The pact of the celestial dragons and their tenants as well as the tenants of the divine dragons were spurred into motion by the great demonic being attempting to consume the world. Ties to humanity were required to seal this being away and re-balance the world.

  Tae crouched in the shadows of their hiding place, watching the movements of the people below. The frozen palace was exceptionally well guarded. Considering it was just a fancy prison that made sense. He did however, see several weaknesses that they could exploit to get in. Those were probably how the deposed empress had been able to exert influence and cause problems all this time.

  Having confirmed his suspicions, Tae returned to where Min waited. They had decided to enter covertly after dark. They could have just walked in, Min was one of the few allowed access to this place. But not only would it take a while to enter as they’d have to confirm they were who they said they were, they’d alert Song, Hea and whoever was working with her to their presence. Tae sat beside Min and pulled his lover closer. Min grumbled but leaned his head on Tae’s shoulder. They had several hours until nightfall and things were likely to get messy later.

  Tae activated the Qi spell he’d drawn earlier. It would both keep them hidden and alert them should anyone approach their hiding place. That done he closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the tree trunk behind him. He might not need rest as much as Min did, but it was better to get what he could. He fully expected it to be a long night.

  The feel of Min against him was soothing. Tae focused on it, knowing Min would need him. Not just for what they were about to do, but for the aftermath. Even if his own revenge had failed, he knew the emotions that followed. He fully expected to have to lead, if not outright carry Min from the frozen palace when everything was over. It would be worse because of his complicated relationship with the woman. He’d had a hard time and the man had so clearly been his abuser. Min’s would be harder. Tae was beginning to suspect that things would be very hard for his lover, and that the answers they were about to find would leave him in a state of confusion with even more questions.

  They waited until the last of the light of the setting sun had faded before making their move. Tae led Min to one of the weak points he’d made note of earlier. He crouched down so Min could climb up onto his back before jumping up onto the wall. His jump got him about halfway up. Tae used Qi to run up the rest of the way. He didn’t pause before jumping down to the ground below and dashing for cover. He knelt and Min slipped off his back. The two then made their way around buildings towards the center of the palace complex. It was a small palace so it didn’t take them long.

  As they entered the main palace building, Tae noticed traces of corrupted Qi. It was different than the Qi that had filled the compound of the demonic sect where he’d grown up. It was similar but not the same. The demonic Qi he’d expected to find was there as well, but this corrupted Qi was similar to what he’d once seen on a pack of tigers. A few things clicked into place and Tae gritted his teeth. This was not going to end well.

  He led Min through the building, though he knew his lover could see the Qi just as clearly as he could. They entered what Tae assumed was an office of sorts. The desk and shelves of books, scrolls, and papers clear indications of what the room was used for. Tae followed the traces of familiar Qi, trying not to bristle in reaction to it. He pushed down the anger that threatened to surge in reaction, forcing himself to stay calm. It confirmed his worst fears.

  It took only a matter of moments for Tae to collect the scrolls, pieces of parchment, and the corrupted talisman. The papers went in a pouch and tucked inside his clothing to hide from view. The talisman… Tae looked up at Min, his lover was staring at the talisman eyes wide. His fists were clenched and shaking. Min met his eyes, the pain, anger, and confusion in them only solidified Tae’s resolve. This time he wouldn’t aim for a quick death, he was going to prolong it this time. The number of people he had to avenge that the monster would pay for in flesh, blood, and pain had just gone up.

  Tae surrounded the disturbingly carved piece of wood with his Qi, encasing it. He glared at it as it tried to corrupt his Qi. Tae began a sealing spell, the one his paternal grandfather had shown him during their stay in the white jade mountains. The damned thing’s Qi writhed as if it was screaming in response. Tae’s Qi was incomparably stronger than the corrupted talisman. Only once he’d finished sealing it away did Tae tuck it into the pouch.

  “I’ve got what I need, now time to deal with your side of things.” Tae told Min.

  Min’s jaw was clenched with contained rage. He simply nodded before leading the way from the room. Tae let Min lead, it was time for his lover’s revenge and it was only right that he took charge of it himself.

  ***

  Min’s mind whirled with the new information the cursed talisman had given him. He dashed through the hallways, up stairs, on silent feet. Qi covered his entire body keeping his movements swift and impossible to hear or sense. He stopped outside a room that contained more of that corrupted Qi along with the thinnest traces of a Qi that was once very familiar to him. The weakened state of the Qi only made him angrier.

  Min nodded to Tae before carefully opening the door. They slipped inside. Tae went for the center of the room while Min approached the bed on the far side. He paused a few feet away, waiting for Tae to finish his spell that would keep others from discovering what they were up to. It didn’t take Tae long to finish the Qi spell. The man was ridiculously fast with them. Min was going to blame it on the fact that Tae literally wasn’t human.

  He stepped closer to the bed, dagger in hand. He thought about making this quick, getting it over with, but there were questions he needed answers to. He placed the blade on the neck of the familiar woman. Her eyes opened and Min had to brace himself to keep from being pushed back by the wave of corrupted Qi that surged outwards. Her eyes, once a warm brown now looked nearly black in the moonlight.

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  “Get up.” Min ordered, stepping back but keeping his dagger at the ready.

  She sat up, slid off the bed, and stood in a fluid motion as if unconcerned. Min pointed the dagger at her, it’s point stopping a hair’s width from her throat, as she moved to step forwards. She raised her hands as if in surrender. He didn’t believe the show of submission, not with that smirk on her lips. It being reminiscent of the one he often saw on Hanseul only making him angrier.

  “Min dearest.” Hea purred. “What a lovely surprise.”

  “Your little plan failed.” Min told her.

  She shrugged as if unperturbed, but something was off about the motion. Her brows furrowed as if confused. For a brief moment her eyes looked lighter. Before darkening again. As they did the traces of confusion vanished. Min didn’t miss the fact that during the brief moment her eyes had been lighter that her Qi had been stronger.

  “Why go after the children.” Min asked.

  Hea laughed and Min stepped closer, grabbing her shoulder and pressing the edge of his blade against her neck. It cut into her skin and blood dripped down. Only now that he was this close did he notice the necklace she wore, and the corrupting Qi that radiated from it. Min grabbed the necklace, ripping it off her neck and tossing it to Tae.

  “No!” Hea screamed, reaching for it even as it went beyond her reach.

  Tae quickly started the process of sealing the cursed talisman. Hea screamed, crumpling to her knees, hands pulling at her hair. Min grabbed the hair on the top of her head and forced her head back up. He filled his eyes with Qi and his gut felt like it’d been filled with cold lead in response to what he saw. Her eyes, both brown and black, the black looked like it was trying to consume the brown. Her Qi, once a warm, light brown, looked like rotting wood. The impossibly dark red Qi eating away at it.

  Min impulsively placed his hand on her heart and shot his Qi into her. He pushed back the corrupted Qi, away from her heart. Hea whimpered, but her Qi surged in response, as if grasping on a lifeline. Her hand grabbed his wrist and her eyes, now more brown than black searched his own.

  “The children, are they safe?” her voice sounded hoarse, as if it hadn’t been used in weeks. The tone, inflections, everything, so different from the woman he’d spoken to just moments before.

  “I told you, your plan failed.” Min growled in anger. He felt confused but the anger had not faded. He clung to it to keep himself steady. Relief filled her eyes, they filled with black again and her face contorted into one of rage.

  She shoved him away, hissing at him as she lunged for the bed. Min grabbed her ankle to stop her but her hands slipped under the mattress. She lunged at him with a knife and Min rolled out of the way.

  “No!” Hea screamed her voice hoarse again. Her right hand gripped the wrist of her left as if to stop it. Her eyes were brown again. Tears spilled out the corners of her eyes and down her face.

  Min stared at her in shock as she fought herself. She’d clumsily launch herself towards him every time her eyes went black, only for half her body to disobey and her eyes became brown again. She was alternating between hisses and sobs. Once or twice her eyes were completely brown and the emotions that filled them she had no right to anymore. Her eyes went entirely black and she shrieked in rage, lunging for him. Min stood frozen unable to comprehend what he was seeing. A taloned hand wrapped around her throat, lifting her up and stopping her a step away from Min.

  Iridescent white Qi flared, chasing back the red-black Qi. Hea’s eyes were brown again. Those brown eyes looked at him with remorse and an emotion he hadn’t seen in them since he was a very young child. It was the same emotion he saw in his mother’s eyes. Her eyes looked just like Hanseul’s did when he looked at Seo and Nari.

  Her hands moved and Min lunged to stop her. He was too late, the knife plunged into her chest. Tae dropped her in surprise and she slumped to the floor. Min knelt next to her crumpled body not understanding the emotions that coarse through him as she coughed up blood. She lifted a bloodied hand and placed it on Min’s cheek. He froze, unsure of how to react or what to do.

  “Dearest Min,” she coughed. “The sealed… golden… vault… that’s… what they’re… after.”

  Min just stared at her. He couldn’t bring himself to touch her, but also couldn’t seem to push her hand away. Eyes, just like Hanseul’s stared at him.

  “You… grew up… so well…” she wheezed.

  Min didn’t respond, he didn’t know how. Her eyes seemed to partially lose focus as she stared into his golden eyes, eyes he’d inherited from his mother, with her own warm brown ones.

  “I’m sorry, Sena.” Hea whispered. Her eyes’ fluttered closed and her hand fell from his cheek as her body went limp.

  The sound of shutters breaking forced him to tear his eyes away from the corpse of the woman. Men in black filled with sickly Qi far more powerful than what he’d felt from Hea. Tae launched at them. Min let him take the front. He moved from the body on the floor, throwing his dagger as he did so. It caught one of the men in the thigh. Tae quickly ripped out that one’s throat.

  There were ten remaining. Tae was going through them with impossible speed. Min threw another dagger, this one coated in his Qi. It sunk into the eye of one of the men, killing him instantly. Min threw two more daggers. One to slow an attacker that was aiming for Tae’s back, and another piercing the throat of a second. That was all the help he had time to give, Tae had finished the rest of the off.

  Min knelt on the ground staring at the body of the woman he had spent almost his entire life hating. He heard guards rushing towards the room but couldn’t seem to get his body to work. He felt Tae scoop him up in his arms. He barely had the wherewithal to grab on to his lover as Tae jumped from the window the assailants had come in.

  Wind whipped past his face and through his hair. Buildings, lights, and people swarming like angry ants below. His mind barely registered any of it. His revenge was complete but he felt shock, confusion, and emptiness where he’d expected satisfaction. He tried desperately to make sense of what had happened, only for his mind to shy away as the image of Hea plunging a knife into her own heart flashed in his mind’s eye.

  Min was grateful that Tae didn’t ask him anything. That his lover just held him and hurried them through the air. He vaguely registered that they were headed parallel to the road that led to the capital. He clung to the sensation of Tae’s arms around him, his lover’s warmth, Qi, and very presence. Though his mind was lost in a sea of confusion it helped.

  She had killed herself. Killed herself with the very dagger she’d pointed at him. As if to keep it from harming him. He’d seen the determination in her eyes, the same look his mother had had when she’d drank poison meant for him. A fierce desire to protect the ones she loved. And her last words hadn’t been meant for her beloved son, no they’d been meant for him, him and his mother. A final plea.