Page 24 of King Foretold
I snap out of my spiral when Hailey grasps my hands and gently pulls them away from my face before I can claw my fingers down my cheeks. I can only stare at her helplessly. I don’t know what to do.
“Jihun, we’re going to borrow your bedroom,” Hailey says in a no-nonsense tone. Ethan and Jihun both step toward me, but she shakes her head once. “Alone, Captain. That goes for you as well, Your Highness. She needs space.”
“Yes, of course.” Ethan halts, clenching his fists.
Jihun gives her a curt nod. “Go.”
Hailey tucks me into her side and leads me away from the ruined study. I unseeingly put one foot in front of another, keeping my mind quiet and still. Everything will be fine once I wash the runes off my back.
“We’re here,” Hailey says in front of an unfamiliar hanok, just around the corner from the study.
Once we’re inside, she guides me down a hallway and slides open a double door, revealing Jihun’s bedroom. I blink away my stupor and focus on my curiosity. Being nosy is worlds better than spiraling over the arcane runes on my back.
An enormous bed framed in rich mahogany takes up a chunk of the sizable room, and a desk and chair in the same hue stand against a side wall. The modern furnishing contrasts sharply with the latticed hanji doors and windows, but the overall effect is quite pleasant.
The bed looks tantalizingly comfortable, in direct contrast to the hard floor I callmybed. When I first came to the Kingdom of Sky, I asked Jihun if he had a bed, and he deflected by teasing me for my interest in his sleeping arrangements. I glom on to the prickly familiarity of annoyance. Anything to put some distance between myself and my near meltdown. Even now, it doesn’t feel that far off.
“Fucking Jihun,” I mutter grumpily.
“Thereyou are.” Hailey laughs and lightly ruffles my hair. I’m too wrecked to duck away from her hand. I might even lean into her touch a little. I guess I don’t mind her affectionate teasing that much, especially when she says, “Now let’s wash all that ink off.”
She opens an inner door to reveal a modern bathroom and a glass-walled shower big enough for a soccer team. My eyes pop as my jaw drops. He has arainshowerhead. First, it bears repeating,Fucking Jihun. Second, I want.
“Wait.” I flatten my hands against the glass and peer inside the shower. “Is thatshampoo? I’ve been washing my hair with orchid oil, and he had shampoo all along? Did you know about this?”
“I had a hunch. His hair can’t glisten like that without proper care.” Hailey shrugs. “Do you need help in here? If not, I’ll go find you some fresh clothes.”
“I’m good.” I bite my lip, feeling too awkward to say what’s on the tip of my tongue. But as she turns to go, I blurt, “Thank you. I would’ve lost my shit in front of everyone if you hadn’t spirited me away. So ... thanks, Hailey.”
“I got you.” She winks and closes the bathroom door behind her.
And not a moment too soon because unwanted tears sting my nose and tighten my throat. I don’t want to get used to this—to someone having my back. No matter how secure it makes me feel. I swipe my forearm across my eyes.
“For fuck’s sake.” I strip my clothes off with impatient jerks and turn the shower on to full blast.
When I step under the hot spray of water, I moan at the decadence of it. But I quickly sober as the water beneath my feet turns gray with ink. I stare at my toes, my hair a wet curtain around my face, and wait for the water to run clear. Then I grab a bar of soap and breathe in its clean citrus scent before I lather my hands and scrub my body until my skin is pink and tingly. I wash my hair—twice—with the fancy-smelling shampoo before I shut off the water.
I step out of the shower and wrap a fluffy towel around my body. Using a hand towel to wring the water out of my long hair, I patter over to the sink, then wipe away the condensation from the mirror. Then I stare at the pale, drawn face looking back at me.
“Cheer up, Sunny.” I push the corners of my mouth up with my index fingers, then let them drop back down. “You’ll be back at Roxy’s Diner eating your rare steak and sunny-side up eggs before you know it.”
I clamp my lips together, appalled that I’ve fallen so far as to give myself a pep talk in the bathroom mirror. I sigh and twist around to look at my back. Thankfully, it’s still the same old back ...
“No.” The denial leaves my lips on a whoosh of breath.
I throw my hair over my shoulder and twist some more so I can see better. I scrub at the skin with the hand towel, but it’s no use. One rune remains, dark and ominous, below my left shoulder blade. The word of power that killed my mother. I wet the towel and rub at the symbol until my skin stings.Still there.I sink to the floor, panting and shaking. What does this mean?
Unbidden, the pronunciation for the arcane word flickers in the far recesses of my mind, fainter than a passing thought, and I arch my back as heat scorches my skin. Hissing in pain, I struggle to my feet and look in the mirror again. The rune on my back ... it’s bloodred. It’s actuallyrawlike someone branded it onto my back with a smoldering iron. But as I watch in horror, the rune turns black again and the heat seeps out of my skin. What is happening?
When I hear the bedroom door slide open, I gasp in relief and rush out of the bathroom, too scared to be alone.
“Hailey, I’m so glad ...” My words trail off when I see Jihun standing at the opposite end of the room. “Oh, sorry. I’m still ... here. Hailey went to find me some clothes ...”
“There’s no need to apologize,” he says in a husky rasp. “You can stay all night if you’d like. I ... that is ...”
His discomfort startles a laugh out of me. “Relax, Jihun. I know what you meant.”
“Is that right?” His gaze, which had been roaming my towel-draped body, snaps up to my face. “Tell me. WhatdidI mean?”
