Page 68 of King Foretold
“I remember.” He lets go of my chin but holds my gaze. “I remember everything.”
Images of cozy meals and laughter in an enchanted house, of long conversations beneath the blue sky, of his hands and lips on my naked body ... flicker through my mind. But that was before. Before we found out his true identity. Before we learned about the prophecy. Everything was different then, and there is no going back.
“Isaid,” Keeper Bae booms, “the travelers may approach the portal.”
“That’s my cue.” I spin away from Ethan and stomp toward the pagoda. Without turning around, I wave over my shoulder at my friends. I hate goodbyes, especially when this could really be goodbye. “Laters.”
“Rude,” Draco grumbles. My sinuses burn at the hurt and worry in their voice. “I’m not saying goodbye to your back.”
Then they tackle me from behind in a crushing hug and storm off before I can say a single word. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to with my tears so close to the surface.
“Be careful, Sunny,” Hailey shouts, and my throat works to swallow. This is why I hate goodbyes.
Ethan and Jihun take time to say proper goodbyes to the Sentinels. It must be nice to be emotionally well adjusted. I stomp up the stairs and stop in front of the keeper. He glares at me.
“Do we have a problem?” I glare right back at him.
“Problem?” Keeper Bae’s frown shifts from surly to confused. “Why would we have a problem? Stop talking nonsense and hold out your hand.”
I meekly do as I’m told because I’m oddly touched by his confusion. He doesn’t care that I’m a gumiho. Without ceremony, he pours some of the dirt from his hands onto my palm. My skin tingles under the soft mound of earth, and I peer at it, holding it up to my eyes. Ethan and Jihun come quietly to my sides and hold out their hands without being asked. The keeper fills their palms as well.
“This is for your passage to the Kingdom of Mountains tonight.” Keeper Bae then hangs loose necklaces with small pouches of dirt around our necks. “And these are for your passage back. Donotlose them. I have no way of opening the portal on that end from over here.”
“Understood.” Jihun nods. “And this will take us to the portal at the lake?”
“That’s what you asked for, isn’t it?” the keeper mutters irritably. “That portal has been closed off for decades, but I did my part to get you there.”
“Thank you, Keeper Bae.” Then Jihun turns to Ethan and me. “I’ll go through first and make sure nothing’s amiss. Give me five minutes before you follow.”
“What if the King of Mountains has an army waiting for us?” I scoff in disbelief. “Will five minutes be enough for you to dispose of them all?”
“You’re right.” The corners of his mouth twitch with amusement. “Give me ten minutes.”
“We’ll all go through together,” Ethan says with wry affection. “Sunny, hold this for me.”
He adds his dirt to my mound before I can ask him why. Then he dusts off his hands and sweeps me up in his arms.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelp in surprise but manage to fist my hand around the dirt.
“You’ll see. Throw the dirt against the pillar when I say now,” he says with a crooked grin, then turns to Jihun. “Captain, whenever you’re ready.”
His unreadable gaze travels from me to Ethan, then he nods curtly.
“Against which—” I begin.
“Now,” Ethan shouts.
“For fuck’s sake.” I throw my handful of dirt against the pillar nearest us, and Jihun does the same.
Before I can demand to be put down, I’m blinded by a beam of green light. The same light that Shim Duna escaped through. I get it now. The light is the opening to the portal, and the mound of earth is the token to the Kingdom of Mountains. But I don’t have much time to be awed because as soon as Ethan steps through the light, we’re free-falling toward a mirrorlike lake surrounded by emerald green mountains.
I scream and wrap my arms around his neck. I can’t be sure, between the air whooshing in my ears and my shrill scream, but I’m pretty sure he chuckles before he slows our descent.
“I got you, Sunny,” he murmurs in my ear, letting his lips brush its sensitive shell. The asshole is definitely laughing at me.
“I don’t understand how you can fly,” I grumble. “You’re not a suhoshin.”
“I’m half-seonnam, remember?” He pulls me tighter against him as he lands next to the lake.
