???

He doesn't look too good.

"Your Majesty," I murmur, towards the shaken King as I lower my bloodied knife. "Take the horse. You must make your way back before any other assassin finds you."

I step over the body of the man who had been about to put an arrow through the Asura King.

"I— I cannot." He says. "This man—"

"I'll bring him back." I say, leashing the horse to a nearby tree. "Please, Your Majesty. Go. I swear on my life that I will return him back to you alive."

He hesitates for a long time. But finally, he takes his hand off the bloodstained Taraka, slumped unconscious against the tree. I quickly scan over him— the blood is deep on him, in at least five places. He would die in a couple minutes, maximum.

My silver eyes narrow.

But the King finally leaves. And the moment he does, I kneel in front of him. Already, the edge of my body has taken on a soft glow of white.

"Taehyung." I whisper.

"Can you hear me?"

He doesn't respond, head hung forward and completely motionless. The mask he has over his lips— the hunger he had always been so worried about must've finally descended on him.

The spot of scarlet on his chest.

"Foolish idiot." I utter quietly as I tear open the front of his scarred armor. It comes apart easily, and underneath is the head of an arrow, buried inches from his heart. The shaft is broken messily, jagged from the end. He must've tried to pull it out.

My eyes flicker.

Corpses scatter the leaves. Four. And I see a trail of thick blood leading into the woods.

"Why?"

I place both my hands against his chest. Then I close my eyes, feeling the surge of warmth pour from my fingertips to spread across his body. It hadn't only been the five spots I'd estimated from just looking.

Another arrow he'd broken in his calf. A knife wound down his back. One of his shoulders have dislocated, from impact.

I sigh quietly.

The silver pours. And the sweat that trickles down the curve of my neck soon covers my back as I go through each wound. I feel a thin rivulet of blood cascade from my nose, tracing down to my lips before falling to the ground in a dark spot of red.

It takes me longer than I expect.

I stumble up to my feet, grazing my bloody nose with my sleeve as I look down at the unconscious Taraka. The blood he'd lost pools around him.

When he woke up, he would be hungry.

I needed to kill a deer. Or even a rabbit, for him to eat. If I didn't and he woke up with nothing in front of him—

I sway. My hand flies to my temple.

Damn it.

Then I hear someone.

"Taehyung!"

My head jerks, sweat still pouring down the side of my face as I look towards the direction that the King had gone. I hear the sound of hooves. And its rider, calling his name.

A woman.

I recognize her voice. From the auction.

The Asura Princess.

________________________________

SILIN

"Taehyung!"

He's hurt. The moment I call him, his crimson eyes flash open. There's a sticky pool of blood around him, but his eyes aren't full of pain.

He looks terrified.

I dismount, leaving the white stallion there as I approach him. I instinctively slip my cardigan off my shoulders, to use as bandage.

"Stop!"

He screams it. And I freeze, standing completely still in shock as his rough voice ripples across the Forest. He's trembling, and I realize as he turns his head away from me. The only thing I'd seen were the shade of his eyes.

"Don't—" He breathes heavily. Then he scrambles up to his feet, before crumpling to the burnt grass again. I can only watch in complete horror.

It's his hunger.

But he's hurt. The blood on the floor. The bodies of men draped across the roots of the oak.

"Go." He hisses, the sound grinding out from his lips. He digs both hands into the ground, nails going inches deep into the soil.

I hurry backwards.

"T-Taehyung, I—"

I don't know what to do.

There's no one here but us. Taehyung's bleeding out— and looking at how much he'd already lost, he needed help right away. But his hunger.

"I'm fine." He growls. "That's not— my blood. It can't be mine."

"Just go. Please, Mistress."

He's pleading with me. I'm the bane of his existence.

"I-I'll bring help." I whisper shakily, struggling to climb back on top of the stallion. "Stay here, Taehyung. I'll leave. Just stay. Don't disappear anywhere."

"Please."

I jerk on the reins, turning the horse back.

Please.

The last thing I see is him, crumpled to his knees with his head buried in his hands.

_______________________________

"Mistress."

"How are you feeling?" I say quietly, closing the door behind me. He gazes up at me as I come closer, the hunger less in his crimson, lashed eyes. I'd had him fed right away after being brought back to the Palace.

He takes my hand between his. Then he brings it to his masked lips, brushing a kiss over the back of it before touching it to his forehead.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" I say. "You saved the King today. My father is forever indebted to you, and so is the rest of the Asura Clan. You will receive anything you wish, just as you asked me to."

Through him, I had changed fate.

My father was alive and breathing.

"Ask, Taehyung. And it'll be yours."

"...anything?"

"Anything."

He raises his head. There is something in the air that I can feel against my fingertips— something that deepens even further when he lowers his gaze again.

"Will you close your eyes?"

I do. My hands remain folded in front of me, against my dress. And I hear the sound of blankets rustling as he shifts off the bed. The floorboard creaks the slightest angle under his foot.

Soon, I feel the heat of his presence inches away from me.

I can't see. It's only darkness, but somehow I can feel him there. So close, that I can scent him. His shadow, completely overwhelming mine.

My heart beats a little faster.

Then I feel his arms, carefully wrap around my shoulders. And when he pulls me to his chest, my closed eyes open. My forehead touches the curve of his collarbone. I only come up to the base of his throat.

"Tae...hyung."

He embraces me tighter.

"Mistress."

I hadn't realized how much he'd truly grown. His shoulders enclose mine. I feel almost childlike compared to his size, his hand so large that it covers the entire half of my back. His other hand wraps around my head.

I hear him breathe, a bit shakily.

My voice is soft.

"Is this all you want?"

I feel him nod. And I can't help the warmth that fills my chest inside out. I blame it on him, that he is still a bit feverish and it's affecting me.

"Taehyung, I could give you all the wealth and power that you could ever want." I murmur, still buried in his grasp. "Ask for it. I told you, the Asura is forever indebted—"

He shakes his head.

"That's not what I want."

The corners of my lips tug upwards. So I place my arms around him, my hands gripping tenderly against the back of his shirt. I feel him tense, before soon melting into my touch.

He smells of winter. And the remnants of ash, after a fire.

He is warmth that I haven't felt in such a long time.