Page 62 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

I will not allow him to kill the humans. I will not allow him to usher in the Amheuk. He doesn’t get to win while I have breath left in me.

“Oops.” The dark mudang scoots back with sadistic glee.

Every time I crawl an agonizing inch toward him, he retreats a tiny step. He’s taking away my hard-won ground but staying close enough to give me hope. The asshole is toying with me. Still, in my pain-ridden, destitute state, I’m devastated by every inch I lose.

I’ll never reach him. But you have to try.

I growl, tears streaking muddy lines down my face, but I keep inching toward him. The rocky ground cuts my stomach through my tank top and scrapes the soft skin under my arms raw.

My healing power flares and flares against my wrecked spine, but it’s not a simple stab wound it can easily mend. Sweat soaks my hair and face, and blood drips into my eyes from a head wound I hadn’t noticed.

I can barely make Daeseong out in front of me. The unbearable pain saps me of my strength, but I don’t stop moving. I don’t give up. My stubbornness is my strongest superpower.

I could really use my bloodlust right now—where I feel no pain, only the strength of violence—but the arcane word of power is ... gone. I can’t sense it anymore. Something happened when I went through the Gray Void.

But I can feel my Yeoiju inside me. Its song is faint but there. Too bad I can only manifest a small ball of light with it.

“This is getting rather tedious, no?” the dark mudang says around a long yawn. “So much crawling . It is not as entertaining when you do the same thing over and over again, you know. It’s like staring at a wiggling worm.”

I crawl another inch forward, propelled purely by my desire to annoy him. I do it over and over again , grinning despite my agony.

His smug smile droops bit by bit until anger twists his face. “Enough.”

Hehe.

Regrettably, I don’t get to savor my tiny win for long. Because one second, he is a mere yard ahead of me, but the next second, he is floating above the rooftop of Akrotiri.

“No.” My mouth moves to shape the word, but no sound comes out.

“Give me the Yeoiju.” He raises his arms, mimicking the iconic pose of Christ the Redeemer . The mudang is taking his god complex to a whole new level. “Give it to me. Or every human beneath this roof will cease to exist.”

Ah, it was all for me.

Daeseong tricked the Jaenanpa into kidnapping a thousand humans so he could threaten me with their lives. To force me to make the choice between giving him the Yeoiju and sacrificing a thousand lives to hold onto a power I don’t even understand.

The fog of pain clears away as helpless fury burns inside me. I know why he lured me here. The dark mudang needs the Yeoiju to release the Amheuk. My Yeoiju is somehow key to both stopping the darkness and unleashing it.

But I won’t be able to figure out the why or how in my sorry state. One thing at a time. I need to figure out how to keep the humans in the buried city safe without giving up the Yeoiju.

Think, Cadet Cho.

“Do you need time to think?” Daeseong asks, as though he heard Captain Seo too. “Do go on. I can keep myself occupied while I wait.”

He telekinetically raises an unconscious woman from the ground—one of the humans I’d carried out on my shoulders—until she stands drunkenly on her feet.

What is he ...? I reach a trembling hand toward her.

Please no. Then with another yawn, he snaps her neck and lets her lifeless body crumple to the ground.

“No,” I rasp in a weedy whisper even though I’m screaming in my head.

“Don’t mind me.” He raises the next human.

I hear another sickening crunch, then the thump of a dead body dropping to the ground.

“Take your time. I have plenty of humans to go through, conveniently in front of me. But once I run out of these toys, I think I shall tire of playing. Every human under this roof will die rather quickly.”

Baring my bloody teeth, I drag myself toward the humans lying on the ground. A sharp cry rips out of me when the dark mudang raises a boy—he can’t be more than five—onto his little feet.

“Stop,” I cry and scrabble toward the child, my nails ripping and bleeding. “No, please.”

“Very interesting.” Daeseong cocks his head to the side and watches me in fascination. “You value a child more than an adult? I wonder why. While I hope we do not meet this way again, if there is a next time, I will have my underlings collect only the children.”

“I ... I’ll give it to you.” I plead with one hand outstretched. “Just ... don’t hurt the boy.”

“Now that wasn’t too hard, was it?” the dark mudang coos but doesn’t release the child.

“Put him down. Look.” I summon the orb of white light onto my palm. “I will give it to you.”

Daeseong gasps and drops the little boy, alive and unhurt—not in response to my plea but because he has lost interest. He is much more interested in what he sees on my palm.

I’m thrust into the air again, and the pain in my back makes stars spark behind my eyes. I scream, and the white light blinks out.

“Where is it?” He wraps an invisible hand around my throat and lifts me higher off the ground. He squeezes as though he’s going to rip out my voice box. “Bring it back.”

But I can’t breathe. It hurts so much. My eyes roll back.

He shakes me by the throat. “Bring it back!”

“Let her go.” A deep, rumbling voice thunders in my head, and warm hands snatch me out of Daeseong’s grip, taking him by surprise.

“You’re okay, Sunny.” Someone wraps their arms tightly around me.

“How is she okay?” The deep voice growls. “Her fucking back is broken.”

“She’s going to be okay.” The other person, a female, speaks with calm certainty.

I drift in and out of consciousness as silver light glows around me. Slowly but miraculously, I hurt a little less and feel my legs twitching beneath me. As the pain recedes even further, I realize that Minju is holding me atop a dragon’s back as we circle the sky above Daeseong.

The silver glow of the historian’s healing spell gradually dims, and her arms slip from my body. Spurred by pure instinct, I catch her before she falls off Draco’s back. The agony in my back has quieted to a deep ache, but I still hiss in pain when I bear the brunt of Minju’s weight in my arms.

“Sorry, sorry.” She comes to and quickly straightens away from me. “I’m fine.”

“What are you guys doing here?” I demand, delayed shock jolting through me. “Ethan needs your help. That is your sworn duty as his royal guards.”

“Jaeseok and Captain Seo went to his aid, but I’m not much use in a battlefield,” Minju says quietly. “I hoped I could be of help to you here instead.”

“And I’m not a royal guard.” Draco glances back at me with their sullen dragon eyes. “I’m not even a suhoshin, so I get to decide where my duty lies.”

“You’re right, kid. Thank you. Both of you.” I don’t fight it anymore. I’m so happy they’re here. “ Shit. ”

My heart ramming into my ribs, I whip my head around every which way and see the dark mudang doing the same thing below us. “Why hasn’t he shot us down?”

“Don’t worry. He can’t see us,” Minju says. “The invisibility spell should hold for a few more minutes.”

I sag in relief, then jerk back up.

“Daeseong is keeping the humans captive in an underground archaeological site down there.” I grip Minju’s arm. “He’s threatening to collapse the roof and kill them all if I don’t hand over the Yeoiju.”

“Sunny, you can’t . . .”

“I know.” I squeeze the historian’s hand reassuringly. “I need you to get those humans to safety while I distract Daeseong.”

“I can peel the roof off and fly them out,” Draco says.

“The humans are unconscious—” I begin.

“We got this, Sunny. You worry about Daeseong.” Minju summons a short sword that looks eerily like my hwando in a sheath made of blue dragon scales. “Here. You’re going to need this.”

I nearly fall off Draco’s back. “I ... is that the sword of light?”

“What gave it away? The dragon-scale sheath?” the teenager says sardonically.

“Watch it, brat.” I smack their back and reverently accept the sword of light from Minju.

“I’ll go wake up the humans.” Minju smiles guilelessly. “See you soon.”

Before I can wonder at her premature farewell, the historian jumps off the dragon’s back, drawing a yelp from me. But I belatedly remember that she’s a seonnyeo as she flies gracefully down on her wings of wind.

“I keep forgetting you’re the only one of us who can’t fly.” Draco snorts, and a puff of smoke comes out of their nostrils. “Big L.”

“Shut up,” I say, fighting a grin. They are a child after my own heart. Gods, I love them. “Now be a good dragon and fly us annoyingly close to Daeseong’s head, so he doesn’t see Minju sneaking underground.”

“He’s so creepy.” It feels like an earthquake when Draco’s enormous, serpentine body shivers beneath me.

“Once we catch his attention, I’m going after him alone.” My voice is both urgent and stern. “Fly away as quickly as you can and go save the humans with Minju.”

“But—”

“No buts .” I lean close to their head. “Don’t follow me, Draco. No matter what you see. You can’t interfere. This is my fight. Understand?”

They stay stubbornly silent, but I stop pushing. I don’t want to force them to double down. I just have to hope they’ll listen when the time comes. Since when do teenagers ever listen? I push away the panicked thought.

Draco will listen. They have to.