Page 92 of King Foretold
I hold back a startled gasp.Their queen?Ethan and I love each other, but ... marriage? Is that where this was leading? I’ve been so busy hiding my love that I never thought about what would happen after I gave all of myself to him.Marriage.I would be his beloved wife. My heart melts at the thought, but ... I would also be their hated queen.
“A king must take a wife,” the old king says, as though he read my mind. “He must have a queen and an heir to strengthen the throne.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” I say with forced derision. “Youdidn’t have a queen, because you killed her. Andyoudidn’t have an heir, because you chased him away and would have gladly killed him, too, if you had the chance.”
“Thatwas my mistake, wasn’t it? I lost my queen and heir, and lost the support of my people.” He shakes his head morosely. “The love of one’s people is fickle. They will turn on you at the slightest shift of the wind. The closer you remain with my son, the quicker he will lose the throne.”
Iknowhe’s full of shit, and yet ... wouldn’t Ethan’s ascension to the throne be that much smoother with a shinbiin queen at his side? He can ally with a powerful noble if he takes their daughter as his wife.Shit.The wily tyrant is messing with my head. He is full of poisonous manipulations. I cannot be shaken.
“Where is Daeseong? Tell me,” I demand.
“Swear that you’ll leave this kingdom—alone—and never return,” he barters smoothly.
“Sure,” I drawl without an ounce of sincerity. “Why not?”
His low chuckle makes nausea churn in my stomach. “I would need your blood oath, gumiho.”
I suck in a sharp breath, the dank smell of the dungeon coating my mouth. “I’ll give you myword. Unless you plan on returning the blood oath to swear you are telling the truth.”
“I will,” he says without hesitation, a creepy sneer curling his lips.
That is thelastthing I expected him to say. And I donotlike the look of that smile. This is a trick. I just don’t know how it can be. If he swears by a blood oath to tell me the truth, he literallycannotlie. It means I can get the truth out of him without bewitching him. I shudder at the mere thought of drawing on that power. But I would have to swear to leave the Kingdom of Mountains and never come back. This is Ethan’s home now. I want it to be my home too.
Every cell in my body rebels against leaving Ethan. Heismy home. But there are a thousand human beings who might breathe their last ifI don’t help them. The Mortal Realm, and the lives of over eight billion humans and beings of the Shingae, are in imminent danger. I can’t put my desire—no,need—to be with Ethan ahead of eight billion lives.
I shake my head. I can’t accept that. There must be another way. My eyes jump around the dark cell as a scream builds in my chest.Please... Therehasto be another way.
I can ... I can use my dark power. I can stay with Ethan. I just have to ... I just ...No, I can’t.I lock my knees to keep them from buckling—to keep my body from crumpling to the ground. I can’t cross that line, even to be with Ethan. Because if I do, I would no longer be the person he fell in love with.
There’s no use prolonging the inevitable. I am making this blood oath. I have no other choice—no choice I can live with. I have to leave Ethan ... for now. But Iwillfind my way back to him.
I stalk over to the prisoner and stop two steps away from him, then crouch to the ground. I let my incisors elongate and pierce the tip of my index finger. When blood wells on my fingertip, nearly black in the dark cell, I draw a half circle on the ground with it.
“I swear to leave the Kingdom of Mountains—”
“Tonight,” the old king interjects.
“Wh . . . what?”
“You leavetonight,” he snarls. “Or I tell you nothing.”
I glare at him, my blood pounding in my head.That’s too soon.But I swallow and resume my oath because the dark mudang must be stopped.
“I swear to leave the Kingdom of Mountains tonight and ... never return,” I rasp. “In exchange for the current and exact location of Daeseong and his human captives.”
“I swear to give the gumiho the current and exact location of Daeseong and his human captives.” The former king slices open his index finger with the sharp nail on his pinky and draws a half circle next to mine, finishing the circle. “In exchange for her leaving the Kingdom of Mountainstonightto never return.”
The circle of blood bursts into fire, shining light on the tyrant’s gleeful eyes, then it extinguishes in a heartbeat, leaving no trace of blood behind. I slowly turn my left hand over and stare down at my palm. And there it is. The crudely drawn blood circle imprinted onto the mound beneath my thumb.Gods, what have I done?
The tyrant holds up his left hand to me, showing me the identical imprint on his palm. “The dark mudang—”
“Say his fucking name,” I growl, in no mood for games.
He snarls at my disrespect but continues through gritted teeth. “Daeseong is at the Santorini caldera.”
“The Santorini caldera?” I blink at his sudden switch to impeccable English, the words sounding foreign coming from his mouth. “What the fuck is Daeseong doing at the Santorini caldera? Taking his dream vacation? Working on his tan?”
“Leave me, gumiho.” The former king has that smug look on his face again, and my stomach drops like lead.
