The sun was starting to set and Jinhee had just finished cleaning up for dinner. Her training session with Chen had been amazing as she had taken to the bow and arrow like a fish to water. Chen had been so impressed that her promised to get her a bow of her own, but only if Jongin approved which both of them knew he would. As she made her way for dinner she looked to her hands and her three fingers on her right hand were bandaged from drawing the tight string of the bow. She was training so hard that she didn't notice the blisters that had grown. If her mother saw them it would cause a large fight between the two women. The tough callus on her hands would make most men run away since it was unladylike to seem so rough but Jongin had pointed out that they showed that she was willing to work hard.

 

It was something that he loved about her so seeing the blisters initially made her upset but she knew that her husband would see them as marks of victory. The doors to the dinning hall opened and Jinhee was shocked to see that she was the only one there despite there being mounds of food all over the long table. She looked to the servants but they all seemed to be avoiding her eye sight.

 

Very confused, she made her way to the table and sat down where the food was automatically shoveled onto her plate by the awaiting servants that looked happy to finally have something to do instead of waiting around and wasting the food that they would never be able to taste. Jinhee waved over the youngest servant she could find because she hated not knowing what was going on around her. She knew that being given attention by a princess would bring out the gossip from the young girl who wanted nothing more than to feel important.

 

"Where is my husband, prince Jongin?" Jinhee asked and the girl looked to her superiors before leaning in closer to the princess.

 

"There was an incident at Princess Heiryung's home, your husband was called away to help his sister." The girls voice was incredibly soft, as if she hadn't spoken all day and it was finally cracking open.

 

"What kind of incident?" Jinhee could feel her heart beating faster, what could be going on that she would be asking for assistance from her family. The last time she had seen her sister-in-law she saw nothing more than a beautifully independent woman who didn't need help from anyone.

 

"There seems to be some bandits in the area that are causing trouble for the princess. Prince Jongin promised to be back within the week." The young girl then backed away when she noticed the glares from the other servants that were telling her to stop talking and to get back to work. Nervousness grew within Jinhee as she thought about Jongin dealing with outlaws all the way down at Heiryung's palace. It was an area he wasn't used to and the few soldiers he would have taken could cause more problems than help if they aren't on his level. Knowing her husbands though, Jinhee forced herself to eat as much food as she could before retiring to bed for the night. The full stomach made her tired but as she walked to her bedroom and saw the darkness from her husbands side of the room, she grew lonely and that fear from early grew larger inside her. The tossing and turning seemed endless that night as something in the back of her mind was telling her that something was wrong, something was calling her to be alert and to be waiting for Jongin to come back on his noble steed.

 

Jongin and his band of soldiers made their way to his sisters home. His mind wandered to his wife who he wasn't able to say goodbye to before leaving. He saw her training with Chen and she was doing so well that he didn't want to shake her confidence or focus. He would be with her again soon so he saw no need to be clingy with her, plus it sounded like a serious matter so he didn't want to delay the traveling. Just thinking about Jinhee brought a small smile to his face that he had to hide from the other men, he had to keep a cold exterior to keep order among the other soldiers.

 

"Your highness, I see smoke." A soldier called out and Jongin looked up to see a large cloud of black smoke rising off into the distance. His heart sink and he forced the men to charge towards it. They came over the hill and saw that his sisters palace was swallowed whole by the large flames. They made it to the edge of the building before the horses refused to go any farther. Jongin hopped off and rushed into the flames despite the soldiers calling out for him to stop. Very quickly he stumbled upon his brother-in-law's body and found that his head had been put onto a spike in a crude manor. His stomach turned into knots as he thought about his sister, niece and nephews that could still be inside or possibly even worse.

 

"Look for my sister and the children! Spread out!" He screamed over the roaring flames that grew larger by the moment and although they hesitated, the soldiers eventually went on the search. Jongin looked around and found more guards that he been slaughtered with blood splatter all over the ground and walls. His skin was kissed by the flames and he felt himself practically cooking under the armor he was wearing. He thought of where his sister could have hidden during the attack. Sweat was pouring down his face as he stormed into the bathing room and in the large pool of water was his sister Heiryung and her handmaiden Joohyun who were clutching each other tightly. Jongin threw himself in the water that had become hot due to the heat radiating off of the fire.

 

"Heiryung!" Jongin called out to his sister as he made his way through the water, eventually reaching her. He grabbed her shoulders and there was no fight in her body. She easily flipped over and he saw the violent red marks around her neck, showing that she had possibly been strung up by a rope at one point. Joohyun had a dagger in her back and looked as if she had bled to death in the pool. Tears poured down Jongin's face as he held his sister tight in his arms, calling out to her like a selfish child trying to wake a sleeping parent. This woman had practically raised him in the palace and he had been too late to save her when she needed him the most.

 

"Your highness!" A solider called out and Jongin looked back at him, the mans armor painted black from the flames and panic filled in his eyes. "The building is going to collapse your highness! We need to leave now."

 

"What about the children?" Jongin let go of his sister and watched her and her handmaiden drift away together in the water, finally being able to be together.

 

"We couldn't find them sir."

 

"Then we must keep looking."

 

"I think they might have been taken your highness. Please sir, we must leave. Now." As the words came out of the soldiers mouth a large beam in the palace snapped in half and a huge portion of the palace roof top collapsed.

 

"Get in the water! We will get over the rocks." Jongin and the soldier waded through the water to the edge where large boulders were placed for privacy when people came to wash. They climbed the rocks, crying out in pain as the rocks had been heated by the fire. Blisters instantly covered their hands as they reached the top and threw themselves down onto the hard ground below. The air was knocked out of Jongin's lungs as he looked to the night sky as he tried to take a deep breath. The fire was so large now that it completely filled the dark sky and lit up everything around them as if it were day time. He had failed his sister and brother-in-law but he wouldn't fail his niece and nephews as he vowed to find them and bring them home for safety.

 

Late in the night Jinhee was still awake and she could hear the shuffling of feet in the hallways and the muffled gasps of shock around her. All of the hair on her body stood on end and she knew that something terrible was happening. She grabbed the sword that Jongin had given her a long time ago. The door to her bedroom slid open and a dark figure made their way to her side of the room. Without hesitation the separating door was opened and the moon light that was streaming into the window and she could make out the man's eyes that were looking down at her bed. He had a mask pulled up over his mouth and nose and a tight piece of cloth was wrapped around his forehead as if he were a ninja.

 

The man slowly made his way over to her and Jinhee held her breath, hoping that he hadn't noticed her. He drew his sword out of its holster and brought it up over his head and with every ounce of strength in his body, he drew the sword down and drove it deep into the mattress and Jinhee gasped loudly and grew still. He had slammed down so hard that the tip of the blade was stuck into the ground below her mattress. This was the beginning of the end for Jinhee and she didn't know what else she could do but fight back.