Yona stared into the mirror. The Yona in the mirror stared back and tugged at a frizzy red curl. Yona languidly stretched the lock of hair until it was straight, smooth and silky in her reflection. She watched it spring back into place, joining with the other wild waves of her sunset hair.
Soo-won says he likes my hair. Yona's face split into a wide smile and she stared deeply into the mirror, twisting a curl around her finger before she released it and let it spring back into place. She grabbed a section and pulled it back, spinning it and fixing it in place with the bejeweled hairpin Soo-won had handed her hours before. It was sloppy, and the pin wouldn't hold her hair back for long, but the sight of the enamel flowers shining in her hair lifted her spirits nonetheless. She twirled in front of the mirror.
Not even her bizarre trepidation could overpower her bubbling joy.
A knock sounded at the door. Alone in her dim room, Yona spun toward the sound and let out a small shriek.
"Princess!" Hak burst in, glaive ready. He slammed open the door. It slid to the end of its track with an almost-broken crash.
"Hak!" Yona gasped, then demanded, "What are you doing in here?"
He stilled and lowered his glaive, apparently placated by whatever he saw. He gestured to the door, deadpan. "You should keep this locked, Princess. Someone could get in."
"Like you?" She huffed.
Hak was unusually tense, with no ready jibes about her attachment to her new hairpiece. He slid the door shut behind him, slowly, guarded.
She looked up at him curiously. Yona was still riding the wave of her good mood, but the tension she felt in the air cast a distinctly menacing shade on Hak's presence. "Hak? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," He answered, staring back at her door. After a moment, he continued. "Something felt… off."
The last note seemed more for himself than for her, but Yona responded anyway, "Off how?"
He raked his hand through his hair, already plenty disheveled. "It was too quiet in the courtyard. I thought-"
Yona's door slid softly open. Hak tensed like lightning had passed through him and he held his glaive at the ready, standing in front of Yona, solid as a rock and fierce as a tiger.
Yona was abruptly reminded of the night two weeks ago, when she could have sworn she'd seen a man reaching for her through the darkness. Her breath hitched in her throat and she stepped closer to Hak, taking shelter behind his robe.
"Soo-won." Hak lowered his glaive. Yona moved out from behind Hak and looked at the door.
"Hak! Yona," Soo-won blinked in something like confusion, as if he didn't expect Yona to be in her own quarters. He walked into the room. There was something in his hand- a flash of metal- Yona could swear, but before she could see what it was he slipped it into the folds of his robes like it was never there at all. There was a smudge of something dark on Soo-won's cheek. He raised his hand to his cheek and wiped it away. Yona wondered if she was imagining things in the low light of her room.
Hak raised his eyebrows and looked between the two of them in a way that distinctly annoyed Yona. "A rendezvous? So that's why you didn't want me here. Just tell me next time, and I'll clear out, Princess."
"Hak!" Yona fumed, and at the same time Soo-won laughed and waved his hand, "It's not like that."
Yona pouted a little at his quick dismissal.
"A-anyway, Soo-won, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?" Yona asked, before Hak could find something else embarrassing to say.
He looked back towards the door. Yona caught a trace of something metallic on the air, but before she could pinpoint it, it vanished into the air of her room. Soo-won hesitated, his silence feeling like a message in itself.
"Did you feel it too?" Hak fixed his stare on the open door. Yona swung her gaze between her two childhood friends.
"Yes." Soo-won answered, his voice deep, unusually serious. "Hak… I think you should stay with Yona tonight. I'm going to look around."
Hak nodded grimly. Soo-won swept from the room, Hak in his wake. Yona's bodyguard paused in the doorway. "I'll be in the hallway, Princess. Shout if you need anything."
Yona nodded. Their tension, Soo-won's serious voice and Hak's battle ready anxiety, all of it combined and confounded Yona. She touched her hand to her hairpin softly and said, "I'm counting on you, Hak."
For what, she didn't know. Hak shut the door behind him and silence resounded in Yona's room, trapped. Yona was alone- she'd dismissed the ladies' maids for the day as one had requested time off, for celebration, and Yona hadn't seen a reason to refuse.
She walked slowly to her bedchambers, lifting her skirts to stop them from swishing on the floor. Her mind turned Hak's anxiety and Soo-won's sobriety and a glimpse of metal and a smear on his cheek over and over and over. It didn't stop until she had reached her bed, undressed, and fallen asleep.
And even then, a metallic tang in the air smelled of foreboding, and a flash of metal concealed in robes struck like tragedy.
Yona slipped out of her bedchamber, bleary-eyed. She'd slept fitfully, woke early.
Her room was brightly lit once more as she came out, and her maids were back, tidying. As she came out, two of her older maids bustled off to draw a bath. One of her new maids- the one who'd requested the day before off- whipped around to stare at her, looking as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Good morning." Yona rubbed at her eyes, tilted her head to the side. "Is everything alright?"
"Huh? Oh! Yes." The woman laughed, somewhat nervously. "It's just early. I wasn't expecting you up yet, my lady."
"Oh. If that's all, then." Yona nodded, then yawned. "Please prepare my clothes. I'm going to have breakfast with my father."
"Ah." The maid was acting stiff, odd. Yona wondered if something had happened on her day out. "Are you sure? I thought that you preferred eating alone, or with Lord Soo-won."
Annoyance trumped Yona's curiosity about the maid's strange behavior. Pouting, Yona crossed her arms. "I don't want to eat with my father! I really want to see Soo-won before he goes!" Yona ground her toe into the ground petulantly. "But father told me yesterday that he wanted to talk with me over breakfast. I hope he makes it quick."
The ladies' maid grimaced, nodded, and spun on her heel, likely to fetch Yona something to wear.
"I'd like to wear something purple today," Yona called after her, "I'm going to see Soo-won after breakfast."
"Of course, my lady." She nodded.
Yona perked up momentarily. "Oh- I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."
"Ha-uen, my lady, but you don't have to remember that." Ha-uen half-bowed, turned, strode away to fetch Yona's dress.
"Really, Hak. You don't have to follow me to my father's room." Yona protested as Hak fell into step with her.
"Ah, but I might have to follow you to whatever comes after." He eyed her lilac hanbok, raised his eyebrow and looked up at her. "What are you dressed so fancy for, Princess? Going to meet someone, hmm?"
"It's none of your business!" Yona protested, her face flaming.
As much as she hated his teasing, she was glad that his tension from yesterday was mostly gone. He was still more wary than usual- he was scanning the passageway like he expected someone to come out at any moment.
Yona focused her gaze forward, looking to her father's room. The sooner she finished breakfast with him, the sooner she could go see Soo-Won. Maybe- Yona straightened up- her father wanted to tell her that he'd changed his mind about Soo-won.
Hak and Yona stopped at King Il's door. Yona stepped up and knocked.
The weather was pleasant, clear. A gentle breeze stirred the plant life in the courtyard, bringing the scent of early spring through the passage. Yona knocked again, then called through the door, "Father, I'm coming in."
She slid open his door, Hak behind her.
The room was dark; the fire had burned out, only dim light shone through his windows. There was a man in the room; he was crouched over her father. Her father was on the ground; he was laying in a dark pool, his face pale and body still, a dark stain spread over his chest.
Yona screamed.
"Father!" Yona screamed again, rushing forward as Hak pulled her back. "Father!"
The world blurred, distorted. Hak's glaive flashed down with a rush of air like a hurricane, and the man who had been crouched by her father crumpled.
When had he gotten all the way to the door?
"Hak, let me go!" Hak's arm around her loosened reluctantly and she bolted forward, crumbling to her knees by her father's side. She pulled her father's head into her lap. "Father! Father, say something!"
The first of the hot tears ran down Yona's face. She looked back to the doorway, where Hak stood motionless. "Hak… Hak, we have to get a doctor…"
She couldn't focus- everything sounded like it was under water, drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in her head. She couldn't hear, couldn't tell if Hak had obeyed. The world was swimming in and out of her consciousness. King Il's pallid, sickly face was the only fixed point in her entire universe. She felt a hand, heavy on her back. Hak's solid arms pulled her into his chest, pulled her away from her father.
"Princess- Princess!" Hak shook her lightly. "Princess! Breathe."
She was sobbing in earnest. She hiccuped, coughed, choked. Hak pulled her back, pulled her away, towards the door, as guards rushed in.