⊰ chapter eight ⊱

He had the prettiest brown eyes. If looked carefully, the apple of his eyes was like the body of a clock, the iris honey colored. Those eyes were unbeatable under the sun—the rays of the bright sun reflected so boldly on those eyes that it made him look like a lion. Of course, the resemblance would be more visible now. He was the Northern Spirit owner.

The strongest man, the bravest son of North. He was so capable.

Everytime he would strike with his sword, his arms would flex—they were very big. He was so tall. He was a big man. He looked the best in the suits he used to wear to the Caucus, Dara couldn't concentrate most of the time during the Caucuses but she also hated being caught by the members of the Caucus for swaying away at him. Sometimes she wished for him to not be present at the Caucus at all. She loved watching him train the rest of the soldiers. That's how she disocovered she liked him topless.

It was madness.

She liked him even more behind the chambers. But mostly, she liked it when he would just walk to her with his head low before looking up at her, giving her the most heartbreaking smile. And sometimes, Dara took pride in knowing this man, in all of Zisk was seeing her behind closed doors, sharing her secrets with him, having meals together and laughing at silly jokes and playing stars under the blankets. And she always wished for him to walk to her, and never walk otherwise.

His lips were his shyest feature. He loved hiding his smile from her. He wasn't a smile-person, never as her solider or her husband. His emotions were stone but his action were storm. Something Dara liked a lot. He spoke less, executed more. But then again, sometimes, words were just enough to feel safe and ensured.

Maybe that was the fault in their pages.

Jeon Jungkook never said the things Dara wanted to hear. But neither did Dara say the things she herself wanted to hear. What exactly did she want to hear?

Dara was snapped out of her thoughts once the maids called her a bit louder than the ten times already, "Your Highness,"

She flinched before realizing she wasn't facing the mirror at north. Not her northern maids had cleaned and dressed her, smoothed her short hair. The Southern maids bowed their heads before speaking, "You are ready, Princess. Lord Zurien wishes to see you once you are well rested."

Dara sighed as she nodded. She looked at herself at the mirror. The short hair was well trimmed thanks to Sam, they did not looked that bad. Except for the fact that the prophecy was something she should be worried about. She still couldnt connect the dots related to cutting her hair and the Curve but she was sure enough the answers were around. The maids dressed Dara in a simple day gown, pearl earrings and a pearl necklace around her neck. Dara smiled at the maids admiring her reflection on the mirror as if she was unreal, "Thank you, girls. I am well rested, I would like to see the lord right away."

The pathway from the chamber given was a long hallway, then came the stairs. It somewhat reminded Dara of something—as if she had been here before but the memory was something pushed to the back of her head. Dara frowned at the familiar staircases as the maids waited behind her, the guards waiting for her up the stairs that lead to Zurien's doors. Dara sighed, shaking the feeling off before taking the stairs up. This was the only building in the entire village, the rest of it were little taboons that made the camp for the warriors and southern citizens. Dara's chest heavied once again after finding the marble walls quiet the familiar once. The guards opened the doors to Zurien's chambers and once she was in, Dara smiled like a little child before bowing her head down but Zurien immediately held her chin up. Dara frowned, "Let me bow—,"

"No," Zurien smiled, "I am not for you to bow down to, dearest."

"You are my father. You are the Lord of South—,"

"Your devotion is not with blood, Deborah. It's with power," Zurien explained, his red hair faded as Dara noticed them, "You are a woman who grew up to the love for ruling, maybe that was the best way Arver could propose to make you reach your goal. So you must only bow when your heart really devotes to a power that you wish to bow down to. Do you know why?"

Dara smiled, lips stretching, "Because I am power? From head to toe."

"Every inch of you is power, Deborah. I birthed a gem. Not a stone." Zurien said before the two Southerns walked inside the chamber, sitting on the big golden swing set aside the wide windows of the chamber that opened to the rest of the camp. Dara dived into her father's eyes and the silence was beautiful. Zurien held her hands in his, "Do you still hear her, Illari?"

"No." Dara whispered, "Ever since the compass consumed into me, I hear my own voice. But now I am left with nothing. The western magic breaker was plunged into my blood. I don't know what happened but I can't perform with the compass or feel the falcon."

Zurien stared curiously, "Your husband, Jeon Jungkook, is the northern spirit holder. And you have the falcon with you. You must need a new spirit to unlock your magic, Deborah. Is that why you are here?"

"Of course I am here for you, to find peace in your arms and to reunite with you. But I am also here for that, yes, I need the third spirit. Where can I find it?"

"You will find it on your stay here." Zurien confirmed. His lashes lowered as he kept nodding, "what else? You feel like you are lost, Deborah."

"I am." Dara expressed with a heavy heart, her breath heavy, "I am in pain. And I am helpless. I am clueless and lost, I don't know what to do next. I fought my entire life for something that never belonged to me, but it stung even more to know that a person I trusted and looked up to so much kept his biggest secret away from me."

"The way you do not mention his name but accuse him so madly makes me remind myself of Illari and me." Zurien chuckled, "but she loved me. And I forgave all of her lies because even if she was getting forced to marry someone else with you in her womb, she was hiding it to keep you and me safe."

"She was forced to marry someone else?" Dara whispered.

"Almost got married." Zurien nodded, "Until I found out about it. And you and are the same at a few things—I traveled to East just to bring her with me to South. The marriage broke with the Eastern night and we birthed you here."

"What happened to the Knight?"

"I killed him, of course." Zurien said it was a joke but it didn't surprise Dara. She did quiet the same to protect Jungkook. The same could be said about Jungkook—him slaughtering the Western Guard at the Ministry was something that hasn't left Dara's mind at all.

Dara sighed, "he was my soldier. He did his job beautifully. And then I married him. Pushed his plans into a pit fire. And now I'm here. Fleeing again...I can't give birth, Father."

"And do you know why's that?"

Dara stared.

"Because the Curve's candidates are not allowed to have children. The previous owner—he did not have children. The Curve did not allow it. He was supposed to be the first and last man on the Curve, to sit on it and reign. But after his wife sacrificed herself for her, he made a prayer for her return and sacrificing himself to the Curve. His blood spilt all over like a rainfall across the curve. They say the marks of his blood never left. And so, the curse came back. It chose two souls to run as champions of the Curve. One of them is you."

"Did you know that I was a running champion all along?" Dara asked.

"It became more evident when Jimin wrote to me about the appearance of you and the falcon. The golden falcon is a scared spirit of the Curve." Zurien said, "I am not sure if the one who is summoning the Curve has hold of it too but it is possible for a second spirit of the Curve."

"Second spirit?" Dara questioned, "why would there be a second spirit? The spirit is the falcon and it is with me. I shall fight the summoner with it."

"You do know that you are a reincarnation of the slave that was born here hundred years ago, Deborah?" Zurien earned a nod from Dara, "The slave was captured for the King of the curve from here. This realm. But nothing called south existed back then. It was one united land. This was the land for slaves."

"Mother knew her." Dara whispered.

"Yes," Zurien nodded, "Illari lived for two hundred years. She saw the slave girl's birth and death, her marriage and the loss of her child and how she sacrificed herself for the Curve Emperor. Something doesn't change, some fates stay unchanged. The previous Deborah we knew was not allowed to have children either. It was killed."

Dara's body hair rose. She felt the goosebumps.

"And as for the chaos creator. Just like the summoner of the curve that has been causing so much havoc since the beginning of your reign, there once lived a woman who wanted to Curve as much as the previous ruler too." Zurien said and Dara's expressions changed into a question mark itself, "yes. There were three reincarnations, Deborah. Three."

"Me. An eastern woman. And...who?" Dara whispered.

"No one has seen the King of the Curve. He wished for the red hair to remember his face only if she ever returned," Zurien explained, "It's yours to find out, Deborah."

Dara too couldn't remember the King's face every time she saw him in her dreams.

"How do you know so much?" Dara whispered, her mind filled with questions.

"How do I know? These are folktales here. We tell them to children and go to sleep with these tales under their pillows. They cherish it. And when they saw you today, as if they lived their childhood dreams." Zurien smiled finally, warmth in his face, "You should let these theories rest for a while. Don't let your mind rust. You have enough time to return—,"

"I don't have much time," Dara sighed, holding her head, "The curve's summoner is summoning the curve. If I don't make enough haste, the grounds will shake again and maybe the summoner will invade all of North and kill my people...the people."

Zurien noticed the hesitation. He nodded, "The red hair's prophecy is already weak. Do not harm your hair in any way anymore. Protect it."

"I don't understand. How's it connected with the Curve?" Dara whispered again, as if her voice was being suppressed by fear.

"The King loved your hair."

Dara stayed unmoved.

Her throat went dry. Her mouth shut at once.

"He loved your hair. They say his blood touched your hair and the Curve at the same time. That's when Illari prayed for your rebirth. She mentioned you as the red haired one in her prayer."

Dara was the result of her mother's prayer.

"I want to know more about the Curve. It's beginning and it's end. All of it."

Zurien touched Dara's hair, grinning, "You just got here. Take it slow. First, find the Southern spirit. Extract the spirit and own it. The spirit will take you to the wonders of this realm."

They stood up as there was a knock at the door. A guard with red hair came in but before he approached the royals, Zurien kissed Dara's forehead and said, "They say the one who has southern the spirits knows it all that ever happened in the realms."

After all, it could be the advantage of no ability to perform magic in the South. The spirit could be the only gift of this realm. Dara nodded. Before she left the chamber, the guard whispered something to Zurien's ears. Zurien looked at Dara, "Dearest, someone you know may be waiting for you at the camp."

"Someone I know?"

"A northern soldier. He's been here for a week. He was heavily wounded—," the guard was cut.

Dara bolted from the room and down a flight of stairs. As soon as she went outside, the sun kissed her face, her eyes squinted to look through the bright daylight. The locals and villages stopped what they were doing to bow down to Dara, but she ran like the wind. Before she noticed the man with the chocolate brown hair and the once-bold but now-weak and frail figure standing on Seokjin's soldiers, she had no idea where she was running.

Kim Taehyung turned around to meet his wounded eyes with Dara's. Dara's face broke into a smile before walking to Taehyung who stumbled on his steps before completely facing her. Dara held his face in her freezing palms, kissing his forehead, "Soldier."

"My Queen," Taehyung smiled, his lip cut and face bruised, "I came back. I kept my promise."

"What have you brought me," the politician in Dara spoke strictly, peering out of her fragile self. There was a mischievous, political smirk on her lips.

Of course she was pleased to have him back in one piece and alive, but more importantly, she was relieved to have Taehyung as her spy at the East. He did not fail her.

Grabbing the scrolls out of his back pocket, Taehyung handed them to Dara. Dara frowned at the scrolls before sliding them all open.

Taehyung returned Dara a wicked smile, catching her energy with that grin on her lips as he said, "Everything."

Dara's eyes widened as her heart leaped to the sky from the excitement.

Kim Taehyung stole the Eastern Odyssey.

The Eastern Odyssey; the tale of the red hair and the purple blood.

Dara Koveski and the unknown summoner.

\\\\\hope u liked the updates, jk will be back in the scenes cuz lets get realmain characters dont stick together in all the chaps of a book right.