The Voice: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #1

Chapter 1: Pure Silver

The young king wandered into the forest. Grief ripping his heart apart. He had just placed himself upon the throne. Finally coming forward after years in hiding. But he was all alone now. Not even his mother wanted to acknowledge him. And a whole council opposed his ascent.

He had come to the forest to breathe. And to think. And to search his heart for answers that he was fairly certain were not in there.

But as he entered the heart of the forest, a gentle voice was suddenly carried to him on the wings of a soft breeze. A voice with which – at first – he thought he was familiar. The voice of his good friend. The storyteller. The woman to whom he had foolishly given his heart. Foolishly because she loved another. Seon Woo had stolen her breath. She clearly adored the only man that the king had ever considered his friend. Her lover was not a servant. He was the king's equal. In more ways than one, it seemed. For he too – as it turned out – was also an heir to the throne that Jin Heung was trying to claim.

And this man had claimed it first. His hand forced when the girl they both loved had been threatened by a neighboring king. At that time, Jin Heung had believed his friend had claimed kingship simply to save her from dying. But some corner of the man's heart must have recognized that he was royalty – and not the commoner he'd grown up believing he was – for he had stepped forward with alacrity and faced that formidable king with courage. Fearlessly, in fact. Challenging him to a private duel. The outcome of which would determine the fates of them all. And it had. Though, not quite in the way he had believed it would. They'd still had to break the girl out of prison and run for their lives. Only to face that foreign king across a field. But, thankfully, at the very last moment – when all had seemed lost – the hwarang had arrived to save them.

Perhaps Jin Heung had more friends than he'd once believed possible. He blew out a deep breath. He just wasn't sure. For he knew that Seon Woo despised him. Believing that the king had killed his best friend. Only – it wasn't true. But Jin Heung had never denied it. Maybe that was the problem.

But that voice – the one which he thought he had recognized – was floating on the air still, wrapping around him comfortingly but with a story that was all too familiar. How did she know...?

"The noble king was beloved. Of his subjects, at least. And he adored his tiny son. He would often dangle him upon his knees. And rest the weight of his crown upon that wee head. And receive his son's affection in return.

"But late one night when the boy was still a small child, the council that despised his appa came for that life. The king was found dead in his bed, his blood soaking the sheets, turning them crimson with angst. Fearful, the boy's mother called her most trusted guard and charged him with the care of the tiny boy.

"'Hide him away. Where none shall find him. You must keep him safe until he reaches his majority,' she had insisted before sending the lad – without her kiss – off into the deep night.

"She would not see him again for many years. And if this pained her, she let none know.

"But eleven years later, a flower appeared in her room. A bloom that did not grow within the capital of the country. Someone – stealthy, invisibly so – had entered the royal chambers undetected but for the flower he'd left behind. She knew that blossom. And she was fairly certain she knew the man haunting her chambers now.

"She approached them with trepidation. But also, with some deeper emotion stirring in her breast...."

The girl's voice paused, and Jin Heung was both relieved and disappointed. For this girl had been accurately telling his own story, and his heart was exploding in his chest now. How did she know the most intimate details of his life? How could she possibly know about the flower?