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CHAPTER FIFTEEN ▪▫▪▫▪
INEJ GHAFA WAS MANY THINGS. A coward was none of those. She had been with Kaz for years, watching over him, over Kira, over Jesper. The Wraith was his most loyal investment, his friend, even if he didn't much like to admit it. Kaz would hate to see her leave, especially when Kira's eyes hadn't opened yet.
She hadn't been asleep for long, and even if she had woken up Kaz would be none the wiser. He hadn't stepped foot inside the barn since he left. He couldn't bear to see her so still, void of her usual light. Inej leaving seemed to her acceptance that Kira wouldn't wake up. It was her confirming that she didn't trust him, to get her out of the Menagerie. Inej leaving was the start of the end.
Their crew would be down to an unconscious Whisperer, a sharpshooter, and himself. Kaz would have to deal with Jesper on his own, on top of his sanity slipping away with each moment that Kira didn't wake up.
"Are you hungry? Or just saying goodbye?" Kaz asked, glancing over his shoulder as Inej approached him where he sat in front of a fire and was roasting dinner.
Inej didn't say anything for a few moments, her brown eyes, so dark they almost looked black, looking down at him with some sort of understanding that was entirely unwelcome. Then she reached for him and handed him his cane that had been broken somewhen during the chaos of the prior days. "Jesper fixed your cane."
Kaz grabbed it, put it on the ground, and nodded. "So, you are leaving."
"That's it?" whispered Inej. "After everything, there's nothing else you want to say to me?"
"What else is there?" asked Kaz, not taking his eyes off the fire, burning bright through the darkness of the night.
Inej didn't leave though. She stood there, not taking one step away from him. Kaz heard her sigh loudly, and he could picture her shaking her head at him. "The color is returning to her face, Kaz. Kira will wake up soon. I'm sure of it."
His eyes snapped up to meet hers, and he felt something constrict in his chest, something that felt a lot like relief. He didn't speak for a few moments and then nodded. Inej gave him a tight smile and turned to leave, only to stop when he called after her. "You were right."
Inej's eyebrow raised ever so slightly as she turned to him again. "About what?"
His jaw clenched but he didn't stay silent. "The Sun Summoner. You were right. She's real."
He watched as Inej walked over to him again and sat down on a log around the fire. Listening to the rare occasion in which he admitted he was wrong. Kira's injuries were really messing with his mind.
