Page 15 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

“ There you are.” Hailey laughs and lightly ruffles my hair. I’m too wrecked to duck away from her hand. I might even lean into her touch a little. I guess I don’t mind her affectionate teasing that much, especially when she says, “Now let’s wash all that ink off.”

She opens an inner door to reveal a modern bathroom and a glass-walled shower big enough for a soccer team. My eyes pop as my jaw drops. He has a rain showerhead. First, it bears repeating, Fucking Jihun . Second, I want.

“Wait.” I flatten my hands against the glass and peer inside the shower. “Is that shampoo ? I’ve been washing my hair with orchid oil, and he had shampoo all along? Did you know about this?”

“I had a hunch. His hair can’t glisten like that without proper care.” Hailey shrugs. “Do you need help in here? If not, I’ll go find you some fresh clothes.”

“I’m good.” I bite my lip, feeling too awkward to say what’s on the tip of my tongue. But as she turns to go, I blurt, “Thank you. I would’ve lost my shit in front of everyone if you hadn’t spirited me away. So ... thanks, Hailey.”

“I got you.” She winks and closes the bathroom door behind her.

And not a moment too soon because unwanted tears sting my nose and tighten my throat. I don’t want to get used to this—to someone having my back. No matter how secure it makes me feel. I swipe my forearm across my eyes.

“For fuck’s sake.” I strip my clothes off with impatient jerks and turn the shower on to full blast.

When I step under the hot spray of water, I moan at the decadence of it.

But I quickly sober as the water beneath my feet turns gray with ink.

I stare at my toes, my hair a wet curtain around my face, and wait for the water to run clear.

Then I grab a bar of soap and breathe in its clean citrus scent before I lather my hands and scrub my body until my skin is pink and tingly.

I wash my hair—twice—with the fancy-smelling shampoo before I shut off the water.

I step out of the shower and wrap a fluffy towel around my body. Using a hand towel to wring the water out of my long hair, I patter over to the sink, then wipe away the condensation from the mirror. Then I stare at the pale, drawn face looking back at me.

“Cheer up, Sunny.” I push the corners of my mouth up with my index fingers, then let them drop back down. “You’ll be back at Roxy’s Diner eating your rare steak and sunny-side up eggs before you know it.”

I clamp my lips together, appalled that I’ve fallen so far as to give myself a pep talk in the bathroom mirror. I sigh and twist around to look at my back. Thankfully, it’s still the same old back ...

“No.” The denial leaves my lips on a whoosh of breath.

I throw my hair over my shoulder and twist some more so I can see better.

I scrub at the skin with the hand towel, but it’s no use.

One rune remains, dark and ominous, below my left shoulder blade.

The word of power that killed my mother.

I wet the towel and rub at the symbol until my skin stings.

Still there. I sink to the floor, panting and shaking. What does this mean?

Unbidden, the pronunciation for the arcane word flickers in the far recesses of my mind, fainter than a passing thought, and I arch my back as heat scorches my skin.

Hissing in pain, I struggle to my feet and look in the mirror again.

The rune on my back ... it’s bloodred.

It’s actually raw like someone branded it onto my back with a smoldering iron.

But as I watch in horror, the rune turns black again and the heat seeps out of my skin. What is happening?

When I hear the bedroom door slide open, I gasp in relief and rush out of the bathroom, too scared to be alone.

“Hailey, I’m so glad ...” My words trail off when I see Jihun standing at the opposite end of the room. “Oh, sorry. I’m still ... here. Hailey went to find me some clothes ...”

“There’s no need to apologize,” he says in a husky rasp. “You can stay all night if you’d like. I ... that is ...”

His discomfort startles a laugh out of me. “Relax, Jihun. I know what you meant.”

“Is that right?” His gaze, which had been roaming my towel-draped body, snaps up to my face. “Tell me. What did I mean?”

“You know ...” It’s my turn to feel awkward. “Nothing like ... that .”

“Hmm.” Jihun stalks toward me, blazing heat flickering in his eyes. “And you know that how?”

“Be ... because we ... we’re friends,” I stammer and retreat until my back hits the wall.

He stops in front of me and leans a forearm against the wall, his face only inches from mine. I tip my head back to meet his gaze and immediately wish I hadn’t. His pupils are blown wide, making his eyes nearly black, and my breath gets trapped in my chest. This ... this isn’t friendly teasing.

“Are you sure about that?” His deep, silky voice rumbles in the charged air between our bodies, and his head slowly dips until I can feel his breath skating across the bridge of my nose.

My eyelids flutter as though tempted to fall closed, but I will them to stay open.

I should look away, but I ... can’t. My chest strains against the loose knot of the towel as I inhale, desperate for air.

Jihun sweeps his thumb across my collarbone in a touch so light that I might’ve imagined it, but for the goose bumps spreading down my arms. A bewildered frown tugs my brows together.

“Sunny?” That thumb of his traces the line of my jaw, gentle but greedy. “Are you sure we’re just ... friends?”

“I ...” He’s breathtaking up close. I gape at his wide eyes and ridiculously long lashes, his dark brows and aristocratic nose, and his perfect lips.

My pulse flutters at the base of my throat, my body responding to his proximity.

Gods. He isn’t trying to give me a hard time. He wants me. “Jihun, please don’t—”

“Sorry I took so long. Someone took away the bowl of water in front of my room. Don’t ask me why. So I obviously couldn’t moon shift there and ...” Hailey trails off. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No.” I shake my head.

“Yes,” Jihun growls at the same time, still leaning over me, and I can’t breathe or look away.

Please don’t fall for me. A strangled whimper escapes my lips as tears fill my eyes.

Did I mislead him somehow? My awareness of him, my body’s reaction to his beauty, is real—I see that now—but not intentional.

Whatever attraction I feel for him is purely physical, something I can easily brush aside because our friendship means more to me.

I can’t bear for Jihun to hurt because of me—I care about him too much.

But my heart belongs to Ethan. I wish I could tell him not to fall for me because I love Ethan and always will.

I wish I could give him something more concrete than don’t .

But I can’t tell anyone. I have to hide my love deep inside me so Ethan never finds out.

I know I’m choosing to protect Ethan over Jihun, and my heart breaks for all of us.

“Don’t,” I whisper helplessly. “Please.”

Jihun closes his eyes for a long moment, then sighs. He straightens to his full height at what seems like glacial speed and takes a step back, then another. I exhale shakily and rush over to Hailey, grabbing the clothes out of her hands.

“Sorry. I was in a hurry and—” Hailey cringes.

“It’s fine.” I run into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. “Thank you.”

I slide to the floor with my back against the wall, clutching Hailey’s clothes against my chest. I bite down hard on my trembling lower lip and swipe an impatient hand across my leaky eyes.

I’m blowing things way out of proportion.

Jihun saw me standing in his bedroom, with nothing but a towel.

His idiot switch got turned on, that’s all.

Any straight, red-blooded male would’ve reacted the same way.

His heart had nothing to do with what happened.

Besides, did anything happen? Nope, nothing actually happened.

With a firm nod and a sniff, I shake out the clothes Hailey handed me. I blink at them for two seconds, then slap a hand over my eyes. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Sorry,” Hailey squeaks from the other side of the door.

“Come on.” The dress is a fluttery silver slip, short enough to make my casino uniform look demure. “This can’t be all of it.”

“It’s a mini dress on me, but it should hit midthigh for you.”

“I’m not that short,” I grumble, then push off the floor because a dry scrap of satin is better than a damp towel.

I shiver as I drop the towel onto the floor and slip the dress over my head.

The soft satin feels annoyingly good against my skin, and the dress does in fact fall to midthigh for me—because I am that short.

Well, I can retain some dignity at least. After a fortifying breath, I step out of the bathroom.

Hailey sits perched on the side of the bed, so I plunk down next to her, tugging on the hem of my dress.

I glance at Jihun, who stands against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His gaze travels the length of my body in a slow, heated perusal, but I quickly look away before our eyes meet because I’m chickenshit.

I tug again on the scrap of fabric masquerading as a dress.

After a pause, he strides over to his desk and turns the chair around before lowering himself onto it.

I’m exhausted, and I don’t really want to know, but the tense silence is suffocating. “Did you find Daeseong?”

“Not yet.” Jihun rakes his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, making it ripple like liquid silk. “It feels like we’re being sent on a wild goose chase, but I know we’re close. I can feel it.”

“Oh,” I say faintly.