Prophecy Read Free

up to her, his black scale armor clanking in his haste.
    “Young mistress Kang, Her Majesty requests your presence at the Fragrant Pavilion immediately,” he panted.
    Kira hid her exasperation. “I need to report to the general,” she said.
    “Your pardon, young mistress,” the guard said, avoiding her eyes. “The queen says it’s urgent.”
    She nodded and followed the young guard. His nervousness was not unusual. She had an uneasy relationship with most of the soldiers of the Hansong army. The only reason they respected her was because of her father, the supreme commander.
    Fragrant Pavilion was the queen’s retreat. The two-storied hexagonal building sat on an island in the middle of a lotus pond teeming with brightly colored carp. It got its name from its position at the north end of the palace compound in the shadow of the mountain, where the northeasterly breezes would sweep the fragrances of the seasonal foliage through the building.
    Leaving the soldier behind, Kira crossed the elegant wooden bridge that curved over the water to the pavilion. Inside, Kira faltered as she caught the mocking glances and sneers of the queen’s court ladies. It was as if she’d stumbled into a beautiful flower garden filled with poisonous snakes. Kira was good at ignoring them, but still their contempt burned her. At her approach, one by one they flicked open their fans before their faces—a wall as fragile as butterfly wings and yet completely insurmountable.
    How she hated them.
    Upstairs, she walked into a large, spacious room containing only one oversized lacquered cabinet and a few low-sitting tables. The floor was padded with a thick rush mat and covered with satin floor cushions of vivid purples, pinks, and yellows.
    Queen Ja-young’s sumptuous silk red-and-gold hanbok pooled around her on the heated floor. Her ebony hair, which reached nearly to her heels, was tied up in an elaborate hairstyle. Kira’s mother, Lady Kang Yuwa, sat next to the queen, a lovely vision in a gold-patterned blue hanbok.
    The queen eyed Kira and frowned.
    “Kira, when are you going to wear that beautiful pink hanbok I gave you?” the queen asked.
    Kira knelt on the floor and bowed deeply, hiding her irritation. She’d just killed two demon-possessed humans seeking to assassinate the king. Clothes were the last thing in the world she should have to worry about.
    Queen Ja-young sighed as Lady Kang took Kira’s hand tightly between her own. Kira felt a rush of affection for her gentle mother. Even though Lady Kang was the queen’s older sister, her calm, generous personality and her lack of jealousy made her the queen’s number-one confidant. Politics and ambition kept the queen from trusting anyone. And Kira knew from experience just how shallow and mean-spirited the court ladies could be. Queen Ja-young depended on her older sister for counsel and companionship.
    “I’m sure Kira had no chance to change; after all, you did request that she come immediately,” Lady Kang said.
    The queen snorted. “Well, at least she is obedient. I asked Taejo to join us, and he refused my request, to return to his sword training,” she said. “He is growing so quickly. How I wish I’d had a daughter.”
    Queen Ja-young picked up a roll of red silk and unfolded an intricate scene of embroidered gold-and-silver cranes flying over a mountain lake.
    Kira patted her mother’s hand, noticing how frail she looked. “Mother, are you well?” she asked.
    “Don’t worry, child, I am fine,” her mother reassured her.
    “Your mother has not been well since your birth,” the queen said. “You were such a big baby!”
    “Such a beautiful baby,” Lady Kang said.
    “I remember when the shaman said your mother’s tiger dream meant that she was carrying the greatest warrior of all of the Seven Kingdoms. And then when you were born, your father laughed so hard I thought he’d have a seizure!” The queen giggled. “How can a girl be a warrior? But look