Page 13 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

I’m thrown into the air and land on my back with an oof .

I lie unmoving as sensation creeps back into my body.

When I finally blink open my eyes, I find a hole about the size of a basketball in the ceiling.

Stars glint like gems in the inky sky. Yup.

Jihun is going to kill me. What a waste of poetic genius.

“What happened?” Minju helps me sit up.

“I ... I don’t know,” I rasp past my parched throat, then I point at the hole in the roof. “Just to confirm, did I do that?”

“Yes, when you threw the flame into the air.” Minju dabs at my damp forehead with the ink-stained sleeve of her jeogori.

“Huh.” I feel woozy. I don’t remember chucking the flame, but I remember something else. “Why did you scream?”

“You turned really pale, then started convulsing.” Minju’s voice breaks. I take the hand still wiping my forehead and squeeze it gently. “I ... I’m sorry I pushed you so far, Sunny.”

“But it worked.” Everything is hazy. I can barely remember what happened after I manifested the white light. I manifested the white light. “I finally did it.”

“Yes, you did.” She nods thoughtfully. “Your tickle fetish aside, you might’ve been right about not getting the runes tattooed on your back. I didn’t think you would succeed on your first attempt.”

“Thank you?” I don’t bother telling her I don’t have a tickle fetish.

“To answer your earlier question ...” she continues, brushing aside my sarcasm.

“What earlier question?” I interrupt.

“You asked me what the runes were for , but I only told you what they do . The arcane words of power made your body stronger, but I used them to restore your self-confidence. They were for helping you get past your psychological barrier.”

“I don’t have a psychological barrier,” I mutter.

“Not anymore,” Minju says in all seriousness. “That’s why you no longer need the runes.”

“Good riddance.” Helpful or not, I still have a bad feeling about them. “What do they even say?”

“I still don’t understand what happened after you conjured the flame, though.

” She doesn’t answer my question, her mind already five steps ahead.

“Maybe you kept it alight for too long. Next time, we have to do this methodically and increase the time in five second increments. Like everything else, you need to train to become stronger.”

Minju draws a bound booklet out of her hanbok and waves her hand to summon a brush and ink.

Then she writes furiously in the book, not even noticing the ink splattering everywhere.

What can she have to write so much about?

I manifested the light, then I blew a hole through the ceiling.

The end. But the hole is a good sign, right?

Even the small orb of light was powerful enough to do some damage.

“What else do you carry in that hanbok of yours?” I ask to distract myself from my growing restlessness.

I’m impatient to move on to the next steps.

Maybe I can try summoning the light again, without breaking anything this time.

But I know Minju won’t be able to focus on anything until she finishes her notes.

“And where for that matter? It doesn’t even have pockets. ”

“Necessities,” she murmurs absently. “And I had pockets sewn in.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” I raise my hand for a high five, but she doesn’t look up from her notebook. I lower my hand after giving myself a sad high five. “Hey, do you happen to have a mirror in there?”

Minju rummages around her hanbok and hands me a silver handheld mirror. I take it with a surprised laugh. “This mirror is a necessity ?”

“I have to ...” She shoots me a sheepish glance. “Sometimes ... people show up unexpectedly, and I take a quick look to make sure I don’t have ink on my nose. Or anywhere else on my face.”

“ People? Anyone in particular?” I say with a sly smile. “And does he happen to be a sexy dokkaebi?”

“All the runes mean the same thing,” Minju blurts. “Strength.”

“What?” I squint at her.

“You wanted to know what the runes on your back say.” So she was listening. “In my research, I found stories of legendary warriors who were as strong as a hundred soldiers and had skin like armor.”

“Like my magic armor.” And the amplified strength also explains the shattered conference table. Curiosity gets the best of me. “Can I look at my back?”

Minju pushes to her feet and walks toward the back wall, and I follow her. She sweeps her hand down the wall, and it turns into a shimmering reflective surface.

“Is there a spell you don’t know?” I whistle. “I’m impressed.”

“You can use the hand mirror to look.” She tucks her chin shyly.

I lift the bottom of my tank top, baring a swath of my lower back, and angle the small mirror in front of me. “Whoa.”

The arcane words of power might actually make cool tattoos.

They look like a blend of ancient Sanskrit and traditional Chinese characters, the strokes sweeping and powerful.

I pull the back of my tank top up higher, reveling in each new symbol.

Then I go deathly still as a scream climbs up my throat.

My hand holding the small mirror shakes hard enough to distort the reflection of my back. But it’s there. I can see it.

My past and present blur together.

I’m in the study, but I’m also on the mountainside surrounded by an angry mob. When Daeseong draws the bujeok from his sleeve, it looks like a harmless strip of paper. But as he chants a string of words, the talisman rises above his hand and floats midair, stiff as a sheet of metal.

I can’t read anything on the bujeok, but one elegant rune stands out to me because of its beautiful symmetry. Fear and confusion coalesce inside me as the identical rune on my back turns bloodred.

The past remains layered over the present like a transparent film.

I know what happens next. My mother dies.

My heart rips down the middle, and tears stream down my cheeks.

Daeseong should have died. Not my mother.

The rune flares on my back, and rage burns through me.

The dark mudang opens his mouth, but the curse slips past my own lips in a jagged whisper.

“Sa.”

The mirrored wall blows out behind me, and I’m jolted back to the present, the past clearing from my vision. The roof creaks above me, seconds away from collapsing. Minju stands in the middle of the study, her eyes wide with horror.

I reach her in a streak of white and leap out through the latticed window. I carefully set her down on the ground, releasing the back of her jeogori from my mouth. Minju turns around and stares at me unblinkingly.

My nine tails drift to the ground, and I hunch in on myself. She has never seen my gumiho. Is she afraid of me? Or is she more afraid of what I’ve just done? What have I done? I don’t understand.

“Sunny.” She throws her arms around my neck and buries her face in my white fur. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Are you okay?” I ask her telepathically.

“I’m fine, thanks to you.” She steps back and runs a hand down my snout. “Now tell me what happened.”

“I don’t know.” I step back from her touch, returning to my human form, and wrap my arms around my stomach. I glance over my shoulder at the study and shiver when I find a pile of rubble. “I recognized one of the runes. It brought back some bad memories, and ... I don’t know.”

“No.” Minju staggers, her hand on her forehead. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to ... I nullified the alternate meanings and offensive powers. You shouldn’t have been able to—”

“Sunny.” Jihun runs toward me with his hand outstretched.

But I’m swept into another pair of arms before he can reach me. The fear and adrenaline jangling through my veins quiet when I breathe in Ethan’s scent. I cling to the solid feel of him, even though I know I shouldn’t.

“Are you hurt?” He slides his hands down my arms and spans them around my waist before stepping a few inches away. Then he scans me from head to toe, his eyes frantic with worry. “What happened?”

“It’s all my fault,” Minju chokes out.

Ethan’s fingers dig into my waist as his face ices over with rage, and he turns toward the historian. “Explain yourself.”

Minju gasps and pales at the unmistakable ring of authority in Ethan’s voice. When he’s like this, even I feel cowed by him, my instincts telling me to bend to his will. But my instincts can go to hell on this one.

“It’s not her fault.” I glower at him. “I’m the one who blew—”

“No, Sunny. Thank you, but no.” Minju takes a shuddering breath and straightens her shoulders. “Your Highness, it is definitely my fault. I know what happened.”

“Oh my gods.” Hailey, Jaeseok, and Draco run toward us. They must’ve been working on the forge again because their clothes and hair are ashen from fresh dust. But I probably caused the pallor in their faces by blowing up the study.

“Is everyone okay?” Draco asks with a break in their voice.

I turn my head toward them so fast I might’ve given myself whiplash. They’re terrified. Poor kid. They’ve experienced so much loss already. I can tell from their expression that they’re expecting the worst.

“Not a scratch on us, kid.” I cough to clear the emotions clogging my throat, and I quickly turn my sympathy into steely resolve. I can’t let Draco lose anyone else. I won’t. Whatever I did tonight, I’ll do it again to destroy Daeseong. “I can’t say the same for the study, though.”

Draco’s shoulders rise and fall with relief, then their face scrunches back to its moody scowl. “No fucking way. I never would’ve guessed the study was damaged if you hadn’t pointed it out.”

I narrow my eyes at their bratty sarcasm. “Well, now you know.”

Commotion rumbles in the distance as bobbing torches appear in the night. Jihun glances toward the cluster of flames, then swiftly at Ethan. I frown, my eyes jumping between the two of them. What’s Ethan doing here anyway? He obviously wasn’t visiting Draco, who came from the other end of the wing.

Were he and Jihun strategizing on how to take down the King of Mountains? Did they receive more intel from their spy? I hope Ethan keeps his promise and doesn’t do anything stupid without me—like go after his father on his own.

Neither of us have mastered our magic, but together, we might be able to do some damage. And if we can’t stop the King of Mountains without killing him, I won’t let Ethan be the one to do it. No child should have to kill their own father, even an evil, murderous one.

Then my gaze shoots to Jihun. He’s back . I search his face as though I can decipher whether or not he found Daeseong from his expression. But he’s already moving toward the commotion.

“The collapse must have roused the staff from their sleep.” He flares his wings, and my hair flutters across my cheeks. “I’ll have them turn back.”

When Jihun flies off, Hailey looks from Minju to me. “What happened here?”

“I kind of blew up the study.” I cringe. “But I have no idea how.”

“I’ll explain when the captain gets back,” the historian says in a subdued voice, glancing toward the retreating torchlights.

“I’m back.” Jihun lands on the ground beside me and stands close at my side. The back of his hand brushes against mine and stays there.

I sneak a peek at him from under my lashes, but his gaze is focused on the historian. He must be seeking reassurance that I’m okay in his own stoic way. I nudge his hand with the back of mine, our knuckles brushing. I’m sorry for making you worry.

For some reason, I glance at Ethan on my other side and start when my eyes clash with his. He looks at Jihun, then slowly down at our barely touching hands. When he raises his head, his face is a cold, inscrutable mask. What the hell? Does he think ... that Jihun and I ...

“Please proceed,” Ethan says to Minju before I can tell him it’s not what he thinks.

My heart lurches when I realize I nearly gave myself away.

Thank gods he spoke before I could run my big mouth.

I’m not supposed to care what he thinks.

It’s getting harder and harder to hide my true feelings from him.

Maybe it’ll be for the best if Ethan misunderstands my friendship with Jihun.

Even so, I pull away from the seonnam and clasp my hands in front of me.

Minju tugs on my arm and urges me to turn my back on everyone.

I let her position me however she likes since I’m as curious as the others about what happened.

She carefully sweeps my hair over one shoulder so my upper back is visible above my tank top.

I know some of the runes branch onto my shoulder blades.

“These runes on Sunny’s back are arcane words of power.” The historian’s voice trembles. “They originate from ... That is ... they are a form of—”

“It’s dark magic,” Draco growls and takes their dragon form in a blaze of blue fire. “That female used dark magic on Sunny.”