The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4)

by Con Template

  She laughed in amusement, her callous laughter rolling over the walls of the private jet.

  “But have no fear, King of Serpents. I am not going into this meeting with the intention of killing any of them. On the contrary, now that I’ve thought it over, I quite like the idea of them bearing witness to my crowning as Lord of the Underworld before I end their lives.” She gazed at him with feigned reassurance. “The rest of these parasites will know my wrath when the time comes. Trust me when I say that I will bring judgment upon them soon enough, but it will only come after death has knocked on your door. At the moment, my war is with you. Once that’s over, I will exact my revenge as I see fit.”

  Tae Hyun nodded pleasantly, utterly unfazed by her lethal words. “I suppose I am living on borrowed time, aren’t I?”

  “I would say so,” Soo Jin acknowledged.

  Tae Hyun chuckled as the plane landed. Despite how morbid the conversation had become, he seemed to be in a better mood. “Then it’s only right that I live to the fullest before the end comes.”

  “Why are you smiling like that?”

  He gazed at her with a seductive gleam in his eyes. It was a look that told her of his sensual intentions with her, and it was a look that promised unrivaled pleasure. It was so tantalizing that she could feel her entire body scorch up from his titillating stare alone.

  Soo Jin breathed in uneasily, quickly realizing that the harmless King, who promised to not seduce her during their plane ride, was gone. The sinful, utterly enticing predator was back, and he was ready to feast on her.

  “Plane ride’s over, Soo Jin,” he crooned, his voice hot and filled with carnality. “It’s time for me to have some fun with you now.”

  “You lost your soul in this world . . .”

  09: Game of Preys

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Soo Jin uttered, staring dumbfounded at the travesty before her.

  Tae Hyun feigned coyness and closed the door behind them. He followed her gaze around the room. “You don’t like the room?”

  Soo Jin took one more look at the massive penthouse suite before turning back to him in disbelief. “You put me in the same room as you?” she asked through clenched teeth.

  “It’s the very best hotel suite,” he assured, as if that was her biggest concern.

  She narrowed a hard look at him. She was not amused with his attempt at evasion. “You are a King in the Underworld,” she enunciated slowly, forebodingly. “You can’t afford to reserve two rooms for us?”

  His lips edged up in a pleasant smile. “This is my favorite hotel in Japan. There’s only one room available here.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she stated without missing a beat. She pointed an accusing finger at him. “You bought out the rest of the available rooms to make sure I wouldn’t be able to get my own room, didn’t you?”

  His pleasant smile remained. As opposed to outright lying, he merely said, “I thought it’d be more fun for us to room together.”

  “You are sorely mistaken.”

  He expelled a dramatic sigh. With a cool expression on his face, he sauntered over to her with a hotel card key in hand. “We are only preys when we behave like one.” He extended the card key to her. His cocky eyes challenged her to take the card. “If you would like to run off to another room, then I will not stop you.”

  And cement herself as a fearful kitten? She could not have that. Forced to employ every ounce of control at her disposal, she disregarded the card key and begrudgingly picked up her luggage. Soo Jin purposely slammed her shoulder into his as she swept across the hotel suite. She strolled past the living room area and went straight into the bedroom.

  “I get the bed,” she announced, throwing her luggage on the white, king-sized bed.

  Tae Hyun stood at the doorway and watched her in approval. He looked ecstatic with her acceptance of their rooming situation. “I knew you would see it my way.”

  Soo Jin would not allow him to get the best of her. He wasn’t the only one who could play games.

  “You will sleep on the right side of the bed,” she told him, commencing her own game.

  He arched a questioning brow. He eased away from the door and journeyed to his side of the bed. Curiosity marked his features. “I get to share the bed with you?”

  “Let’s be honest,” Soo Jin began shrewdly, unzipping her luggage. “You paid for the suite and made sure there would only be one bed. I’m sure this is what you intended.”

  “I intended for a lot of things to happen in this room,” he whispered seductively. “I just didn’t think you’d be this agreeable.”

  Soo Jin smirked, slipping off her jacket to reveal a black camisole that showed off her toned shoulders.

  “You underestimated me,” she remarked, leaning forward to unzip her second bag, deliberately giving Tae Hyun a view of her cleavage. “I’m determined to ensure that you learn your most important lesson tonight.”

  Tae Hyun inhaled deeply, appreciating the view before him. It seemed to take everything he had to avert his focus from her attractive figure. He locked eyes with hers. “What will I learn?”

  She reached in and grabbed a pocketknife from her luggage. With the knife in hand, she casually strode over to him.

  Fear did not possess Tae Hyun when she reached him. On the contrary, he appeared more excited with her proximity.

  Eliciting a soft sigh, Soo Jin playfully moved the tip of the knife up and down his chest. “You will learn that whatever games you plan on playing during this trip, I will be ten times better than you. If you want to play this courting game, then I will play with you.” She unbuttoned his shirt with the knife. She felt his breath hitch as her voice became lower, more seductive. “I will make you drool, I will make your heart race, and I will make you want me even more. Most of all, I will make you hate your life because I will never let you have me in the way that you want me. You will be miserable knowing that I will forever be out of your grasp.” She presented him with a vicious smile that would cause others to quake in terror. “You will learn the most cardinal lesson on this trip, King of Serpents.”

  “And what lesson is that?”

  “Don’t fuck with your Queen.”

  He chuckled lightly before relieving himself of his shirt. After tossing it to the ground, he reached out and pulled her closer to his naked chest.

  “That sounds like a fun game,” he murmured favorably, looking turned on rather than fearful. “I will enjoy it very much when I win.”

  Soo Jin smiled before drawing blood by nicking him on the chest with the knife. When he did not even bat an eye at the pain, she teasingly said, “Here’s to a fun trip then.”

  With that, she tossed the knife aside, walked past him, and proceeded straight onto the balcony. Now that the game had been set, Soo Jin felt the tension melt from her body. She no longer felt constricted; she felt free to interact with him without boundaries. There was no harm because on this trip, she was simply playing a part—a game. What happened in Japan would stay in Japan as far as she was concerned.

  Her eyes traveled over the panoramic view. She took in a deep breath, luxuriating in the wind and the sight of the gorgeous city in all its glory. They were on one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, and the view it offered was like something out of the movies. The twinkling lights of the city soothed her soul, relaxing her more than she had felt since she regained her memories.

  Adding to this already beautiful landscape, the favored King himself decided to grace this scenery with his presence.

  He came to a slow pause beside her. “Should we consider this our first date?”

  She laughed, folding her arms across her chest. The evening wind tumbled around them, roaring with such ferocity that she could scarcely hear the sounds of the world below. She liked that she could not hear anything else. It made her feel like they were in their own secret world.

  Letting her guard down slightly, she decided to play this courting game with him.

  �
��I’ve never been on a date.”

  His visage illumed with delight. He was thrilled with her answer.

  “Then it’s my honor to be the first,” he said affectionately, jumpstarting the conversation. “Apart from Ji Hoon, have you had other boyfriends?”

  Soo Jin smirked to herself. Of course that would be his first question on their “date”.

  She humored him by not only answering, but also giving him a tidbit to lose sleep over. “Ji Hoon was the first and only official one. Having said that, I did date quite a few Royals for fun.”

  “The only fun Royals are in the 1st layer,” Tae Hyun supplied blithely. His tone indicated that he did not believe she truly dated other Royals for fun. “I know all the heirs in the 1st layer. If you dated any of them, I would’ve known.”

  “You have close connections in our Underworld, but not other Underworlds.”

  His jaw went rigid. He regarded her with surprise in his eyes. “You dated heirs from foreign Underworlds?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed sweetly, secretly enjoying this part of the conversation. It could not hurt to make him jealous. “Most are actually from Japan. Since we’re here, I might stop by to say hi.”

  He slanted his head at her. His amused eyes searched her knowingly. “Are you trying to make me jealous?”

  “It’s not my problem if you are.”

  He laughed to himself, resting against the railing in pleasure. His eyes wandered over the glowing city before them. “Maybe I should stop by to revisit some of the 1st layer Princesses here as well.” When she shot him a glare that was cold enough to freeze hell, he grinned charismatically. “Are you jealous?”

  “Should I be?”

  He shook his head. “I only want you.” He leaned close to her. His warm breath tickled her earlobe, sending chills down her body. “And I know you only want me.”

  Soo Jin scoffed in disbelief. She would normally back away to keep some distance between them. However, for tonight, she did not move. This was a game, and she could not lose.

  “Your arrogance is becoming increasingly offensive,” she said tightly.

  He did not allow her hardened tone to dissuade his flirtatious efforts. “Then you will be in for a fun date because this is just the beginning.”

  “Why did you downplay who you were when you first met Yoori?” Soo Jin suddenly asked, eager to decode something she had been curious about for a while.

  “I told her exactly who I was when we met.”

  “You told her, but you did not show her.” She eyed him questioningly, genuinely interested in his motives. “What was with the whole song and dance with fighting Jae Won in the alley? Or meeting Ji Hoon in a warehouse to fight him? You were raised to be better than that. Why did you behave like a stereotypical gang leader when you are a hundred times better than that?”

  The muscles on his bare back flexed as he took a second to lean further on the railing to stare at the moving cars below. Despite how windy it was, there was not a single goose bump on his strong body. In that suspended moment, she was tempted to wrap her arms around him and embrace him from behind. He looked so warm, so inviting that she wanted nothing more than to drown in his sinful heat. Thankfully for her, after a thoughtful pause, he decided to enlighten her and thereby quench her temptations.

  “I did not want to scare her,” he shared quietly, his voice barely discernible over the roaring wind. He kept his eyes on the cars below. “She was already scared shitless when she found out that she had been blackmailed to become the King of Serpents’ personal assistant. I did not want her to be a witness to my killings. She did not have to see that I could rip necks apart with my bare hands.” His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Back then, I reasoned that I may have dragged her into the Underworld, but that did not mean I had to let her see everything about our society.”

  “You started your relationship as any Underworld King would,” Soo Jin provided understandably. The understanding in her voice metamorphosed into disappointment. “You seemed to have it all figured out. How did you end up falling so far from your throne?”

  He faced her with a soft smile. “You pity me, don’t you?”

  “Very much so.”

  “Don’t.” His smile remained when he pushed himself away from the railing and approached her. “You forget that the throne is mine to lose. If I truly want to fight you for it, then you will not beat me.”

  “You should fight me for it,” she coaxed, her eyes imploring him to see reason. How could he not see that they were born to battle one another? How could he not see what a momentous fight that would be?

  “I’d rather fight you for something else,” he said instead. Unable to stop himself, he reached out and grazed a hand over her cheek. Adulation teemed in the gaze he held on her. “Just say the words and I will have our private plane come. We could go somewhere where no one knows our names. I could take you far away from the Underworld.”

  Soo Jin could not help but laugh at the absurdity of his proposal.

  “I am not a Princess—I am a Queen. I was born to rule, not to run away.”

  “Yet you run from me,” he countered gently, withdrawing his hand from her face. He placed it back on the railing. “You stand here pretending to be unaffected when I can feel your heart racing. What are you afraid of?”

  “My demise,” Soo Jin admitted simply, honestly. She no longer cared about playing a game. All she wanted to do was instill reason in him. “I’ve worked my entire life to reach this very moment. The fact that a single person could undo all my sacrifices does not bode well with me.” A bitter fire ignited in her eyes. “Do you know why I harbor such hostility for you?”

  He leaned his back against the railing. Almost too diplomatically, he said, “Please enlighten me.”

  “Since my inception into the Underworld, I’ve had to prove myself. I’ve had to fight off men who wanted to rape me, I’ve had to sleep with amputated body parts, I’ve had to lay in a pool of my own blood, and I’ve had to endure Ju Won and his sadistic training. I spent the majority of my childhood in Ju Won’s mansion, praying that one day, I would complete my training and be free of my living hell.” Her eyes elevated with sternness. “Your upbringing may have been difficult, but it was nothing compared to mine. You were loved the second you stepped foot into the 1st layer. Even when you murdered your own brother—an offense that other Royals would get beheaded for—this world did not deem to punish you. If anything, it rallied together to protect you.” The animosity amplified in her voice. “I find you to be attractive, King of Serpents, but do not mistake that for love. You may have gotten a girl to fall in love with you, but not a Queen—not someone like me.”

  “Sounds like you would’ve gotten along quite well with my past self.” He folded his arms across his chest, his eyes never leaving hers. “I was just like you. I did not have plans to stop with Korea. The beauty of my upbringing was that I traveled the world to receive my training. I’ve met people from all walks of life, and you are right, they love me. Regardless of the difficulty of my training, even I have to admit that I had it easier than many other Royals. Whatever I wanted, I’ve gotten. This is what I’ve grown accustomed to; this is what my world has grown accustomed to. Everyone has grown accustomed to expecting the best from me. They’ve come to expect nothing but legendary things from me.”

  For the first time that night, resentment started to infiltrate his eyes.

  “My only downfall has been you.”

  Soo Jin paused, thrown by this unexpected statement. Rapt, she stayed quiet and listened attentively as he went on.

  “A part of me still wishes that I had never met you. If I had never met you, then I would already be the Lord of this world. If I had never met you, then I would be free of this affliction. If I had never met you, then my life would be unquestionably easy right now.”

  “It is not too late,” Soo Jin supplied swiftly—too swiftly. “The one you met is no longer here.”

  He smiled at he
r efforts to persuade him to battle her for the throne.

  “I am no longer the same person,” he stated as the roaring wind died down. The white noise from the streets below accompanied his voice. “I cannot go back to that cold and empty life, especially not when I gained something so special.”

  He looked at her, a fierce determination suddenly entering his brown eyes.

  “You will fall for me again, Soo Jin,” he stated, shocking her with the resolve in his voice. “Not only as a woman, but as a Queen as well.”

  Refusing to reveal that his words had a powerful effect on her, she coldly said, “I will look forward to breaking your heart then.”

  Tae Hyun was undeterred. If anything, he looked more determined than ever. “Like I said, I look forward to winning.”

  Her next question tumbled out before she could stop it. “When did you realize that you had fallen for her?”

  He chuckled warmly, feigning coyness. “Perhaps one day, I will tell you. However, since this is simply a first date, I will keep it to myself.” And with that, he pushed away from the railing and started to walk back inside the suite. “You ready to start the meeting?”

  Soo Jin looked at him oddly. When she registered that he was indeed referring to the meeting with her brother and Ji Hoon, she followed him into the living room. “I thought the meeting was tomorrow?”

  “Kings and Queens do not wait to be summoned for a meeting, we command it,” Tae Hyun answered, taking out a shirt from his luggage and putting it on. “Young Jae set the meeting for tomorrow, but I’m in the mood for it now.” He stalked towards the door, opened it, and turned back to her with awaiting eyes. “You ready for a reunion?”

  Soo Jin smiled, thrilled with this turn of events. Although conflicted by her relationship with Tae Hyun, she knew clearly where she stood with her brother and Ji Hoon. Tae Hyun would always tempt the human inside her, but Young Jae and Ji Hoon would always incite the wrathful God inside her to come out.