Page 111 of King Foretold
“Why the tears, daughter?” He cackles. “Sad to see your father die so soon after you have found him? Are you crying for me, daughter?”
I swipe my forearms across my eyes. Why am I crying? There’s nothing to cry about. He is not my father. I have no reason to cry, because my father is not an evil megalomaniac.
Why should I cry? It’s not like I stabbed my father in the heart. I’m not the daughter who killed her own father. I wipe away the unending tears streaming down my cheeks.
Seriously, why am I crying? I can prove he’s lying.
Daeseong moans, and his eyelids flutter.Oh gods.He’s dying. I don’t have much time. My heart lurches, and wild panic slams into me. I have to hurry. He can’t die until I get the truth out of him. And I will get it, even if I have to rip it out of him.
I grab him by his lapels and lift him until his eyes focus on mine. “Youwilltell me the truth.”
I bare my teeth in a snarl as I wrench free the power buried deep inside me. Its wrongness jars me to the core of my being, but I don’t stop calling on the power. The night grows darker as the white glow fades from the sword of light, and the gi of nature scatters away from me. And my chest fills with searing heat, even as my skin crawls with shame.
“Am I your daughter?” The words drip from my tongue as sweet and cloying as honey, my voice both sibilant and echoing. “Tell me the truth.”
“Yes, Mihwa,” he answers, obeying my command. “You are my daughter.”
“You’re lying,” I shout, the honey still coating my mouth. “Tell me you’re lying.”
But it wouldn’t mean anything because I would’ve forced him to say those words. Besides, it’s too late for him to tell me anything.
Daeseong is dead.
My dark power sputters out, and I fall limply to my side.
I killed ... my own father.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
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 aworsemonster 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. Iclench 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 hisgrandson,” 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’sdaughter? The queen is Ethan’saunt?”
