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Jungkook bent his head and brushed his lips across her hair as she wept into his chest.  She was actually allowing him to hold her.  To comfort her.  So he was going to put his whole heart into that endeavor.  

He buried his nose in the fragrance of apples and smiled.  But as he felt her shoulders shaking with her sobs, his smile faded, and his lips began to peruse the top of her head.  Perhaps if he rained a thousand kisses upon her head, his affection would leak into her brain and convince her that she was enough for him.  Chosen or not.

He couldn’t yet truthfully tell her he loved her.  But he had decided to like her.  And he felt compassion for her.  Pity for all she’d suffered.  Though he knew so little of it.  Mostly, he was trusting the king’s opinion and knowledge of her.

But Jungkook did want to earn her trust.  That had somehow become very important to him.  She needed to know that there was at least one man she could confide in.  And lean on.  And he really wanted to be that man.

The ferocity that had overtaken his soul when he had seen Chanyeol’s hand on her bottom had alarmed him.  He had been fully prepared to remove the man’s head from his shoulders.  At the slightest provocation, Jungkook would have gladly run his sword through the miscreant.  Had he come along a moment or two later, Jungkook felt certain Chanyeol would have suffered a very quick death in the king’s hallway.

But that moment had revealed to Jungkook how deeply he already felt about Jina.  He had wanted to whisk her away to his room, lock the door, and throw away the key.  And then carry her to his bed and show her what a real man could make her feel.  Someone motivated by tenderness and not lust.

He had been overwhelmed.  But instead of rushing to her side, he’d had to deal with the cretin.  And then the king had failed to satisfy Jungkook’s bloodlust.  Jungkook was genuinely concerned that Chanyeol was going to continue to be a problem until he had personally dealt with him.  

The king was too indecisive.  Too concerned with the political forces surrounding him.  And it hadn’t been his woman that had been threatened by Chanyeol.  Perhaps had Moonflower suffered at his hands, Yoongi would have been eager to chop off his head.  But alas, Chanyeol had chosen Jina as his prey.

Such thoughts reminded Jungkook of something he’d meant to ask Jina.

“Jina?” he whispered against her hair.  “Why did you leave our room?  You promised me you would not.”

“It was the note,” she explained.  “Nothing else would have enticed me.  But the note said they would hurt you if I didn’t come.”

“What?” His head shot up.  “What note?”

“A few hours after you left, a note was slipped under our door, and a loud knock sounded.  I got up and read the note.  I left immediately.  I headed towards the corridor where I ran into Chanyeol.  I think they thought you were being detained.  Obviously, it was a trap.”

“But who was behind it?” Jungkook stared down at her sweet face.  “Did you see anyone?”

She shook her head.  “Not until I ran into Chanyeol.  He must have been the one who wrote the note.”

“No.  I don’t think so.  He looked shocked that anyone arrived to defend you.  He had no idea you were my wife.  I registered the surprise on his face when I told him to unhand my wife.  Most of the palace is not yet aware that we are married.”

“But obviously, the person who wrote the note was aware.  They threatened you by name.”

He narrowed his eyes as he thought furiously.  “Do you still have the note?”

She glanced towards the table by the door.  “I left it on the table.”

He slid out of bed and went to find it.  But the little table was empty.  He bent and searched the floor.  He discovered the note under the table.  He turned it over and read it.

“‘Come to the kitchen now.  If you ignore this note, your husband will find himself in mortal danger.’”

Yet again, Jina had sought to save him by putting her own precious self in peril.

Jungkook glanced at her.  “You saw no one in the hallway when you found this note?”

She shook her head.

The note held a definite threat to Jungkook.  But who would have sent it?  And had they sent his wife into Chanyeol’s paws on purpose?  Or had that been just a coincidence?  Had something worse awaited her in the kitchen?

Had they planned a more destructive ending for Jina?  Had their plan been thwarted by Jungkook’s rescue of his wife in the hallway?  What on earth was going on?  And how was he going to keep Jina safe?