Dark of the Tide [Shadow and Bones]

Chapter 12

I watched as Nina sat on the couch opposite of us, eating waffles and humming in satisfaction to herself.

"You owe me a new box of waffles, I hope you know that." I whispered to Kaz as he came to sit next to me.

He laughed lightly and nodded, putting his arm around my shoulders. "I'm aware of that, yes."

    "Nina, can you tell us where you have been and what took you so long to get here to Ketterdam?" Inej asked.

    Nina looked at her. "I was caught by trader ships. And then I met this trader named Matthias Helvar."

I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "I sense some enemies-to-lovers here."

Nina looked at me and a faint blush crept onto her cheeks as she nodded. "We spent time together. And as the weeks went on, I found myself growing more and more fond of him. And him towards me."

"Like I said," I replied.

"Shush, you." Kaz said, gently nudging my leg with his foot.

"But they're so cute." I replied.

"Okay, I think that's enough of you today. Let's get you to bed."

"But why?" I asked.

"Because it's almost midnight and you should get some sleep." He replied, getting up and taking my hand in his.

"I really hate you sometimes." I grumbled as I followed Kaz into the hallway and have him stop by my door, then continue on.

"Uh, my room is there." I said, pointing behind me.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight for the next 24 hours. You're sleeping with me tonight." He replied, opening up his door and closing it.

"No objections here." I said under my breath, a light blush tinting my cheeks.

———

My eyes flew open when I heard a loud crash from downstairs.

"Kaz. Kaz, did you hear that?" I asked quietly.

He mumbled something in annoyance and opened his eyes. "It's probably just Milo again. You know he likes to knock things over in the night."

"Yeah, and give me a mini heart attack in the process." I muttered.

A faint scream echoed through the house, making Kaz sit up quickly, the sheets falling down and exposing his bare torso.

"That wasn't Milo." He said, taking the covers off and not bothering to put on his gloves as he grabbed his cane and my hand, walking out of the room and seeing the others come out of their rooms with tiredness still in their eyes.

Milo bleated and looked up at Jesper as if questioning him about the noise, and trotted down the hall.

"Wow. A goat is more brave than us." I said.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far—" Inej stopped when she saw us, her eyes going to Kaz's bare hands. "You're not wearing gloves."

Kaz looked at his hand, then at Inej and nodded. "Yes, I'm well aware of that, Inej. Less gawking and more investigating the creepy noise."

I looked back at her as Kaz and I walked down the hall, shrugging and heading downstairs where Nina stood on her tiptoes to get to a cupboard.

"Nina," I breathed out a sign of relief and amusement.

The Heartrender looked back at us. "Oh. Hey. Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Depends. Were you the one who screamed?" I asked, rubbing my eye.