Shattered Empress|kth

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟵

Y/n

"Good. You're getting faster."

I pushed my hair out of my eyes and wiped the sweat from my forehead, careful not to cut myself with the knife in my hand. "I don't feel like I'm any faster."

Jungkook chuckled, flipping his knife in his hand. It was a trick I'd seen him do many times, but not one that I was brave enough to try myself. "It takes time and effort, Y/n, both of which you have given well over these last two weeks. I think you can at least scare someone."

I gave him a dirty look and he laughed, placing his knife in the holder at his waist. I was amazed by the number of knives that Jungkook had on him to begin with. Every afternoon, when he was done guarding Taehyung, he took me down to the training room behind the gun range and we worked on my knife skills. It had been Taheyung's idea, really, especially since I had picked up the gun firing fairly easily. Jungkook was an excellent teacher so far, and I was enjoying learning the skill.

Far more than I thought I would, but then again, I wasn't the same naïve girl that had stepped into this penthouse over a year ago.

"Next we will move to swords."

I laughed, the thought of fighting Jungkook with a sword hilarious. "I think I will stick to the knives."

He shook his head, grinning. "If you are going to learn the small ones, you have to learn the big ones too."

I eyed him. "What's next? Fencing?"

"It's a great workout," Jungkook replied, his eyes dancing with laughter. "Don't knock it until you try it."

I placed the knife back in the holder that Jungkook had lent me. "How did you learn all of this?"

He fussed with replacing his knives on his person, most disappearing into the many pockets that were sewn inside of his coat. I had learned that it was better to be over prepared than to get somewhere and not be able to produce a weapon at all. Both Jungkook and Taehyung's coats were specially made with numerous pockets so that they could hide weapons, and to the regular person, they just looked like they were wearing a dress coat.

Maybe I should ask for a dress made that way.

"Taehyung is a lover of everything hand to hand," he finally said, clearing his throat. "He needed a partner, so I trained beside him."

I gave a little smile. "You really care for him, don't you?"

His lips lifted into a grin. "I'm his bodyguard, not his fucking friend."

"I beg to differ," I laughed. "I think you are family. I think of you as family, anyway. Hyun Ki is like your biggest fan."

The mention of my son had Jungkook grinning wider. "He's going to be just like his father."

I groaned. "Great. Just what I need to hear. You know that I can barely handle his father to begin with." Our relationship had seemingly stabilised over the last two weeks while we waited for June to get back to me. I didn't want to pester her, but Taehyung was starting to grow restless, and anything I could do to keep him from putting our children in any more danger meant everything to me.

I needed to protect my family.

Jungkook surprised me by putting his hand on my shoulder. "You are good for him," he said softly, his voice belying his massive stature. "He's happy when you are here. When you left, he nearly lost his shit. I've never seen him like that before, Y/n. I hope I mean, I know he is an asshole, but I hope you can overlook some of his bad parts."

I laid my hand on his scarred one, giving him a soft smile. "I'm trying. I really am."

He gave me a nod and then moved to leave. "I'll bring the swords tomorrow."