The Kinsman: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #5

Chapter 10: Stricken

Soo Ho handed him the parchment.

Dan Se glanced down at it in confusion. "What is this?"

"It's a note. From my wife."

"Jung Sook?" Dan Se queried, perplexed. "Why would your wife write me a note?"

Soo Ho shrugged. "She said it concerned your wife."

"My wife?" Dan Se was truly stumped now. He hadn't seen his wife in three weeks. Not since their wedding day. But...Jung Sook had?

He glanced up at his friend. "Has your wife befriended Mi Sook?"

Again, Soo Ho was at a loss. "I do not know. She simply asked if I would give you this letter. And she mentioned that it concerned your wife."

Dan Se nodded. "So you said." He broke the seal and unrolled the scroll.

And felt his rage beginning to boil again as he read the words a concerned woman had penned. He glanced up sharply at his friend. Soo Ho was alarmed by the wrath that chased worry across his face.

"What is it?" he asked Dan Se as his mind flashed back to the scene that had taken place just a couple of minutes ago.

Jung Sook hadn't been exactly calm when she'd handed Soo Ho that letter at the gates a few moments ago. But when he'd asked her what it was about, she had shaken her head.

"Let's not waste time. Please. Take it to Dan Se immediately. It concerns his wife."

So he hadn't said another word. He'd bent to brush his lips across hers before grabbing the scroll from her hand and racing back inside the walls to find his quiet friend.

Dan Se looked at him. "Can you cover for me this morning? I need to run an errand."

Soo Ho nodded dumbly.

His friend disappeared in a flash. But he noticed that Dan Se made sure that his sword was in its scabbard before he trod towards the gates. With a very determined look on his face.

––

Dan Se ran the entire way. He burst through his father's front door and startled the hovering maid. "Where is Mi Sook?" he thundered.

Now trembling, the girl pointed towards his bedroom. "In her ch-chamber, sir."

He fled to his room. And nearly tore the door off its hinges as he opened it. He came to an abrupt halt as he stared in horror at the woman lying across his bed. He stepped into the room and shut the door firmly behind him. Before crossing to her side.

Gingerly, he sat down on the edge of that bed. Near her head.

She was lying on her stomach. Shaking like a leaf. And sobbing.

His heart felt as if it had been flayed open this time.

"Mi Sook?" he crooned tenderly.

But she didn't respond.

So he spoke her name again. A little more loudly this time.

She stopped weeping. She was utterly still for a few silent moments. Then, "Dan Se?" she whispered in shock.

"Yes, my dear. 'Tis I. What's wrong?"

She didn't turn her head to face him. She sniffed. "Why are you here?"

She had taken note of his sweet appellation for her. And of the tenderness in his tone. And they were both making her crave things that she was pretty certain he held absolutely no interest in.

But she wanted them so badly. Especially in this moment. When the shock was still sliding along her nerves.

She longed to be held in his strong arms. Even though she knew it would hurt her right now.

"Mi Sook." He took a deep breath to steady his quavering voice. And in an attempt to calm his raging heart. "Did your father beat you this morning?"

She gasped. But she still didn't face him. "How – how?"

"A friend informed me that she saw your father strike you. Is it true?"

She buried her face in the bed. She had believed herself safe from her father once Dan Se had spoken his vows to her. But, apparently, her father had a spy. Who had informed him that his daughter and her husband had been immediately estranged from one another. And the man had been greatly displeased – as always – in his daughter's behavior. Today, he had beaten her within an inch of her life. And told her that if she wasn't pregnant within a month, he would be back to take it out of her flesh.

She was still trembling from the terrors that both his hands and his words had unleashed upon her. Jung Sook had entered the room as he'd hit her for the last time. Had the woman not come to visit her, she had no doubt that he would have continued to bruise her.

She began to weep again.

Dan Se stared down at her in despair. He reached out one tentative hand and touched her back, and she flinched. Hard.

"Mi Sook," he uttered her name brokenly. And with such tenderness that she began to shake for an entirely different reason. "How bad is it?"

It had been so horrible that she hadn't been able to move afterwards. Jung Sook had called for a maid to help her escort Mi Sook to her bed. Then the kind woman had directed the young servant to find a medicinal drink which would relieve her new friend's pain. But Mi Sook had yet to drink it. It was sitting on the table at the head of the bed.

When she didn't respond to his gentle question, he bent and brushed a kiss across the top of her head and murmured, "I will be back."

Jung Sook had told him that Mi Sook couldn't even move under her own power by the time that she'd found her.

As his rage continued to boil, he crossed the room and opened the door. He shut it quietly behind him. But there was nothing quiet about his footfalls as he pounded his way to her father's door.

He was going to teach that man a lesson that he would never forget.