The raven-haired girl woke early the next morning, her master having taken his leave early to train with Hak in the arena. Calista treaded lightly across the slanted, red shingles that adorned Hiryuu Castle, the chill morning air biting at her exposed cheeks, and whipped clean through her tattered clothes. When she was playing his bodyguard exclusively, Lord Soo-won preferred her to wear subtle clothes.
She only had one set of those. They were well-worn and bloodied with use. He had given her additional sets of clothes to play the part of his escort; fine, expensive clothes that she could only ever dream of seeing in a market, which he instructed her to wear on very specific occasions. Calista still preferred the odd sense of comfort her travel clothes brought over the finer ones. She felt more like herself.
Calista watched from the roof, crouching precariously on the edge, as Hak and Soo-won practiced their archery from their mounts. Calista grinned as she saw Hak's hit dead on the center, and then frowned in confusion when she saw Soo-won's hit the second ring.
There was no way he missed that.
She straightened. Calista had seen him train before, and lately, there was a calculating, predatory look in his eyes concealed behind the calm green. In the past few weeks, she noticed that he had been practicing a lot more with his swordplay, often enlisting the aid of General Joo-doh.
There was no way her master missed that, even slightly.
His skills were no match for Hak, general of the Wind Tribe, dubbed the Thunder Beast of Kouka, but he certainly was much better than what he had just shown to his childhood friend.
Calista's eyes went wide as she pulled the pieces together in her head.
There was no way....
She darted from the rooftop, speeding across the ledge in a blur until she came to the concealed corner of the castle. There, she spotted familiar, elegant, dark hair. Calista stumbled back, almost tripping over her feet in shock.
It.. It couldn't be...
Yona's laughter rang clear across the arena, and she looked over her shoulder to see Hak shaking his head in disbelief as Lord Soo-won smiled gently at his cousin.
No one was after the princess.
No, no, no, what the hell is going on?! She watched as something darkened in her master's gaze as he watched Hak relentlessly tease the princess. He wouldn't.
It was subtle, but it was there. The blood lust simmering beneath his emerald eyes. How had she not seen it before?
Calista frantically tried to gain Hak's attention, but once she did, he ignored her. She stumbled over her feet, nearly falling off of the rooftop. She saw him make eye contact with her and turned away. Despair filled her heart and threatened to consume her as the reality of what had happened set in.
Damn it...He knew.
Her master was aware that she knew. He knew the entire time, and he was toying with her. He was trying to get her to notice his plan, so that he could turn Hak against her when she went to him for help and planned to use the emotional distress as a distraction for whatever it was he was going to carry out.
Whatever Soo-won had told Hak between last night and now didn't matter. She was now at a disadvantage.
Calista gritted her teeth. If Hak didn't believe her anymore, then no one would. No one knew who she really was at the castle, and the person she had to expose was the one person who everyone would trust over her in a heartbeat since she was under him. Her master would claim responsibility for her accusations if she said anything and toss her to the street.
Her hands were tied. If she tried to do something, she'd be in a position where she couldn't do anything once they knew she'd caught on. On the other hand, if she didn't do anything, someone was going to die.
She just didn't know who.
So Calista waited. She watched. Nothing was out of the ordinary, and if anything, her master was acting too inconspicuous. She narrowed her eyes. She would figure out what this was about and she would stop it.
Five days later, and the party was in full swing, as people from all over the kingdom came to celebrate Princess Yona's sixteenth birthday. All were wealthy nobles, who held a high position in society, and were likely in the royal court. Calista watched from a distance as Soo-won pulled Yona outside, to give her an embellished hairpin. Yona's face lit up with a smile that Calista hadn't seen in ages.
From the adoring expression on the princess' face, Calista could tell she had deeper feelings for her cousin that went beyond family relations. She winced as she remembered the pain on Hak's face that he tried to hide when he saw them interact with each other. Subconsciously, she rubbed her wrists with her fingers. Too soon, the princess was pulled back inside by Min-soo, and Soo-won turned away with a conflicted look on his face.
It's now or never.
Calista leaped down from her hiding spot, landing lightly in front of her master.
"Ahhh... Calista."
He's not surprised. She noted to herself.
"Walk with me." Came the quiet command.
Silently, she followed him, until they ended up in a small clearing, vacant of all human presence. Soo-won turned to face his bodyguard, turning his green eyes on hers, and a chill ran down her spine.
Her jaw locked, "Who?"
Soo-won sighed regretfully, eyes wistful, "I had hoped you wouldn't do this, I had big plans for you."
"...Who?" Calista repeated, quietly but firmly. Steel eyes hardened as she watched calm green shift from gentle to vengeful.
"The king. Who else?"
Raven hair flew back as she sprang forward, dagger glinting in the sunlight. Soo-won caught her wrist deftly, eyes narrowed in anger.
Calista snarled at him, and her master's eyes widened in surprise.
"His life is not yours to take." She hissed.
Soo-won stumbled back, resolve faltering in his eyes.
"You would do this to them?!" Calista's voice shook with raw emotion. "To Hak?! To Yona?!"
Her master's face contorted in pain at the mention of his closest friends' names. "General Joo-doh will replace you as my bodyguard. I have no need for you anymore." He said flatly, ignoring her questions. Calista didn't get a chance to react to his words, because at that moment, a former pawn decided to make himself known.
"May I, Lord Soo-won?" His creepy smile sent chills down her spine. "I'll teach the kitten not to play."