When Sook Myeong arrived at his room the next morning – he had insisted she spend the night sleeping in her own bed and even given her orders to get some good rest – she found his arm resting securely in a sling. He was beaming up at her.
She laughed. "You're really excited about today, aren't you?"
She wasn't. For some reason, she was dreading picking up her bow again. She'd even made one of the servants retrieve it from her room and carry it out to the range for her. Sook Myeong hadn't disturbed it since she'd set it down after killing the would-be assassin.
She hadn't told Jong Su. But after she'd helped him back to the palace that afternoon, she had returned to the forest with the soldiers to retrieve the man's body. She'd been suffering through an eternity of seconds waiting outside of the prince's bedchamber to see him after he'd been carried there by some guards. After Eun Sook had appeared, the doctor had sent a servant to report that the family would have to wait at least an hour to visit the patient. The procedure was taking longer than he'd anticipated.
Sook Myeong had nearly exploded with tension then.
Was something wrong? Was he going to die?
Just then, the king's general had appeared to report to him. And Jin Heung had instructed him to head for the forest to collect the body of the dead perpetrator. He had already sent a couple of soldiers to stay with the body, but he had wanted to lead the group that removed it. As her brother turned to go, Sook Myeong had stopped him with her voice.
"I'm going with you."
Frowning, he had turned back towards her. "You don't have to."
"I do. I need to face what I did."
He'd instantly furrowed his brow. "What you did?"
"Killing that man."
"You were defending me and the prince!"
She had nodded. "I know. But the man is still dead."
Her brother's eyes had tangled with hers. The weightiness of death – even a justified death – descended upon them both.
He had nodded. "Come along then. I want to be back before the prince awakens."
The poor man had fainted after walking back from the forest with her.
A few minutes later, Sook Myeong had stood gazing down at the dead man. A man whom she had felled with her own arrow. In death, he had appeared to be simply a boy.
Lee Bom Ho.
A man she had seen from time to time haunting the palace with his father, Minister Lee.
As she had stared down at the young man, she had been swamped by a sudden grief as she realized that she had nearly snuffed out the life of both Ah Ro and Seon Woo. Two of the best people she knew. The finality of death had haunted her in that moment. So had the horror of recognizing that she had allowed her mother to intimidate her into destroying a worthy life. Out of fear.
But it would have been a needless death. Ah Ro hadn't sought to destroy the king. She had, instead, protected him. Befriended him. Respected him.
Sook Myeong had shuddered as she stood over that dead body. And imagined the doctor lying there in the place of the dead boy. Her eyes forever closed to this world. Both Seon Woo and Jin Heung bent over her weeping. Horrified that Sook Myeong could so easily extinguish a life.
In the next frame that appeared in her mind's eye, a different dead body lay prone at her feet. The man she had loved. Seon Woo. His life removed in an instant by an arrow she had meant for his beloved. This time it was Sook Myeong that lay crumpled over his body, her grief pouring down his cheek as she pressed her lips against ones which were already turning blue.
She had begun to tremble.
"Sook Myeong."
The king's voice hadn't even reached her. He had instructed his men to remove the body.
But her voice had rung out then. "Wait."
She had dropped to her knees and reached out to touch the man's face. It had been as cold as ice; it had long ago turned ashen as a deathly pallor crept over it.
"I killed him," she had whispered.
Jin Heung had squatted down next to her. "And if you hadn't, that would be me – or the prince – now. Perhaps both of us. Lying white and rigid against the hard ground." He had glanced at her. "Maybe you too."
She had drawn a fortifying breath and stood up. "Take him."
Her voice had rung with authority. But it had only hidden the heart beneath. And the grief that was welling up in it. This was a deep wound. It hurt so much worse than she could have imagined.
She was only thankful that Seon Woo had prevented her attempted assassination of Ah Ro. The circumstances of that averted death would have completely obliterated her conscience. At least, in this man's death, Sook Myeong had acted justly. Still, she knew today would continue to haunt her. For a very long time.
––
Now, she had proof. It had been a week since she'd killed that boy, but the consequences of her actions were stalking her with a greater vengeance today. As she anticipated picking up her bow again.
She tamped down on the tension growing in her belly as she smiled down at Jong Su. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
She was fairly certain that she wasn't.
He grinned up at her. "Absolutely."
The king had arrived to help his brother-in-law stand up for the first time since he'd been injured. Sook Myeong stood ready to steady his right side while Jin Heung helped him stand up. Situated at his left. She watched in dismay as the prince grimaced deeply. But he straightened, standing to nearly his full height.
"Time to move," the king murmured, not unsympathetically. "Did I ever thank you for bearing this wound for me?" He turned his head towards Jong Su.
The prince chuckled ruefully. "Yes. You're giving me your sister, remember?"
"Ah, yes." Jin Heung's eyes clashed with Sook Myeong's for a moment. "But only if she agrees."
"She's the one who proposed to me!" the prince responded, disgruntled.
"What ever was she thinking?" the king asked teasingly.
"She couldn't resist my charms when I was confined to a bed."
"You were clearly irresistible immobilized," Jin Heung chortled.
But the smile faded from his face as, wincing, the prince took his first step. Grunting the whole way.
Sook Myeong slipped her arm around his waist and drew herself into his side. "You can do it," she whispered. Without even meaning to. She simply wanted to encourage him.
Really, she wanted to put him back into that bed until he could move without pain. She'd also be able to avoid the range for a little while longer too.
Together, she and her brother helped the man to walk across the room.
"That's enough for now," the doctor murmured.
"No," the prince glanced up at him, "it's not. I promised I would escort the princess to the target range."
"That can wait," she responded firmly. "We can do it tomorrow. Or the next day."
The doctor intervened. "Just sit in a chair for a little while," he instructed the prince. "If you feel up to it, you can walk across the room again in a few minutes."
So it was that half an hour later, the prince made his ambling way out into the corridor, supported on one side by the king and on the other by his own beloved. They shuffled along that hallway at a slow pace.
Sook Myeong felt her inner tension growing. She wanted to avoid that range at all costs. With every step that closed the distance between her and her bow, her anxiety ramped up another notch.
"I think that today you should just concentrate on walking through the palace," she murmured into Jong Su's ear. "We can venture outside on another day."
His countenance pinched, he glanced down at her. "But I really want to visit our garden with you."
Her heart melted.
Our garden.
It used to be hers. Alone. When she was alone.
But now she had the prince.
She smiled tremulously up at him. "It's okay. Our garden will still be there tomorrow...or even next week."
He instantly discerned her fear. But he didn't address it. Instead, he gave in gracefully to her concern for him. "All right. Another day then."
She sighed with relief.
One of these days, she'd have to conquer that target again.
But not today.