Chapter Seven: Memory Beneath Moonlight
The circle was drawn with crushed moonstone, salt, and blood.
Not hers—Heeyoung's. The ritual demanded an anchor. A living tie to the Moon Queen's bloodline, and Heeyoung, once the Queen's handmaid, carried just enough of the old magic.
They had waited until the hour between moonrise and midnight, when the barrier between realms was thinnest. Sheila sat in the center of the circle, dressed in ceremonial white. The pendant lay over her heart. Her hair was unbound, falling in waves over her shoulders.
"You might see beauty," Heeyoung warned as she lit the incense. "You might see pain. Or you might see both. But once you see, you can't unsee."
Hyunsoo stood just outside the circle, tense, arms folded. "I should go with her—"
"No," Heeyoung interrupted. "This is her journey alone."
He clenched his fists but said nothing.
Sheila looked at him one last time before closing her eyes.
"I'm ready."
---
🌕
The world fell away like silk slipping from bare skin.
Sheila's body stilled. Her soul did not.
She was falling—through darkness, through clouds of stars, through glowing streams of memory. Voices whispered around her. Your Majesty. Your Grace. Your Highness. She fell through names, through faces, through lifetimes.
And then—
She landed.
---
The air smelled of lilac and smoke.
Sheila opened her eyes and found herself standing in a moonlit courtyard.
Stone lanterns glowed along curved walkways. Water rippled in pools shaped like crescents. Cherry blossoms floated on the breeze, though no trees were in sight.
It was beautiful. And familiar.
At the far end of the courtyard stood herself—but not the girl from Seoul.
A queen.
Draped in silver silk and sapphire armor, a radiant circlet upon her brow. Her expression was calm, regal. A full moon hung above her like a crown. Her skin shimmered faintly, as if moonlight was embedded in her bones.
And then—he stepped out from the shadows.
Hyunsoo.
But not the boy she knew.
This was General Hyunsoo, Commander of the Moon Guard. Black robes lined with enchanted wolf fur. A sword strapped to his back. His hair tied high. His presence powerful, magnetic.
He knelt before the Queen.
"My oath is yours," he said. "My sword is yours. My soul, if you command it."
The Queen stepped forward. Her hand cupped his cheek.
"I want none of those things, Hyunsoo."
She leaned closer.
"I only want your heart."
He raised his head, startled.
And then she kissed him.
---
🌕
Sheila gasped as she felt it—not watching it, but feeling it.
The taste of his lips. The heat of his hand on her back. The ache of longing. The weight of everything they could never say aloud.
It wasn't a kiss of innocence.
It was a kiss between two people who knew what the cost would be—and kissed anyway.
Her knees weakened.
Then the memory shifted.
---
She now stood in the palace war chamber.
A map of Samhwa lay open across a stone table. Soldiers moved markers representing enemy positions.
Jiwoon stood beside her.
But not as a boy. Not even as a prince.
As her Strategist.
His eyes burned with intensity. "You cannot trust him."
She blinked. "Hyunsoo?"
"He's blinded by his love for you. He's reckless. The Council already doubts your reign. If he makes a mistake—"
"He's never betrayed me."
Jiwoon's jaw tightened. "He's already in love with you. That is betrayal enough."
"And what are you doing, Jiwoon?" she said. "Protecting the kingdom… or trying to protect me from myself?"
"I'm protecting the throne."
"Then maybe you're forgetting who wears it."
His face darkened.
"I'm the one who's never left you," he whispered. "When he dies for you, I'll be the one still breathing. Still watching you cry."
A flash of grief filled her vision.
A battlefield. A bloodied moon. Hyunsoo's lifeless body in her arms.
She screamed—"NO!"
---
🌕
Sheila's body jolted in the circle.
Hyunsoo rushed forward, but Heeyoung raised her hand. "One more moment. She's not done."
Inside the dream, Sheila ran.
Through smoke. Through blood. Through memory.
She saw the Moon Throne shattered. Saw her own face weeping in moonfire. Saw Jiwoon standing in black armor… sword dripping with silver blood.
> "You chose wrong," he said coldly.
> "You should have chosen me."
---
🌕
Sheila's eyes snapped open.
She sat in the ritual circle, panting, drenched in sweat.
Hyunsoo rushed to her side, kneeling. "What did you see?"
She looked at him—eyes wide, glistening.
"I saw... everything."
Heeyoung stood still, brows furrowed. "And what truth did the moon give you?"
Sheila swallowed, voice shaking.
"I was in love with you," she said to Hyunsoo.
A breath passed between them.
"But someone else wanted me," she continued. "Someone I trusted."
Her eyes turned distant.
"And I think he killed you."
Hyunsoo's face went still.
"Jiwoon."
Sheila nodded slowly, painfully.
"I think he's the one who destroyed the Moon Throne."