“If by any chance we do not meet again in this lifetime, then I will find you in the next—or as many lifetimes as it takes to see you again.”

“Would you betray the king, too, if that would lead you to your sister?” he asked. At her silence, he said, “You are quiet. Are you afraid of me?” She looked at him, dead in the eyes. “Would you betray the king?” He tensed under her probing gaze. “You are quiet,” she said, arching a brow. “Are you afraid of me, daegam?”

“Hopefully in the next lifetime, we will meet again,” he said, glancing down at me. “And in kinder circumstances.” I gazed up and offered him a small smile. “I hope so, too.”

“I will not dissuade you. But whenever you are in need,” he whispered, his lips close to my ear, “do not hesitate to send a message my way. I will go to where you are, wherever that might be.”

“You must change the heavens. So go, daegam. Go and move the heavens for her.”

“Iseul and her weapon of choice,” Daehyun whispered, almost endearingly. “Why did we trouble ourselves with this coup nonsense when we could have sent you in with your deadly rock?”

But risking my life was easier than sitting alone in the silence of my thoughts. For if I was not running, if I was not charging forward, I feared that self-loathing would corner me. And I refused to feel defeat when I had barely even begun.

We mortals exist for but a season, and yet we love as though we are bound by eternity.

“Are you quite certain about this?” He hesitated again, his voice a rough whisper. “You would brave a life with me?” “I would brave this life,” I murmured against him, “and a thousand more.”

It would not be the life I had envisioned for myself, but I felt no fear. Life had taken me to strange and frightening places before, and even in my darkest and loneliest hour, I had always found treasures hidden in the deep. And I knew I would find them again.

“...is to live a peaceful and honorable life, and above all, to be remembered well by you once I’m gone. Then in the next life, perhaps, you will not pass me by.” “I would never pass you by,” she replied softly. “And should I find you first, I do hope you will not greet me with an arrow.”