled. “There are a million ways to dispose of a gumiho.”

The goblin looked up at the ceiling, which looked on the verge of collapsing, and shoved Chin Sun to the floor. She tried to get up, but he tipped the large clothing chest nearby onto her leg, pinning her down.

She cried out, trying desperately to pull free, but all her strength had left her. She could barely see anything beyond vague shapes, and her mind was getting fuzzy.

The goblin’s dark laugh penetrated her swimming thoughts, and she thought she glimpsed a crow disappearing out the open window.

As Chin Sun lay immobile, fighting to stay awake and come up with some way out of this, a large shadow appeared before her. The grim reaper? Had he returned because of the goblin? Or was he here to take her to the land of spirits?

Chin Sun reached forward eagerly, hoping he’d show mercy since she’d died to save the lives of others.

The shadow pulled the clothing chest off her leg like the weight was nothing.

Then he wrapped her in his arms and carried her out as her eyes closed.

A peaceful feeling came over her, along with a wonderful, woody scent.