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“You wish to marry Sook Myeong?  And to make her the price of my marriage to your sister?” Jin Heung asked in astonishment.

Jong Su nodded.

“Have you even met her?” the king queried breathlessly.

How could Jin Heung choose between the sister with whom he’d just recently been reunited and the woman whom he loved with all his heart?

“Yes.  Briefly.  Last night.  In the garden.  Just a few minutes before I ran across Eun Sook.”

“And you’re already taken with Sook Myeong?” Jin Heung eyed him suspiciously.  “She is beautiful.”

“And intriguing,” the prince murmured.  “But, to be honest,” he straightened, squaring his broad shoulders, “my brother sent me with the hope that you would give her to me.  And that we could bind our kingdoms together through our alliance.”

The king’s eyebrows shot sky-high.  But his words were at odds with his face.  “This shouldn’t surprise me.  Not in the least.  And if one marriage would solidify a peace between our countries, what will two do?”  He frowned.  “I will, of course, have to talk to my sister.”

“Don’t,” the prince begged but in an authoritarian tone.

Again, the younger man’s eyebrows assaulted the heavens.

“She has…taken a dislike to me.  I would like the opportunity to change her mind.”

“What do you have in mind?” the king demanded.

“A daily walk with her in your gardens.”

The king smiled.  “You wish to woo her?”

A smile stretched slowly across the prince’s face.  “Yes.  That is exactly what I wish to do,” he murmured softly.

“I wish you God’s own help, my friend,” laughed Jin Heung.  “My sister is…icy.”

“Ah, but you’re wrong.  She is quite fiery under all that ice.”

The king cocked a midnight eyebrow.  “Is she?  You determined all this about her in five minutes?”

“Mmm…maybe ten.”  Prince Jong Su gave a definitive bob of his head.  “She is definitely a passionate creature,” he chuckled.

Now it was the king who was narrowing his eyes at his adversary.  “And just how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

The prince met his gaze.  “She admitted that she attempted to kill the girl you loved but ended up shooting the object of her affection instead.”  He sobered immediately.  “A man with whom she is still infatuated, if I am not wrong.”

Jin Heung considered him.  “You are right.  I think she still fancies herself in love with him.  And is angry with me for letting Ah Ro go to him.”  He smirked suddenly.  “Foolishly, she believes that if I had forced the good doctor to marry me – forever barring Seon Woo from her bed – then he would have turned his eyes on my sister.  But she is wrong.  She could never have solaced the man.  He’s wild about Ah Ro.  As she is about him.  I could never have competed with that kind of love.”

“So you turned your eyes on my sister.”

The king speared him with a glance.  “That was never my intention.  In the beginning, I just brought her home to soothe me with her stories.  Ah Ro told some too, and I fell asleep to the sweet sound of her voice.  So I knew your sister’s lullabies could lull me into slumber.”

“Lullabies?” Jong Su queried, confused.

Jin Heung’s lips twitched.  “The tales she tells.  I call them lullabies because more than once I fell asleep before the end of the story.  Much to my own annoyance upon waking without all the answers.”

Jong Su suddenly grinned at him.  “So…how did you come to fall in love with her?”

“How does any man fall in love with a woman?” the king countered.  He shrugged.  “She is undeniably beautiful.  But there is a sweetness to her disposition that drew me to her.  However, her most compelling feature was that she returned my passion.  Unreservedly.”

The prince touched the hilt of his sword.  “Do I need to call you out?”

The king chuckled.  “I meant only that she adores me.  I was used to rejection.  Adoration is rather compelling.”

Jong Su studied him.  “You love her because she loves you?”

Jin Heung shook his head.  “It’s not that simple.  She fascinated me long before she returned my affection.”

“Long?  How long have you known her?”

The king’s face broke into a wide smile.  “Three weeks.”

“Three weeks!”

“It’s an eternity compared with the ten minutes you spent in my sister’s company!” Jin Heung pointed out ruthlessly.

Jong Su chortled.  “Indeed!  Touché!  But I’m not claiming to be in love with the girl.  Only to be intrigued by her.”

Jin Heung sobered instantly.  “I hope, for both your sakes, that your intrigue develops into adoration.  My sister has long been deprived of a true affection.”

His words saddened the prince.  “Yes, I could feel that.  It’s the other thing that drew me to her.”

Their eyes collided, and they both knew that they’d come to an agreement.

“So…if I can woo Sook Myeong, you’ll give me her hand in marriage?” Jong Su asked, just to be clear.

The king measured him with one glance before dropping his chin and allowing it to bounce back up.  “Yes.  But only if she agrees.”

“Then you may marry my sister.  Do it now.  Before my brother gets wind of it.”

Jin Heung frowned.  “You don’t think he’d approve?”

“I have found, your majesty, that it is much easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.  And my brother is sometimes…unpredictable.”

“Hmm.  But you agree that if I marry Sookie, an alliance will be born between our two countries?”

“Yes.  I have enough power to guarantee that.  After all,” he grinned, “my brother did send me in his stead.  And he wanted a marriage alliance between Silla and Goguryeo.  He cannot be angry with me for so easily delivering one.”

The king nodded.  “Let’s hope not.”  He drew a deep breath before letting it out.  “My sister haunts the garden each evening before sunset.”

Jong Su’s lips twitched up into a knowing smile.  “Thank you, your majesty.”

“Do your best, prince.  May God smile on your union.  And your efforts.”

“I believe He will, your grace.  I believe He will.”

After all, Jong Su had the very best of intentions.  He was, in the end, attempting to woo a woman’s heart.  By giving her his own.

––

“Your brother has agreed,” Jin Heung greeted Eun Sook with a kiss later that day.

“Agreed?”

“To let me marry you.”  His arms surrounded her, tugging her close as he beamed down at her.  “And he says the sooner the better.  Before your brother, the king, gets wind of it.”

She frowned.  “Does he think my brother will object to my marrying you?”

“I think that he’s thinking about how expedient it is for kings to marry off their sisters for political gain.  And he wishes to spare you that injustice.”

She gazed at him speculatively.  “Are you going to marry your sister off for political gain?”

His heart stopped.   “I…uh…may marry her off for a different sort of gain,” he mumbled as his eyes slid away from hers.

“Jijin?  What are you talking about?”

“Your brother didn’t oppose our marriage if I—”

She furrowed her brow.  “If you what?”

“Agree to his marriage with my sister.”

“WHAT?!”

“What?” His eyes grew wide as they swung back to collide with hers.  “Is it really that shocking that he’d want to marry my sister?  Or that a prince would use his own sister as the bait to gain his own bride – a sister to a king?”

“So, you think my brother has no love for her.  That he wants her simply because she’s a king’s sister?”

“No,” he responded firmly.  “I think he is quite taken with my sister.  And is trying to trap her in a marriage.  She can be a stubborn, little thing,” he murmured under his breath.

“Can she now?” she queried.

“You’re angry,” he breathed in astonishment.

“You better believe I’m angry.  To be so used!  And by my own brother!  I thought he loved me!”  She drew herself out of his embrace and turned away from the king, but he could hear the hurt in her voice.

He stepped forward and laid his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it absentmindedly.  “If it makes you feel any better, I doubt he would oppose our marriage even if I refused him her hand.  He simply wanted my help to woo her.  So I gave away her secret.  The rest is up to him.  In the meantime, he’s encouraging us to marry as soon as possible.”

“Hmm.  So you said.”  She turned towards him.  Her eyes fenced with his.  “What secret did you spill?”

His lips twitched.  “My sister loves to enjoy the sunset from the vantage point of the garden.  Every evening.”

She lifted the corners of her mouth in a sweet smile.  “So he is, no doubt, going to seek her out there.  To try to woo her?”

Jin Heung nodded.  “I pity the man.  He’s taken on no easy task.  The girl is as cold as ice.  I’ve only ever seen her smile at one man.”

“Let me guess.  You,” she grinned.  Jijin was, after all, irresistible.

He laughed.  “All right.  Two men.  The other was the man she fancied herself in love with.”

“Seon Woo?”

“How could you possibly know that?”  He narrowed his eyes at her.

She shrugged.  “It makes sense.  He is your best friend, right?”

“He is that.”

“I like him immensely.  Thank you for finally introducing him to me today.”

“Well, now that I have your brother’s permission to marry you, I can let my greatest secret out of the bag.”  His eyes caressed her affectionately as he unleashed the power of his beautiful smile on her.  “You’ll get to meet my sister next.”

Earlier today, Jijin had invited Eun Sook to lunch.  With his good friend and closest ally.  She’d found the man utterly charming.  And immediately understood why Jijin’s heart had warmed under his influence.

The king’s face sobered as he turned his mind back to his right-hand man.  “Had it not been for Seon Woo’s allegiance to me, I might never have been king.”

“How so?” she queried as a frown puckered her brow.

“He, leading the hwarang, came to my aid when one of the oldest members of the royal council opposed me.  Minister Park wanted to make Seon Woo king in my place.”

“What?”  Her eyebrows smacked the ceiling.  “No wonder you consider him a trustworthy friend!  He gave up a throne to you?!”

He nodded.  “It’s truly extraordinary, isn’t it?  He is a man of incredible honor.  And the very best friend I could wish for.  He’s also my cousin.”

“Wow.  He would have been an excellent choice of husband for your sister.  Why didn’t you marry her off to him?”

“She would have loved that, but he was already in love with the doctor.”

“Ah.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about, you know,” he murmured reassuringly.

“What?” She glanced up at him questioningly.  But her brow had wrinkled again.

She had discovered at lunch today that Jin Heung had once fancied himself in love with Seon Woo’s beloved.

“You landed the throne,” Seon Woo had asserted.

“But you got the girl,” Jin Heung had grinned at him.

“The girl?” Eun Sook had asked in confusion.

The king had grimaced.  “Ah Ro.  The good doctor.  She’s a storyteller too.”

It was all he had said, but Eun Sook had been able to read between the lines.  And it was still troubling her heart.  She hadn’t realized that he’d already given his heart to another woman before she met him.

“I am truly, madly, irrevocably in love with you.  There is no going back.  My heart is safe from every other woman.  Including the good doctor,” Jijin assured her as he drew her towards him and wrapped her in his arms again.

“But,” she lifted her face towards his, “does she tell better stories than I do?”

He barked with laughter as he considered her.  “She tells…different stories than you do.”

“What do you mean?”  She crumpled her adorable brow again.

“Let’s just say that they’re not as innocent as yours…”

Her eyes widened suddenly.  “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed,” he murmured with a smile.  

Right before his lips captured hers again.  Grinning as he realized that, fairly soon, he’d be free to show her exactly what he was talking about.