Light of the Dragon's Eye

Chapter Thirty-Seven

AKIRA'S POV

He will find out that you lied to him soon enough...

Shut up.

You can't really believe that you deserve this sort of happiness, do you?

"I said shut up, Snow Bitch."

Yona turns to me, confused. "Huh?"

"Nothing. I'm normal. This is normal."

"No one who has ever said that was ever normal," Yun remarks, wringing out some laundry.

"Whatever." I feel horrible, and not just physically. My emotions are in tatters and I've told such a big lie to someone I love that I can't swallow without getting a lump in my throat.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and see Jae-ha standing behind me. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, sure. Here, or...?"

"Yona dear, Yun, could you please leave for a moment?"

"I still have laundry to do-" Yona tugs on Yun's arm before he can protest. "We should let them talk."

They both leave, and I turn to see Jae-ha gazing at me sadly. He lifts his hand and brushes his fingers over my sallow complexion. "I'm so sorry I let you get kidnapped."

"The only person who let me get kidnapped was myself, Jae-ha. You hold no blame."

"But-"

"None."

He sighs, and chuckles slightly. "Glad to see that you're still as stubborn as ever."

My mouth twitches. "I pride myself on verbal weapons as well as physical ones." He doesn't laugh, and frowns instead.

"You fell in love with him."

I blink, and feel a sadness blocking my airway. "I did."

"May I ask why?"

I consider this. "Well..." I speak hesitantly. "I can't really pin it on just one moment. I didn't even realize it when I had. It just...crept up on me, I guess."

"I can relate to that."

"Really?"

"Oh yes." Jae-ha wraps his arms around me, and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. "It happened to me with this certain girl I met a while ago."

"Jae-ha-"

He cuts me off by squeezing my arm. "At first I just saw her as a challenge, and I wanted to see if I could get her to respond to me. But day by day, with every word she spoke and every smile she made, every time she looked at me, viewing her as something to overcome became...wrong."

He pulls back slightly and looks down at me. "That jerk better treat you well."

"Definitely. If he doesn't, I'll let you know and we can kick his ass."

"I can't wait."

With slightly sad smiles, we both head back inside.

Or at least, we try to, before-

"Lady Akira!"

I turn around to see a person running towards us, out of breath. I reach for my dagger, but he raises his hands quickly. "No, wait!" I pause, and notice the armband that they wear; grey, with deep blue.

Tadashi's clan.

"Why are you here?"

The person - a soldier - stops in front of me, panting heavily. "G-General Kita sent us to find you when he heard that you were here...he wants to speak with you, and with the prince." He reaches inside his knapsack and pulls out a bound scroll. "He asked us to give this message to you."