Page 41 of Gumiho Kiss (Realm of Eternal Blossoms #1)

The Revelation

C hin Sun returned to human form in an instant.

She rolled Hyun Soo over onto his back. His eyes were slightly open but unfocused, as if he were already far away from here.

The blade had pierced deep into the left side of his chest. There wasn’t much blood yet, but she knew as soon as she pulled the sword out, he would?—

She ground her teeth, fighting against the panic gnawing at her insides. He would be fine. He had to be. “Hyun Soo?”

The bodyguard dragged his eyes to hers, a relieved smile stretching over his face. “Chin Sun,” he wheezed, “you’re here. I was so worried . . . when you disappeared. . . . So worried that something had happened to you.”

“Shhh, don’t talk,” she cooed, cradling the back of his head. The rain had stopped several minutes ago, but it had been enough to turn the dirt beneath them into slick mud. A thin layer of it coated Hyun Soo’s clothes, spreading to Chin Sun’s as she held him.

“Where did you go? I thought”—he gasped, the sound sending icicles through Chin Sun’s heart—“I thought I saw a goblin. Did . . . did it hurt you?”

Chin Sun shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes. This stupid man, worrying about her when he was the one who was dying. Why did he have to be so frustrating!

“I’m fine. I’m completely fine,” she choked out.

Hyun Soo’s eyelids fluttered. “Good. That’s good.” He started to drift off, then jerked, eyes widening. “I saw a gumiho. Did you see it, too?”

Chin Sun held back the sob climbing up her throat. “Yeh, I saw it.” She paused. “What did you think of it? Was it frightening?”

She waited for his answer with bated breath.

“No,” he murmured, shutting his eyes. “It was beautiful. I saved one once. Did I ever tell you that?”

She laughed, the sound almost a whimper. Beautiful? She’d thought countless times about what he would say when he found out, but she’d never imagined that response. Had all her worry over his rejection been for nothing?

Except . . . a tiger was beautiful. That didn’t mean you were brave enough to embrace it.

Chin Sun set her jaw. She’d promised herself she was going to be honest, at least with the people who mattered. She’d meant to tell him of her true nature after they’d gotten out of this mess, but now it seemed she wouldn’t have the chance. It was time for Hyun Soo to know everything.

“Actually,” she began, “you didn’t just save her once. You saved her many times. From goblins”—she ran her thumb down his cheek—“from bandits”—she slid her finger to his lips—“from her own stupidity.” She sniffled. “But in the end, all I did was steal from you. Do you think you could forgive me?”

Awareness flashed in Hyun Soo’s eyes, but before she could determine how he felt about her confession, his eyes closed and he slumped in her arms.

Chin Sun pressed her ear to his chest, sighing when she found a faint heartbeat. He was still alive. Still alive.

Pounding feet approached from behind. Chin Sun checked over her shoulder, relieved to discover it was Kim Min Joon. He blanched as he took in Hyun Soo’s wounded form. “Is he . . . ?”

“Don’t say it,” Chin Sun snapped. She turned back to her beloved bodyguard. She brushed a few strands of hair away from his face. He almost looked peaceful, like he was just sleeping. “He’s going to be fine.”

Min Joon’s lack of response told her how much he believed that. She felt his gaze on her as he squatted down, but she refused to meet his eye for fear of losing her last slip of control.

“Impossible . . .” he whispered.

“What?” She swung toward him, voice sharper than she intended.

Min Joon was staring in amazement, not at Hyun Soo but at her. He stretched his hand toward her face. “Chin Sun, your burns . . . they’re gone.”

She looked away. What did it matter that she’d healed herself when Hyun Soo was fading away in her arms?

She laid her head on Hyun Soo’s shoulder. “Stay with me,” she said. “You’re not allowed to do anything else, do you hear?” She tried to sound authoritative, but it came out more like begging.

“It was your fox bead, wasn’t it?” Min Joon pressed.

She didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, not when everything was crashing down around her. Hyun Soo couldn’t die. He had to live. He had to be with her. She needed him too much. How could she breathe if he wasn’t at her side?

Min Joon shook her arm so hard it hurt. “Chin Sun, what are you doing? Didn’t you hear what the goblin said about fox beads giving life?”

She went rigid, his words tickling something in her subconscious. What was it?

She tore her attention from Hyun Soo back to her friend, struggling against the sea of grief she’d started drowning in. “What did you just say?”

Min Joon released an exasperated groan. “Open your bead and kiss him,” he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Now, before it’s too late.”

Chin Sun still didn’t fully understand, but she heard the urgency in his voice and brought the bead up into her mouth. With a flick of her tongue, it opened, then she pulled down her mask. She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to Hyun Soo’s.

Before she could tell if anything happened, a flurry of footsteps neared. Soldiers charged toward them, armed with swords and bows. Meanwhile, Kang Dol Sam was starting to stir.

“We’ll have a better chance if we split up,” Min Joon hissed. “Get him out of here.”

Chin Sun retrieved her bead, hoping it had had enough time to work its magic, then lifted Hyun Soo in her arms and sped off.

* * *

Hyun Soo ran his fingers over a white mugunghwa flower, marveling at its intricate details.

The bottom of each petal was blood red, stretching out in thin tendrils like veins, while the very center of the flower held a cluster of pollen so light it almost looked like snow.

Surrounding him was a field of mugunghwa flowers and spider lilies, so large it stretched all the way to the orange horizon.

He meandered through the field, without worry or care, his steps leading him toward the setting sun.

A tinkling laugh stirred something in his chest, overwhelming him with a feeling he couldn’t name.

His breath hitched at the sight of a young woman sitting on the ground a short distance away.

She was absolutely exquisite, with a smooth, round face and eyes like honey.

She didn’t seem to know he was there, for she was completely enraptured with the companion sleeping at her side: a small white fox with nine tails.

Without warning, the woman stood and turned Hyun Soo’s way, but when their gazes met, he found himself staring into slanted pupils.

Hyun Soo gasped, shocked at her fox-like appearance. He lowered his eyes to the ground, searching for the gumiho, but the white fox had disappeared, leaving himself and the woman alone in the field. She peered at him curiously, almost as if she were waiting for something.

After a moment, her expression saddened, and she pressed her palm over her mouth. When she moved her hand away, there in her palm rested a small orb, glowing blue in the dying light.

Hyun Soo looked from the orb to the woman, trying to understand.

She smiled warmly, holding the orb out like she wanted him to take it.

Hyun Soo reached forward, but then he spied the blood at the corners of her mouth.

Her smile widened as fangs descended, and her fingernails transformed into claws.

A scream tore from his throat as he awoke, the nightmare ending and reality closing in on him. Pain returned, scorching hot in his chest. It was night, not sunset, and he was not in a field—he lay on a mountain, dying to protect the woman he loved.

But if he was dying, why was the pain fading? Instead of growing weaker, energy began coursing through him, spreading from his stomach toward his extremities. Hyun Soo felt new and whole, ready to fight off a hundred foes without even breaking a sweat.

What was happening?

A canopy of leaves hung above him. He’d been just outside the fortress when he’d passed out. How had he wound up in the forest? He pushed himself into a sitting position, trying to get his bearings.

Chin Sun sat beside him, mask at her neck and hands over her face as tears flowed down her cheeks. A sword lay on the ground nearby, covered in blood. Dol Sam’s sword? He glanced down at his chest, expecting to see a hwando sticking out but finding only torn fabric.

“Chin Sun?”

She gasped, countenance going from stricken to elated in half a second. She threw her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him off balance. The sweet scent of flowers tickled his nose as his companion sobbed against his chest, dampening his hanbok with her tears. “It worked. You’re all right.”

Faint alarm bells rang in his mind, but there were other matters to attend to first. He gently pried Chin Sun off him and scanned their periphery. Empty forest in all directions. “Are we safe?”

She nodded. “Yeh. There’s no need to worry.”

“How did we get here?”

Chin Sun paled. “I . . . carried you.”

Her answer was so ridiculous Hyun Soo almost laughed, yet something about the way she dropped her gaze and started fingering her jeogori gave him pause.

“You’re serious.” When she didn’t say anything, he pressed on.

“But that’s impossible, Chin Sun. There’s no way you could carry me so far.

I can’t even see the fortress. How could you?—”

Dread rose in his gut, and though he couldn’t quite pinpoint what he was so afraid of, it was almost strong enough to stop him from asking his next question. Almost.

“What are you hiding from me?”

Chin Sun went completely still, as if all the life had been sucked out of her. She didn’t speak for so long, he started to reach for her hand.

When she lifted her gaze, his hand froze mid-air. The shame in her eyes was raw, palpable, and suddenly Hyun Soo couldn’t breathe. A single tear slid down her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Hyun Soo.”

She opened her mouth, revealing a small blue bead inside.