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

Chapter 38: Likenesses

Her wide, indigo eyes blinked. Not once. But several times. He watched as tears filled her eyes.

"You know my name?" she breathed.

He nodded. "It was the last thing Mother uttered before she died," he murmured soberly.

And the beautiful girl before him burst into tears.

He stepped forward to embrace her and found a sword at his throat. He stilled. He had been instantly surrounded by three guards.

He watched in dismay as several of his own soldiers instantly appeared from the shadows in which they'd been hiding. They came forward. Swords drawn.

Alarmed, Eun Sook gasped, "Stop it! All of you! He is my brother!"

Shocked, the king's men instantly dropped their swords. And backed away. Their eyes traveling from sister to brother and back again.

"Leave us," commanded Jong Su. He was looking at his own men.

They faded back into the shadows.

"Please," she begged her own guards, "step back. Let me have a few minutes alone with him."

"We can't leave you completely, princess. But we will give you a little distance."

She noticed that two of them placed themselves between her and the prince's guards. The last guard was still hovering close by. She ignored him and stepped forward.

"Can I have that hug?" she whispered as her eyes met those of her brother.

He leaned forward and embraced her, pulling her tightly against him. "You cannot know how I have searched for you. How I've longed to hold you in my arms like this," he breathed into her hair as he bent his head close to her ear.

She began to tremble. "I didn't think anyone wanted me. I wasn't even sure anyone in our family knew about me. Father cast me out when I was born."

"I know. I was in the room."

She gasped. "You were?"

He nodded. "I was hiding behind Mother's screen." A sweet smile suddenly infused his face with a glow of wonder. "I saw your perfect, tiny face. You were so beautiful. I had never seen another creature like you."

She sobbed into his chest.

"I was so heartbroken when Father sent you away. I thought I'd never see you again. A couple of years ago, I sent out men to find you. But they discovered you had disappeared from the village you grew up in. It was only a couple of days ago that one of them notified me that he had tracked you to Silla. So our brother commissioned me to accept the king's invitation to come visit him."

She gasped. "You came all this way...just to find me?"

He nodded. "Absolutely."

She finally drew back and stared up at him in awe. "I have a brother," she whispered in wonder.

"Several, actually," his lips twitched upwards in an amused grin.

"But you and I share the same mother, do we not?"

He nodded. "We do. That's one of the things that makes you so special to me. And you look just like her."

Her face filled with tenderness. "I do?"

"Yes. And she was friendly like you too."

Her smile trembled.

"I see you two have met."

Eun Sook turned to meet Jijin's eyes. "He is my brother! He knew my name!" she uttered, still in shock.

The king glanced at the prince. And their eyes fenced.