Page 30 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

“It’s too dangerous,” Jaeseok protests, earning a shocked glance from me.

I never suspected him of being the overprotective type. Then again, he did try to throw down with a dragon to protect Minju—except he is now trying to protect said dragon. Either way, I stand corrected. The dokkaebi is definitely the overprotective type.

“Don’t forget that Draco fought at our side at Heaven Lake,” Ethan says with quiet authority. “Haven’t they earned their place in this meeting?”

Draco stretches his arm out and points at Ethan. “That’s on god.”

“Are they on the queen’s list too?” I lean toward Jihun, and his entire body tenses. I give him a what the hell look.

“Yes.” Jihun rubs his forehead as though he feels a headache coming on. “Everyone here is on her list.”

“While we’re on the subject”—I glance around the room—“what do we call everyone ?”

“The suhoshins here have been sworn in as the prince’s royal guards,” Jihun suggests.

“His Royal Guards.” I nod slowly. “That works.”

“What about me?” Draco grumbles.

“Do you want to be an honorary royal guard?” I coo like those ladies who gush over cute babies at the checkout line. “Would you like a little sticker badge that says Junior Royal Guard ?”

I snort when they flip me off, but they do have a point. Ethan and I aren’t royal guards either, but we are very much a part of this team. And somewhere along the way, our endgame stopped being about protecting Ethan and became about protecting the worlds.

“The Sentinels. We stand watch against the eternal darkness,” Minju says, her nose still buried in her book. The rest of us hum and nod.

I glance around the room and grin. “That works.”

“Welcome to the Sentinels,” Captain Seo says, addressing Draco. “I assume you heard everything we discussed so far.”

“Bruh.” The teenager gives her a hooded glare.

I’m not sure whether that means a yes or a no . The captain frowns like she doesn’t know either. When our eyes meet, we shake our heads with baffled laughter. Holy Twilight Zone. Did we just share a moment? We hastily look away from each other, implicitly agreeing to pretend it never happened.

“If I may continue, Sunny confirmed that the hunter was from the Kingdom of Mountains.” Jihun picks up where we left off. “Why would the King of Mountains send an untrained assassin to kill the prince?”

“The tyrant spread the lie that the queen died during childbirth along with the baby.” I remember the hunter’s last words. Forgive me, my queen. “But his people are still loyal to the queen. If they find out that her son is alive, they will rise up to put their prince on the throne.”

“And that’s the last thing the king wants,” Ethan says darkly. “He must not trust anyone in his court, which is consistent with our spy’s intel about his mounting paranoia. That must be why he blackmailed a poor civilian to do his dirty work.”

“Once the king finds out the hunter failed, he will want someone else to finish the job.” Captain Seo sits forward. “His spy in the Kingdom of Sky is bound to make a move soon, either to smuggle in another assassin from the Kingdom of Mountains or to recruit one from here.”

“Do you really think they might try to recruit someone from the Kingdom of Sky?” Hailey asks. “Isn’t that too risky?”

“They might be desperate enough to try, and there are poor, vulnerable people to manipulate in every kingdom.” Captain Seo turns to Minju. “Did you find any foreign magic traces on the hunter’s body?”

“Not enough to identify anyone,” the historian says with a frustrated sigh.

“But we can narrow it down to people from the Kingdom of Mountains, right? There can’t be that many of them here.” Draco arches their brow with the supreme arrogance of youth. “I mean, who else would spy for the King of Mountains?”

“While that is likely the case, it’s too early to rule anyone out.” Jihun crosses his arms over his chest.

“Conversely, not everyone from the Kingdom of Mountains should be pegged as potential spies,” I add.

My roommate Hana and her twin Duna are from the Kingdom of Mountains.

It wouldn’t be fair to suspect them based solely on their birthplace.

“With that said, I wouldn’t think twice about putting the homicidal psychopath Jo Danbi at the top of the list.”

“Wasn’t she exiled a day before the assassination attempt?” Jaeseok cocks his head to the side.

“Maybe the hunter came through when they opened the portal to send her back to the Kingdom of Mountains.” Hailey shrugs. “He would’ve only had to stay hidden for a day.”

“Jo Danbi knew she would be exiled for what she did.” Captain Seo drums her fingers on the table. “She could have alerted the King of Mountains to send the assassin right away.”

Jihun hums. “That is a possibility.”

“Is the portal guarded?” I ask, trying to fill in the missing pieces.

“Yes, at all times. Every kingdom has two portal keepers on alternating shifts.” Jihun’s eyebrows dip into a frown. “The keepers of the Kingdom of Sky are formidable warriors with powerful magic. No one can get past them unless they allow it.”

“I spoke with both of our portal keepers this afternoon.” Captain Seo shakes her head. “Neither of them had anything unusual to report.”

“Then how did the hunter come into the Kingdom of Sky?” I don’t want to question anyone’s loyalty, but something is not adding up. “Are the portal keepers ... trustworthy?”

“Keeper Bae has been a faithful servant of the Kingdom of Sky for over two hundred years,” Captain Seo says with an edge in her voice. “And while Keeper Choe is relatively new, he comes highly vetted.”

“It was an honest question.” I hold out my palms. “You know, Occam’s razor and all that.”

“Uh.” Draco raises their hand. “Is that the one that says the simplest answer is most often correct?”

I confirm with a nod, but Captain Seo’s scowl deepens. “Betrayal is hardly a simple answer.”

Jihun intervenes. “Whatever the case may be, we will find the answers. In the meantime, either Captain Seo or I will be at your side at all times, Your Highness.”

“I’m not completely helpless,” Ethan says drily. “I can protect myself, especially since I have better control of my powers now. Didn’t you say you were pleased with my progress? Or was that flattery?”

He’s been training with Jihun? Thank gods. I’m so relieved that I can’t even be mad that neither of them told me. Ethan will be formidable once he masters his magic. He will be powerful enough to stop the King of Mountains when the time comes.

“You are becoming proficient at magic—faster than I could have hoped—but that arrow pierced you.” Jihun’s lips press into a grim line. “You aren’t invincible against their weapons. We cannot risk your safety.”

“My findings on the trace magic were inconclusive, but I had better results analyzing the hunter’s arrows.” Minju finally looks up from her book and rises to her feet. “I know how the arrow pierced the prince.”

“How?” Ethan leans forward.

“The arrowhead has traces of properties similar to the sacred ashes.” Minju paces the floor, gathering her thoughts.

“When Dangun, the truest manifestation of the god of Mountains, abandoned the Realm of Four Kingdoms, he left behind a tombstone in the highest peaks of the divine mountain, Shinsan. No one knew what the tombstone signified, but the people of the Kingdom of Mountains understood that it was sacred.”

“Wait.” My brows furrow. “What?”

According to Korean folklore, Hwanung, the god of earth, came to rule the human world with the blessings of his father Hwanin, the god of the heavens.

One day, a bear prayed to Hwanung, entreating him to turn her into a human, and the god of earth heard her prayers.

The bear became a beautiful woman, and Hwanung fell in love with her.

They married and had a son named Dangun, who went on to establish Gojoseon, the ancient kingdom that evolved into Korea.

The takeaway from that folklore is that Dangun was the son of a god and had excellent pedigree—it was human bullshit made up to deify and legitimize him as the first king of Gojoseon.

Besides, be it ancient history, folklore, or an amalgam of the two, the man is long dead by all accounts, if he ever existed in the first place. Wasn’t he?

I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. Dangun can go on my ever-growing list of Things Sunny Doesn’t Know for now. I have no time for distractions.

“Never mind. Just ... how is the arrowhead similar to the sacred ashes?” I nudge the historian back on track.

“The tombstone.” Minju doesn’t add obviously , but her frown says it for her.

“The tombstone?” I frown back at her, thoroughly confused. “What about the tombstone?”

“Dangun is the god of Mountains. The tombstone he left behind likely holds magical properties similar to the sacred ashes Samshin Halmeom entrusted to you.” Minju reclaims her seat on the floor.

“In his desperation to remain on the throne, the King of Mountains must have desecrated the tombstone to create weapons from it. Weapons strong enough to kill the prince.”

“He is going through so much trouble to assassinate his own son.” Ethan scoffs bitterly. “I should apologize for being so difficult to kill.”

I sit on my hands to stop myself from reaching for him. My heart constricts painfully. It’s not fair that I can’t even offer him this small comfort.

“How do we keep Ethan safe from those weapons?” I croak.

“Uh.” Draco flicks their blue bangs out of their eyes. “Me?”

“You?” I stare at them, blinking slowly, and they shake their head as though I’m a bigger idiot than they’d thought.

“I meant what I said. I have more to offer than my dragon scales,” Draco continues in comprehensible English. “ But for this particular problem, my scales are obviously the best solution.”

“Your dragon scales are meant to protect you , Draco. Every scale I take from you will make you that much more vulnerable.” Ethan levels a steely gaze at the teenager. “I can’t risk your safety to protect myself. You’ve sacrificed enough.”

I glance between Draco and Ethan. I don’t want either of them to be vulnerable. Ethan is the one with the assassins after him, but I can’t bear the thought of exposing the kid to even the slightest danger.

“Let me make this simple for you. You have two options.” Draco starts counting off on their fingers.

“One: Take a few of my scales. I won’t be mad if you wear them under your shirt, even though they’re too pretty to hide.

Two: Paint arcane words of power on your back to make yourself invincible.

Fair warning, though. I might have to kick your ass if you choose option two.

So maybe that means you only have one option to keep yourself safe. ”

The hard set of Ethan’s jaw softens as he looks at the kid. “I’ll take option one. Thank you, Draco.”

I open my mouth to protest but close it without saying anything. I have to respect Draco’s decision. I don’t like this one bit, but I’m also proud of them. They’re such a good kid.

“Bet.” Draco grins as the rest of the room release their breaths in relief. “I’m glad I don’t have to kick your ass.”

Jaeseok stretches his arm out and lightly smacks the back of Draco’s head. “Show some respect, little dragon.”

“What?” Draco grumbles. “Ethan is the prince of a kingdom I’d never heard of, in a realm I didn’t even know existed until a few weeks ago. I would rather fawn over Prince Michel of Rouleme.”

“Who?” Hailey crinkles her nose.

“Exactly.” The teenager laughs. “You should look him up, though. Prince Michel is hella hot.”

“And our prince isn’t?” Minju blurts, then promptly turns into a tomato. Jaeseok’s expression turns sullen, while the rest of us chuckle.

“Don’t be sad.” Draco pats the dokkaebi’s shin with a so sad pout. “You have aura.”

Jaeseok shakes their hand off with an affectionate scowl. “Brat.”

“If you’re all finished, why don’t we move on? I know it’s not an easy topic, but we need to address the elephant in the room.” Ethan squeezes my hand, but I snatch it out of his grasp. He means to lend me strength, but I much prefer avoidance.

A heavy silence falls as my eyes jump between Jihun, Hailey, and Jaeseok in their red-carpet attires. My avoidance mechanism helped me block out the whole thing for a blessed half an hour. I can’t ignore where they went today anymore, but I still give it my best shot.

“There’s a dragon and a fox,” I quip, “but I don’t see any elephants.”

But when Jihun’s solemn gaze falls on me, I give him a stiff nod, even as every muscle in my body tenses to reject what he’s about to say. I close my eyes and force myself to breathe.

“We found Daeseong.”