Talons⛥Kaz Brekker

⛥𝔖𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫⛥

We'd been blessed with a strong wind. I felt it ripple through my hair and couldn't help but think of the storm to come.

Kaz crossed his arms, "How will it start?"

"Body aches, chills, no worse than a mild illness," Kuwei explained. "Then a kind of hypersensitivity, followed by tremors, and the craving."

"Do you have more of the parem?" Matthias asked.

"Yes."

"Enough to get her back to Ketterdam?"

"I won't take more," Nina protested.

"I have enough to keep you comfortable," Kuwei said. "But if you take asecond dose, there is no hope at all." He looked to Matthias. "This is her one chance. It's possible her body will purge enough of it naturally that addictionwon't set in."

"And if it does?" Kuwei held out his hands, part shrug, part apology. "Without a ready supply of the drug, she'll go mad. With it, her body will simply wear itself out. Do you know the word parem? It's the name my father gave to the drug. It means 'without pity'." When Nina finished translating, there was a long pause."I don't want to hear any more," she said. "None of it will change what's coming." She drifted away towards the prow.

Matthias watched her go."The water hears and understands," he murmured beneath his breath. I sought out Rotty and got him to dig up the wool coats Inej and Nina had left behind in favour of our cold weather gear when we'd landed on the northern shore. I found Nina near the prow, gazing out at the sea.

"One hour, maybe two," Nina said without turning. I halted in shock. "You heard me approach?" No one heard the Vampress, especially over the sound of the wind and sea. "Don't worry. It wasn't those silent feet that gave you away. I can hear your pulse, your breathing."

"And you knew it was me?"

"Every heart sounds different. I never realised that before." I joined her at the rail and handed over Nina's coat. The Grisha put it on,though the cold didn't seem to be bothering her. Above us, the stars shone bright between silver-seeded drifts of cloud. I was ready for dawn, ready for this long night to be over, and the journey, too.

I wasn't surprised to find I was eager to see Ketterdam again. I wanted an omelette, a hot chocolate. I wanted to hear the rain on the rooftops and sit snug and warm in my tiny room at the Slat. I wanted to stand on a bridge in the rain, I'd always loved rain. There were adventures to come, but they could wait until I'd had a hot bath -maybe a few of them.

Nina buried her face in her coat's woollen collar and said, "I wish you could hear what I do. I can hear every body on this ship, the blood rushing through their veins. I can hear the change in Kaz's breathing when he looks at you."

"You ... you can?"

"It catches every time, like he's never seen you before."

I didn't say anything.

"I remember the way he reacted to finding the state of your room. Jesper had to stop him from collapsing in the open doorway, his heart wasn't the same after that, until the night in Hellgate. After that it jumps when he sees you. So does yours."

"And what about Matthias?" I asked, eager to change the subject. Nina raised a brow, unfooled. "Matthias is afraid for me, but his heart thumps a steady rhythm no matter what he's feeling. So Fjerdan, so orderly."

"I didn't think you'd let those men live, back at the harbour."

"I'm not sure it was the right thing to do. I'll become one more Grisha horror story for them to tell their children."