Page 68 of King Foretold (Realm of Four Kingdoms #2)

We lay Draco to rest, embraced by the blue gi of Heaven Lake. I have a feeling they’ll get a kick out of being forever remembered as the Cheonji Monster. An empty smile quirks my lips.

“Sunny, we must delay no longer.” Minju places a soft hand on my arm, and I flinch away from her. “We have to return to the Kingdom of Mountains. Our king needs us. Our friends need us.”

But I don’t have any friends. Not anymore. They deserve someone better than me. And Ethan? A sharp pain shoots through my hollow despair.

Ethan.

I can never face him again. I robbed Daeseong of his free will. I bewitched him. Sure, he was an evil monster, but in the end, I was no better than him. No. I am a worse monster than my father. Hysterical laughter builds in my chest, and I bite my cheeks to stop it from escaping.

I force myself to speak. “I thought you said you were no use in a battlefield.”

“I lied, obviously.” Minju blinks myopically at me. “My healing powers will come in very useful in a battlefield.”

I nod distractedly. She needs to go. She can help them. As for me, it’s a good thing I can never return to the Kingdom of Mountains. I clench my fist around the mark of the blood oath. This way I won’t be tempted to beg Ethan for his forgiveness, because I don’t deserve to be forgiven.

“Ethan is in good hands.” I stare out at the moonlit lake, my body trembling. I haven’t stopped shaking since ... before. “He has the Sentinels at his side, as well as his royal guards from the Kingdom of Mountains. I’m sure they already subdued the loyalist general.”

“You don’t understand.” Minju worries her bottom lip. “The Kingdom of Sky ... General Bak ... plans to wage a war against the Kingdom of Mountains. He might already have begun the invasion.”

“What?” I surface from the depth of my self-loathing. “Doesn’t he know that Ethan subdued his father?”

“The general ... he doesn’t care.” The historian sniffs, looking down at her hands. “Jaeseok and I ... the Order of the Suhoshin ... we all tried to convince him, but he said he won’t stop until he eradicates the tyrant’s bloodline from the Realm of Four Kingdoms.”

“But Ethan is his grandson ,” I gasp, horrified. Why is this happening? Why can’t they leave Ethan alone?

“I know. First, his father. Now, his grandfather. Our king doesn’t deserve this,” Minju says with a sad shake of her head. “We hoped the Queen of Sky would stop the general, but she added more forces to his army instead. The queen must want vengeance for her sister as much as her father does.”

“Wh ... what?” I clasp my hand against my forehead. “The Queen of Sky is General Bak’s daughter ? The queen is Ethan’s aunt ?”

“Yes.” Minju nods calmly. “There were rumors that he forced his younger daughter to marry the decrepit King of Sky so he could use her influence to conquer the Kingdom of Mountains. But the rumors died away when the impending war never came. I always thought the queen prevented the war. I don’t know what happened to change her mind this time. ”

My heart twists with pain. I’m sorry I can’t be there for you, Ethan. I’m sorry I can’t be the family you chose. But he won’t want me beside him if he finds out what I am. He won’t choose me if he knows what I’ve done.

Despair claws at my throat.

“I can’t go back.” I let the numbness settle around me once more.

“Why ever not?” Minju cocks her head to the side.

“I made a deal with Ethan’s father.” The best lie is a half truth. I hold up my left palm, branded with the circle of blood. “I vowed never to return to the Kingdom of Mountains in exchange for Daeseong’s location.”

Even with the blood oath, I would’ve found my way back to Ethan.

I wouldn’t have given up on our love. But everything is different now.

I am different. Ethan is better off without me.

I can never go back to him. Then ... where do I go from here?

Back to my aimless, meaningless life, hiding from the Shingae.

“You can come with me to the Kingdom of Sky to convince the queen to withdraw the army,” Minju says pertly.

“You’re not going to yell at me?” I look at the historian with mild curiosity, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. I’m not going anywhere with her, whether she yells at me or not. Like Ethan, she is better off without me. All my friends are better off without me.

But what if they need me? What if they need the Yeoiju?

The dark mudang is dead. They’ll be fine without me.

“I told you we mustn’t delay.” Minju frowns. “I will yell at you at a more practical time. Come now.”

I let her grab my hand, and I step into Heaven Lake with her—not because I intend to return to the Realm of Four Kingdoms, but because I want to say goodbye to my friend before she leaves.

I want to thank her for risking her life to save me.

For giving me a chance to protect Draco even though I couldn’t save them.

If it wasn’t for Minju, I wouldn’t have been there to hold their hand as they moved on to the next life. I swallow the useless tears tightening my throat. I should be grateful they died without knowing what I would become. At least I didn’t die. I kept my promise to the kid.

We moon shift out onto the small mountain that leads to the entryway to the Kingdom of Sky. But the faraway mountain peak below the Gray Void looks more ominous than usual. I squint at it. What can it be?

Lightning illuminates the sky, and I gasp.

The eerie clouds surrounding the peak are gone. Instead, the sky beyond the mountain—the exposed entrance to the Kingdom of Sky—is webbed with tendrils of darkness.

“Minju?” I breathe. “What are we looking at?”

“The Amheuk ...” She looks at me with horror in her eyes. “The Amheuk has breached its prison.”

I don’t bother asking her how as laughter bubbles up my throat. It doesn’t matter how. All that matters is the darkness is free. I laugh until tears stream down my face.

“Sunny?”

How did I ever believe that I can choose to be good? What was I thinking? I wasn’t , obviously. I laugh harder, out of control. I had been deluding myself all this time. The tears come faster.

I remember now. I remember everything that happened the last time I was in the Gray Void. I freed the stranded souls and dispersed their han.

I destroyed the Gray Void.

My Yeoiju and I destroyed the only thing that stood between the Amheuk and the Realm of Four Kingdoms—the defensive wall that would have stopped the eternal darkness even if it escaped the prison beyond the abyss.

I have unleashed the Amheuk into the Realm of Four Kingdoms.