“What are you doing? Is this how you greet a friend after a long and dangerous mission?” Shin said. A nervous looked flashed over his face.
“Yes, you’re right. He was my friend,” she whispered. “I should’ve never let this happen to him.”
“And I’m still your friend, returned safely to you,” he said. He raised his hands and approached her cautiously. “Why are you so confused? I know that you’ve lost your magic tiger eyesight. Poor thing. When your eyes turned from yellow to brown, did you lose the capacity to distinguish friend from foe? Perhaps your eyesight has been more damaged than even you realize.”
“I don’t need my tiger eyes when you stink of demon!”
“Of course I do! I’ve been fighting them all day long! I barely escaped with my life! What else would I smell like?”
She wavered. Was she wrong? The smile on his face looked the same as always, but his eyes were flat and emotionless. And cold. So cold.
“You’re acting so strange—are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.
Kira’s arm lowered. She wasn’t sure.
“If anyone should be upset it should be me,” he said. “Even knowing this betrothal was what your father wanted for us, you rejected me for another. An unworthy suitor!”
At his words, Kira’s arms moved automatically, directing her sword at Shin’s neck. His eyes widened as he leaped back, barely missing her attack. He drew his sword and gave an ugly grimace, unlike anything she’d ever seen on his face. Kira was glad she no longer had the ability to see the demon underneath the human skin. It would have been too hard to see it overtake the face of her friend.
The Dragon Fighters drew their swords, determined to protect their leader.
“My lady!” a captain of the Dragon Fighters shouted. “Please back away! We cannot let you harm our commander.”
“But that’s the problem,” she said. “He’s not your commander. And he’s not my friend either. That is not Shin Bo Hyun!”
Someone called for her brother Kwan as the Iron Army soldiers also drew their swords.
“Do you realize how crazy you sound?” Shin asked. “It’s me! Lord Shin! Your former betrothed! How can you not know me?”
“My father never approved of him,” she said in a hard undertone. “And Shin Bo Hyun knew that.”
Shin’s men had been circling them and drew back at her words, lowering their swords in confusion.
“How would I know that? Maybe this is something your father told you in secret!” Shin blustered, his eyes shooting from left to right.
“Shin Bo Hyun would know this,” she said. “Because I told him.”
“I fear your memory is at fault,” he said. “You only think you told me. This is all because you have lost your powers. You are not in your right mind, my dear. Someone take her sword away before she does something she’ll regret.”
No one moved. It was a frozen tableau of indecision and danger. Kira swiped at the tears that kept leaking from her eyes.
“If you are truly Shin Bo Hyun, you would have his full memory. But if you are a demon, you would only have knowledge of his most recent memories. So, what did Shin Bo Hyun tell me right before he left me in the Yalu River?” she asked.
“How am I supposed to remember this? You are unreasonable!”
“It was something Shin Bo Hyun wanted me to remember. Now what was it?”
“I don’t know!”
Furious, he attacked her. Kira held off his driving blows, their fight scattering his men as their swords clashed hard. A sudden calm came over her. She knew now what she had to do. With a swift move, she deflected his blow. Then, grabbing her dagger with her left hand, she spun around and stabbed him in the throat.
He fell to the ground as black ooze began to seep out of the jagged wound and Shin’s body began to deflate.
Kira collapsed onto her knees next to what was now just skin and bones within Shin’s uniform. The tears rolled down her face as she remembered his long-ago words.
“I told you I would do anything for you,” Shin said. She could feel his finger running down the side of her cheek and see his sideways smile. “It was good to see you again, Kira.”
“I’m sorry, Shin Bo Hyun!” Kira wept. “This was my fault. You shouldn’t have left me in anger. I shouldn’t have let you leave.”
Kwan knelt by her side, pulling her away from the macabre corpse. “It wasn’t your fault, Kira,” he said. “The evil done here was by the daimyo and the Demon Lord. You are not to blame. Kira? Are you listening to me?”
The hurt and guilt cut deep. If only she hadn’t driven him away, would he still be here by her side? Did she do wrong in turning him down? Should she have given him hope?
Despite all their differences, he’d become a friend, one whom she trusted deeply, one who had sacrificed himself numerous times for her. She wished he’d never come back into her life. Chansu was right. She was the reason Shin was dead.
It hurt her to know that this time she would never see him again.
22