32 #2
“Didn’t think you noticed,” Raiden grumbled as he set the tools down. His breathing hitched, the edges of his vision blurring. He rubbed his chest once, willing the tight knot there to loosen, but it only grew heavier.
“You’re still my son.” Zephyr squinted at an older carving, from when Raiden had first started on this wall.
“Really? I thought we were strangers,” Raiden goaded, knowing there was no audience here for Zephyr to entertain. “You’ve made it clear I’m a spare part in this family.”
“You let me down, Raiden. You let this family down. I took your title away as a lesson.”
It still stung after all these years. Zephyr was a hard leader, and an even tougher parent. Unlike Ilma, his mother, Zephyr had always kept his distance to his children. Claiming attachments weakened his position as king.
It’d become worse after Ilma’s passing. Before then, he’d smile at them, maybe even touch their shoulders in light comfort. But her death had destroyed any shred of love Zephyr could have possibly possessed.
“Hector and Leto sent a messenger hawk in the early hours,” Zephyr continued, changing the subject as he clasped his hands behind his back.
“It’s worse than we thought, and citizens are fleeing the islands.
The lords have sent out a secret missive.
I will allow sanctuary to those who can make it here. ”
“Make it here?” Raiden asked incredulously, sweat still dripping from his locks since his dream. “We should be sending out units to save them! They’ll fear the Mist, we still don’t know who can travel through it besides the pirates and ourselves.”
It was happening again. Visions of bloodied sands, burning markets, and a wailing child consumed Raiden. His magic protested in response, a new limit snapping into place, dampening his reach across the land. Raiden grimaced as his inner beast quietened. Holy Haizea. This wasn’t good.
Zephyr simply blinked, his mouth thinning. “I won’t risk valuable resources. If we send out our soldiers, it will alert Barron that the Mist is accessible, and he may attack us, or even detain and torture my people.”
“You’re a coward!” Raiden bared his teeth.
Steam rose from the floor and Raiden swallowed, regretting his words.
“Be careful how you speak to me,” Zephyr continued in his unnerving calm voice. “Don’t forget the mess I cleaned up for you. What you did all those years ago. Risks are not rewards.”
A distant scream ravaged Raiden’s mind, and his heart thudded unpleasantly as he shoved the memory of death and despair away.
“I think about her every day,” Raiden beseeched. “Not a day goes by where I don’t regret it.”
Zephyr huffed. “Regret. You were the heir apparent of Haizea. The First Prince of Galen. You were this world’s salvation. Now look at you.”
“Kordelia was our salvation.” Raiden’s head snapped to the side, taking deep breaths to settle the rising rage. But it wasn’t working. Heat sparked across his skin, an unsettling flush overcoming him as the air thinned. “If you came here to insult me you can just leave, Father.”
“I came to warn you to stay away from that girl. She is Kordelia no more, and this Kora Cadell is the enemy. She’s trained to hunt us, to deliver us to Barron’s wrath.
Don’t lose your head chasing after a pretty face with a broken soul.
” Zephyr’s words were a blow to Raiden’s heart, and he stepped back.
No. Kora was different. He’d nearly fallen apart yesterday, the way she leant into his hand. He’d memorised her soft skin, the way her lip felt under his thumb. He’d cupped her scar, showing her he saw her beyond the infliction.
His hands shook, his body slowly trembling as a sickness clogged up his throat.
He swayed slightly, his back leaning against the wall for support, the grooves of his creation keeping him grounded.
Something wet dripped down his neck from his ear and Raiden wiped his skin, blood appearing on his fingers.
Zephyr’s stare narrowed as he grabbed Raiden’s wrist, inspecting the silver-speckled blood in the low candlelight.
“What have you been doing?” His gaze whipped to Raiden’s. He shrugged in response, snatching his hand from his father’s grip. “What’s causing you to expend so much power? You’ve never bled before.”
“Nothing. I’m not sleeping well.” Raiden touched both his ears, checking no more blood leaked from them. His hands came away clean, but the ringing sound was new.
“Don’t lie to me, boy. Your well has always been infinite. What have you been doing?” Zephyr stepped closer, towering over Raiden. Steam incensed in the hallway, furthering Raiden’s perspiration. His legs wobbled and he sucked in a deep, hot breath.
Haizea, forgive me.
He couldn’t do it any longer.
The steeled eagle he pictured as his power withered, crying for release from the tether he’d erected to a soul nearby.
A lifeline to siphon his power to, granting the air he couldn’t breathe on his own.
As Raiden closed off the pit of power he’d kept feeding, a series of yells echoed throughout the castle.
Zephyr retreated, his steam sucking back into his body as healers ran past the hallway to the foyer, and down into the infirmary.
“He’s not breathing!”
“Quick! Sirona, fetch Altha!”
“Alert Miss Cadell!”
The anger on Zephyr’s face was terrifying. “You were keeping that traitor alive?”
Raiden ran a shaky hand down his face as his power thrummed, relief flooding his veins from releasing the thread of power that’d been connected to Erick Cadell’s lungs for a month.
“You should’ve let him die,” Zephyr seethed, his lips curling as he waved his fist. “He doesn’t deserve our aid! You could’ve lost your gift, you foolish boy.”
But Raiden couldn’t bear it. He’d always been in tune with the gods, sensing their presence.
Even now he could taste the cold bite of Thanos’ realm, as he had that day on the ship.
He couldn’t bear the look on Kora’s face as Erick slipped into Thanos’ realm on Bone Rattler.
He couldn’t bear the sound of her heart breaking as she’d cried up into the night sky, begging for Erick’s life.