The Dying King Asked for a Woman Physician novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: The Pavilion
Ko Dal-su unlocked the garden door at the hour of the ox.
Without a word, he walked away down the veranda and stood with his back to them.
The night air struck Seo-wan's face.
She wore a plain dark coat of the kind the kitchen maids wore, with her hair tied under a scarf.
Tae-heon wore a servant's grey coat two sizes too big in the shoulder, and his hair was bound at the nape with a string.
He stood on the step for a moment with his eyes shut and his face lifted.
"Two years," he said.
"Since you were outside?"
"Since I was outside at night. I walk in the garden at dawn, before the guards change. Ko watches the gate. It isn't the same."
She took his hand.
It was cold, and it shook a little.
"Show me the sky," she said.
He led her down a path of pale gravel between black pines, around a rock covered in moss, past the dark edge of the pond.
The water was perfectly still, and it held every star in the sky twice over.
At the far end rose a little pavilion on stone stilts.
Four lacquered pillars held up a square roof, and the sides were open to the night.
Tae-heon led her up the steps.
She stood at the rail and looked up.
The sky was enormous.
It was black and silver, crowded with stars from the roofline to the rim of the mountains.
The long milky river of them ran right overhead.
She had grown up in a city of low roofs and smoke.
She had never seen it so clear.
"There," he said behind her, and pointed past her shoulder. "That one is the Weaver."
"My brother and I used to name the stars around her."
She turned.
"You had a brother."
"The Crown Prince." His voice was very even. "He was fourteen. I was twelve."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Dying King Asked for a Woman Physician are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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