Iseul abruptly reached for her neck. “I think you need this more than me. Here.” She untied a necklace holding a double ring—a garakji, likely her mother’s. “Consider this a talisman of sorts that will protect you.” Hesitating, he finally accepted the trinket. “You are superstitious.” “One must believe in something. And when the Great Event is over, and the kingdom rises anew, you must return and give that ring back to me. You had better, or I truly shall haunt you for all of eternity.”
