Page 24

Iseul

Iseul has declared herself a genius and her captors utter fools . The manacles, in a wonderful lack of foresight by whomever made them, do not account for the size of her wrists and ankles when she is in animal form.

And now that her head no longer throbs painfully enough to prevent her from shapeshifting, she is indeed a fox.

Ha. Ha, ha. Hahaha ha .

She winks one eye at the white chollima next to her. Goodbye , Iseul the Gumiho thinks and, with a feeling of buoyant triumph, leaps out of her stall and tackles her guard.

What follows is the most fun she’s had in ages.

Oh, how Iseul adores causing chaos.

She runs through Gyeulcheon with wild abandon, wreaking as much havoc as she possibly can. Soldiers stumble away from her, heads in their hands, bright red scratches marring their faces. Men and women scream, yanking their children closer to them as she approaches, cackling in the way that only a fox can.

This really is very opportune , Iseul thinks as she streaks through the palace. She can destroy their medical supplies, perhaps even ruin their weapons, and generally decrease morale. She is so wonderfully good at decreasing morale.

How she’ll leave Gyeulcheon is another matter entirely, but as Iseul bursts into the sickbay and begins to knock over wounded soldiers’ cots, tear through the supplies of clean bandages, she is too ecstatic to care. Who could have predicted her capture would have been so beneficial to Lina’s army? If Iseul creates enough damage here, Wyusan will be easily taken, and they can move onto Bonseyo. Where Iseul will destroy the Jeon family so completely that nothing is left of them but ash and dust.

Her white, nine tails sweep through the air, knocking over jars of medicinal pastes and other concoctions situated on the stands near the overturned cots. Laughing, Iseul prances from the medical bay, nose pointed in the air, smiling as the agonized shouts of the wounded continue behind her.

Now for the weaponry. Once she finds it, she’ll figure out a way to ruin those tricky little swords…

The Gumiho yelps as a pair of strong, calloused hands yank her into the air. She kicks her paws, furious at whoever has dared to lay hands…

“Iseul,” Seojin groans as he holds her thrashing body to his panting chest, “what have you done?”

Iseul growls. Damn it .

An hour later, Iseul is grudgingly in her human form, having been presented to Gyeulcheon’s weary-looking emperor and forced to kneel before his throne.

“Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse,” drawls Rui, who really doesn’t seem very happy about this whole situation . They stand in his throne room, Seojin glaring at her disapprovingly. She is once again manacled, and the fact of the matter is that she was not manacled an hour ago and was having a great deal of fun.

This? This is not fun. These manacles are far too small for her to slip out of, even in her fox form.

Iseul bares her teeth at the emperor. Oh, how she hates his stupid face. But she hates Seojin even more, Seojin who is standing next to her, Seojin who once again betrayed her.

Rui rolls his eyes. “I don’t have time for this.” He points a finger at Iseul. “You and your leader are pains in my ass.”

“Then why don’t you kill me?” she spits.

His silver eyes are flat. “Because I have never been one to kill Gumiho, nor support a Hunt.”

“You didn’t stop it, either.” She watches as the emperor flinches.

“I am not going to explain our defeat at the hands of the Fox Hunt’s Prophecy,” he snaps, losing his already slipping rein over his temper. Between Kang suggesting he kill himself, and Iseul targeting his wounded, Rui has had a horrible time of it recently. “I already have, and you have already listened. If you choose not to believe me, there is nothing I can do to sway your stubborn mind. And clearly, whatever genius imprisoned you so clumsily deserves to be thrown out a window. You won’t be going back to your holding cell in the stables. You.” Rui’s finger moves to Seojin, who hesitates, unsure what the Dokkaebi emperor wants from him. “From what I remember, she has a soft spot for you. We’re going to use that to our advantage.”

“A SOFT SPOT?” Iseul shrieks. She only barely refrains from stomping her foot like a child. “I HATE him—”

Seojin winces, but Iseul does not fall for this phony display of regret, even as he swallows hard and says, “Iseul, I—”

She ignores him. “I would gladly RIP OUT HIS LIVER and DESTROY HIS SOUL FOR ALL ETERNITY—”

“Both of you. Be quiet .” Rui’s voice is hard, and despite herself, Iseul falls silent. “From now on, you’ll be monitoring her constantly,” he informs Seojin, who hesitates. Oh, Iseul can feel his sudden dread. To abandon her, only to be forced to guard her every waking moment? It must seem like torture. “And I truly do mean constantly.” The emperor rises from his throne. “Song Iseul. Get up.”

Simply to be contrary, she does not.

The emperor summons a column of Dokkaebi fire. It burns and burns next to his black-thorned throne. “Get. Up.”

As the fire crackles, she has no choice but to obey. Rui, to her surprise, uncuffs one of her wrists…

And re-cuffs the manacle to Seojin’s.

“There,” Rui says, stepping back as Iseul’s eyes widen in a mixture of horror and outrage. “I doubt you’ll be going anywhere anytime soon, Gumiho.”