Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER SIX; x marks the eye
♠
THERE HAD BEEN NO TIME PONDER, to think, to rationalize, to fear—to acknowledge the ghosts ready to invade his sanity as Ace's eyes rolled to the back of her head. So much for being the best thief. He hadn't stopped to think, and so, his arms darted out toward her, catching her limp body before she crumbled to the ground.
We're the most powerful cards in the deck, Kaz, what you'll miss I'll see. What I'll miss you'll catch. Wasn't that last part turning out to be true?
The warmth of her body managed to pass through the layers of her dress, and still, with a shaky breath he lifted her into his arms. She was warm and alive; the fabric of her dress and the leather of his gloves kept her skin from his—that would have to be enough to coax the ghosts back into their shallow graves, the bodies back into the depths of the ocean, the freezing waters away.
With a glance at Inej, who was standing and seemingly unharmed, he began walking, Ace tucked against his chest, her body limp in his hold but still warm. Alive.
He could feel Inej's urge to speak and was glad when she chose not to, instead picking up his cane—forgotten as soon as he saw Ace slip into unconsciousness—and following after him.
His teeth gritted against each other as he fought through the blaring, sharp sting of his leg, after nights with no rest, after being knocked over by the explosion of the first schooner. Yet, if the pain kept the ghosts at bay, the sickness tolerable, taking his mind off gelid waters and seas of bodies, then Kaz wouldn't complain.
He looked down at Ace. Her crimson lips were slightly parted and her eyes were closed, her dark lashes fanning against her golden skin, and—through the ghosts, pain, and looming danger upon them as they walked—he couldn't keep the faint tug of his lips as he spotted the faint freckles that covered her cheeks and nose, only noticeable when she was close. But the beginnings of—what definitely wasn't—a smile, died as he noticed her skin paling, her breathing evening out. Alive. She was breathing and she was warm, and he was touching fabric. He shoved the sickness away, the urge to keel over—he had to get her to the schooner.
"Get us out of here," Kaz shouted as soon as he limped aboard the schooner with Ace in his arms, Inej walking behind him, gun in hand, cane in the other, covering for them.
The sails were already trimmed, and they were on their way out of the harbor in moments, though not nearly as fast as Kaz would have liked. He knew he should have tried to secure some Squallers for the journey, but they were hell to come by, and Ace had told him they'd manage. Grisha aren't needed for everything, she'd said dismissively, You can't rely on others.
