Page 101 of King Foretold
“I keep forgetting you’re the only one of us who can’t fly.” Draco snorts, and a puff of smoke comes out of their nostrils. “Big L.”
“Shut up,” I say, fighting a grin. They are a child after my own heart. Gods, I love them. “Now be a good dragon and fly us annoyingly close to Daeseong’s head, so he doesn’t see Minju sneaking underground.”
“He’s so creepy.” It feels like an earthquake when Draco’s enormous, serpentine body shivers beneath me.
“Once we catch his attention, I’m going after him alone.” My voice is both urgent and stern. “Fly away as quickly as you can and go save the humans with Minju.”
“But—”
“Nobuts.” I lean close to their head. “Don’t follow me, Draco. No matter what you see. You can’t interfere. This is my fight. Understand?”
They stay stubbornly silent, but I stop pushing. I don’t want to force them to double down. I just have to hope they’ll listen when the time comes.Since when do teenagers ever listen?I push away the panicked thought.
Draco will listen. They have to.
Chapter Twenty-Six
True to our plan, Draco swoops toward Daeseong’s head before pulling up at the last second. The dark mudang growls and swats the air in front of him as if at a pesky fly. It sends the dragon tumbling through the sky, and I hang on to their back for dear life until Draco finally rights themself.
“Land over there,” I shout and point toward an open field opposite Akrotiri. They miraculously comply, and I slide down their back. “Now go. Save the humans.”
When the teenager obediently flies away, I’m convinced my luck is changing. But my newfound optimism is extinguished when Daeseong turns to follow them.
“Hey.” I wrap my lips around my fingers and emit an earsplitting whistle. When the dark mudang deigns to glance my way, I hold my palm out and summon a white light the size of a Ping-Pong ball. “Don’t you have unfinished business with me?”
The dark mudang floats across the field toward me and my pretty light—away from my friends and the humans. Even if I can’t defeat Daeseong, I will find a way to keep him away from Draco and Minju. I will find a way to keep them safe.
My Yeoiju hums in my chest, and the orb of light hovering over my open palm grows bigger than the width of my hand. The avaricious glintin Daeseong’s eyes shifts into apprehension the closer he approaches, until he stops a few yards away, squinting against the light.
My little light ... hurts him. Even the smallest, softest manifestation of the Yeoiju hurts him. Maybe Icanstop him without letting it shatter me from the inside out.
“I see you have learned some new tricks since we last met, little fox.” Another off-kilter smile rips across his face. “Show me what else you can do.”
“When will you learn that I’ll always, without fail, do the exact opposite of what you want?” I try to fist my palm to extinguish the light, but my hand won’t move. Instead, my heart warms and vibrates with an answering light.
What the fuck is happening?
I gasp sharply as my head snaps back and my chest thrusts forward hard enough to arch my spine. My gi streams out of me into the floating orb, my arms thrown back from the force of the pull. The white light grows brighter and bigger as it siphons my life force.
I can’t ... move. I can’t even blink.
This isn’t paralysis. It feels as though my will has been disconnected from my body. The gift of the Cheon’gwang,my ass. The Yeoiju isstealingmy gi.
But a quiet calm pacifies the fear shuddering through me. Iwantto give in to the Yeoiju’s call. I want to pour my life force into it.
A shrill scream rends through the night, and I’m thrown off my feet. I crash onto my back, hard enough to knock the wind out of me.
Then everything . . . stops.
I blink, flexing my hand. I have control over my body again. The orb of light is gone. And the Yeoiju hums contentedly inside me, as though it’s happy to be back home.
What in the ever-loving hell wasthat?
Then I remember I was in the middle of a conversation with a dark mudang hell bent on destroying the worlds. I struggle up to my elbows,expecting to find Daeseong coming at me with his figurative claws out, but he is nowhere to be found.
No.
In a panic, I scramble to my feet and spin in a circle. I do it one more time to make sure. He’s gone. Gonewhere, though?
