Page 66 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

Skylar flicked her long braid over her shoulder as she levelled her thin estoc sword in the air. After Kora’s chat with Raiden, she clambered into her fighting leathers and walked around the castle until she ended up outside those thick, towering doors Cassidy had disappeared through yesterday.

A Galenite mercenary attacked and Skylar fended him off, her sword parrying through the air effortlessly. Clashes of metal vibrated around Kora as she stood in the centre of a towering room, ending in a spiralled ceiling.

“I want you to train me,” Kora repeated, her hands clammy at the threat of muscle around her. The Galenites were fierce, their movements so refined and poised they made the Talmon soldiers look like toddlers.

Thick, white mats lining multiple fighting rings covered the sleek, mahogany hardwood floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows dominated the far wall, basking the arena in warm, hazy light. Stacks of intricate, unfamiliar weapons covered the right wall, and above in the spiral was a viewing platform, leading to an obstacle course that hung mid-air.

“Why would I . . .” Skylar lunged, pinning her opponent to the floor, “do that?”

Kora pointedly glanced at the pinned mercenary, twice Skylar’s size and strength, wheezing on the floor.

“You said my moves were predictable,” she added.

The mercenary got up and limped back to a group lingering at the edge of the ring, their eyes wide at Kora’s presence, their lips sneering at her scar. Raiden was right, she needed to get stronger before she completed Zephyr’s deal. She had less than six weeks now, nearly two days wasted in the infirmary.

Erick’s life depended on it.

The healers had advised Erick didn’t have long. He should’ve been dead already, but something was keeping him alive, keeping his heart beating, his lungs breathing. Kora’s own heart panged. The moment she was stronger and her magic was replenished, she’d heal him first, before seeking out Barron.

“They are predictable.” Skylar rolled her eyes. “It’s like you’ve learned nothing new.”

Footsteps approached, and Kora scowled as Raiden, Aerion, and Aryn came to a halt outside of their training ring. Aryn’s shoulder bumped Aerion’s, and his smile crinkled his eyes.

“Then teach me.” Kora’s hands squeezed her hips, giving them something to do other than throttle Skylar. “If I want any chance of defeating Barron, I need an edge.”

Skylar barked a laugh, her head tipping back. “A single mage is not the answer to this war. My father is toying with you, K.J.”

Kora winced as Skylar inhaled sharply, her cheeks blushing at the slip of the nickname. That sickening darkness taunted the back of her mind, wrapping down her spine like a vice. For a moment, she almost leant into it, using it as a blanket to cover her pain.

“Skylar,” Aerion stepped into the ring. “We’ve discussed this.”

Kora observed the weirdly similar siblings. The longer she stared, she thought tears welled in Skylar’s eyes, but within a blink her steely gaze returned.

“I don’t care what we discussed. That is Kordelia’s body, her soul. Stuck behind a demon’s magic. We don’t know what she’s experiencing, trapped in some kind of cage. You don’t really know that it’s not her. This all could be an illusion to stop us.” Skylar jerked her chin at Kora, gesturing to her entire body as the illusion.

Her skin prickled, as though she could feel this cage. Made of flesh and bone that once belonged to someone else. This body had experienced a life, experienced rage and joy before being ripped away and filled with a new being.

Kora’s head spun as the ever-present water beast growled at the darkness within, at the red haze patiently waiting to coax her into a frenzy of violence.

“She’s gone,” Raiden said, his thick arms folded, fingers gripping his arms. “His magic has destroyed her. We need to accept it and focus on what’s important, Skylar. The islands are at stake, everything we know will end in darkness.

They will return, for he is coming. And he will bring darkness so deep, no life will walk again.

Kora squirmed as Agatha’s voice recited through her mind. Had she meant Barron? Was his power this darkness? Was that what that shadow was, lined with eyes and claws, in Mistros City?

“I get it!” Skylar snapped. “Kordelia is . . . she lost her life that day he took her. Even though you somehow made your way back to us, you’re not the same. Can you forgive a girl for wanting her best friend back? For wanting everything to be how it was before the empire fucked it all up?”

Kora flinched as Skylar swiped her sword through the air, her eyes ablaze with grief. Realisation flooded Kora at what she’d been missing.

“Do you wish to mourn?” She approached Skylar cautiously. “We can . . . say goodbye, properly.” Kora also needed this. She needed to part from this life she’d so desperately sought, only for her hopes to be crushed by Barron, again.

Raiden’s eyes flared as Skylar wobbled before snapping her spine straight. “We mourned for ten years. All that’s lost now is hope.” She sheathed her sword before shouldering past Kora, purposely bumping into her as she fled the arena with as much grace as Samuel after drinking three kegs.

Aryn’s jaw clenched as he lingered behind Aerion. Raiden grunted something to his brother, before spearing Kora with his breathtaking eyes.

“We’ll train you, starting now.”

“There’s something else I want,” she countered.