Page 2 of King Foretold
“That doesn’t look very comfortable,” a sardonic voice drawls behind me.
I crack open an eye to find a beautiful seonnam standing behind me in a silver dopo—a long outer robe worn by Korean nobility—with a gat tied under his chin. Jihun has his arms crossed over his broad chest and his head cocked to the side like he’s studying a particularly fascinating piece of art. Except he’s upside down, because I’m folded in half with my legs spread wide and my butt in the air. I open my other eye to smirk at him.
“Stop staring at my ass, Captain,” I admonish gleefully, knowing full well he’s only taking in my odd position. Then I lift my torso with a straight back, my body hinging at my hips, and rise slowly so I don’t pass out from the blood rushing to my brain. But I definitely want to be upright to watch the stoic suhoshin squirm.
“That’s asking too much of a male with a pulse, Sunny,” he says huskily, and I nearly pitch forward into the ground.
If I were a pearl-necklace-wearing sort, I’d be clutching it right now. We’re friends, for gods’ sake. Or more accurately, we’re two people who tolerate each other out of necessity.Liar.I sigh. Jihun and Iarefriends. I have to stop pretending to be the same sullen loner I was when Ethan found me in Las Vegas.
Oh, I get it.I teased Jihun about staring at my ass, so he’s trying to embarrass me back. Touché. He had me for a minute. I’m new to this having-friends business, but I’m a quick study. If I mess with a friend, they’ll get me back. My lips quirk. That actually sounds kind of fun.
Even so, my cheeks feel warm when I turn around to face him. The captain seems to be sporting some high color himself, but it’s hard to tell with the rosy dawn drenching the courtyard.Rosy dawn? I cup my forehead.Enough with the ridiculous poetry.I’m so tired of being a lovesick fool. Why can’t I just ... stop?
“What’s wrong?” Jihun’s brows pull into a frown.
“Nothing.” Except that I want to run to Ethan. I want to be in his arms so much that my entire body aches from the effort of holding myself back.Enough.I grit my back teeth and try to lie more convincingly. “Nothing is wrong.”
The King Foretold is destined to kill the one who possesses the Yeoiju. If destiny forces Ethan to kill me, even though he loves me, then I’ll do everything in my power to make him believe I don’t feel the same way. At the very least, he won’t have to kill me knowing I love him back with everything in me. I can spare him that much. If I play my part well enough, maybe he’ll come to think of me as the female who scorned his love—someone he hates a little.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” I turn away from Jihun, blinking back tears, and grab a spear off the weapon rack. “You usually don’t make an appearance this bright and early.”
He doesn’t respond for a moment as his dark gaze takes in more than I want him to see. Before I can bash his head in with my spear to make him stop, he says, “I need to speak to Captain Seo. I thought I’d catch her before morning roll call.”
“Be careful,” I mutter. “She might give you a black eye if you make her late for her torture duties.”
“Do I detect a hint of animosity?” Amusement lights his eyes.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” I deadpan. “The captain and I are BFFs.”
Captain Seo Cheyun, the head instructor of cadet training, is the bane of my fucked-up existence. The captain, a seraph like Jihun, is exquisite on the outside, but she’s a merciless hard-ass on the inside andworks the cadets within an inch of their lives. A part of me respects that, but I get the feeling she has it out for me.
Who the hell knows why? Maybe she’s a bigot like the rest of the Shinbiin, who think animal spirits don’t belong in the Realm of Four Kingdoms, much less in the Kingdom of Sky.
Even though I keep to myself, the news of a gumiho being recruited as a suhoshin cadet spread like wildfire. I can’t step outside the Suhoshin headquarters without being gawked at like a zoo exhibit. The Shinbiin haven’t seen a nine-tailed fox spirit—or any animal spirit, for that matter—in over five hundred years. The “younger” generation hasneverseen one.
To be honest, I get stared at inside the headquarters as well, albeit less overtly. The cadets are taught that it doesn’t matter which kingdom you’re from. It doesn’t matter which life force—Sky, Mountains, Water, or Underworld—courses through you. Once you pass the trial and take your oath, you are a suhoshin first and foremost.Unless you’re an animal spirit.
Jihun walks up to the weapon rack and peruses the deadly choices as though he’s picking out an apple from a fruit cart. I arch an eyebrow when he selects a pair of scythes for himself instead of his usual weapon of choice, a longsword.
“An intriguing selection.” I lead him to the sparring circle closest to the weapon rack, itching for a fight.
“I’d say the same about you.” He nods at my spear, swinging the scythes with loose flicks of his wrists. “Not going with a hwando today?”
“How will I learn if I don’t venture out of my comfort zone?” I widen my eyes innocently, but Jihun doesn’t buy it for a minute, so I drop the act with a shrug. Then I slide one foot behind me and thrust the spear out, bending my front knee to take a low fighting stance. “I feel like wielding something a little more”—I suck my teeth—“brutish today.”
He saunters toward me, the scythes whooshing by his sides in lazy circles. Something about the movement and the sound sends my pulseinto a gallop. Jihun’s lips quirk for the barest second, like he knows something I don’t.
“Do you want to spar or not?” I goad, my skin tightening with agitation. “Or do you need to change out of your fancy nobleman’s clothes?”
“Are you suggesting I undress?” He unties his gat from his chin and drops it onto the ground outside the circle. I watch his hand smooth down the front of his robe, and I swallow as heat rushes to my face. Is he still messing with me for my earlierstaring at my assjab? What the hell? He already got me back for that. “But I am quite comfortable as I am.”
Too heartsick for a friendly tit for tat, I scowl and lunge at Jihun the minute he steps into the sparring circle. I meant what I said about the spear being brutish. The shaft is so thick my small hands can barely wrap around it, and my attack is clumsy as a result.
Jihun blocks with one scythe as grooves form between his eyebrows. “I could easily have disarmed you. You should know better than to take sparring lightly. These aren’t practice weapons.”
When they commence their training, the suhoshin cadets are twenty-four years old, fresh from their coming-of-age. The Shinbiin come into the peak of their powers in the second evolution of their zodiac animal and become nearly immortal. They heal fast, don’t get sick, and age slowly enough to live for a thousand years.
The same goes for me, for whatever reason, even though I’m not a shinbiin. As a consequence, the suhoshin cadets use real weapons—and spill real blood—during training since we heal so quickly.Fun times.Did I mention we still feel pain like any other living being?
