Page 64 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

Wait . . . white sheets? White floor?

Kora sat up, her vision dizzying as she blinked at the warm, low lighting of the cavernous space. It stretched long ways, with huge columns, as wide as a ship’s main mast supporting the ceiling covered in stalactites. Kora frowned as she rubbed her bleary eyes, adjusting to the dim lighting from the rounded, black-ironed chandeliers dangling from the ceiling.

“Hello?” she called.

Two stools were empty on either side of the bed she’d fallen from, and Kora gingerly sat on the side as she cased the space. She was inside a smaller cavern, with a sweeping glass door separating her from what she assumed was the infirmary, but granting her the spectacular view. She shuffled forward to the door, peering around. Multiple small, low-level caverns lined the walls, all with a large glass door and two beds placed inside, some with patients, some empty.

Kora froze. Two beds. She pivoted on her foot and released a small whimper at the figure in the bed beside hers. She ran, tucking her knees onto the mattress as she curled up beside Erick’s legs. He looked deathly, the bruises from his imprisonment were healing, but his skin was paper-thin, his cheekbones prominent against dark eyes.

“Erick!” Kora sobbed, her hands trembling over his chest. “Please wake up.” She nibbled her cheek at the small smattering of dried blood on his pillow from an ugly gash near the back of his head. Bandages had been left on the trolley between their two beds, with an assortment of salves, vials, and herbs.

“Please,” Kora whispered, tears trickling down her cheeks as she gently shook his shoulders. “Please, I need you.”

Erick’s breathing was slow and shallow, and Kora placed her head on his broad chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. She closed her eyes, absorbing the sound, the constant drumbeat keeping her anxiety at bay.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered to him. She had no idea whether he could hear her, and Kora cried into his chest as her fears spilled along with her tears. “I don’t know what’s real anymore. My mind it . . . it’s tricking me. I feel like I’m drowning, like I’m going to be crushed at any moment. I need you here, I need your guidance, I need your assessments. I need you to tell me what to do.”

Kora released an exasperated breath, sitting up. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and furiously yelled at the empty essence within her once again, her water beast slumbering. She’d pushed too far again, hadn’t heeded Raiden’s warning of losing her gift. But she couldn’t control it, her emotions kept surfacing, lashing out at every moment.

Emotions. Don’t let them get the better of you. Please remember that.

Blake’s voice rang true in her head and Kora screamed her anguish, her cry echoing off the walls. “How can I control whatever is inside of me! It has its own mind—Kordelia’s mind. We’re two separate people, Erick, how can I handle that?” His silence continued, of course. “I thought I could recover my past, but it’s never going to happen. I’m never going to know my family. This thing in my head is dark. And I feel like it’s eating me from the inside out.”

Kora faced Erick, half expecting him to rise from his coma from her ranting, providing her with all the answers she could ever need. But his breathing steadily continued, shallow but persistent.

“What do I do? Do I try to tame her? She may have the answers I need.” Kora’s knees quaked, her hands visibly shaking, reminding her of Finlay. “Do I lose myself? My mind? My memories? Please, just tell me. Tell me . . . Father.”

Flashes of Kora’s life flew before her. Of sailing and training with Erick, drinking with Samuel and Finlay, even intimate moments with Blake when all seemed right with the world. Could she willingly lose all of that, to resurrect a tainted Kordelia, who was corrupted so dark, she may never be the same? All so she could learn of the past?

Familiar cold darkness teased her mind, a stinging sensation running from the scar on her temple, following it down her neck, wrapping around her throat, reminding Kora she would never be free from Barron.

She would never be free from the prison he’d erected within her mind.

“No,” a voice answered.

Kora jolted, her mask slipping into place. Raiden lingered in the glass doorway, his face hardened, a tray delicately held between his hands, but his body radiated violence.

“You will not lose yourself, Huntress. No truth is worth the darkness. I’ll make sure of it.”

She swallowed down the scoff threatening to rise. “How can I trust you? You sought me because of her. You want a different version of me.” And he’d let Agatha die.

Undeniable truth flashed across his face. Whatever connection they possessed, whatever pulled her towards him, was all because of the corruption within her mind, leaking into her powers. Raiden and his jolly siblings had rescued Kora in hopes of fixing her. Into erasing her existence away, and probably disposing of Erick in the process.

Kora shifted, raising a hand to protect Erick’s slumbering body. Raiden’s jaw clenched, and with a sigh, he stooped into the small cavern, placing the tray of sweet treats and savoury pastries, with a steaming mug of something hot on her cot.

“I’m not going to hurt him.” Raiden raised a brow. Kora twitched, her body still vibrating with nervous energy. “I promise you.”

“Galenite promises mean nothing to me,” Kora scorned, as she caught a set of mercenaries hovering outside the door, their familiar armour dredging up the sound of war.

“What about a vow?” Raiden countered.

She studied him for a moment. His crystalised eyes were fascinating, almost reflective, absorbing the tones around him and showcasing them in a dazzling display. She shook her head. Stop staring at him.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Had he known of her vow with Blake? Was he mocking her?

“Look,” Raiden sat down on the bed. “You’ve been let down a lot. Gods, you’ve been through some of the worst horrors. Erick led you to believe we’re the enemy, and it can take a long time to unpick that. But I don’t make promises lightly, Huntress. Not in Galen.”

Kora lowered her arms. “So, you’re going to let me live? Let . . . Kordelia . . . die within?”