Page 59 of King Foretold
“What ... what do you want?” Hana is shaking hard enough for her teeth to chatter.
“Why did you run?” the captain asks instead of answering, but my roommate’s eyes stay glued to mine.
“An uinyeo was killed at the royal apothecary today.” I falter. “It looks like she was poisoned. She ... she died with a half-eaten jumeokbap in her hand.”
“All this because I brought you some rice balls once?” Hana scoffs, but her bravado seems forced. “That’s really stretching it. Don’t you think, Sunny?”
“Hana.” I withdraw her handkerchief from the sleeve of my dobok and hold it out so the lilac embroidery faces her. “The jumeokbap was wrapped in this.”
“No.” My roommate gasps and turns a shade paler. “No, that can’t be.”
“I know you didn’t do this.” I take a step toward her. She turns her face away from me, scrunching her eyes shut. My heart cracks a little. “I know you, Shim Hana. You’re not a killer. I just need to talk to you. You can help us find the real killer and stop them before they hurt more people. They’re cruel and ruthless. They blackmailed a child into taking his own life.”
Her eyes snap open, her expression slack with shock. “No ...”
“Hana, it’s okay.” I take another step toward her.
“Stop,” she screams. “Don’t come any closer. Or I’ll ... or ... I’ll release the monster in here.”
“No,” the suhoshins shout in unison.
“Monster?” I gape at Hailey, Jaeseok, and Captain Seo. “What monster?”
“Speaking of it—eventhinkingof it—will summon it,” Hailey says faintly. “Please, Hana. You need to calm down.”
But my roommate laughs with more than a hint of hysteria, tears streaming down her face.
“Gods damn it, Hana.” My stomach clenches with dread.
“I’m the killer,” she whispers, no longer laughing. “I killed that uinyeo.”
“You’re lying.” I shake my head. “Why are you doing this?”
“I am the spy from the Kingdom of Mountains.” Her voice turns eerily calm.
“No,” I spit vehemently. “You arenotthe spy.”
“Sunny.” Jaeseok wraps his hand around my wrist, holding me back from storming up to Hana. “Let her speak.”
“I se ... seduced Keeper Choe to open the portal between the Kingdom of Mountains a ... and the Kingdom of Sky,” Hana says haltingly.
“No.” This time my voice is nothing more than air. Only the spy could know that.
“I befriended that lonely uinyeo and used her.” Her face is oddly without affect, as though her mind is somewhere else. “I tricked her into making the sayak for me. I told her one of the guards raped me.”
Hailey gasps at my side, and my knees nearly give out. Jaeseok steadies me with an arm around my shoulders.
“We need you to come with us, Cadet Shim,” Captain Seo says. “We need to confirm what you’ve told us before we come to our own conclusions.”
“I am the spy. Why won’t you believe me?” Hana screeches, her calm shattering. “I did it all.Iam the spy.”
“Okay. I’ll believe you for now.” I nod at Jaeseok, and he drops his hand from my shoulder. I take small, measured steps toward Hana. “Since you’re the spy, you have to go with the suhoshins. It’s only fair, right? Now, come away from that door.”
“No, I don’t think I’ll go anywhere with the suhoshins,” she says in a childlike voice. “They found me out, and that’s the end of the story.”
“It’s not the end of the story.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “It isn’t, Hana.”
“I’m so sorry, Sunny.” Her smile is achingly sad. “You’re a good person. Don’t forget that.”
