Chapter 72 || BOUND AND TORN BY PROPHECIES

 

Bound by Fire and Fear

 

The door had just clicked shut after the last person departed.

 

The room had been full just moments ago — buzzing with tense conversation and heavy decisions. Taehyung’s voice still echoed faintly in Jungkook’s ears, a mix of ice and fury as he laid bare secrets once buried beneath centuries of royal silence. The revelation had shifted something — within the walls of the palace, within the rhythm of his thoughts, and most of all, within his chest.

 

Jungkook stood in the centre of his chamber, the air still thick with tension. His hands brushed across his arms, feeling the lingering warmth of the discussion, the flicker of emotion that had pulsed in Taehyung’s eyes as he declared his loyalty to him in front of the High Council. He should have felt secure, vindicated. But all he could feel was the slow, drowning weight of everything spiralling out of control.

 

Eventually, he walked toward the bed, his steps slow and distracted. He didn’t bother changing out of his clothes. The soft silk pooled around his legs as he collapsed onto the bed face-first, dragging a blanket haphazardly over his body. His mismatched eyes stared blankly at the carvings in the ceiling as his thoughts spiralled out.

 

What is happening in this palace?

 

He closed his eyes, and the darkness behind his lids only made the whirlpool of doubt worse.

 

The king had stood silently, but the way his jaw clenched told Jungkook everything. The queen’s face, pale with restrained fury, whispered of unspoken war. Nyla had tried to meet his eyes — tried to say something, but what could anyone say? That everything was fine? That Taehyung’s claim — naming him not only his guardian but the only one he would stand with — wouldn’t cause the Council to rise in outrage?

 

And Taehyung… oh, Taehyung.

 

Jungkook pressed his fingers against his forehead, trying to dull the rising ache. He had been so calm outwardly, but Jungkook could feel it — the storm he was barely holding back, the pull of their bond tighter than ever, demanding, possessive, consuming.

 

His chest tightened ‘I shouldn’t matter that much to him… not this much.’ Jungkook rolled to his side and curled slightly, his knees drawing toward his chest beneath the blanket. The fire had gone out in the hearth. A quiet chill slipped into the air.

 

He didn’t know how long he stayed like that — minutes or hours. The palace had grown silent, the corridors hushed with sleep, but he hadn’t noticed the faint creak of the door or the subtle padding of footsteps across his chamber floor. His mind was lost — far too deep inside what-ifs, regrets, and a future that seemed increasingly uncertain.

 

It wasn’t until a cool hand wrapped around his waist and pulled him flush against a firm, warm chest that he flinched and gasped, his body stiffening in a heartbeat of panic. A second hand clamped gently over his mouth. He almost screamed — but then froze.

 

The scent. The warmth. The steady, quiet breath against his ear.

 

He knew who it was. His body knew, even before his mind caught up. His heart skipped once, then twice.

 

Taehyung.

 

“Will you really not accept me as a grown-up?” His voice rumbled low and deep against Jungkook’s neck, dark and teasing and dangerously close. His breath warmed his skin as he leaned in, pressing a feather-light kiss to his shoulder blade.

“I won’t mind calling you mommy forever, then.”

Jungkook let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. His hand instinctively reached up, touching the arm wrapped around him. Taehyung’s cold nose brushed along his neck, trailing upward, slow and deliberate, until he reached the spot just beneath his ear.

He shivered.

Taehyung’s lips followed — kisses so soft they barely registered, yet every one ignited something deep in him. And then, softly, with sadness stitched into every word, Jungkook spoke.

 

“Not only mommy, but… in a few years, I’ll look older than your great-grandmother.” His voice was fragile as paper. “Will you still ask me to accept you then? To accept us? Will you still claim me as yours like you do now?”

 

Taehyung stopped. His nose stilled against Jungkook’s skin. For a moment, he didn’t move, didn’t breathe. Then he shifted, just enough to prop himself up slightly. “You’re talking like a crazy person,” he muttered, his voice tinged with confusion.

 

Jungkook let out a hollow laugh, but his eyes shimmered. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am turning crazy because of all this.” He turned halfway toward him, blinking against the tears threatening to fall. He tried to smile, but it faltered.

 

“Tell me,” he whispered. “Did you ever… like any of those beautiful princesses?” Taehyung’s eyes narrowed. “Some of them are so gentle, beautiful,” he continued, forcing his voice to stay even, “and they know palace etiquette. They’ll make good queens. Do you want me to help you choose one?”

 

The temperature in the room dropped like a stone thrown into an icy lake.

Taehyung moved in an instant. He hovered over Jungkook, eyes dark, jaw tight, pinning him between his arms on the bed. His wings flickered behind him, barely contained, his entire body trembling with rage. “Stop talking like a crazy,” he growled, his voice a thunderstorm barely leashed.

“No one but you will be my king. Did you hear me?” His eyes glowed, a deep molten blue laced with flickers of gold. Jealousy, fury, and desperation burned in every word. “Why can’t you accept the fact that we’re meant to be together?”

His voice rose, raw and rough.

“Is it too difficult to see me as your other half? Am I that bad, Jungkook? Tell me — what is it that you don’t like about me? I’ll get rid of it right now. Tell me!” Jungkook flinched, tears sliding down his cheeks as his fingers curled into the sheets. His anger wasn’t what frightened him — it was the pain in his voice. The raw vulnerability beneath the rage.

 

“Calm down, Taehyung,” he said gently, his voice cracking. “I do accept this bond. I promise I do.” Taehyung’s breath hitched. “But I need to know… that you’ll have someone when I’m not here.”

 

Taehyung’s eyes widened slightly. “I need to know someone will take care of you,” he continued, voice trembling. “Someone to stay beside you. To protect people. To… to give you a royal blood heir. To love y—”

 

He didn’t get to finish. An angry roar ripped through the room, shaking the very air. Taehyung’s entire body tensed, his jaw clenched so hard it looked painful. The glow in his eyes burned brighter, his powers flaring out of control.

 

The mirror on the wall cracked. Frost crawled across the floor. The air turned icy and brittle.

 

He was losing control.

 

His dragon was rising.

 

“And where do you think you’re going?” he hissed, his voice no longer entirely human. “That you’re planning all this… for me. Without me.” His power lashed outward. The tapestries shuddered. The candles snuffed out with a hiss of wind.

 

Taehyung’s fists were clenched at either side of Jungkook’s head, his entire body shaking. “You dare,” he whispered, half to himself, “dare to think of me with someone else?”

 

Jungkook reached up slowly, resting his trembling hand on Taehyung’s cheek.

 

“Taehyung,” he whispered. “Please.”

 

His breath hitched again.

 

“I’m yours,” Jungkook said, eyes full of pain. “I’ve always been. But you’ll live far longer than me. That’s a truth we can’t deny.”

 

“Then I’ll shatter it,” Taehyung snapped, grabbing his hand and placing it over his heart.

“I’ll shatter the rules. I will prove the prophecy wrong. I will change the lifespan. The bloodlines. I’ll burn the future if it means I get to keep you.”

 

Tears slipped down Jungkook’s cheeks again, but this time, he didn’t look away. “Taehyung… I’m scared.”

 

“I know,” he whispered. His face finally softened, just a little. “So am I. I am getting this weird feeling that I am going to lose you forever. And your words are not helping at all.”

 

He leaned down, kissing the trail of tears, his hands gentler now, yet still trembling. “But if you try to give me away again,” he murmured against Jungkook’s lips, “I’ll burn down every royal court in existence. I swear it.” Jungkook laughed, watery and quiet.

 

“Even if I look like an old crow someday?” he asked, voice barely audible. “I’ll still want to kiss your wrinkled cheeks and fight anyone who looks at you for too long.”

 

Jungkook smiled through the tears and pulled him down to rest beside him. They lay in silence for a long while, the cold finally easing from the room as his power calmed, the frost on the windows receding into dewdrops.

 

Outside, the moon climbed higher into the sky, casting soft silver light through the balcony doors.

 

Taehyung buried his face into the curve of Jungkook’s neck, his arms tightening around him like he never wanted to let go.

 

And Jungkook, even with all his doubts and fears, held him back just as tightly.

 

For tonight, they were only two souls in a storm.

 

And for tonight… it was enough.

 

“Bound not by blood, nor oath, but soul.

 Guardian and Flame,

 Two halves of one whole.

When stars burn low and fate is torn,
Their bond will rise, reborn.”

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