59
Kora
The wild beat of her heart pounded in her ears as Kora slammed her fists onto the simple table, and winced as the wood cracked, splintering down its centre. Unlit candles toppled in their holders, and Kora grabbed the nearest book, her rage spilling uncontrollably.
The red haze neared, a familiar cackle raking down her spine.
No.
Rage quickly turned into fear as Kora slunk into the nearest chair, focusing on her breathing as a cold sweat broke out across her skin.
She focused on keeping Kordelia at bay, envisioning the light of her divine power.
Her sinister laugh eventually faded, swirling down a drain as Kora gripped the roughly textured tome, the sensation grounding her.
“You’re calm. You’re safe. You are in control,” Kora repeated until the familiar cold captain subsided.
Needing an immediate distraction, Kora opened the book she’d snatched, mindlessly flipping the pages without reading them.
Raiden had nearly kissed her—she was sure of it.
His proximity had driven her senseless, and she’d nearly pounced on him without a care in the world.
Until she remembered she looked exactly like his previous love he’d waited a decade for.
That she wouldn’t be here in the first place if he’d known her memories were unrecoverable.
She would still be rotting underneath the Citadel, or chained to Barron’s side as his latest puppet.
Was she ready to open her heart again? The thought made her skin pimple, her pulse racing until she felt sick.
Blake had broken her thoroughly. His betrayal running so deep she wasn’t sure if she could trust again.
Not only that, but someday, she would die at the hands of her own.
Thanos’ prediction was in the fates. She wasn’t destined to survive.
Could she do that to another person? Allow them to love when she couldn’t love forever in return?
Kora’s finger snagged on a page, her blood splattering onto a corner and she hissed as she sucked on the tip of her index finger.
Her hand dropped as her stare landed on a scripture of Devanian, etched in swirling dark ink.
Charcoal had been smudged across the page, tiny rivulets of green running through the edges like an intricately looped border of thorns.
The Dark One has been erased from history.
The scholars wished for his deadliness to be eradicated, to not taint the souls of the future.
They cannot be trusted. They will bend history to their desires.
But I have found him, and he lives within the in-between.
Within the shadows of shadows, the first true god awaits in his slumber.
For he will rise, and bring a darkness so deep, no life will walk again.
Pure, unrelenting chills smothered her, as Agatha’s vague prediction glared back at Kora, in a tome that was probably hundreds of years old, in the Galen Archive. Which shelf had this book come from? It was old—very old. Dust coated it like a second layer, several pages torn and flaking.
He has marked his heir apparent. And Thanos will fall beneath his mirrored shadow. From the dark, one will lead them all into eternal pain. His magic spreading like a thick web of corrupted ice. He is the Dark One, Dark One, Dark One. Until it all ends. Until all is barren.
Kora shivered. Her fingers traced the final sentence, before meeting a golden wax seal with a familiar, four-pointed symbol.
Her mouth dried as the Talmon Empire insignia glinted back at her.
The insignia they’d wielded since the Devanian Conquest, in a tome sealed in Galen, from hundreds of years ago.
Thanos will fall. Life will cease. Death will vanish. There will only be darkness from his brethren’s reign. All hail the Dark One.
This was bigger than the magic in her head. Kora jumped, the chair tumbling back as she fled the archive, racing through the castle. This was bigger than Barron’s measly war. His dark magic was an indicator of a greater, darker power.
A darkness that will consume the world.
A darkness that will destroy gods—destroy Thanos.
Kora’s chest heaved as she frantically ran through Skybell, searching for Raiden, Aerion, or Aryn. She needed to tell them, they needed to return to Mistros City at once.
She needed to speak to Thanos.
Suddenly hit with a force that nearly knocked her sideways, Kora gulped as calming air imbued her lungs.
Her mind cleared, the panic subduing as she followed the winding current of power, her nose invaded with a rich scent of honey and meats.
Her mouth instantly watered, her new-found love of food distracting her as her stomach rumbled.
The toying power pulled at her waist, ushering her to a heavy-set wooden door she pushed open.
A ceramic-tiled kitchen, the stone painted a rustic red, stark against the cool muted tones of Skybell Castle.
A high arched window centred in the far wall, casting beams of sunlight onto a large wooden countertop dusted with flour.
And there, his chrome hair dazzling, flour dusting his hands and face, was Raiden.
He kneaded the dough fiercely as a giant fireplace behind him crackled, a honey-glazed gammon joint roasting above it.
Dozens of little sausages wrapped in raw dough lined the countertop closest to Kora, with platters of steamed vegetables, roasted in goose fat and thyme, resting on an adjacent worktop.
Raiden flipped the dough, seemingly unaware of her presence, before stretching it out.
He tossed it up into the air, thinning it as his jaw ground.
As the dough descended, his stare met hers and he froze, the slab of dough slapping onto the counter in awkward silence.
Flour blew up, coating the hairs along his thick arms.
He continued to stare at her, his eyes slowly widening as the salty, honeyed scents filled the room. Kora rushed to his side, her mind unravelling from what she’d just read, unable to focus on anything else.
“Raiden,” she breathed, still panting from fleeing the library. His stare narrowed, assessing her state, searching for the threat. “I read something . . . the library, I . . . there’s so much more. This is bigger than what we thought.”
Raiden’s stare flickered to his hands in the dough, then back at Kora.
She frowned, her mind not processing his silence.
“Did you hear me? There’s something else!
It mentioned a dark figure, someone determined to destroy the gods, everything that we know.
All life. It could be Barron, but I’m not sure. ”
Something flashed within Raiden’s eyes but he still did not move. Did not speak.
“Are you listening to me? What are you doing—” Kora halted, her mind catching up with her senses.
Her fingers brushed the worktop, rubbing flour between them. She glanced around the room, realising there were no cooks here. Not even a servant as dirty dishes lay piled up to the side, waiting to be cleaned.
There was only Raiden.
Only. Raiden.
“Was it you, all this time?” she whispered.
Her knees quaked as she gauged the flour outlining Raiden’s muscles, accenting his thick build. He’d removed his jacket, dressed only in a cream shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, tucked into dark breeches.
He nodded once.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would you have accepted it, if you’d known it was from me?” He looked away.
Overwhelming emotion hit Kora like a tide.
Her hands shook gently as her stomach flipped, her heart threatening to burst from her chest. All this time, he’d been taking care of her.
Nurturing her back from the brink of death whilst she’d treated him poorly, ignorant and devouring those meals placed outside her door.
He learnt her favourites. The sweet treats. The tarts. He made them all, for her. Embarrassment flamed her cheeks, remembering all the times she’d wanted to compliment the chef.
“Can you teach me?”
“You want to learn to cook? We need to discuss what you just read.”
“I’ve never cooked for myself. Seems like an important skill. Just ten minutes.” Kora casually shrugged, and Raiden’s stare flickered, not believing her. “Then we can chat.”
Because right now, all she wanted was to be near him. To feel him. To know his strength surrounded her, when the entire world might disappear as quick as snuffing out a candle.
“Come here.” He gestured before him and Kora sucked in a breath as she nestled in the space between his chest and the counter.
Raiden’s thick arms encased her either side, his warmth causing her core to mirror it as his hands took hers.
“You need to be rough with it.” Raiden’s voice caught as he motioned her hands into the dough, kneading it, his fingers entwining with Kora’s. “Show it who’s boss.”
Kora released a small laugh, her back brushing his chest. Every knead, his fingers threaded tighter, squeezing her with every push upwards.
Her hips rocked back in time, and Raiden’s heartbeat in her ear was thunderous.
Her hands stilled as she glanced up at Raiden.
His stubble was heavy, and his eyes—sweet Calypso, his eyes—took her breath away every time.
For once she didn’t just see the dazzling aura they displayed, but the male beneath.
The male who’d watched the Huntress’ back.
“Fuck it.” Kora twisted, wrapping around his towering form as her lips collided onto his. Raiden jerked, his arms raising into the air as Kora pulled back, her cheeks heating. “I’m sorry. I—”
He pounced. Raiden crashed into her, his hands gripping her behind and lifting her onto the thick wooden countertop. Particles of flour blew into the air, coating their hair as one hand went to the small of her back, the other fisting in her hair as his lips melded to Kora’s, crushing her to him.