Page 38 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

I shift into my gumiho form just outside the Suhoshin headquarters and run into the streets. The seonnams and seonnyeos shriek and clutch their chests as they scramble out of my way, their exquisite, glowing faces twisted into caricatures of terror. But I’m too busy to give a fuck.

I need to find Shim Duna. If I were a spy from the Kingdom of Mountains, where would I run when the shit hits the fan?

To the portal to the Kingdom of Mountains, of course.

I speed up and become a white blur in the streets, which seems to calm the seraphim’s fragile sensibilities.

An unidentifiable white blur is fine. But a nine-tailed fox spirit?

Heavens forbid, she might give us cooties. Damn bigots.

When I reach the busy main street, I slow down to take a sweeping glance around me.

The merchants sell their wares in stalls on either side of the wide street.

The nobles strolling by stop to peruse the tempting array of colorful silk, baubles, and trinkets.

The commoners walk swiftly with purpose, heading for their favorite produce stalls to buy what they need rather than what they want.

The females already finished with their shopping hurry home, with round, low-rimmed baskets filled with fresh vegetables on their heads.

But those vegetables go flying in the air with shrill screams from their bearers as this new batch of shinbiins, commoners and nobles alike, notice the nine-tailed fox standing in the middle of the street.

Shit. Where the hell is the portal? A shadow falls over me, and I glance up at the sky.

“Follow me,” Captain Seo says and flies off.

“Thank fucking gods,” I say into her mind as I take off running. “I almost caused a stampede.”

The captain is too high up to answer me, but she doesn’t have to say it. What did we learn about thinking before acting, Cadet Cho? My gumiho can’t make the yeah, whatever face, so I settle for an annoyed huff.

Even in the air, Captain Seo can’t keep up with my gumiho, and I slow down to keep pace. Faster. We need to go faster. Shim Duna might get away if we don’t hurry, but I don’t know where I’m going, so I meekly follow the captain into a small forest.

Captain Seo lands behind a stand of trees and presses up against the wide trunk of the nearest one.

When I skid to a stop beside her and shift back to my human form, she turns to me with a finger on her lips.

I nod and back close into the tree. Then I steal a quick glance around the trunk, only one eye peeping out.

Duna stands beneath an open pagoda, holding the hands of a handsome seonnam wearing a shimmering silver robe, with silky black hair that falls halfway down his back. Honestly, he’s even prettier than Duna.

“Who is he?” I whisper to Captain Seo.

“Keeper Choe,” she says, keeping her eyes trained on the couple. “And that’s Shim Duna, right? I’ve never seen her smile that sweetly to anyone.”

“That’s because she’s pretending to be her twin sister.

Hana tried to take the fall for her sister, saying she seduced Keeper Choe to open the portal, but it had been Duna all along.

” I grit my teeth. “Duna framed her own sister to save her neck, and Hana still died to protect that lying bitch. Leave Shim Duna to me.”

Captain Seo holds my gaze for a second, then nods curtly. “I’m going to have my hands full with Keeper Choe. The portal keepers are formidable warriors.”

“I have a feeling you can take him.” I give her a wry smile. Before she can respond, I step around the tree and charge toward the pagoda, bellowing at the top of my lungs, “Shim Duna. Your ass is mine.”

“Hell and damnation,” Captain Seo curses as she rounds the tree and sprints alongside me. “ Think , Sunny. Don’t forget to think .”

Keeper Choe throws off Duna’s hands and leaps over the railing of the pagoda.

With another curse, Captain Seo changes course to pursue the pretty keeper.

I close in on the pagoda, and Duna backs into one of the pillars with a hand pressed to her chest. I climb up the steps and stop in the middle of the platform.

I don’t dare get any closer, because I might choke the life out of her before I get my answers.

“Hana is dead,” I say bluntly, aiming to rattle her. Even though she framed and betrayed her twin sister, Duna must have some feelings left for poor Hana.

She goes deathly still, all the blood leeching out of her face. “You killed her?”

“Me?” My laugh is cold and jagged. “No, you killed her. Even though you betrayed her, Hana confessed to being the spy to protect you, then she took the sayak in your handkerchief. She gave her life for you.”

“No.” Duna shakes her head and begins sobbing into her palm.

Just as the sharpest edge of my anger dulls with sympathy, she drops her hand, and an ugly, hateful smile twists her face, even as tears continue to streak down her cheeks.

“Hana was a stupid bitch. She tried so hard to be sweet and likable, always showing me up. Now look, she’s making me look bad even in death. ”

Shock leaves me speechless for a heartbeat, then a low growl rumbles in my chest, heat flaring from the rune. “Hana didn’t need to make you look bad. That’s one thing you do well on your own.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Duna shrieks, her eyes bulging. “You didn’t know her like I did. Hana thought the world revolved around her and monopolized everyone’s attention. She even fooled our parents into loving her more than me. She tricked everyone into loving her more.

“Hana always put up a kind and caring front, never losing her smile. What a fucking phony.” Spittle gathers at the corners of her lips, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “She made me sick .”

My stomach roils with nausea. Shim Duna isn’t sullen and reclusive. She’s insane. She is literally foaming at the mouth.

“Hana took everything from me. I wanted to become a suhoshin for as long as I can remember, but she was chosen instead. It wasn’t fair.

I’m stronger and smarter than her. It should’ve been me.

But she wouldn’t even let me have the one thing I wanted more than anything.

She couldn’t stand the thought of me being the special one for once.

“I bet she was surprised when I got selected as a second cadet from our family. You see, the King of Mountains saw something special in me. He asked me to be his spy while I trained as a cadet in the Kingdom of Sky. I, of course, accepted.

“But Hana kept hounding me about how I became a cadet when only one member of the family could be chosen. I told her the king granted my petition to be chosen as a second cadet, but she didn’t buy it.

I was telling the truth, though. I just left out the part that the king added a condition for granting my petition. ”

“So the ‘something special’ he saw in you was your desperation?” I drawl.

“Hana thought you were hilarious. I have to agree with her on that one. Desperation. How funny.” Duna laughs with unhinged delight. “But no. The king saw my loyalty and determination. His Majesty saw that I would do anything for him, even help kill his unworthy son.”

The word of power burns across my back, and I take a step toward her, my nails and incisors elongating. But by sheer force of will, I stop myself from advancing any farther. Thankfully, Duna doesn’t notice that I’m this close to ripping her throat out.

Good. I need to keep her talking—the more tea she spills, the better. She must’ve been dying to boast about her importance to someone. Narcissism is the downfall of all villains, it seems.

“How did the King of Mountains know that his son was in the Kingdom of Sky?” I rasp past my tight throat.

“His Majesty didn’t know at first. He merely wanted me to keep a close eye on the high officials of the Kingdom of Sky.

The king is as meticulous as he is wise.

” Duna sighs, her face shining with maniacal worship.

“But a few days ago, a powerful friend of his informed him that his worthless son lives and is hiding in the Kingdom of Sky.”

A powerful friend ? What powerful friend?

“Why does the king want his son dead?” I demand, focusing on Duna again.

Is staying on the throne really that important to the King of Mountains? More so than his family? I still can’t wrap my head around it. I would give anything to have my mother back. Anything. How could a father be willing to kill his son for power?

“Because the deceitful prince is stealing the king’s magic for himself,” Duna hisses.

I cringe at her vehemence. What does she mean, stealing the king’s magic?

“His Majesty didn’t explain that to me, of course.

I need no explanation to do his bidding.

But I saw the scar on his palm myself,” she brags in a conspiratorial whisper, preening at her own cleverness.

“The King of Mountains has the power of invincibility. A cut should be impossible. It can only mean that the ungrateful prince is stealing that power for himself, leaving the king vulnerable. I would want to kill anyone who steals something so vital to me too.”

The King of Mountains has the power of invincibility.

Does Ethan’s invincibility mean the Kingdom of Mountains already accepts him as its true king?

It’s too much to process right now. But the takeaway I can process is that his father is vulnerable.

He bleeds . Could that be the mysterious illness that our spy meant?

“Like I said, I’m smart. Even the king can’t keep secrets from me.

” She giggles, then scowls the next second, her mood as volatile as a tempest. “A son who lacks filial piety is worse than an animal.

The traitor must be stopped. I was so close to finishing my mission, but my stupid sister ruined everything, as usual.

“She didn’t stop being suspicious of me even after we came to the Kingdom of Sky.

The conniving bitch kept an eye on me. Today, she found the sayak in my room and confronted me.

She started nitpicking about where I was this night or that morning.

She went on and on about how I was risking my chance to become a suhoshin by breaking the rules.

“Hana didn’t have a clue that I was already much more important than a suhoshin. I was the king’s own spy. I couldn’t stand her lording it over me when she was nothing compared to me, so I told her everything. I finally put her in her place. I mean, what was she going to do?”

“You weren’t worried about her turning you in, were you?” The bloodlust pounds under my skin. I don’t know if I can control the rune for much longer. “You masqueraded as Hana when you did your dirty work. You always planned on framing your sister.”

“I told you I was the smart one.” Duna smirked.

“The only reason I’m not going to kill you ... yet ... is because Hana was my friend, and she fucking died to protect you,” I snarl. “How could you not realize how lucky you were to have someone who loved you unconditionally? Someone who loved you enough to die for you?”

“The only thing she loved was her perfect little self.” The entire left side of Duna’s body twitches, like she’s fighting an internal battle. “She wanted to die a martyr. It had nothing to do with me.”

Shim Duna was loved, but she’s too twisted and bitter to see it. She never allowed her sister’s love to envelop her, making her safe and content. It is so tragic. She did it all to herself, but I can’t help but pity her.

“You’re coming with me,” I say in a tired voice. We need to put her away and focus on our next steps. If what she said is true, the King of Mountains might be preparing to welcome the Amheuk into the Realm of Four Kingdoms.

“Come with you?” She cackles. “You’re not very smart, either, are you?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Don’t worry.” She pouts with feigned sympathy. “You won’t get the chance.”

She throws a handful of dirt over her shoulder, and a piercing green light spills out from the pillar behind her. What the hell? I step toward her even as I shield my eyes with my hand. Then the light is gone ... and so is Duna.