Page 22 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

Everything hurts. But what’s new?

With that lovely thought, I open my eyes to the muted morning light brightening my room at the Sunset Pavilion. Gods, I love this room. I love everything about it. The wooden armoire with the brass appliqués, the matching dresser, the low desk in front of the ...

“Hello lover,” I say to the silk embroidered room divider, my gaze roaming over the delicate details of the flowering branches and the birds perched on top.

I’ll figure out a way to smuggle it out of the Kingdom of Sky when I return to the Mortal Realm.

I just have to make sure my hwando, my other prized possession, doesn’t get jealous.

I snort at the image of a frowny-faced short sword.

Shit.

I scramble up to sitting and frantically pat the floor around me until my hand wraps around the hilt of my hwando.

I release a long breath, which immediately hitches again when I remember why I’m back at the Sunset Pavilion.

I gingerly lay a hand on my stomach. It hurts much less than last night, only feeling slightly bruised.

“My lady.” The door to my room slides open after a soft knock. “I hope you had a restful sleep.”

“Miok?” My lips spread into a wide grin at the welcome sight of the handmaiden. She cared for me with such genuine warmth from the moment I set foot in the Kingdom of Sky—always kind and without judgment. “What are you doing here?”

“I have the honor of serving as your handmaiden again,” she says with a gentle smile. My bottom lip trembles at her friendly face before I can check my emotions, and Miok’s eyes widen. “My lady? What is the matter?”

“It’s nothing.” I dash away my tears with an impatient swipe of my hand. My argument with Ethan might have ruined me. Stop being so wimpy, Sunny. “I’m just salty that everyone at the Suhoshin headquarters hates me.”

“What? Who hates you?” She pushes up the sleeves of her jeogori past her elbows. Even with a ferocious scowl, my handmaiden looks perfectly poised. “Please provide me with their names.”

“What are you going to do, Miok?” I laugh, affection warming my chest. “Go beat them up for me?”

“If needs be,” she says in a voice laced with steel. I definitely shouldn’t give her any names.

Despite her refined manners, my handmaiden has backbone.

I saw it during my first stay at the Sunset Pavilion when she put me in my place—a place of honor as Jihun’s guest that I was too embarrassed to readily accept.

She was unintimidated by my tough facade and made me feel deserving of care and respect.

“Thank you, Miok, but don’t trouble yourself. They’re not worth it.” I sigh and glance around the room. “And I don’t think I’ll be needing much assistance from you today. My orders are to eat and rest all day.”

As much as I love this room, I’m not looking forward to being confined to it all day. My hands and feet already feel wiggly with restlessness.

“And my orders are to prepare you for an outing.” A mischievous light enters her eyes. “You don’t need to eat and rest only in this room.”

“An outing?” My brows pull together. “With who?”

“You will see, my lady.” Miok demurely lowers her head, but I spy a smile at the corners of her mouth. “Please come with me. I have a bath prepared for you.”

“I ... I’ll wash up on my own,” I stutter, self-conscious about someone seeing the rune on my back. “I’m used to it. Cadets don’t have attendants washing their backs.”

“There won’t be any attendants,” my handmaiden says gently. “I’ll assist you myself this morning, my lady. You have nothing to worry about.”

Miok is as good as her word, discreetly averting her eyes as I chuck off my dobok and climb into the wooden tub. Even when she washes my back, she doesn’t so much as gasp. Scrubbed squeaky clean and dressed in a simple white hanbok, I walk back to my room, with my handmaiden behind me.

I know the drill from my first stay at the Sunset Pavilion. I settle down on a satin floor cushion behind the low desk. Miok brushes my hair with a fine-tooth comb, then braids it down my back. When she lightly squeezes my shoulders, I turn in my seat and offer up my face.

She frowns slightly and stains the rose petals in darker shades of pink than usual. I peek at my reflection on the rectangular mirror on the desk and see the reason for her concern. I’m so pale my lips have a blue tint to them.

“I’m okay, Miok,” I say in a soft voice. “All I need is a day to rest and eat. I heal even faster than your typical shinbiin.”

“I know, my lady.” She sniffs. “But allow me to make you appear fully healed already. It will help remind me that you will be well soon.”

She picks up a cherry pink petal and brushes it against my cheeks, then uses the same petal on my lips. Then she dabs her ring finger in a vial of orchid oil and taps it along my bottom lip. When she presses her lips together and nods at me, I mimic her and smack my lips to even out the gloss.

“There.” Miok sits back with a satisfied smile.

The subtle touch of color on my cheeks and lips somehow makes my skin creamy white and my hair jet black.

The effect is striking, the sharp contrast making my features pop and my complexion glow.

Is this what I would look like if I were born and raised in the Realm of Four Kingdoms?

To my embarrassment, I can’t stop staring at my face in the mirror.

“You look the picture of health, not to mention exquisite.” My handmaiden gives me a warm smile. “Now, it’s time for you to get dressed. I have a feeling you will love this hanbok.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” I side-eye her. She knows I’m not the biggest fan of hanboks, with its full, floor-length skirt and cropped, swoop-sleeved top. It’s hard for a girl to throw down in that getup.

“The chima is the color of the moment before nightfall—orange, purple, and smokey blue.” The handmaiden pauses impishly. “And the shirt is ... midnight black.”

I perk up immediately. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”

“I was saving this for you to wear one evening during your first stay at the Sunset Pavilion, but you had ... work to do.” Miok rises to her feet and reaches down to help me. “I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to serve you, so you will have to wear the black jeogori in broad daylight.”

“Miok ... thank you.” I clear my throat, standing up with her help. “And black is the perfect color for any time of day.”

“Are you ready, my lady?” she asks, with her hand on the handle of the armoire. At my nod, she opens it with a flourish. Then she drapes the mile-long skirt over her arm, the fabric rippling to the floor like liquid dusk. “It’s beautiful, is it not?”

“It’s stunning,” I whisper.

The color perfectly captures the last precious moment of daylight before darkness settles in.

For some reason, my chest tightens as I gingerly brush my fingertips over the soft silk.

Unlike the beauty of nightfall, the darkness that’s coming can mask a stormy sky, or drown a cloudless day.

Will I still be able to wield the Yeoiju with dark magic inside me?

Feeling out of sorts, I meekly allow Miok to help me into the first layer of undergarments—a chest band and darisokot, which is a rudimentary string bikini. But I shake my head in panic when she brings out the next two layers of undergarments.

“No, I can’t today.” It’s been a while since I wore a proper hanbok, and I forgot there were six layers of undergarments ... just on the bottom. “I’m not putting on shorts and pants beneath an underskirt and petticoat.”

Miok purses her lips in disapproval. “But my lady ...”

“I’m not fully recovered, remember?” I scramble for an excuse. “The extra weight will tire me.”

My handmaiden narrows her eyes dubiously, but she capitulates with a sigh. She skips the shorts and pants—thank gods —and helps me into the underskirt. I don’t push my luck, and I let her wrap the petticoat around me, then I docilely slip my arms into the undershirt.

“ Now do I get to put the actual hanbok on?” I say with a huff.

Miok smiles as she dresses me in the beautiful hanbok, her hands gentle and careful on my body. After she ties the goreum into a single-looped bow at my chest, she leans back and admires her handiwork.

“You look so lovely, my lady.” She presses her fingers to her lips, then briskly shakes her head. “Come see for yourself.”

It isn’t the first time I’ve worn a hanbok in the Kingdom of Sky, but I’m still startled by my reflection in the full-length mirror.

The swirling colors of the skirt are beautiful, but the midnight black of the jeogori takes my breath away.

I move this way and that, watching the silvery stars wink in and out of the shimmering fabric.

“I didn’t know black could be ... dazzling,” I murmur.

In the Mortal Realm, I lived in the night, and wearing black helped me blend into the darkness—made me invisible, made me safe.

But this black makes me ... shine. I don’t mind it so much because I choose to live in the light now.

Being with my friends in the light makes me feel safer than being alone in the night.

I don’t want to be invisible. I want Ethan and my friends to see me.

My stomach drops. No, not Ethan. I can’t let him see all of me. After last night, he probably doesn’t want anything to do with me. My tears blur my reflection. Good. I can’t stand the sight of myself anymore.

“Oh dear. I lost track of time.” Miok flutters her hands. “We must hurry. He is waiting.”

“He ... who?” I ask, blinking away my tears, and follow her out the door. “Jihun?”

When I walk out to the semi-open main hall, I see a male in a slate gray dopo standing in the courtyard with his back to the pavilion.

My heart contracts until I can’t breathe.

I don’t need him to turn around to recognize him.

I’ll know Ethan anywhere. I resist the urge to dig the heel of my hand against my chest.

Thank gods.