Page 86 of King Foretold
“Has anyone told you how adorable you are?” He bites his lower lip.
“No.” My eyes drop to his mouth, and I barely hold back a whimper. “No one would dare utter such blasphemy unless they have a death wish.”
“Quit talking about death.” He grins crookedly. “I thought we’re counting today as a win.”
“Shut up.” I can’t help smiling back at him. “But I love you and all that.”
“Oh thank gods,” Hailey says. “You finally put the prince out of his misery.”
“Ahh!” I let out an unholy scream and nearly climb up Ethan’s torso. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I must be wondering what the hell Hailey is doing in the Kingdom of Mountains. But my animal instinct is out front and foremost, telling me to run for my life.
I don’t know how I recognize her as Hailey because she isthemost terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. She is floating into the king’s chambers as if on a cloud of dry ice, her eyes glowing bloodred. Her face is as white as snow, while her hair whips around her like a dark shadow. She looks creepy as fuck.
“It was hard watching you two hurt for so long.” Wisps of icy fog spill from her mouth as she speaks, and the royal guards shake like leaves even as they hold their ground.
“Wh ... what are you doing here?” I sputter. “And what the fuck, Hailey? Why do you look like that?”
“Look like what? Oh, oops.” She changes back to herself before I can blink. “That was just my grim reaper thing. I couldn’t think of a faster way to get past all the security.”
“Oh gods.” I drag my fingertips down my face. “I feel like I need to claw my eyeballs out.”
“Hey, you’re starting to hurt my feelings.” Hailey pouts. “My jeoseungsaja doesn’t look that bad.”
“I beg to differ,” Ethan rasps. “Your jeoseungsaja is terrifying.”
I scramble to my feet and run toward Hailey. Now that she’s back to her beautiful self, my friend is a sight for sore eyes. But the royal guards spread their arms out and block me. “My lady, it isn’t safe.”
“It’s okay. She’s a friend,” I tell them, but they cast uncertain glances toward their king.
“Let her through,” Ethan says. “Lieutenant Gim is a suhoshin, and a friend.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask again, tugging her into my arms as soon as they let her through. Apparently, I’m a hugger now.
After squeezing me tight, Hailey pulls away and looks over my shoulder at Ethan. “You two might want to sit down for this.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ethan and I watch Hailey drink tea straight from the pot as we sit huddled in the corner of the king’s chambers. I’m both impatient for and dreading this news we needed tosit downto hear. The pot must be enchanted because she’s been drinking from it for a good minute, and the tea keeps coming.
“Conjuring all that icy fog really dehydrates me.” She stops drinking at last and wipes her mouth on her sleeve.
“Stop stalling, Hailey.” I stare enviously at her black turtleneck and jeans. Modern clothes in black. I sigh. “We’re sitting down. Tell us the bad news.”
“Who says it’s bad ...” She trails off when I narrow my eyes at her, and she drops her head. She looks so small and vulnerable that I feel terrible for rushing her. But she squares her shoulders and meets my gaze, then Ethan’s. “Daeseong is stirring.”
“It was a matter of time,” I say stoically, even though I want to hurl. Ethan squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back hard enough to crush any other male. “How exactly is hestirring? Is he doing more dinner shows for the Jaenanpa?”
“When he first returned to the Mortal Realm, he moved stealthily ... strategically. So much so that we still don’t know the full extent of his activities before Heaven Lake.” Hailey shakes herhead slowly. “But something ... changed. Since he surfaced at the Jaenanpa’s fundraising gala, he’s been giving us an education on what mayhem truly means.”
“How?” Ethan asks with a dark frown. “Wasn’t the gala only a few nights ago?”
“In just a few short days, the Jaenanpa attempted to kidnap hundreds of humans across the Mortal Realm. We managed to stop most of them, but they got away with a few.” Hailey wipes a weary hand down her face. “But since yesterday, they succeeded in kidnapping close to a thousand people. We stopped hundreds of attempts, but we can’t keep up with them. Every Jaenanpa follower seems to have come out of hiding. There are too many of them for us to track.”
“That makes no sense. The Jaenanpa works in the shadows, never revealing their true numbers. That’s how they’ve been flying under the radar from both the Suhoshin and the human authorities.” My brows furrow in frustration. “Why would they risk exposure now?”
“Daeseong must be driving them.” Hailey’s lips press into a grim line. “I don’t know what he has on them, or what he promised them, but these fanatics are not going for subtle. It’s like they don’t expect there to be a tomorrow ...”
“Oh gods,” I whisper, Hailey’s words triggering the memory of what I saw in the dark mudang’s mind at Heaven Lake. I remember the Amheuk’s yawning hunger and Daeseong’s terrified exhilaration of doing his master’s bidding. “They’re helping the dark mudang usher in the Amheuk to the Mortal Realm. That’s why they’re unafraid of the consequences of their actions. Theyknowthere won’t be a future for humankind.”
