Page 160 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

Raiden’s stare flickered back to the warfare. Hector’s ship was nearly fully absorbed. The Galenite fleet were fighting back, cannons firing as fast as possible, but Barron’s armada was mighty, and slowly taking down their fleet one by one.

They’d been unprepared. They thought his father’s Mist shielded them forever.

A glimmer caught his eye, and Raiden’s breath choked as a bubble of air popped. Leto’s ship, Bone Rattler, materialised near Mistros City, and triumph sang in Raiden’s blood. He was still alive. Thank the fucking gods.

But the female’s sly grin widened, her grip loosening. As Leto sailed closer to shore, ten more ships appeared behind him out of nowhere.

And they all had green sails, filled to the brim with Barron’s deathly soldiers.

Please, no.

The ships fired, cannons tearing apart Mistros City . . . Leto’s own deadly cannons joining in. Aerion’s barrier was visible to Raiden as another air elemental, and it rippled, covering the entire expanse of the city. The cannons tore through it, shredding Aerion’s defence to pieces.

Leto . . . he’d betrayed them.

He was a fucking spy. He led Barron’s forces right to them.

“My husband is claiming your land, my son is destroying your army. And now I have you. Everything we need for the ritual.” She licked up the side of Raiden’s face, and he grimaced as his blood coated her lips. “Hmm.” Her head cocked, releasing him, his head whacking the mast. “You’re tied to Kora. I can taste her.”

An uncontrollable growl tore from him, his beast demanding the bond to be re-opened. But he couldn’t do it. Not yet. Not while her magic continually tried to attack his mind, searching for a weak spot, a way in. But he’d had a decade of using his illusion gift. Of reaching another’s mind across an impenetrable Mist.

Leto’s betrayal burned through him like a hot lance, his power roared, cresting inside, demanding to be released.

“That simply won’t do,” she complained, standing as she raised her arms, creating nature as vines crawled up the deck, snaking for Raiden’s legs. She was powerful. An earth elemental tainted with darkness.

“You really did make it too easy sailing out here. So blind to the mole within your ranks. If only you remained behind your father’s protection,” she smirked. “Let’s sever that bond, shall we? I don’t like my things desiring another.”

Things? Fuck no. Raiden had to get out of here—now. He’d made a massive mistake. This wraith had taunted him, had somehow conjured a soul-consuming fear from the past and Raiden frowned, realising those gut-wrenching feelings he’d felt on the ship were muted.

“What did you do to me?”

She laughed, picking up his short sword. Her fingers glided over the hilt, prodding the iris flowers. Raiden shut his eyes, realising the extent of her powers. Of her mind magic, as Kora called it. And Barron was somewhere out there, potentially in the city already.

Once her deadly vines were an inch away, Raiden lashed out, invading her mind with wind, and rain, and lightning. She screamed, falling back into her motionless guards, who were too vacant to catch her fall. She collapsed against their armour, screaming repeatedly, clutching at her head as Raiden continued his assault.

Her magic weakened, and with a roar, he made the final push, snapping the bands constricting him. Without a moment’s thought, he snatched his blade and shot into the sky, flying to save his home.

71

Kora

Blood coated the deck. Screams, and clashes of metal rang in Kora’s ears. Darkness continually flowed around them, a swath of shadows working independently from its user. As though the darkness had become its own entity, seeping into the peaceful, gods-blessed world of Devania.

Rain mixed with the blood, creating a sea of crimson, soaking into Kora’s leathers as she leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding a swipe of an enemy’s sword. Lightning flashed, thunder answered. The red haze in her mind sang for violence, it saw the blood, it smelled the unnatural force of Barron’s soldiers, and it demanded to be unleashed.

Kordelia wanted to play.

Kora’s water beast roared alongside, greater than a ferret could ever produce. She yelled in unison, rivers of water winding around her body for protection as she rolled across the back of a Talmon soldier, landing by Hector’s weakening side.

His eye patch had been sliced, revealing a damaged, red eye bulging from its socket. His tattered hair hung around his face as he deflected Garvan’s advance. Lightning crackled across the sky, spearing towards the heart of the Talmon Empire fleet, and the winds picked up.

As Kora wielded her dagger, sliding across the deck towards Garvan, a pair of mangled hands grabbed her arm, yanking her away from Hector.

A foul, familiar odour slammed into her as those red hands spun her around. Gloves lay discarded by the soldier’s feet, his strength tenfold as his grip crushed her. A pair of soiled eyes glared through the slit of his wet helmet, like two pits of a graveyard.

“Hello, lassie,” the sickening lisp muffled through the black stone.

“Callan,” Kora choked.