“I would never betray you!” Chansu cried. “Only her! She is evil and must be destroyed!”
Shin stepped away, shaking his head. “You’re not in your right mind. You don’t know what you are saying,” he said. “Tell me you were possessed when you did this! Tell me!”
“I did it for you!” he cried. “Everything I did was for you! She nearly killed you twice, and she’ll do it again. She doesn’t care about you. She only cares about the prince! I had to protect my lord. And you’ll see! The daimyo will protect you! He’ll make you king. You deserve to be king! More so than that pathetic little boy.”
“You speak treason,” Shin whispered.
“No, I speak the truth!”
“How could you do this?” Shin spoke in a daze. “You were like a brother to me!”
“I did it all for you, my lord!”
Kira saw the agony and rage on Shin Bo Hyun’s face as he drew his sword.
“No!” Kira shouted. Launching to her feet, she placed herself between them, stopping Shin from striking the killing blow.
“He deserves to die! He is a traitor!”
“Then it should be at my hand,” she said fiercely.
Shin’s eyes refocused on hers, remorseful and guilty. He pressed a hand to her cheek and nodded.
Kira faced the traitor who knelt on the ground, his head hanging low. She grabbed hold of her sword and held it to his neck. Chansu raised his face and glared at her from eyes filled with both fear and hate.
“I’m not sorry for what I did,” he spat at her. “My only regret is that you aren’t dead!”
Kira had to fight back tears; she would not let him see her cry anymore. The urge to kill him was powerful and overwhelming, and she fought it internally. Fighting against her anger and the dark place from where it came. His death would not bring back her tiger spirit. It would be murder for revenge. That was not her way. It was not how her father had trained her. There was already so much death. Kira was tired of killing.
She put down her sword and took a step away.
“Go now, and never return.” She spoke in a dull voice, all emotion and energy stripped of her.
Chansu’s expression was one of utter disbelief.
“You’re not going to kill me?”
“If I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to kill you. But right now, all I want is for you to be gone.”
He rose to his feet hesitantly. Backing away, he threw a pleading look at Shin.
“My lord . . .”
“Didn’t you hear what she said?” Shin roared. “Get out of here and never show your face again. Go before I kill you myself!”
Chansu fled.
In the quiet that ensued, no one moved. They were all waiting for Kira to react. All she could do was stare down at the spot where her tiger spirit had been.
Her brother tried to comfort her. “Kira, let’s leave this place. Come, let’s go back to the house,” he said.
Without a word, she left the clearing, returning to her room.
It was Kwan who sat with her as she slept, while Gom stayed curled up at her feet. When she woke, they were still there. Unwilling to talk to them, she sent them both away.
Not long after, Taejo and Brother Woojin came but Kira refused to talk to them.
Even when Jaewon knocked at her door, she didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She lay on her pallet and covered her head with her blanket, too tired to cry anymore. She had never felt so vulnerable in her life. The death of her tiger spirit was as devastating as the loss of her parents. It was as if part of her soul had been ripped out and destroyed. She fell into a trancelike depression. No matter who spoke to her, she didn’t have the energy to respond.
“I need to go find our brother,” Kwan said. “But I don’t want to leave you like this.”
Kira closed her eyes, hoping he would go away.
“Kira, you’re scaring me,” he said. “Please talk to me!”
But Kira had no words anymore. She was empty.
He sighed and stepped outside. She heard him talking with the others.
“Major Pak, I know your first duty is to the prince, especially with my sister like this, but you must keep an eye on her until I return,” he said. “The dokkaebi army and Gom will keep all of you safe, but please check in on her. I must find my brother. She needs him. I will be as quick as I can.”
Kira stayed in her room. She barely ate. Only Gom and the women servants came in and out of her room.
Taejo slipped into her room and sat with her for an hour. He soon left when all his efforts were met with silence.
Out in the hallway, she heard him speaking tearfully to Brother Woojin. “She won’t talk to me,” he said.
Brother Woojin responded in a soothing voice. After a while, they left.
Relief. All she wanted was to be left alone. She drifted in and out of consciousness.
Someone knocked on her door.
“Kang Kira, I promised your brother I would check on you,” Major Pak said through the closed door.
Her eyes were open, but her lips refused to speak.
“The servants say you’re not eating,” he said. “I’m growing quite concerned. You must eat something.”