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Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, you had fought your way here to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child he had stolen. No. Fought was too strong a word. Struggled, certainly. It had been challenging, and the stakes were high with the baby hanging in the balance. Maybe in another goblin kingdom, in another labyrinth, you would have been in peril. But in this world the goblin kingdom belonged to Kyungsoo, and he seemed to want you unharmed.
You reached his castle after proving yourself for the thousandth time. The imposing stone structure crowned a hill at the center of the maze, with only a few small windows high in the ramparts. The palace may well have sprung up from the bedrock, and there was no visible way in. For what felt like days you examined the castle - every crack in the mortar, every seam between stones. You tried climbing, battering, prying, weeping, begging, and cursing the heedless walls. You called on some of the creatures you had met in the labyrinth and they did their best to help you, but it was all useless. Eventually, you trudged around a corner you had rounded countless times before, dragging your fingertips against the too-familiar stone, but this time you were confronted with a grand entryway. For a moment you stood motionless, certain that you were hallucinating, but then your companions began crying out in victory. A small furry thing dashed from behind you and danced up the stairs, yipping gleefully, and you grinned despite yourself. It was real. Or as real as anything was here. It was real, and there was still a chance.
The wooden doors began to drift open, and your little friend on the stairs flitted back down to quiver against your ankle. Some of the creatures urged you to go forward, to claim the prize you had worked so hard for, while others counseled you to stay put, or just go back home. They couldn’t help you in there, didn’t know what awaited you, it might not be worth the risk.
But then, there he was. Leaning on the doorframe with an eyebrow cocked, the goblin king neither beckoned nor rejected you; he simply waited to see what you would do. You steeled yourself and said goodbye to your friends. You didn’t know if you would ever see those strange, raucous creatures again, all you knew was that you had to keep moving forward. As you approached the foot of the stairs, Kyungsoo made his way down to meet you. Facing you at the bottom step, he bowed slightly and held out his hand, ready to escort you up the stairs like a real gentleman. You reached out, but froze before your fingers touched his.
“Give me the child,” you demanded. You had done what he said you must, and you were too tired to fall into another trap, to find yourself at another dead end.
He lowered his hand and instead swept his arm in an arc. A welcoming gesture, inviting you in while keeping his distance. “I have been generous until now, haven’t I? I could have been cruel.” He stated it as a simple fact, but it struck you almost as an insult. As though knowing that he could have made this harder would make you think of what you had faced as a gift. Was that supposed to be an attempt at diplomacy?
“Generous?” You rolled your eyes and started up the stairs on your own. “What have you done that’s generous?” You paused at the doorway, peering into the darkness of the castle.
“Everything!” Said his familiar voice in your ear, sounding perplexed that you didn’t agree. He placed his hand gently on your back, and you turned to meet his eye, nodding your permission. He ushered you ahead and you crossed the stony threshold, which seemed to shake and twist under your feet. You stumbled momentarily, Kyungsoo’s hand helping to steady you as if he had known what would happen.
When you regained your balance, you found that you had walked into a completely different palace than the one you had seen from the outside. Warm, earthy, inviting, and rich - you felt like you could curl up on any of the grand sofas in the parlor and have the most wonderful rest. While the outside only showed a few meager windows, the inside was set with enormous panes of glass on every side, looking out over the glittering maze. The labyrinth had never looked beautiful to you before.
“Everything that you wanted, I have done,” he said, guiding you from the spot where you stood frozen in awe. “You asked that the child be taken, I took him. You cowered before me and I was frightening. I have re-ordered time. I have turned the world upside-down and I have done it all for you.” He brought you to a stop and turned you to face him. His hands fell gently to your shoulders and his eyes searched yours. “Isn’t that generous?” You didn’t know how to react. He seemed to be imploring you, begging you to tell him that he had done something right. That you were happy now.
You had never been quite this close to him before, and something about him felt different. Up until now, he had moved in a dark cloud - imposing and threatening. But from here you could see the softness of him. Like the difference between a thunderhead and a child’s drawing of the sky. It was as though you could tuck yourself into his aura and it would be safe and soft. His heavy brows were mellowed by his hair falling gently down across them. His eyes were huge and round, questioning, almost innocent. His clothing seemed to be made of those black clouds now; the softest fabric you had ever seen covering him all the way to his chin.
He was so different in the safety of his home. Like him, everything in the castle was solid but plush, masculine yet soft. He was comfortable here, away from the chaos of his subjects and the noise that inevitably followed them. You realized that this was the first time you had ever seen him relaxed. It suited him.
You opened your mouth, but you had no idea what to say. Instead of embarrassing yourself by stammering, you broke away and continued down the long hallway. There was no telling what would have happened if you had been subjected to those eyes a moment longer, and you still had to find the baby. There was still time left in the allotted 13 hours to retrieve your brother, but you had long since learned that time was unpredictable in the goblin kingdom. While your time on the hill around the palace had felt like nearly a week, it had probably been mere moments by the king’s reckoning.
You came to a grand doorway made of massive black slabs inlaid with glistening silver. You reached out gingerly to touch the handle and when it didn’t immediately shriek or bite you or burst into flames, you took a firmer grip. But even when you tried with both hands, yanked the door with your whole weight, slammed your shoulder against it, there was no movement at all. With your eyes sharpened by the trials of the maze, you still couldn’t see anywhere else to go. Anything else that would bring you closer to your brother.
You felt like you might cry from sheer frustration, when you heard the king clear his throat delicately beside you. You clamped your eyes shut, took a deep breath, and considered making a mad dash back down the corridor and into the main hall, finding a different route, something, anything - but your curiosity got the better of you. There he stood, his arm crooked for you to take. You sighed, and slid your hand into the bend of his elbow. He nodded graciously and reached out, pressing on a silver leaf in the door until you heard a tiny click. You should have known - the ornate knobs were just another misdirection.
As the doors swung silently open, the floor began to shake again. You braced yourself, but the tremor quickly grew more powerful. You were sure the walls were about to collapse around you, but then the floor cracked and began to fall away into blackness and your stomach lurched and the universe flipped on its head —
And you were in the most beautiful place you had ever seen. An enormous ballroom, full of stunning people - or maybe they were creatures - arcing across the floor as gracefully as butterflies. You were standing alone, in a gown more glorious than any you had ever imagined, yet you found yourself scanning the room for Kyungsoo. This would be a perfect time to run, and yet…
There he was, at the other side of the room. The dancers parted, never stilling, but forming a clear path between you and the king. Your feet brought you towards him, and as beautiful as you were, he may have been more resplendent. All in crisp black, adorned with silver chains and epaulets, he glided towards you with an easy, regal stride. It was the first time you had seen him in a crown - a solid-looking silver piece studded with black diamonds, perched in his elegantly upswept hair. He looked like a dream, but you got the feeling that he would rather be in his softer clothes from before.
The two of you met in the center in the floor, and you were paralyzed by his gaze once again. Was that magic too? He bowed low, and held out his hand like he had on the stairs. Always inviting, never demanding. You could leave, turn back - he had told you so a thousand times. Yet, your hand found his. He straightened, and gently guided your other hand to his shoulder. He took your waist and suddenly you were swept up into an unfamiliar dance, with his steady hands and sure feet guiding you like you had been born to it. Soon, you found that your body was pressed to his, and you didn’t know who had closed the distance. Magnificent courtiers bowed as the king passed, never breaking their swirling formations.
Glittering, featherlight crystals began to tumble through the air around you. You looked around, only to find that they were cascading from the incredible height of the ceiling. They seemed to disappear as they touched the floor. You caught some in a cupped palm, and when you blew them away they transformed into shimmering bubbles that danced with the music. Before you could stop yourself, you began to laugh in delight. It was all so beautiful. Your eyes met the king’s again and for the first time, you saw he was smiling at you. If he hadn’t been generous before, that smile was a boon like nothing else. It transformed his whole face - soft and unrestrained, he looked so young. It was by far the most beautiful thing he had conjured, and you couldn’t help but want to see it again and again.
You returned to his embrace and his arms enveloped you, holding you even closer than before. He spun you around joyfully, then pulled away to look at you. His fingertips brushed your temple reverently.
“This,” he said softly, gesturing to the splendor around you, “is no gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby.” Gentle as they were, his words hit you like ice. You pushed him away and looked around the room for an escape, You were here for the baby. You had to find him. Had to. But before you could bolt - god, you should have bolted before he got you in here - Kyungsoo took you by the hand once more. The king led you to a corner of the room that was blocked off by a thick curtain of white velvet, and when he drew the fabric aside you saw a bassinet holding the unmistakable form of your sleeping baby brother. He was attended by two servants who barely stopped cooing over him long enough to bow to the king. And to you. They were also bowing to you. You reached forward to stroke your brother’s cheek, ruffle his hair. He was solid and warm, and he burbled just like he had a million times at home.
This would be better for the baby, wouldn’t it? He could have you close by while he was raised by magical creatures dedicated entirely to his care. Swaddled in luxury rather than tended by his resentful sister and distracted parents. He deserved this, didn’t he?
Did you?
Kyungsoo pulled you close again and you slid back into the dance, pressing cheek to cheek. You felt so wonderful, so free - happier than you could remember being in a long time. Even before you had left your life behind, before all the challenges of the goblin kingdom, had you ever felt like this?
“I ask for so little,” he murmured in your ear. “Just let me rule you, and you can have everything you want.” His voice was deep and warm, spreading through your soul like honey. “Just fear me, love me, do as I say.” He touched his forehead to yours. Your noses brushed, and his lips were so close, and oh, those eyes. “And I will be your slave.”
You took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself. Could you do what he asked? Give up your world, your family, everything you had known? You could fear him, certainly. You knew what he was capable of. He had first appeared on your windowsill in the company of an earthquake that shook the foundation of the earth. He was unfazed, twirling silver spheres in his capable fingers, transforming the orbs into otherworldly gifts to tempt you. Even the most terrifying creatures he sent to test you cowered in the face of his rage. The boulders bent to his whims.
Could you love him? Here in his home, past his final stony barriers, he was so different from the fearsome magical beast you had thought you knew. He was kind to you, welcoming. His smile had melted your heart, and it had only appeared when he saw that you were happy. He wanted you here. This powerful creature who could pull wishes out of thin air, he wanted you in his world. And he wanted you to choose it.
A bell rang out, cutting cleanly through the music. For the first time, the dancers stopped, all turning to see what you would do. These were the last seconds of your thirteen hours, and Kyungsoo had always stood by his word. This was the end, and a decision had to be made. Looking into his unfathomable brown eyes, you finally knew your answer.
For your will was as strong as his, and your kingdom as great.