Page 49 of King Foretold
I shake my head. It doesn’t matter. Dangun can go on my ever-growing list ofThings Sunny Doesn’t Knowfor now. I have no time for distractions.
“Never mind. Just ... how is the arrowhead similar to the sacred ashes?” I nudge the historian back on track.
“The tombstone.” Minju doesn’t addobviously, but her frown says it for her.
“The tombstone?” I frown back at her, thoroughly confused. “What about the tombstone?”
“Dangun is the god of Mountains. The tombstone he left behind likely holds magical properties similar to the sacred ashes Samshin Halmeom entrusted to you.” Minju reclaims her seat on the floor. “In his desperation to remain on the throne, the King of Mountains must have desecrated the tombstone to create weapons from it. Weapons strong enough to kill the prince.”
“He is going through so much trouble to assassinate his own son.” Ethan scoffs bitterly. “I should apologize for being so difficult to kill.”
I sit on my hands to stop myself from reaching for him. My heart constricts painfully. It’s not fair that I can’t even offer him this small comfort.
“How do we keep Ethan safe from those weapons?” I croak.
“Uh.” Draco flicks their blue bangs out of their eyes. “Me?”
“You?” I stare at them, blinking slowly, and they shake their head as though I’m a bigger idiot than they’d thought.
“I meant what I said. I have more to offer than my dragon scales,” Draco continues in comprehensible English. “Butfor this particular problem, my scales are obviously the best solution.”
“Your dragon scales are meant to protectyou, Draco. Every scale I take from you will make you that much more vulnerable.” Ethan levels a steely gaze at the teenager. “I can’t risk your safety to protect myself. You’ve sacrificed enough.”
I glance between Draco and Ethan. I don’t want either of them to be vulnerable. Ethan is the one with the assassins after him, but I can’t bear the thought of exposing the kid to even the slightest danger.
“Let me make this simple for you. You have two options.” Draco starts counting off on their fingers. “One: Take a few of my scales. I won’t be mad if you wear them under your shirt, even though they’re too pretty to hide. Two: Paint arcane words of power on your back to make yourself invincible. Fair warning, though. I might have to kick your ass if you choose option two. So maybe that means you only have one option to keep yourself safe.”
The hard set of Ethan’s jaw softens as he looks at the kid. “I’ll take option one. Thank you, Draco.”
I open my mouth to protest but close it without saying anything. I have to respect Draco’s decision. I don’t like this one bit, but I’m also proud of them. They’re such a good kid.
“Bet.” Draco grins as the rest of the room release their breaths in relief. “I’m glad I don’t have to kick your ass.”
Jaeseok stretches his arm out and lightly smacks the back of Draco’s head. “Show some respect, little dragon.”
“What?” Draco grumbles. “Ethan is the prince of a kingdom I’d never heard of, in a realm I didn’t even knowexisteduntil a few weeks ago. I would rather fawn over Prince Michel of Rouleme.”
“Who?” Hailey crinkles her nose.
“Exactly.” The teenager laughs. “You should look him up, though. Prince Michel is hella hot.”
“Andourprince isn’t?” Minju blurts, then promptly turns into a tomato. Jaeseok’s expression turns sullen, while the rest of us chuckle.
“Don’t be sad.” Draco pats the dokkaebi’s shin with aso sadpout. “You have aura.”
Jaeseok shakes their hand off with an affectionate scowl. “Brat.”
“If you’re all finished, why don’t we move on? I know it’s not an easy topic, but we need to address the elephant in the room.” Ethan squeezes my hand, but I snatch it out of his grasp. He means to lend me strength, but I much prefer avoidance.
A heavy silence falls as my eyes jump between Jihun, Hailey, and Jaeseok in their red-carpet attires. My avoidance mechanism helped me block out the whole thing for a blessed half an hour. I can’t ignore where they went today anymore, but I still give it my best shot.
“There’s a dragon and a fox,” I quip, “but I don’t see any elephants.”
But when Jihun’s solemn gaze falls on me, I give him a stiff nod, even as every muscle in my body tenses to reject what he’s about to say. I close my eyes and force myself to breathe.
“We found Daeseong.”
Chapter Thirteen
