Page 105 of King Foretold
“It’s okay,” I repeat as my arms begin to evanesce. First my wrists, then my forearms, and past my elbows ...
“No,” Draco bellows loudly enough to wake the dead—loudly enough to jerk me back to my consciousness.
Their serpentine body glistens exquisitely in the moonlight, every shade of azure, cobalt, and cerulean rippling across their scales. But the fire burning in their eyes is a deep, enraged indigo.Uh-oh.The dragon charges toward Daeseong and me. I think the dark mudang is in trouble.
“You fucking idiot,” Draco shouts into my mind. “Are youtryingto kill yourself?”
“Yes?” I answer vapidly.
“I hate you.” The teenager sobs and slams through the sheet of darkness and light.
My life force crashes back into me, and I suck in a heaving breath—then another—and I fall toward the dark waters of the sunken caldera.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Sunny,” Minju shouts from somewhere, her voice pitched high with alarm.
I feel the rush of wind as she catches me midair. After a moment, she lands haphazardly at the bottom of the cliffs, struggling under my weight, and half drops me on the ground.
I moan against the pain in my back, the sharp, volcanic rocks digging into my skin. But I can’t complain. The same rocks would have pierced and shattered my body if Minju hadn’t caught me in the air.
Why was I falling through the air?
“Are you okay?” Minju taps my cheek. “Sunny, wake up.”
My eyes shoot open. I try to sit up, but nothing happens. Why is my body not working? I can feel myself—limbs, digits, and everything else—so I’m not paralyzed. Then why can’t I move?
“Draco?” I manage to rasp.
I hear their roar before Minju can answer. With my heart in my throat, I peer into the sky and see inky darkness coiling around the dragon’s long body. Draco and Daeseong spin and churn against the night sky, forming a black-and-blue braid.
I try to get up again, but my body won’t listen. “Why can’t I move?”
“You’re too weak from pouring your gi into the Yeoiju,” she answers softly.
“Wh ... why did it absorb my gi?” I feel ... betrayed. I trusted the Yeoiju. I thought it wasgood.
“I’m not sure.” Minju helps me sit up, and I lean heavily against her. “Nothing in my research even hinted at anything like that. The Yeoiju is supposed to empower you, not deplete you. There must be an element we’re missing.”
The dragon roars above me, and I nearly choke on my own terror.
“We don’t have time to figure it out. Draco needs me.Now.” I glance up at the sky, desperation clawing at me. Fingerlike tentacles branch out from the dark coil and spread over Draco’s scales like spiderwebs. “I need to help them. Daeseong is too strong. Please, do something. I have to go help them. Please.”
This is all my fault. If only I had mastered the power of the Yeoiju ...
“There is a way.” She sits me up and looks me in the eyes. “No matter what happens, you must not pull away from me. If you do, you will endanger us both. Do you understand?”
“Okay.” Trepidation runs through me as I hold my friend’s grim gaze, but I look above me again. Draco is writhing against the twisting tentacles of darkness. I can’t let Daeseong hurt the kid. “I ... I understand.”
Minju moves to sit behind me, with her palms pressed against my back. As she sings a haunting incantation, the silver and red of her life force flows and dances around us. Then her life force becomes an arrow in the night and comes right for me. I only have time to scream before the arrow of gi streams into my chest.
No, no, no.
My friend is transferring her life force into me.Oh gods.She might die if I don’t stop her. But if I break away from her, we will both die. I can’t save Draco if I die. They’re just a kid. I can’t let them die. I won’t.
Silent tears stream down my cheeks, but I don’t pull away from Minju. Her gi continues to fill me until strength returns to every inch of my body. I sit still until her silver-and-red life force wavers weakly, thenstops flowing into me. Her hands slip off my back, and she collapses behind me.
“Don’t you dare die on me.” I scramble to my knees and tap Minju’s cheek. I get a grip and focus on her gi. The red and silver of her life force flows softly over her prone form, growing stronger ever so slowly.
