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CHAPTER TEN ▪▫▪▫▪
DYING FELT STRANGELY LIKE SLEEPING. The place during sleep where the body is asleep yet the mind still holds a sliver of consciousness. Not so little as to dream but enough to yearn. And she yearned for something else.
Unlike her near death in Kribirsk, this wasn't shameful. She had died poisoned by the toxins in a beautiful rare flower—the ones she spotted outside—in the home of a living Saint. Sankta Neyar was a brilliant person indeed.
Yet, there was something missing. There had been no explosions. Her mother hadn't been screaming in agony as she died. No one had wailed and screamed for her to stay back in the land of the living. Death had offered its hand and Kira was nearly sure she took it.
But she still felt strangely alive.
Perhaps this was it. Condemned to eternity to think and mull over her own thoughts, the demons in her past.
Reminding herself that no one would really care if she died. What had she really done that would make her worthy of someone's grief? Her own parents had cast her out, a worthless grisha bastard they wished death upon.
The faint buzzing in her ears grew louder, and the familiar sounds of the people gambling and drinking at the Crow Club echoed in her head. Confusion sparked within her. Had she survived? Had they found a way to save her and bring her back home?
They. Kira searched in her head for who she meant with the words. What had happened? Who would even want to save her?
Her eyes fluttered open and were met with a ceiling. Her brows furrowed. The Crow Club. Kaz. How had his name slipped her mind? The Bastard of the Barrel was unforgettable and she was...
Propping herself on her elbows Kira's eyes swept the room around her. The washing basin to her right. The window with the splattering rain to the left. The office beyond the bedroom. Kaz's room. Again it had slipped her mind, her own personal haven in Ketterdam, in the Crow Club, and she hadn't remembered it.
Perhaps the nearly dying part had damaged her head. No matter, she couldn't have forgotten much else. Kira sat up on the bed, opening her mouth to call him.
Kaz?
No sound had left her lips. Kira tried speaking again.
Kaz!
Her hands flew up to her throat, her eyes widening. She tried to scream, yell, talk, and plead. The room remained silent. The Whisperer of the Barrel had lost her voice. Kira tried not to panic, but the question echoed in her head:
