Page 18 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

The Mean Girls titter behind me because I’m the only one who joined the training late.

My nails dig into my palms as I fight the embarrassed flush rising to my cheeks.

Who cares if I joined the cadet training a few months late?

If you want to get technical, I’m more than a century late, since the other cadets are only twenty-four years old.

But that means I’ve had a century longer to learn and hone my sword techniques than them. Bring it on.

I deliberately catch Captain Seo’s gaze and cover a yawn with my hand.

Her eyes flare with menace. Maybe I went too far, but I’m not going to second-guess myself.

My instincts have kept me alive for this long, and my gut is telling me to hold my ground.

There are too many eyes on me. I can’t show any signs of weakness.

“Jo Danbi.” Captain Seo’s voice claps across the training yard like thunder.

Oh shit.

“Yes, Captain.” Danbi comes to attention.

“You’ll spar this round with Cho Mihwa.” The captain tilts her chin toward me.

Shit shit shit.

The bloodthirsty smile that slashes across Jo Danbi’s face makes me rethink my decision to follow my instincts.

She is the Mean Girl—the Mean Girl that rules them all—and I’ve lived long enough to know a sadist when I see one.

I’ve watched the female from the Kingdom of Mountains spar.

Tall and rail thin, she moves like a whip cracking through the air.

But more importantly, she fights with vicious intent—not only to win but also to humiliate her opponent, or to send them to the infirmary.

Oftentimes, she accomplishes both with a ruthless glee that sends a chill down my spine.

The short sword I grab from the weapon rack feels awkward, the hilt too thick for my small hands. Blowing out a long breath, I step into one of the sparring circles with Jo Danbi. I give her a nod of acknowledgment, which she returns with an I’m going to flay you alive smirk.

I vaguely hear Captain Seo pairing off eighteen more cadets for this round.

The remaining cadets linger by the sparring circles instead of heading to the other end of the training yard for their drills.

The junior instructors drag their heels as well, only halfheartedly urging the spectating cadets to get a move on.

Bile fills my mouth at their eagerness to see Jo Danbi spill my gumiho blood.

My only comfort comes from Haesan’s solemn frown and Hana’s round, worried eyes.

I nod at them in reassurance. Then I extend one hand in front of me and raise my sword horizontally above my head, the sharp end pointing toward my opponent.

Danbi lifts her longsword in a two-handed grip, widening her stance.

She looks like she’s about to chop down a tree.

“Begin,” Captain Seo shouts.

The first minute passes in a blur as I block strike after strike.

Jo Danbi is taller than me by a head, and her reach is longer, especially with her longsword.

I can’t get close enough to execute an attack of my own as she takes advantage of her greater reach with sweeping arcs of her sword.

I need to get inside her swinging radius.

She won’t be able to do much with her bulky sword when I’m that close to her.

“Shit,” I hiss when Danbi draws first blood with a slash on my upper arm.

“Sorry.” She doesn’t even try to sound sincere.

I bare my teeth and move in on her. I’m overthinking it. My body already knows what to do. I parry her strikes as I wait for an opening, but I can feel my next block all the way down my arms. Gods, she’s strong. But so am I.

I slide on my knees as her sword swings inches above my head, and I jump to my feet at her side.

She put too much power into her strike and can’t stop midswing as I diagonally slash her unprotected torso from her armpit to belly button.

I spin out of her reach as she clumsily swings her sword from side to side.

“Do you yield?” I ask somberly. As much as I dislike her, Jo Danbi isn’t my enemy. I don’t enjoy hurting her.

“No,” she snarls even though she’s bleeding too fast to continue.

My eyes shoot to Captain Seo, but she’s busy demonstrating an intricate offensive strike to a pair of cadets who have just finished their round. Danbi’s sword clatters to the ground. I turn toward her, sensing her move before I see her.

She rushes me with glazed, murderous eyes. Something’s not right, but I hesitate because I don’t want to make her injury worse. That second of indecision gives my opponent enough time to land her fist in my gut. Only it isn’t her fist ... but a wooden stake. She morphed her arm into wood.

“What ...” I choke on my own blood, coughing red drops onto the ground. Jo Danbi broke the cardinal rule. She used magic during sparring. I stare down at my ruined stomach, her wooden stake still inside me.

She cheated. She cheated to hurt me. To kill me. When she flashes her nasty smile at me, a fiery heat burns across my back. Hatred, raw and acrid, roils inside me, and blinding rage drenches my consciousness. I forget everything but the hunger to make her bleed.

I grab her forearm with my hands and pull the wooden stake out of me, screaming in agony. Something like fear flashes through Danbi’s eyes as she backs away from me. Blood gushes out from my stomach, but I no longer feel the pain.

I don’t even feel my feet touch the ground as I approach her, an unfamiliar power gathering inside me.

I raise my arms, and a shadow falls across the training yard.

I ignore the panicked cries around me and focus on killing the cadet cowering on the ground, the sharp, bloody point of her wooden arm cradled in her other hand.

“Cadet Cho.” Captain Seo’s voice is urgent but gentle, and it breaks through the fog of my bloodlust. Somewhere deep inside, I’m still me, but my mind stutters like it’s being flipped through the channels too quickly. “Stand down, Sunny. This isn’t you.”

My consciousness snaps back to me, and the scene around me comes into focus. Everyone looks shorter than me, as though I grew ten inches. But I didn’t grow. I ... I’m floating a foot in the air. I yelp and drop down to my feet, but I crumple into a pile of limbs because I’m too weak to stand.

The wound in my stomach hurts like a bitch. I moan and curl into a fetal position. Gods. What is happening to me? I feel a cool hand on my forehead. Then everything goes black.