Page 63 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

True to our plan, Draco swoops toward Daeseong’s head before pulling up at the last second. The dark mudang growls and swats the air in front of him as if at a pesky fly. It sends the dragon tumbling through the sky, and I hang on to their back for dear life until Draco finally rights themself.

“Land over there,” I shout and point toward an open field opposite Akrotiri. They miraculously comply, and I slide down their back. “Now go. Save the humans.”

When the teenager obediently flies away, I’m convinced my luck is changing. But my newfound optimism is extinguished when Daeseong turns to follow them.

“Hey.” I wrap my lips around my fingers and emit an earsplitting whistle. When the dark mudang deigns to glance my way, I hold my palm out and summon a white light the size of a Ping-Pong ball. “Don’t you have unfinished business with me?”

The dark mudang floats across the field toward me and my pretty light—away from my friends and the humans. Even if I can’t defeat Daeseong, I will find a way to keep him away from Draco and Minju. I will find a way to keep them safe.

My Yeoiju hums in my chest, and the orb of light hovering over my open palm grows bigger than the width of my hand. The avaricious glint in Daeseong’s eyes shifts into apprehension the closer he approaches, until he stops a few yards away, squinting against the light.

My little light ... hurts him. Even the smallest, softest manifestation of the Yeoiju hurts him. Maybe I can stop him without letting it shatter me from the inside out.

“I see you have learned some new tricks since we last met, little fox.” Another off-kilter smile rips across his face. “Show me what else you can do.”

“When will you learn that I’ll always, without fail, do the exact opposite of what you want?” I try to fist my palm to extinguish the light, but my hand won’t move. Instead, my heart warms and vibrates with an answering light.

What the fuck is happening?

I gasp sharply as my head snaps back and my chest thrusts forward hard enough to arch my spine. My gi streams out of me into the floating orb, my arms thrown back from the force of the pull. The white light grows brighter and bigger as it siphons my life force.

I can’t ... move. I can’t even blink.

This isn’t paralysis. It feels as though my will has been disconnected from my body. The gift of the Cheon’gwang, my ass . The Yeoiju is stealing my gi.

But a quiet calm pacifies the fear shuddering through me. I want to give in to the Yeoiju’s call. I want to pour my life force into it.

A shrill scream rends through the night, and I’m thrown off my feet. I crash onto my back, hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

Then everything . . . stops.

I blink, flexing my hand. I have control over my body again. The orb of light is gone. And the Yeoiju hums contentedly inside me, as though it’s happy to be back home.

What in the ever-loving hell was that ?

Then I remember I was in the middle of a conversation with a dark mudang hell bent on destroying the worlds. I struggle up to my elbows, expecting to find Daeseong coming at me with his figurative claws out, but he is nowhere to be found.

No.

In a panic, I scramble to my feet and spin in a circle. I do it one more time to make sure. He’s gone. Gone where , though?

Minju. Draco. All those people.

“Shit.” I sprint toward Akrotiri but don’t get very far because I’m met by a swarm of humans, pulsing with dark, stolen magic. Jaenanpa assholes. “Get out of my way. I don’t have time to play with you.”

Unfortunately, they don’t listen, and they come at me with angry roars of varying pitches.

I shrug and draw my sword of light. Then I pause and blink down at it.

It looks and feels exactly like my hwando.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my hwando. But I kind of expected the sword of light to be extra .

I push aside the pinch of disappointment.

Don’t knock it till you try it.

Luckily, a horde of maniacal shamans are storming me. I run straight into the mob, excited to try out my fancy new toy. I swing the sword of light over my head, wearing a razor-sharp smile, and slash my way through the first wave of bad guys.

The bastards kidnapped a thousand humans for what they believed would be a blood sacrifice. They don’t deserve my mercy. Yet, even as I slice, jab, and pierce with lightning-fast attacks, I make sure none of their wounds are fatal. Maybe I’m not so ferocious after all.

Maybe I am good after all.

I search for signs of Daeseong, even as I work my way through the throng of corrupted mudangs. Is he in the buried city? Did he get to Draco and Minju?

A ball of fire barely misses my head by an inch.

I smell my burned hair before I see the ashes rain past my shoulder.

I run one hand through my hair to find that I’ve been given a bob cut on half of my head.

With my mouth gaping in shocked outrage, I glance in the direction the fireball came from.

A scrawny, bespectacled blond in a loose T-shirt and khaki pants stands with another ball of fire in his hand.

“You lot can go make sure the captives don’t escape,” he barks to the other mudangs, inching toward me with a sly smile. “I can take care of this one.”

Blondie must rank higher than the others, but not that much higher, because they grumble and glare at him even as they follow his orders. They probably suspect he wants to steal my magic for himself. And maybe he does.

“Did you torture a being of the Shingae to steal that elemental power, mudang?” I growl, my lip peeling back from my teeth.

“Oh, you mean this power?” He ignites a matching fireball in his other hand. “ Torture is putting it nicely, but I deserve this power more than that kid ever did. I earned this power.”

Nausea floods my stomach at his utter lack of remorse, at his absolute entitlement. When screams of terror erupt behind the sadistic mudang, I smile grimly. “The only thing you earned is the comeuppance you’re about to receive.”

With trepidation in every line of his body, the mudang turns around just in time to witness Draco roar into the night and land on top of a dozen Jaenanpa minions. Blondie stumbles toward me, but I push him back to the furious blue dragon and the terrified mudangs scattering in every direction.

“J ... Jaenanpa.” His voice cracks like a pubescent boy as he corrals every mudang within his reach. “Stand y ... your ground. Do n ... not be afraid.”

I shake my head at the pathetic coward and sprint toward my friends. My legs wobble with relief that Daeseong hasn’t gotten them.

“Hurry, everyone.” Minju slides down Draco’s back and urges the groggy humans with her to follow her example. “You have to go. Run toward that tree at the top of the hill. Stay down and keep each other safe.”

I reach Minju’s side. “How did you wake them up?”

“I brought some seungmacho, the antidote,” she says, helping the remaining people down. “I figured the Jaenanpa would fall back on their favorite poison.”

“You’re a genius.” I watch the humans—about a dozen of them—run for the hills. Then I turn a wary eye to the Jaenanpa surrounding Draco. “Minju, how many more do you have down there?”

“Too many.” She rubs a tired hand across her forehead, leaving behind a streak of dirt.

“Leave the Jaenanpa to me,” the dragon rumbles inside my head with barely leashed fury. “They poisoned my dad and bound him with dark magic before they ripped his power ... his life ... out of him.”

“I’m so sorry, kid.” My voice breaks. “What the Jaenanpa did to your dad was wrong and despicable. But taking a human life—no matter how much they deserve it—will leave a mark on you. It’ll alter you forever, and not for the better.”

“I ... I can’t stand by and let them hurt innocent people,” they argue, but the edge of violence has faded from their voice.

“You can stop the Jaenanpa and protect the innocent without losing yourself.” I pat their front leg—the only part of them I can reach. “I like you just the way you are. Okay, kid?”

“Bruh.” Tears well in their beautiful cerulean eyes.

I want to reach up and catch the giant teardrop, but I shouldn’t push my luck. The teenager has probably reached their daily capacity for non-angsty emotion.

“Well?” I smirk. “What are you standing around for?”

With a keening cry of determination, the dragon charges into battle. Gods. I’m so proud of that kid.

“What is it?” I spin toward Minju when she tugs on my arm. “Do you think Draco will be okay on their own? Should I help you rescue more of the captives?”

“Where is Daeseong, Sunny?” Minju asks urgently.

“I ... I don’t know.” I’d been purposely not thinking about that.

“That beam of white light ...” She looks across the field as though remembering it. “I could even see it from underground. Was that you?”

“I don’t know.” Maybe it started out as me, but in the end, it was the Yeoiju. A shiver of fear runs down my back. If I can’t learn to control it, the Yeoiju will destroy me. It will destroy both of us.

“Daeseong must have run from the light. You have to go after him.” Minju grips my shoulders and shakes me lightly. “Do you know where he could have gone to hide?”

“The caldera.” I recall with a start. “He’s at the caldera.”

If I can stop the dark mudang once and for all, it doesn’t matter if the Yeoiju destroys me. I remember the aching love in Ethan’s eyes. And the warmth of my friends’ loyalty and affection glows in my chest. The Amheuk will not touch them.

I cast a worried glance at Draco. While evading the Jaenanpa’s dark spells in a graceful, sinuous dance, the dragon is taking them down with fire and might, leaving them injured but alive.

But there are at least a hundred corrupt mudangs coming after them, and my stomach clenches with fear.

Maybe I should’ve told them to just kill the bastards in one blast.

“Don’t worry. I will help them,” Minju says. “You must go, Sunny.”