Page 148 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

“Lucky for you, I might have some friends who can help out.” Kora smiled gently, and tugged Raiden to follow her to the treeline lurking on the bank. She hoped the theory brewing in her mind was right, that the little signs she’d noticed whenever she used her divine power weren’t imaginary. Tapping into her new power, she raised a hand, allowing the smallest of white lights to glow, her veins burning like starlight, her skin simmering with a strange new warmth.

It faded, her ability to hold it only lasting a few seconds. Raiden frowned, glancing around. Aerion grumbled, emerging from their sleeping nook, Aryn in his wake. Kora held her breath, wondering whether her instincts had failed her, her essence misleading her on what she was supposed to do. Just as hope’s blade dug into her gut, a blue ferret’s head popped up from the thick grass several feet above her.

“There you are, Cadence.” Kora smiled as the ferret zig-zagged down the cliff, springing off the bank into Kora’s arms. Despite her water form, she was still soft to the touch, her silken hair running through Kora’s fingers like cashmere.

Raiden opened his mouth, but jolted as Rayne swooped down from the sky, his talons sinking onto Raiden’s shoulder. He chuckled as the eagle’s translucent wings brushed over his head.

“What in the gods is going on?” Aerion stumbled, rubbing his bleary eyes as Cadence purred in Kora’s arms. Rayne shrieked, flapping his wings at Aerion.

Aryn froze, gold rushing to his eyes so fast they burned. The two phantoms paused, their stares whipping towards him. His hands twitched, a swallow audibly running down this throat.

“Are they what I think they are?” Aerion grabbed Aryn’s wrist.

“So . . . there’s something else we didn’t tell you.” Raiden raised a brow as Rayne’s beak brushed against his hair.

A twig snapped and they all spun towards the forest. A small glow broke through the trees, increasing in size, until a fiery fox flew from the edge, landing in front of Aryn with a growl. He stepped back as Fajra’s tail flicked, her coal eyes aflame.

“You think? This is . . . it’s not . . . they’re extinct!” Aerion gasped as Cadence pounced, flying from Kora’s grasp to loop around his shoulders. Aryn jerked, stepping away, his eyes transfixed on the phantoms. Aerion squealed as Cadence played with his coils, swatting them.

“Is a god’s phantom playing with my hair? Oh my. This isn’t happening.”

“Cadence likes to play.” Kora giggled, opening her arms as the ferret jumped back, nuzzling her chest. Fajra yipped, approaching Aryn with a predator’s gait. A moment later, the trees swayed, darkness following in the fox’s wake as a stag stomped at the top of the cliff face, moss falling from his hooves. Erebus grunted, his decayed horns and wilting flowers barely visible in the dark.

“Cadence,” Aryn repeated, recognition flaring. “Then that’s Rayne.” He nodded towards the eagle.

“Our horses in the desert, they were phantoms watching over us.” Kora placed Cadence on the sandy shore, tickling her chin before stepping away.

“So Fajra . . .” Aryn trailed off, sucking in a sharp breath as the realisation hit him. He knelt to the fox, offering his palm, but Erebus grunted again, his green eyes flashing in warning.

“Ruhni, what are you planning?” Raiden gently brushed Rayne’s fluffed chest. Aerion inhaled sharply at the nickname, his brow raising slightly. Raiden had refused to tell her what the Devanian nickname meant, trading in her Huntress title for it, and Kora was adamant to find a Devanian dictionary as soon as she had a spare minute.

“We’re going to take to the sky,” Kora replied. “We’re going to become phantoms.”

The wind tore at her face as Kora rested upon Cadence’s back. Her palomino skin was a welcomed sight, and Kora’s essence sang as the full moon rose, lighting the night sky in a silvery glow. Raiden yelled from her side, crying out with joy as Rayne soared past, his wings beating against the Mist. Aryn clung to Fajra, his hands twisted in her pale mane, yet her eyes still burned like coals. Aerion precariously balanced on Erebus, the stallion barely visible against the midnight sky.

Only one creature could get them back to Mistros City in time. The creature lost to Galen for hundreds of years. It’d been dazzling as the phantoms transformed into Pegasi. Bright light had skittered around them until they settled into their new forms, their hooves pounding against the sand. Their wings shimmered, the moonlight casting a pearlescent aura over every feather. Except for Erebus, whose wings remained dark as basalt.

“YES!” Raiden roared, his arms lifted into the sky as he flew into his element. His joy burned down the bond with such intensity that she felt it too, lifting her chest, her eyes crinkling with her grin.

His diamond layer shone, each individual weave of power protecting him also cascaded around Rayne’s strong form, and Kora’s breath caught as they floated up into Raiden’s hair, settling into the steeled strands, forming the faintest of crowns. Currents of wind became visible, tangible, like the faintest wisps of smoke. They coalesced around Raiden, following his every motion, pulsating with every beat of his heart.

And she could feel it. The bottomless wealth of his power, his strength. His boundless love.

He truly was a prince. A prince of the phantom sky. A prince of power, of the winds and spirits.

Raiden caught her stare, his grin stretched so wide. Her heart stuttered, unable to comprehend how she’d found him, how he had waited for her. How she’d heard his voice for so long, not knowing such warmth and devotion lingered on this side of the Mist.

She was falling.

Cadence’s tail flicked her back, as if knowing.

“I know, girl,” Kora patted her neck. “I’m a fool.”

Cadence snorted. Aerion and Erebus soared ahead, the stallion once again taking the lead.

“I’ve been broken once. Darkness lived in me for so long but I’m fighting it. I now know what’s right, who to fight for, and I won’t be broken again,” Kora murmured to Cadence.

The Pegasi flew throughout the night, racing across Galen southward. Every mile they grew closer, the more Kora’s spine steeled, her resolve hardening until her heart thudded with absolute certainty.