Yoongi manifested at Jin's back, his silver blade slick with black blood yet angled at Jin's throat. His second dagger pressed between Jin's shoulder blades.
"Release her."
Jin's thumb grazed over the skin of Grey's neck, but he did not do as Yoongi asked. "We are still brothers, Yoongi."
Yoongi scowled, purposely drawing a droplet of dark liquid from Jin's neck. It was dark red. The color of wine blended with ink. Grey watched as it crawled from his wound to his collar. Nearly the same color as hers. He said, "I am a brother willing to put you out of your misery."
"Yoongi, please." Grey held Jin's gaze and let both of her hands wrap around his. The Dark angel flicked his eyes towards her gentle grasp. "Let him go."
"I can't do that, Grey," Yoongi said.
"Listen to her," urged another voice by the door. Grey couldn't turn, but a wave of relief shuddered down her spine at Jungkook's voice.
Jin closed his eyes as Yoongi poked the dagger into his back. "Kill me, Yoongi."
"Let. Him. Go," Grey repeated. Her stormy eyes slid to Yoongi's.
"I dare you to cause her any harm," the Wraith whispered. "I will end your life one thousand times." He withdrew his dagger from Jin's back, and as he pulled away from Jin's neck, he slanted the edge so that it dug deeper. Blood streaked Jin's skin. Then, he turned to mist and ash.
"Jungkook," Grey said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Please leave," she said. Jin's lifeless eyes rose to Jungkook's over Grey's shoulder. Triumph lied there, a silent song from man to man.
"I will be right outside the door," Jungkook said. The door to the box closed. The orchestra and opera raged against the walls and floor and ceiling in a crashing sea that held both Grey and Jin on different sides of the shore. Two strangers, spread apart by elements they could neither see nor understand, but feel. To the point that when the song was over, when the rocking and rolling ceased, they truly would not recognize one another.
Grey removed Seokjin's hand from her neck, and she rested it on her chest--above her heart.
"Why would you do that?" He asked.
She said, "I can't allow you to die this way."
"I told you to stay away from me."
"I can't." She shook her head slowly, ignoring the resounding fear that clattered through her chest. Something about this moment was terrifying. Just as frightening as it was when she saw him in her bridal suite. "Again, you had a chance to kill me." She said, "and you didn't."
His hand turned into a fist, but it stayed on her bodice. "You need to leave."
"Meet me at the Eiffel Tower. The second floor. Tomorrow night."
"No," he said gruffly, "I'm not meeting you anywhere." He snatched his hand back.
"You will, and you'll come alone."
"I said--,"
"If you want your general back, you'll be there."
Grey gently gathered her gossamer cape and stalked from his box.
:::
Amelia opened the bathroom door a sliver, stealing a glance through the crack.
Grey rested her head against the rim of the porcelain tub, bubbles coming up to her collarbone. The entire room smelled of lavender and verbena, the dim ceiling lights creating a halo in her dark eyes. As soon as she'd returned to the hotel, she threw off her shoes and unzipped her dress near the doorway.
Luca had jumped up from her nap. Namjoon, Jimin, and Hoseok startled.
"What happened?" The cat enquired.
Jungkook entered second. "He tried to hurt her."
"I knew it," Luca snapped, leaping from the couch. "He's too far gone."
Grey had turned, raising her voice slightly. "We get him tomorrow night. Be ready."
Amelia slipped back into their bedroom before seeing the rest of the encounter. It seemed like nothing else happened though, because Grey shoved into the suite and walked past her best friend like she wasn't even there. Next thing Amelia knew, the bathroom door shut and a half hour passed since then.
Vanity crept behind Amelia, peering at the girl in the tub. Amelia softly closed the door, turning to the Queen.
"She looks like she's seen a ghost," Vanity commented.
Amelia led Vanity away from the door. "I don't know what's gotten into her."
"She will talk to you about it, I'm sure. It's obviously weighing her down." Vanity pat the bed, gesturing for Amelia to sit next to her. The human girl obliged, laying back on the pillows. "You know, this means you have to be the cheerful one now."
Amelia scoffed, but it turned into a giggle. "Why don't you and I switch places for once? I be Queen, you be one of the struggling humans."
Vanity smiled, a melancholy glaze settling over her eyes. "It sounds better than it is."
"What do you mean?" Amelia rolled over, raising an eyebrow at her newest immortal friend.
"In this body, I always feel like I'm going to combust. There is too much of me."
"You know, I'm really looking forward to when you show off this impressive strength you're always bragging about."
Vanity smirked. "Me too."
"I'm still worried about Grey though," Amelia sighed, sitting up, "I should check on her again--," she frowned as someone knocked on her door. Scooting off the sheets, she went and opened it.
Namjoon stood poised to knock a second time. Without saying anything, he stuck his head over the threshold and found Vanity. "Could you leave us alone, please?"
The Queen eyed both of them, but slid off the covers and padded towards the pair. Before leaving, she squeezed Amelia's shoulder. Namjoon noticed, already overthinking it.
When Vanity rounded the corner into the foyer, Amelia opened the door a tad wider to allow him inside.
"What's up?" she asked. He sidled in front of the door and closed it behind him, blocking her exit.
"What are you jealous of?"
Her stomach did a backflip. "Excuse me?"
"Am I calling it the right thing?"
Her eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Earlier, before you dressed Grey. You were guarded and completely ignoring me."
Amelia held in her groan, trudging to the bed and flopping down again. "Dressing someone takes a really long time, Namjoon. We just didn't have time for you and her to have a mini photo shoot. She's also in the bathroom, so if you want to talk about her we should go somewhere else."
Namjoon lowered his voice, attention switching from the bathroom to Amelia. "I'm here to talk about you." He took a step closer. "What's the matter?"
"There's nothing wrong."
Namjoon smiled humorlessly, squatting at the base of the bed. She wasn't sure how she felt while he looked up at her this way. "Let's get past this, okay? I think I see the problem here, but I need you to cooperate since you refuse to speak up."
"I don't have a place in speaking up," Amelia said.
He furrowed his brows. She added, "In case you forget, I'm here for the ride."
"Oh, is that all?" Namjoon asked calmly.
"No book, no power, no insanely pure heart."
"I'm not asking for any one for those," he said.
She raised her chin. "Who asked you?"
He stood slowly, putting both hands on either sides of her legs. She gasped softly as he leaned forward, looming over her. "You should have before you assumed."
She whispered, "Assumed what?"
"I wanted something so pure." His lips touched hers, a kiss very kind and diligent until he bit her lower lip. She raised her chin to meet him halfway, to deepen his hold on her. Too soon, he pulled away, dark mahogany eyes seeming to stake a claim.
"Do we have an understanding?"
She nodded. He kissed her again before turning on his heel and slipping from the door. As soon as he left, she snatched a pillow and shoved her face into it. And even though her screams were muffled, they might have echoed into the rest of the hotel.
"Everything okay?"
Amelia jumped, her head snapping to find Grey dripping from a towel by the mirror.
"Why are you so red?"
"Nothing," Amelia stuttered, shoving the pillow back towards the spread, "Nothing. Are you okay? I've been meaning to check up on you again, but I didn't want to bother you."
Grey, unconvinced, looked to the floor.
"I have something to tell you."
"I do too," Amelia said. "But, you first."
Grey nodded, her hands balling into fists. "I don't know if I can say it aloud."
Amelia reached for the pad and pen on the nightstand. "Write it. Only if you feel comfortable."
Grey took the pen, her hands shaking even as she rested her wrists on the counter. "I have been thinking of this for some time now. When you see it, keep it only between you and I."
She wrote, and handed it to Amelia.
Her best friend shrieked.
:::
Grey thought she would feel free after writing it down. Turns out, it followed her around. A mental image of her handwriting displaying the words of her heart. It was inescapable, and now as visual as it was emotional. Haunting her like words written in lipstick on a mirror, or words written through the fog clinging to a window.
She tried to listen in on the meeting, one ear in and one ear out. She didn't realize how badly she failed at it until Taehyung poked her cheek with his pen. She flinched, shooting him an apologetic glance before studying Namjoon's chess pieces atop a map of Paris.
"The dagger wasn't in the catacombs," Jimin reported.
"It was not near the Arc de Triomphe," Luca said.
Hoseok said, "Or in the Notre Dame de Paris."
Taehyung shrugged. "It could be in the Louvre. I was too busy searching Luxembourg Gardens and the Montmartre to get that far."
"Got stuck sniffing the flowers, hm?" Yoongi asked. Taehyung gave him the finger.
"I visited the Eiffel," Vanity said. "There is nothing on the first floor, or the very top, but I believe there is something worth examining on the second."
"How did you get access to the needle?" Grey asked.
Amelia made jazz hands. "Her mystical powers."
"Then we have our next target," Hoseok exclaimed.
"That's also where I told Jin to meet me," Grey said. She crossed her arms. "Two birds with one stone."
Jimin scratched his chin. "Can you split your focus like that? Jin won't just let you take the dagger."
Grey said, "I ought to get the dagger beforehand then. Tomorrow morning. They wouldn't think of defense at the start of the day."
"Solis can cause havoc at any time. That's his theme," Yoongi said.
"Okay, how about now?"
"We love diving in head-first," Amelia remarked sarcastically.
"It makes sense," Taehyung said. "She already saw Jin tonight. Rowan knows that we hit once, he won't think we'll hit twice."
"It's a good point," said Namjoon. Luca purred as the Intellect scratched behind her ears.
Grey stood, "I'll go get changed."
"Wait a second," Jungkook chimed. Grey looked at him. "We'll need a plan for tomorrow. Jin won't go down without a fight. We're forgetting that he's at his strongest right now."
Amelia turned to Namjoon. "How strong is that?"
"He can give Luca a run for her money," Jimin said. Amelia raised an eyebrow at him, the dots connecting in her head. To help her clarify, he elaborated. "When I was somewhat Dark, I could take at least two members of Anaphiel."
"Not me," Yoongi said. Jimin smiled.
"What do his shadows do? Especially now that they're Dark." Grey asked.
"Shadows," Luca began, rolling to her back so Namjoon could rub her tummy, "are indefinable. The best way I can categorize them would be placing them in the wind category. They disrupt temperature, they grab objects that also have shadows. They can take any shape."
"I once saw Jin's shadows enter someone's mouth," Jungkook said. He placed his elbows on his knees, his hands almost covering his lips. "He froze to death from the inside."
Amelia swore under her breath.
"He wouldn't do that to me," Grey said.
"I commend your faith," Vanity said.
"I'm serious," said Grey. "He stopped himself, and I think I know how we can stop him. It'll depend on my acting again, but if I can just get him to put his guard down for a second, you all can make a move."
Luca rolled over, leering at Grey. "You will have to be utterly shocking."
Grey met the eyes of her cadre in their entirety. "If I have your full power, I can make it happen."
The human girl sat down once more, explaining her plan in length. Each angel, each monarch, and her sweet friend listened with all their hearts.
:::
Wind whipped through Grey's curls as the lift to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower opened. The blue roofs of Paris shimmered indigo in the lavender horizon where a rising sun threatened to expose both her and Taehyung if she stayed too long. She wrapped her coat further around her center, her jaw growing sore from the shivering.
The Beast took the beanie from his head and put it on hers. Grey sighed at warmth overwhelming her ears and forehead. She turned to Taehyung, and smiled.
"Th-thank you."
His eyes matched the eve of sunrise, searching everywhere but hers. "You're welcome."
Grey did not pester him. Instead, she stalked around the perimeter to observe every iron bar that melded the great Eiffel Tower together. There were too many to count, more than too many to fully see. She wondered how Vanity found it.
Taehyung did the same, covering his nose as the breeze blew through his scarf. He walked that way, hiding the bottom half of his face while checking the railing, the floor, the lift for any odd symbols. Every now and then, Grey would catch him craning his neck back and wincing when the air grew especially chilly or rampant.
She rounded the corner, tapping him on the back as he knelt to rub his hands against a marking in the floor.
"Are you alright?"
He stared at her shoes. "I'm fine. Have you found anything?"
"Nothing yet. I haven't finished scouting though."
Taehyung nodded, going back to his work. Her lips pursed to one side of her face as she awkwardly rocked from her heels to her toes. Was he avoiding her?
She asked, "Why did you volunteer to come with me?"
Taehyung picked his knees from the floor and crawled to another part of the Tower. It was the most wolfish thing she'd ever seen him do. After a while, he grabbed the railing to stand upright.
"I'm perfect for the job," he said.
"How?"
He sighed. "Make fun of me for this, and I'll tickle you until you cry."
She laughed. He said, "I sniff out old tracks. I can detect hints of people and things."
"Like finding a bone," she said.
His lips flattened to a straight line. "If you must refer to it that way."
A draft blew at the nape of her neck, brushing her hair into her eyes and also ambushing Taehyung.
He seemed to glare at the wind, at her, bunching more of the scarf and hiding his nose.
"What are you smelling now?"
"Nothing," he said. "My nose is cold."
Grey frowned. "Taehyung, you are the only angel that generates heat."
"Grey, seriously, it's nothing."
"Tell me, Taehyung. It could be the dagger!"
"It's not the dagger."
"So it is something else." She grimaced.
The air blew and blew from her to him, and the longer it lasted, the deeper his disappointment. The sun rose at his back, a frame of gold and magenta fluttering behind him. She remembered a rooftop in Seoul when the colors illuminating his skin were solely blue and neon. This was so different, in every way.
"I smell him all over you."
Grey blinked, grasping what he meant after a few beats.
"His hands were around my neck, so--,"
"No," Taehyung interrupted, "His scent is mixed with yours. You're generating it."
"What?"
"I smelled it while sitting next to you at the hotel, but it was faint then."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I guess?"
His hands ran through his hair, over his face. He sighed heavily even though the wind settled a while ago. "You can't apologize for what comes naturally."
"But what comes naturally?"
He tried to speak, but couldn't. And when he tried again, his deep, hypnotizing voice sounded cracked, grating. "It's what sets me apart from animals of this realm--my sense of smell detects more than objects. It also smells emotions. The abstract. I sniff out lies, lust, joy, sadness, everything in between. Especially desire."
She wondered how it was possible, but she remembered what she'd seen. She recalled how easy it was for him to match her energy. The times when he made her tea when she was stressed or downcast. The times he made her laugh if she wasn't smiling. The time she caught him staring at the Van Gogh painting, looking for a reason for her night to be more magical. The time he let her hair down when she was in pain.
He knew every single time.
"Taehyung..."
"I can smell how much you care for him."
What did she say to that?
Off balance, she grabbed one of the Eiffel's many metal bars.
"I'm sorry."
He let the scarf fall from his face. "Don't be."
Taehyung looked away, towards her hand. His face went slack.
She yanked her hand from the bars, looking at what he found. A light, thin engraving of a blade marred the iron. It was so unnoticeable that she would have walked right past it, would have assumed someone vandalized the bar or scratched it accidentally.
She offered her palm to Taehyung. "Cut me."
Very kindly, he took her hand. One his nails lengthened to a point, and he drew it across her skin. Her blood welled in the wound, and when there was enough, she pressed it to the Tower's engraving.
White light glowed around the sketch, wholly outlining the shape. She drew her hand away, an ivory, pearlescent blade with a white gold hilt tumbling to the floor. It was light in her hands, but held a weight that somehow reminded her of a boomerang. For example, if she threw it, she knew it would come back.
She shouldn't have, but she whirled on Taehyung.
"Now that I'm bleeding, can you smell me more?"
"It's actually the only thing I smell at all." He wouldn't look away from her palm.
"What are you getting from it?"
"Besides the copper smell of blood, curiosity. Also guilt."
"Guilt because I want you to know I care about you too."
"I know. But it's different. Look, don't worry about me," he said. "We'll get Jin back."
"Just... for you to find out this way, I wasn't expecting it."
He rubbed his eyes. "I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you."
The First King's dagger would not fit into Namjoon's sheath. She decided she would just carry it. Plus, the sun was halfway through the sky in all it's pinks, blues, and purples. They needed to go back.
"Vanilla," Taehyung blurted.
Grey quirked an eyebrow.
"You always smell like vanilla."
:::
(A/N) Scented reader,
Nice little short update (bc the next chapter is completely out of my control with length and events and feels and magic powers)!
Namelia Status: Sailed
Grey and Taehyung? Can't say the same for them.
Then again, the book isn't over. For anyone.
10 more chapters. The final countdown begins now!
Thank you all for reading and taking time out of your day for TTS! I am out of school, so prepare for faster updates, more aesthetics, and more love!
Next release: 12/13 (December 13th)
LET'S FINISH TEAR THE SKY OFF RIGHT!
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO -HOBIHOLIC and HopeWorldTrash_BTS because they took the time to read this monster of a wattpad book and give me their thoughts. Honestly, thank you both from the bottom of my heart. Your words made my day extraordinary and I haven't been able to stop smiling since. Like, you successfully made me a soft dork lmao, thank you again.
With love,
M