Page 40 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

The Murderer

C hin Sun hardly noticed her former fiancé. How could she when the enemy she feared most was only a few paces away? The human guise he wore now was masterful, but she’d known the truth the moment she’d gotten a good glimpse of his sword.

How had the goblin found her here?

She turned to Hyun Soo, who stood stiffly, except he wasn’t paying attention to the real threat. He was too busy watching the decoy, the one the goblin wanted them to focus on.

Chin Sun swiveled back to the shapeshifter.

He looked exactly like a high-ranking soldier, his hat and hanbok of noticeably better quality than that of the other troops’.

A quiver of arrows was slung over his shoulder, with a bow attached to his front.

Even the way he carried himself was perfect, like a man used to being in charge.

It was a flawless facade, if not for the beautiful hwando in his hand. The symbol upon it seemed to almost glow in the darkness, taunting her.

The goblin met Chin Sun’s eye in a challenge. No, he wasn’t trying to deceive her. His smirk indicated the exact opposite. He wanted her to know it was him. Hyun Soo and Kang Dol Sam were the ones he wanted to fool.

Chin Sun longed to run him straight through after all he’d done to her, but she kept her anger in check.

While the goblin’s deception was likely to prevent any grim reapers from showing up, she could work this in her favor.

Pretending to be human meant the goblin would be slower to reveal his powers, thereby giving them a greater chance of making it out of here in one piece.

It rankled her, but she tore her gaze from the goblin and instead turned to Kang Dol Sam. She gave him a mocking bow. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Gwishin.” The word passed over Kang Dol Sam’s lips like a curse, his jaw clenched.

This wasn’t the young master she’d met four days ago.

Gone was the warmth, the affection, the very humanity she was so used to seeing in the man she’d once hoped to marry.

In their place lurked a cold, ruthless hatred that looked willing to destroy anything and anyone who got in Dol Sam’s way.

And Gwishin had gotten in the way for too long.

“When I heard a masked man had infiltrated the base, I suspected it was you.” He sneered. “You always have enjoyed ruining my plans.” He unsheathed the hwando at his hip. Triumph flared in his eyes. “But you’re not getting away this time. Tonight, I swear I’m going to kill you.”

“I can’t let you do that, hyung.” Hyun Soo pulled down his mask and moved forward.

Time seemed to slow, each of his footsteps pounding in time with the steady thrum of Chin Sun’s heart.

His hwando glinted in the moonlight, flecks of blood spattered on the blade.

When his eyes found hers, they softened ever so slightly, and he dipped his head in a quick nod.

Kang Dol Sam’s face crumpled, first with disbelief, then with horrified betrayal. “Hyun Soo? You’re here? What . . . what are you doing?” His voice was broken, pleading, as though he couldn’t accept the reality in front of him without falling apart.

Hyun Soo positioned himself in front of Chin Sun, weapon raised. His stance was confident, steady, leaving no doubt of his loyalties. Just as he’d once sworn, he was ready to defend her, no matter the cost.

“Gwishin isn’t behind the attack on your base.

I am,” Hyun Soo declared. “What you’re doing here is wrong.

You must call it off. Find another way to deal with the unrest in Sokju.

I’ll help you.” His words, though soaked with regret, also bore a thread of hope, a final attempt to end this before it was too late.

Kang Dol Sam’s upper lip curled back in a snarl. “Why would I accept help from someone without honor? You shame yourself further with such an offer.” He lifted his hwando and swung it at his friend’s head.

Hyun Soo blocked the blow, the two blades slamming together before they pulled away.

Hyun Soo made the next move, thrusting his sword at Dol Sam’s exposed stomach.

Dol Sam sidestepped, but Hyun Soo struck again, faster this time, then Dol Sam went on the offensive.

As the fight continued, the men’s movements changed from hesitant and uncertain to resolute, as if they both realized at the same time that the other wasn’t going to back down.

“I believe you and I have a score of our own to settle,” came an unwelcome voice.

Chin Sun shifted to the right, hwando raised. The goblin hovered at the forest’s edge, several paces from where he’d stood only seconds before. He smirked at her quick intake of breath, relishing the fear she couldn’t conceal fast enough.

Chin Sun dashed over to him, stopping a few steps away. “You’re right,” she agreed. She steeled herself, then sheathed her hwando. “But I want answers, not blood.”

The goblin regarded her warily, his expression unreadable. “I’m not in the business of explaining myself to my prey.”

“Then you will make an exception.” When he started to shake his head, she added, “I am owed that much for my sacrifice.”

His eyes widened in recognition, the echo of his first words to her stretching between them. “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

When the goblin pressed his lips together in a tight grimace, Chin Sun knew she’d swayed him. For despite the animosity between them, he still recognized the value of the life he was taking.

“Ask your questions.”

“First, I want to know what you’re doing here. Did you follow me?”

The goblin sneered. “As much as I want your bead, I have other reasons for being here. Your arrival was simply a happy coincidence.”

Chin Sun’s eyebrows drew together. “Then you’re part of this scheme to take over my city? This”—she gestured to his attire—“wasn’t a ploy to get into the fort unnoticed? You’re truly acting as the army’s commander?”

He widened his stance, chest puffing up with pride. “When it suits me.”

What? Did that mean there was a real Commander Song somewhere and the goblin just impersonated him whenever he felt like it? That sounded like the goblin mischief she’d heard of in stories.

But she doubted he was doing this on a whim. Every move he made felt like a calculated decision, like tiny stitches that would eventually come together to form something magnificent. Or terrible. He’d spoken of a cause before—did taking over Sokju somehow play into it?

“Stop with the riddles. Just tell me what I want to know.”

The monster gave her a knowing look, blue fire flaring in his eyes. “Ah, in that case, I shall answer the question you asked the last time we met, for that is what you wish to know more than anything else.”

“What are you?—”

“The reason your bead is so important, so . . . desirable,” he explained.

Chin Sun’s hands clenched into fists. She hated the hunger in his voice, how it made her skin crawl. Her fox bead was hers, hers , and no matter how much he wanted it, she was never going to let him have it.

But perhaps if she knew why, she could persuade him to find something else that would satisfy him.

“And that reason is?”

He paused, making her wait until she almost couldn’t bear it any longer. “It will give the goblins the strength we need to overcome our enemy and take back what belongs to us.”

Chin Sun blinked a few times, catching a quick glimpse of something in the distance before she returned her gaze to the goblin. “Your enemy? Who?”

“The reapers, of course.”

“And how can my fox bead accomplish that? It takes life; it doesn’t give it.”

The goblin snorted. “Do you think you can fool me with a lie like that when you’re drinking in all that human lifeforce as we speak?”

Guilt pricked at Chin Sun’s conscience. He was right. Hyun Soo’s lifeforce swam through her veins, flooding her with strength.

“Now, I’ve done my part. It’s your turn.” He held out his hand. “Give me the bead willingly, and I’ll make your death painless.”

“But you’re not gumiho,” Chin Sun pointed out. “Swallowing my bead would only drain you.” Just as it had drained Hyun Soo.

“What is this? More attempts at trickery? Fox beads can give life to anyone, so long as you know how to open them.”

“Open them? What . . . ?” Chin Sun’s forehead creased.

Was that how she’d gained Hyun Soo’s lifeforce?

When she’d kissed him and taken back her bead, it had been so instinctual she hadn’t paid attention to what she was doing.

But now that she thought about it, she had felt the bead open just before her powers had reemerged.

The goblin tilted his head, confusion etched into his face. “Why are you so surprised? Don’t you know anythi—” He broke off, understanding dawning in his eyes. “Ah. But you wouldn’t know, would you? How could you when you didn’t have parents to teach you?”

Chin Sun’s heart skipped. “How do you know that?”

Laughter rumbled in the goblin’s throat.

“Because we wiped out the last two gumiho in Sokju eighteen years ago. No one’s been back since then.

Well, not until a rumor started circulating that a vigilante was giving the humans all kinds of trouble.

A vigilante too fast to catch.” He dipped his head toward her middle, where her fox bead lay hidden, radiating with power.

Chin Sun froze, struggling to grasp the full meaning of his words. The goblins killed the last gumiho in Sokju? Two of them. Eighteen years ago . . .

Her chest seized up, phantom hands squeezing her windpipe.

She’d never known her parents, never known what it was to be their child.

But she’d thought about it endlessly, wondering what it would have been like to be known completely, to not have to hide a part of herself for fear of being cast aside. To see her features in another’s face.

Aunt and Uncle had loved her as well as they were able, and she loved them in return, but they’d never filled the hole deep inside herself, the one that whispered to her in the dead of night, making her chest cave in and her eyes swim with tears.

The empty longing for that which had been stolen from her.

But now she knew who was to blame.

Rage flooded Chin Sun’s body, an animalistic scream tearing from her throat. Claws emerged at her fingertips, bloodlust blurring the edges of her vision until all she saw was the figure in front of her.

Murderer.

Maybe he wasn’t the one who’d ended her parents’ lives, but he was guilty. And now, he would pay.

She whistled.

Min Joon leaped from his hiding place in the nearby brush, sword raised. The goblin turned to defend himself, but Chin Sun’s hand whipped out and slashed at his face.

The goblin swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding her claws while also blocking Min Joon’s attack. Their swords collided in a burst of blue fire, which sent Min Joon flying backward with a cry of pain.

Chin Sun drew her hwando, slicing at the goblin’s back while he was turned away. The strike created a long diagonal slash from the goblin’s shoulder down to the edge of his torso. Her sword came away flecked with silver blood.

The goblin spun around with a howl, sweeping his flaming sword at her. Chin Sun leaped out of the way, tucking herself into a roll. She came back up as the goblin swiveled toward her, but before he could get in another swing, Min Joon was there, stabbing him in the stomach.

The goblin threw a burst of blue flame at Min Joon’s face, forcing him to fall back. The monster grabbed at the wound in his stomach, blood dripping onto his hand.

Chin Sun came in for another attack, but he summoned a fiery barrier around himself, holding her at bay. She circled the enclosure but found no openings, no weaknesses.

She hissed. Did he think a little fire was going to keep her out? She reached inside herself, drawing on as much power as she could until she hit it. That wall. The one she’d fought over and over, the one that had kept her from defeating Hyun Soo in their first fight.

She examined it more closely, determining what it was. It wasn’t weakness—no, it was something much worse than that.

Fear. Fear that the humans would harm her once they learned the truth of what she was. Gumiho. Monster. Other.

“What do we do now?” Min Joon asked from her side.

Chin Sun looked at her friend. A bloody cut marred his cheek, and several bruises were forming along his neck and face. But he peered at her steadily, with all the confidence in the world. Despite knowing what she was.

Or maybe, just maybe, because of it. A human couldn’t win this fight. The goblin was simply too strong. But perhaps a gumiho could.

Sang Mi’s voice brushed at her thoughts. “It’s time you were true to yourself, Unni.”

Chin Sun felt something inside herself snap, and suddenly, she knew what she needed to do. “Stand back, Min Joon.” She took a deep breath and stepped up to the flames.

She shifted into fox form and leaped through, howling as fur and flesh began to burn.

But the power she’d been unable to access before flowed freely now, allowing her to tap into a well deeper than she’d ever imagined.

Was this what it was to be gumiho? This overwhelming strength that seemed almost infinite?

She felt her wounds knitting themselves back together, repairing themselves in seconds.

When she opened her eyes, the fire had died away and there stood the goblin, shaking his head even as blood continued to gush from his abdomen. “H-how . . . ?”

Chin Sun returned to human form and gripped his hanbok, lifting him into the air. She drew back her arm, ready to end this, but he whimpered. “Wait.”

She paused, heat roaring through her veins. “Why should I?”

Sweat beaded on the goblin’s forehead, but then his eyes locked on something behind her. His lips twitched. “Because if you don’t, you won’t have time to save him.”

Chin Sun followed his line of sight. In the distance stood Hyun Soo and Dol Sam. Hyun Soo’s weapon lay on the ground while Dol Sam’s hovered in the air, aimed for Hyun Soo’s torso.

Chin Sun’s heart shattered like glass.

Even at her top speed, there was no way she could cross that distance before Dol Sam’s blade struck its target. No way to stop what was about to happen. Unless?—

Chin Sun sprinted across the mountain, shifting into fox form as she ran. Her body slammed into Dol Sam’s, knocking him to the ground. She landed on his stomach with a groan, relieved to find him unconscious. She pushed herself up and turned to Hyun Soo.

His eyes widened as they took her in, first with shock, then with something that made Chin Sun’s insides go cold. A burst of breath flew from his lips, and he collapsed, Dol Sam’s sword lodged in his chest.