Page 78 of Prince of the Phantom Sky

“Is there someone here you love? You said once before you had someone.”

Aryn slowly blinked. “I’m still trying to find my way back to them. Some days I think I have, some days it’s like I’ve never been farther.” He shuffled, moving to leave the balcony abruptly but Kora gripped his wrist, panic flaring within at being left alone. A jolt sizzled her palm, and the warmth increased in her chest.

“Don’t leave,” she pleaded, her eyes wide. “I . . . I can’t be alone right now.”

“I’m not the one who should stay with you.”

Kora frowned and Aryn sighed, sitting back into his chair with sudden awkwardness, his slender frame rigid. He leaned back, his head tipping as he stared up at the sky. Kora fumbled, a clear connection pulling her towards Aryn. His presence had always been a comfort, and he always appeared when she needed him most, he’d become her closest friend.

“Why do I feel so connected to you? Why is it that Barron’s magic targeted you the most in my mind?”

Aryn’s eyes flashed. “You feel . . . connected to me?”

“Here,” Kora rubbed her chest with a deep inhale. “Since that night aboard Hell’s Serpent playing Cribbage. Like a weight, that’s warm. Sometimes I feel like I know what you’re going to do, whenever we’ve fought. And here,” Kora touched her scar gently, “I had to wrestle with my mind to remember you clearly. Barron’s magic had a tighter grip on who you are to me—or her—us—whatever.”

Aryn sharply inhaled and dropped to his knees before Kora, shocking her. What the fuck. Her cheeks heated as he gently took one of her hands. “I didn’t want to push it. I wasn’t even sure if you could feel it, whether it had died along with Kordelia . . .”

“What . . . Aryn, what are you doing?” The gentle breeze picked up. The warmth in Kora’s chest incensed until it sizzled, like necking a pint of rum. “Are you proposing or something?”

He chuckled. “Do you know what a skildaj is?”

“It sounds like shield to me. My Devanian isn’t always the most thorough.”

Aryn’s fingers brushed over the back of her hand. Behind him, the sun had risen over Mistros City, the blue roofs coming to life through the Mist. Beyond was the ocean, and Kora’s stomach lurched as she felt no joy, no desire to venture towards it.

“Close. It means protector.”

“So you’re a protector here in Galen?”

A small laugh escaped Aryn. “I’m your protector. We’re bonded through an old Devanian ritual—Tvinnr Fyr.”

Memories exploded within her mind, each one that crossed her mind’s eye caused the warmth in her chest to spread. When Aryn had protected her from the Flint twins, when he’d stopped Skylar and Cassidy taking her, when he’d rescued her from the dungeons. Every time she’d been in peril, he had been there. He’d even discovered her after years of separation, finding a way into her crew.

“Bonded how?” she asked, her mouth drying. “Is this like a contract?” The question sounded stupid as soon as it left her lips, but she needed to confirm what her gut was roaring at her.

“This isn’t as simple as having a bodyguard. We’re magically bonded, like two sides of the same sword. I’m the bow to your arrow, the shield to your dagger. You chose me as your skildaj weeks before you went missing. It’s a blood-bonded ritual that cannot be reversed.”

“And my blood hasn’t changed.” Kora shivered as the revelation dawned on her. Why Aryn’s presence grounded her, how she’d innately known what he’d do in the Silent Tundra. “Are they rare?”

Aryn nodded. “Yes, due to its nature, you have to be absolutely sure when taking the oath.”

The intensity caused Kora to squirm, and she removed her hand from Aryn, unsure if she liked where this was going.

“Why did we do it? If it’s as final as you say.” She clearly possessed some kind of connection with Raiden from the past. Why hadn’t she performed the ritual with him?

He exhaled slowly through his nose, his stare unwavering. “Skylar may claim you were best friends once, but I was your closest friend. You knew me before you’d even arrived at Galen. We trusted each other without question, and when I proposed the bond to you for both our safety, you didn’t think twice, slitting your palm there and then. It felt right at the time.”

Kora winced, checking her hands. Many scars littered them from her time in the trials, could one of them be a ritual scar?

“But it doesn’t feel right now?” Kora questioned his tone. Did she want a skildaj bond? She enjoyed Aryn’s company and their blossoming friendship, but was she ready for more?

“When I eventually found you years later, I didn’t feel anything. You didn’t remember me. The connection is now faint, but I couldn’t tell you, Kora. It would’ve scared you away, or revealed my position. I needed to know you felt it first.”

“Your position?” Kora craned further into her seat, the woodwork creaking. “Were you spying on me?”

“I was protecting you from afar.” Aryn leaned closer. “That’s what I do, Kora. What else was I supposed to do? Introduce myself as a Galenite upon your ship? I had to bide my time.”

“For what? Galen escaping the Mist was chance. It’s all been one massive coincidence, orchestrated by Raiden’s voice in my head. You could’ve been waiting until you died for Galen to be free, in hopes that I somehow became Kordelia again.”