The gardens were in chaos. Wook stood in a loose circle of guards, all pointing their pikes at him, his sword clutched in one white-knuckled hand and shoulders heaving whit his shuddering breaths. Jung and Soo stood, unable to do anything but watch, standing at the gardens' entrance. They saw Yeon Hwa turn her back on her brother, and the guards coming out from behind the trees and bushes, weapons out. Soo saw Yeon Hwa turn away and cover her face, the princess's eyes filling with tears, and read her lips as she said to Wook, "Don't think of me badly, please. I'm sorry… For Mother…"
Wook's eyes were wide and terrified, and he shook, his face paling considerably. The guards slowly closed in on him.
The eighth prince struck out, batting one of the men's pikes away, rolling into the momentary space – out of the circle. He jumped up into the air, kicking a man in the back, sending him falling face-first at the surprisedly turning guards. A man rushed at him, and Wook ducked, kicking his legs out from underneath him, and slashing another man's arm as he came up.
He fought like a cornered animal, viciously and with the energy of ten men, making sure his back was always guarded.
"I have to help him!" Jung said, and Soo saw that he was shaking.
She bit her lip, grabbing his arm. "No, you can't – His Majesty-"
"He's my older brother! He will not risk Mother's rage!" Jung roared, picking up a fallen pike. His eyes were aflame, and his shoulders heaved as he swung it at a guardsman.
"Your Highness!"
That was when the king arrived.
/
The pavilion was silent as he strung his bow, watching the fight, watching Soo hold Jung back from rushing in and helping the cornered traitor. 'Wise girl.' Won stood beside him, a vacant smile on his face, and Yen Hwa sat there, unable to tear her eyes away. The servants were all silent, standing outside, their heads down.
Jung said something to Soo and she involuntarily let go, the fourteenth prince darting forward. He was intercepted by more guards, however, and he struggled against them, his eyes wide.
Yo's eyes were empty of any feeling as he almost lazily picked up his bow. Yeon Hwa looked past him, her voice frozen in her throat, staring at her ninth brother. The smile on Won's face was small, but satisfied as he looked at the king pick up a barbed arrow and draw his bow.
The guards drew back from Wook, giving Yo a clear shot.
Yeon Hwa looked away, choking with tears that threatened to overwhelm her as she could no longer watch. Yo drew the bow, narrowed his eyes as he aimed – then let go the bowstring.
The first arrow hit Wook in the shoulder.
He jerked back with the force of it, almost falling onto his back – and he looked up at the king with disbelief, curling his fingers around the shaft, staring at the blood on his hand. Then the pain and shock hit him and he fell to his knees with a groan. His bloodied hands scrabbled in the dust as he tried to stand up. His eyes widened with fear. "No…!" he muttered. "No…! Not like this…"
Jung, still fighting the guards holding him back, yelled, "Brother!"
Soo clapped her hands over her mouth. Like a fool, she ran to stand in front of the cowering eighth prince. It obvious that she didn't know what she was doing, everyone knew it. Won raised his eyebrows, looking curious, Yeon Hwa bit her lip and looked over at the king, looking to see what Yo would do next. He knew she was watching him, but he didn't care. "You idiot girl," Yo growled to himself, glaring at Soo. She stood with a straight back, her face pale and her arms spread out, her large, liquid eyes fixed on Yo, pleading. 'How could a woman look so fierce and so weakly begging at the same time?' he wondered.
He could not hear her, for her voice was too weak to carry from the shock. But he read her lips, and they said, 'Please.'
"Move!" roared Yo, but she did not budge, swallowing and squaring her jaw. Her legs were spread far apart, planting herself between Wook and the king's rage. 'Does she want to die? What's wrong with her!'
Yeon Hwa covered her mouth as Yo reached for an arrow. Behind her, Won stepped closer and leaned over her shoulder, speaking in a light voice, just above a whisper by her ear. "Watch carefully," he said. Yeon Hwa did not move or look at him, staying stock-still, her lips pressed together so tightly they were white, her lip color all bitten away.
"Soo!" Jung called out, desperately. "Sister! Soo! Don't!"
He picked up another arrow, one that seemed oddly slim and light, drawing his bow with one fluid motion, then letting go the string. It was so easy to hit one's target at this short a distance. 'Won thinks I won't kill her,' Yo thought. The arrow flew and struck-
Right through one of Soo's long, ornate sleeves. 'He's right, unfortunately.'
If possible, Soo's face turned paler. Maybe it was from fear and shock, but still, foolishly, she did not move. Yo gritted his teeth and let out an annoyed growl. 'I'm giving you a chance, you idiotic woman!'
Jung yelled and fought, but fifteen against one was a losing battle, and he still could not reach Soo.
"That was a warning!" Yo called to her. "I will not be so merciful next time." He picked another arrow of the same type, drawing his bow once again, slowly – as if to give her time to turn and leave. She did not.
'You stupid woman. Aren't you afraid?! At least she isn't moving at all – makes it easier to aim well.' He narrowed his eyes, aiming carefully, and let the bowstring go with a 'twang'.
The next arrow was aimed lower.
It pierced her skirts, missing her leg.
With a cohort of guards, the fourth prince burst into the gardens
Yo's eyes were cold and narrow as he met Wook's, and he picked up another barbed arrow at his leisure.
So's eyes widened as he saw Soo standing over Wook's cowering figure, and jumped in front of Soo before Yo could shoot. "Your Majesty!" the fourth prince called, desperate, "Allow me!"
"Step aside, Wolf-dog."
So let out a growl, then grabbed Soo by the shoulders throwing them out of the way, just as Yo drew his bow, aimed, and shot. The second arrow hit Wook in the gut, and he coughed, blood dripping from his mouth. Yo lay his bow down and watched.
Wook panted harshly, looking up with clouding eyes at Soo. "Beware… Of the fourth… Prince…" he managed to say through labored breaths. Soo's eyes widened, and tears began to spill over. "I… Should have known… Soo… I-I'm sorry…I-" He cut himself off, looking down. With effort, he looked up at So. "End this, brother…" he said with an oddly clear voice.
So swallowed, then nodded. His knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword, and he took a stance, sweeping the sword back, about to strike. Wook looked satisfied, and he smiled slightly, looking up at Yeon Hwa, Soo – then past Soo at nothing. He was about to say something, a name, when So let out a roar of pain and slashed down, blood spraying his face.
Wook's eyes were blank when he fell, and the sound his body made when it hit the ground was like a sack of rice. Heavy and odd.
Soo fell to her knees, wide eyes, staring, lips trembling, her voice dying in her throat. A large, clear tear rolled down her cheek.
So looked at the blood on his hands, on his sword and began to laugh, a strange, choking laugh, tears in his eyes.
Yo watched this, then turned and left, brushing a hand against Yeon Hwa's shoulder as he left. The queen-to-be was twisting his ring around on her finger, face white with shock, and tear streaks on her face, staring at her brother's dead body.
/
Yo kicked the door open, throwing aside the court maids that stood on attendance outside the third queen's rooms, storming in. Soo, sitting at her desk, looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes and rose, stumbling back as he advanced on her. His wide eyes were full of fire as he looked her, and he spoke through his teeth, dismissing the court ladies in the room. "Are you insane?!" he growled.
Soo did not answer.
Yo swept a chest full of her jewelry off the tabletop, sending it to the ground with a loud crash and scattering across the wooden floor. Soo stared at it, but he did not seem to even notice – his eyes were fixed on her as he roared, "Answer me, woman!" He advanced on her, backing her against the wall, his lips drawn back from his teeth in almost animal fury. "What were you thinking?!"
Her heart in her throat, Soo could not find words.
"Do you want to die that badly?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous. "Did you want me to shoot you instead of Wook?"
"N-no, Your Majesty," Soo said breathlessly, looking around herself in faint hope of escape.
"No?" The side of his mouth went up in a smirk, the same kind of smirk she saw when he was aiming the arrow at Wook's heart. "Then tell me, wife," he spat the word as if it was distasteful, "What were you thinking?"
"I was trying to save a life." The words were out of her before she could stop them – and she held a white-knuckled fist over her fearfully and stuffily beating heart.
"What?" Yo looked at her, surprised that she even answered.
"Everyone here in the palace is just trying to survive." Soo spoke, but seemed to be watching from afar, the words simply being forced form her in her the point past fear. "Him no less. Wang Wook was not a good man, but are you? He would have gone to Qing – and never bothered you again, bu-but you didn't give him the chance."
The king stared.
"A-and I get it, you have to show your strength, you have to make an example out of those who plot against you. You're doing what you have to do to survive, too." She swallowed. "B-but it isn't a crime to live. It really isn't. I didn't want anyone to die, not His Highness, not myself, not you. I… I just wanted everyone to live." 'And for this little speech, I'll probably hang by morning,' she thought distantly.
Yo looked at her with the most sincere shock on his face. He blinked slowly with wide eyes, then began to laugh, and laugh hard, his anger now with a tinge of amusement, throwing his head back. "You really do have a death wish, Hae Soo," he said, shaking his head. He looked up at her, smirking. "I could have shot you." He took one of her ruined sleeves and held it up for her to look at, an arrow having ripped through it only a few hours ago. "That could have gone through your arm." He pointed down at the tear in her skirts. "…Your leg." He raised an eyebrow. "One of those arrows could have gone straight through your chest." He made his point by tapping slightly lower than her collarbone with two fingers. "You risked your life to try and save Wook – and not even because you liked him or he could offer you something." He shook his head. "I really don't understand you at all."
Soo said nothing.
"I could kill you now," he said in a low growl. With a sudden movement, he took one of the long, ornate, golden hairpins from Soo's hair and pointed the sharp end at her throat. A lock of hair tumbled down across the side of her face. Soo's breath caught, her eyes widened and she stood completely still as the point of her golden hairpin drew an impossibly thin red line across her throat. Yo's eyes were fixed on her the entire time, flaming. "What do you say to that?"
"Your Majesty needed me alive to exert control over the fourth prince," Soo whispered, swallowing. "I do not believe you would have killed me."
"The fourth prince who now has resentment against you. I wonder, does he love you now?" Yo said with a cruel smirk. "I could kill you now. I could have killed you then, too, just like this." Despite his words, however, the point of the golden hairpin drew back from her throat.
'At this point, it can't really get any worse for me,' she thought tiredly, then met Yo's eyes. "If you wanted to kill me, Your Majesty, I would already be dead," she said quietly. "You told me yourself, you never miss a shot. Those were warning shots. You were giving me a chance." She shut her eyes tightly, but her voce did not shake. "Your Majesty could kill me now. A-and I would die – and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it."
Yo raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, his smirk disappearing for some time, before he snorted and shook his head. "This outspokenness of yours would kill you more surely than any arrow," he said. "I haven't seen this side of you since before you entered the palace."
Soo didn't know what to say.
"You're walking on thin ice now, Hae Soo. And this time, when the ice breaks and you sink into this water, you won't come up in the princes' bathing pool with all of your memories conveniently gone." He smirked, holding her golden hairpin up. "This was a 'warning shot', little wife. Don't stand on the wrong side of me again."
Reaching down to her side and lifting her limp hand by the wrist, he placed the hairpin in her palm and turned away.
Soo convulsively clutched at her aching chest and sank down, back sliding down the wall.
/
"Let's stop."
"Lies…! Y-you're lying!" she said, shaking her head, the words spilling desperately from her mouth. He turned away, and she stumbled forward, wrapping her arms tightly about him from behind.
"We promised not to lie to each other," he said, breaking out of her hold, and then walking away.
He never looked back once, even as she sank to her knees, covering her tear-streaked face.
/
Baek Ah brought four bottles of soju, cakes and two cups with him that night. They sat side-by side on the floor of her room, their backs against Soo's bed, drinking. Finally, Baek Ah said, "The king sent So away to Seokyeong to oversee the building of a fortress. …He has already left. He'll be gone for a very, very long time."
Soo had no tears left inside of her, but she let out a sad keening sound, and leaned her forehead against Baek Ah's shoulder, the cup falling from her hand and rolling in slow circles around the floor. "I- It's all my fault… Why did I come here?" She fumbled for the remaining full bottle and took a swig, as Baek Ah made soothing shushing sounds and wrapped an arm around her. "I should've just drowned…"
Tears came to the thirteenth prince's eyes, and he hugged her tighter. "Come on," he said, "Don't say that."
But it was true. If she had not come to Goryeo, she would never have met So, never have hurt him – she would have never met Wook, any maybe he would not have died. Myung Hee would have died without thinking her husband didn't love her. If she had not come, she would never have been taken into the palace, and Court Lady Oh would never have died for her sake. Maybe, Wang Moo would not have died the way he did – because whoever was poisoning him was betting on her being the one to ready his baths.
Who knows, how many lives would be risked and people hurt as she continued to exist here?
But Baek Ah held her and shushed her, patting her back, and Soo realized that if she had never come to Goryeo, she never would have had her best friends. And maybe it was selfish, but she wanted to exist here just a little longer if there were people who cared about her.
"Come on, Soo," he said. "I'm not going anywhere. Jung isn't either. You won't be alone, I promise."
She drew back, wiping her face on her sleeve and smiling shakily. "Sorry… I- I'll be fine."
Baek Ah set her cup upright and poured her another drink. "You better be," he said. "Oh-kei?"
She smiled again. "Okay."
"Good girl," he said with satisfaction. "Drink up. Once we finish this bottle, we're gonna sing."
"Sing? Sing what?"
"We'll make it up as we go along," he said, waving his arm vaguely, taking a deep drink. "Entirely out of clichés. 'Summer in her hair and ta-da-ta-da, something, something – come back to me,' type'a thing."
Unwittingly, Soo giggled.
But Baek Ah was wrong. Jung did leave, two months afterwards, having been sent to fight in Khitan. Soo heard that Queen Yoo was opposed to it, and that Jung had begged to stay, but Yo commanded him to go, and go he did. On the night before his departure, he met her in the library, putting an entire armful of snacks and sweets on the table.
He tentatively reached out, patting her arm. "I don't know when I'll be back – but I promise you that I will be." He looked down, squaring his jaw, and then looking back up at her. "Promise me you'll eat well and sleep well, Soo. Don't have nightmares, and don't miss me too much," he added with a momentary grin. "Alright?"
"Alright," Soo said.
"I don't know if you know this, but Baek Ah has an aunt in Sariwon on the way to Seokyeong. He told me to tell you that he can… Y'know. Follow our fourth brother around sometimes and give you messages from him," Jung said. "If you want." He tried to smile at her again.
"Thank you," Soo said. "And… Tell him thank you, too. I think I might… Take him up on that."
They had tried to shift the mood into a lighter state, chatting and eating. When Soo smiled at something Jung said, the fourteenth prince grinned back at her. "There we go!" he said. "See? Baek Ah's wrong. It's not poems and artistic sensibilities, it's food that's the key to a woman's heart." He gave her yakgwa. "Eat up. The more you eat, the better we'll get along."
"Really?" Soo asked. "Because at some point, I'll be so large that you'll have to roll me around for me to get anywhere."
Jung shrugged. "I'll eat just as much as you, and then we'll both roll around together."
On the morning of his departure, Soo watched from the top of the wall as he swung into the saddle of his horse, the soldiers he was taking with him doing he same. She waved and he waved back with both arms. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was trying to grin happily for her. He rode out of the gates with his company, turning around in the saddle twice to wave at her again and again.
Soo watched them go until they disappeared completely. She refused to cry again, but she couldn't suppress two tears rolling down her face; one for the man she loved, and one the almost-man that had called her 'sister'.
She looked away, seeing another procession on the wall-top, the king with his entourage. He gave her a single flat look, and she sank into a bow. When he passed her, she could again smell mint and lavender.
