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

Even so, my cheeks feel warm when I turn around to face him.

The captain seems to be sporting some high color himself, but it’s hard to tell with the rosy dawn drenching the courtyard.

Rosy dawn ? I cup my forehead. Enough with the ridiculous poetry.

I’m so tired of being a lovesick fool. Why can’t I just . .. stop?

“What’s wrong?” Jihun’s brows pull into a frown.

“Nothing.” Except that I want to run to Ethan. I want to be in his arms so much that my entire body aches from the effort of holding myself back. Enough. I grit my back teeth and try to lie more convincingly. “Nothing is wrong.”

The King Foretold is destined to kill the one who possesses the Yeoiju.

If destiny forces Ethan to kill me, even though he loves me, then I’ll do everything in my power to make him believe I don’t feel the same way.

At the very least, he won’t have to kill me knowing I love him back with everything in me.

I can spare him that much. If I play my part well enough, maybe he’ll come to think of me as the female who scorned his love—someone he hates a little.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” I turn away from Jihun, blinking back tears, and grab a spear off the weapon rack. “You usually don’t make an appearance this bright and early.”

He doesn’t respond for a moment as his dark gaze takes in more than I want him to see. Before I can bash his head in with my spear to make him stop, he says, “I need to speak to Captain Seo. I thought I’d catch her before morning roll call.”

“Be careful,” I mutter. “She might give you a black eye if you make her late for her torture duties.”

“Do I detect a hint of animosity?” Amusement lights his eyes.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” I deadpan. “The captain and I are BFFs.”

Captain Seo Cheyun, the head instructor of cadet training, is the bane of my fucked-up existence.

The captain, a seraph like Jihun, is exquisite on the outside, but she’s a merciless hard-ass on the inside and works the cadets within an inch of their lives.

A part of me respects that, but I get the feeling she has it out for me.

Who the hell knows why? Maybe she’s a bigot like the rest of the Shinbiin, who think animal spirits don’t belong in the Realm of Four Kingdoms, much less in the Kingdom of Sky.

Even though I keep to myself, the news of a gumiho being recruited as a suhoshin cadet spread like wildfire.

I can’t step outside the Suhoshin headquarters without being gawked at like a zoo exhibit.

The Shinbiin haven’t seen a nine-tailed fox spirit—or any animal spirit, for that matter—in over five hundred years.

The “younger” generation has never seen one.

To be honest, I get stared at inside the headquarters as well, albeit less overtly.

The cadets are taught that it doesn’t matter which kingdom you’re from.

It doesn’t matter which life force—Sky, Mountains, Water, or Underworld—courses through you.

Once you pass the trial and take your oath, you are a suhoshin first and foremost. Unless you’re an animal spirit.

Jihun walks up to the weapon rack and peruses the deadly choices as though he’s picking out an apple from a fruit cart. I arch an eyebrow when he selects a pair of scythes for himself instead of his usual weapon of choice, a longsword.

“An intriguing selection.” I lead him to the sparring circle closest to the weapon rack, itching for a fight.

“I’d say the same about you.” He nods at my spear, swinging the scythes with loose flicks of his wrists. “Not going with a hwando today?”

“How will I learn if I don’t venture out of my comfort zone?

” I widen my eyes innocently, but Jihun doesn’t buy it for a minute, so I drop the act with a shrug.

Then I slide one foot behind me and thrust the spear out, bending my front knee to take a low fighting stance.

“I feel like wielding something a little more”—I suck my teeth—“brutish today.”

He saunters toward me, the scythes whooshing by his sides in lazy circles. Something about the movement and the sound sends my pulse into a gallop. Jihun’s lips quirk for the barest second, like he knows something I don’t.

“Do you want to spar or not?” I goad, my skin tightening with agitation. “Or do you need to change out of your fancy nobleman’s clothes?”

“Are you suggesting I undress?” He unties his gat from his chin and drops it onto the ground outside the circle.

I watch his hand smooth down the front of his robe, and I swallow as heat rushes to my face.

Is he still messing with me for my earlier staring at my ass jab?

What the hell? He already got me back for that. “But I am quite comfortable as I am.”

Too heartsick for a friendly tit for tat, I scowl and lunge at Jihun the minute he steps into the sparring circle. I meant what I said about the spear being brutish. The shaft is so thick my small hands can barely wrap around it, and my attack is clumsy as a result.

Jihun blocks with one scythe as grooves form between his eyebrows. “I could easily have disarmed you. You should know better than to take sparring lightly. These aren’t practice weapons.”

When they commence their training, the suhoshin cadets are twenty-four years old, fresh from their coming-of-age.

The Shinbiin come into the peak of their powers in the second evolution of their zodiac animal and become nearly immortal.

They heal fast, don’t get sick, and age slowly enough to live for a thousand years.

The same goes for me, for whatever reason, even though I’m not a shinbiin. As a consequence, the suhoshin cadets use real weapons—and spill real blood—during training since we heal so quickly. Fun times. Did I mention we still feel pain like any other living being?

“You aren’t my instructor, Jihun. Stop nagging and come at me.” I tighten my grip on the spear and renew my attack.

Since the weapon is so unwieldy, I hold it pointed forward and advance on him with quick footwork. When I reach striking distance, I thrust the spearhead straight at his face, but he effortlessly evades it with a twist of his torso.

“Perhaps I should put these down.” The scythes hang loosely at his sides.

“Why don’t you stick them up your—”

I barely raise my spear in time to block the downward arc of his scythe.

The impact vibrates painfully down my arms, but I don’t even have time to grimace as I swing the blunt end of my spear up to fend off his other scythe.

The second blow has me skidding back several steps before I dig my heels into the dirt.

I risk a glance behind me. Another step and I’ll be outside the ring, losing the round.

I arch back and swing the spear in a wide circle, forcing Jihun to retreat. Then, using its heft to gain speed and power, I bring my brutal weapon down on him. He crosses his scythes over his head to stop the spear blade from giving him an interesting haircut.

“Maybe you should put those down,” I taunt.

He tightens his scythes around my spear, the metal blades digging into the wooden shaft, and rotates his arms in an arc, putting his back into the maneuver.

I feel the spear being wrenched out of my hands.

I can’t let him be right about easily disarming me, so I flip my entire body through the air, leaning into the trajectory of the spear rather than fighting it.

Triumph flares in my chest at Jihun’s look of surprise.

I drop back down on my feet, our weapons still gridlocked.

I meet and hold his gaze with a cocky grin until the surprise in his eyes heats into something sharp and turbulent.

I can’t catch my breath as my smile melts off my face.

Don’t fall for me. The thought comes out of nowhere, and I stomp it down.

Of course he isn’t going to fall for me.

“Jihun?” a chilly voice says behind me.

I jump back with a start, my spear clattering to the ground. I shoot a glance at Captain Seo, then back at Jihun. His eyes don’t leave my face as he slowly lowers his scythes. I have an annoying urge to fidget under the intensity of his gaze, but I refuse to look away like a shy maiden.

“Jihun,” Captain Seo repeats, placing her hand on his arm.

He holds my gaze for a second longer, then acknowledges the seonnyeo with a nod. “Cheyun, I thought I might speak to you for a moment before you start instructions.”

“Of course,” Captain Seo says with a soft smile. I’m shocked the hard-nosed instructor is capable of smiling.

“In private.” Jihun walks out of the sparring circle without a backward glance at me.

I slump with a relieved sigh. That’s more like it.

I can handle the stern, brooding side of the seonnam.

As for his odd, smoldering side, I hope it doesn’t make another appearance.

I can barely handle my feelings for Ethan.

I don’t want things to get strained with Jihun.

I shake my head. Everything will be fine. He was probably in a weird mood.

Captain Seo turns to follow him, and her wings of wind catch an iridescent glimmer of the morning sun.

Before I can fully appreciate their beauty—or traipse down poetry lane—she shoots me an icy look over her shoulder, and a shiver runs down my spine.

I gulp as I belatedly realize the significance of her spread wings. She is ready for battle.

I don’t know what I did, but I have a sinking feeling that I am her unwitting opponent and I’m in for a world of pain.