He Used My Blood Then Chose Me novel · Chapter 1 of 32
Chapter 1: The Blood in the Bowl
At dawn in the human lands, Min-jun cuts Seo-jun's palm over a bowl to test the key, and the blood turns gold and points west. Seo-jun sees the betrayal in Min-jun's face and sets his terms: they seek the temple together and seal the gateway, or he walks.
The prince had a bowl in his hands before I was fully awake.
I sat up in the straw of the mill loft. Dawn came gray through the slats.
He was kneeling beside me in his black coat, sleeves pushed back, patient.
He'd been watching me sleep. I could tell by how still he'd been sitting.
"You're the woodcutter's son," he said.
"That's what people call me."
"Han Seo-jun."
"Yes."
He turned the bowl in his fingers. It was old bronze, dented at the rim, the kind a temple would keep.
"I need to ask you for something," he said.
"Ask."
He didn't ask. He took my left hand off the straw and turned it palm up.
Then he drew a small knife from his belt and cut across the base of my thumb.
Not deep. Just enough.
I didn't pull away. I wanted to see what he'd do.
The blood ran down into the bowl and hit the bottom.
It turned gold.
Not yellow. Gold, like a coin held up to a fire.
The prince's breath went out of him all at once.
"West," he said.
The gold pooled and ran to the west side of the bowl and stayed there, climbing the bronze.
He set the bowl down on the boards and looked at me.
There it was. The thing I'd been waiting to see since the moment he walked into my father's yard two days ago.
He hadn't come for firewood.
I'd known that when he first said my name. I'd known it when he asked how long I'd lived by the Amber Forest, and whether my mother was living, and whether I remembered anything from before.
I'd known it and let him talk anyway, because I wanted to hear how he'd say it.
Now I had it.
"You knew," I said.
He didn't lie. That was something.
"I knew your blood was the key," he said. "Before I came."
"How long before?"
"Three months."
"And you were going to tell me when?"
"When we found the Eyes."
I laughed. It came out flat and short.
"You're the eighth prince of the shinigami," I said. "You've got a whole world under your boot and a king who hates you. You came out here to bleed a woodcutter and take the relic home."
"That's right," he said.
"Say the rest."
"The rest?"
"Say what you want with it."
He looked down at the bowl. The gold had cooled to a dull rust color in the dawn light.
"I'm cursed," he said. "Andes took every power I have. I can't cross into the shinigami lands without crawling. I can't hold a blade in a fight. My father's commanders spit when I walk past."
"So you want the Eyes of God to fix you."
"Yes."
"And after that?"
He was quiet.
"After that I go home and take what's mine," he said.
"There it is."
I pulled my hand back and wrapped it in the hem of my tunic. The cut was already closing.
"You used me before you even met me," I said. "You had the whole thing planned out. You'd walk in, be kind to the woodcutter's boy, bleed him when he trusted you, and leave him in the forest when you had what you came for."
He didn't answer.
"I've got nothing," I said. "My father's got a bad back and a woodpile. My mother's been gone since I was small. The only thing I've got is this." I held up my wrapped hand. "And you came here to take it."
"Yes," he said.
"Then here are my terms."
He looked up.
"I'll take you to the temple," I said. "I'll bleed for the door if it comes to that. But we go together, and we finish it together."
"Finish what?"
"The gateway gets sealed," I said. "The shinigami go back where they came from. And every choice you make on the way, you answer for. Not after. On the spot. To me."
He stared at me a long moment.
"That's a lot to ask of a prince."
"You're not a prince out here," I said. "Out here you're a man who cut my hand open before breakfast."
Something moved behind his eyes. I couldn't read it.
"You could walk away," he said. "Right now. I'd have to find another way."
"There isn't another way. You said so yourself."
"There isn't."
"Then say yes."
The sun was coming up over the ridge. In the west, past the trees, the black tear in the sky hung over the human lands like a wound that wouldn't close.
I'd watched it every morning of my life.
Min-jun looked at the bowl one more time, then at me.
"Yes," he said.
Then the roof of the mill came down on us.
Not the whole roof. A man.
He landed between us in a crouch, dark clothes, no sound at all, and he was already swinging.
The blade was aimed at my throat.
I didn't have time to move.
I saw the prince move instead.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend