Page 151 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

“It wasn’t Kora’s fault,” he announced, and Hector leaned forward. “I’d taken her away that day, far out into the sea. I . . . I used magtrate to distract her, to calm her. She hadn’t been sleeping, she was falling apart. I had intel that Barron was still in Talmon, that we were safe. I just wanted one day. One day with her. Surely you remember what that feels like?” Raiden pointedly stared at Ilma’s throne.

Kora gasped, her fists curling. She wouldn’t remember, but the pain still echoed deep in those eyes, deep enough into the shadow of her past.

She wasn’t the darkness. He was. He had failed everyone. Again.

Zephyr’s lips curled in disgust as Aerion staggered in shock.

“Your emotions have always been your weakness,” Zephyr snapped. “You are no son of mine.”

“It won’t matter anymore when Barron invades us again. He’s coming. He’s almost here!” Raiden yelled, pulling against his shackles.

“More intel?” Zephyr drawled. “How can we trust your intel ever again?”

“Cassidy,” Kora replied. “She arrived at Skybell after ambushed by the empire. She came to warn us as quickly as she could. Leto is still out there, in hiding with his power.”

“Where is she now?” Hector croaked. A red-and-brown striped longcoat smothered his frame. He’d lost weight since they’d departed. The weathered lines of his skin were deeper, dark circles rimmed his brown eyes.

“Still at Skybell. She’s setting up a base of defence in case Barron infiltrates the north. If he attacks here, we will evacuate to Skybell.” Raiden begged his siblings with his eyes to understand his actions of the past. To, for once, see him. To side with him.

He’d chosen love over war, and it had cost him everything.

“Mistros is stronger than Skybell, we will remain here,” Zephyr ordered. “You cannot distract me with lies. She will die, tonight.”

Aerion tried to argue but Zephyr silenced him, claiming Raiden’s lies were an infestation. Raiden’s world cracked open as Kora’s fear hit him in the chest. Her hands wavered, and Raiden shuffled closer to her, the desire, the gods-damned fucking need to shield her from the darkness in this world practically suffocating him. Zephyr’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared once, twice.

“You are . . . you cannot bond her,” he choked out, his voice laced with such deep disgust it made Raiden pause. Kora glanced at Raiden, a question on her lips. She didn’t know of the Galenite customs, that they were heading down a path they couldn’t turn away from. And the fact his father could sense it . . . fate’s weave was strong between them. “Your death can’t come quick enough, so we can sever this atrocity between you.”

The realisation hit Raiden like a ton of bricks.

He wanted Raiden to suffer. This was still punishment for Iris.

“You cannot punish me forever,” he broke into his father’s mind—into everyone’s—and Zephyr visibly flinched.

“Do not use that abomination upon me!” he roared.

“Father?” Aerion blinked, stepping away. “Raiden’s not an abomination. He’s the strongest of us all. We need to listen to him. Barron is attacking, we must prepare. We must get everyone to safety.”

“No,” he snapped. “You will atone for every year that Iris never got to see. Elementals do not mix. I won’t allow you to bond. Her deserved death will sever it, and that pain should be enough for you to know the pain you have caused me—that you caused this family.”

Silence followed. Hector even gaped from his chair at Zephyr’s uncontained anger. Raiden’s fear developed into rage, and he blinked as Kora wrestled against his father’s power containing her. Raiden’s pulse skyrocketed as her divine powers shone, forming in her chest. Her hair sparked, and Zephyr lurched as the restraints of his power snapped from her light.

“You will not fucking hurt him anymore,” she seethed, and just there, on the edges of her vision, a tinge of red. The haze she’d told him about lurked, waiting to consume her.

“I’m here, ruhni. He hasn’t hurt me.”

“But he will.”

Raiden panicked as she advanced, Kordelia resurfacing with her rage, the bond weakening as dark, corrupted magic leaked down it. He was losing her, and Zephyr’s smile returned. It was bait, he was baiting her to attack. Anything to ruin her—ruin them.

“It’s a trick!” Raiden yelled as Kora’s gaze darkened, her power breaking free, reaching from her back.

“Kora Cadell!” a voice boomed from the rear doors. Everyone froze, and Raiden craned his neck to see who it was. “You will stand down, now!”

Erick hobbled into the chamber, dressed in nothing more than a thin blue gown, with Aryn and Sirona supporting his sides.

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Kora