THESE BROKEN VOWS (Kazbrekker x Fem!reader) [ book version]

CHAPTER 12

KAZ P.O.V🧤

"Get us out of here," Kaz shouted as soon as he limped aboard the schooner with Y/N in his arms.

The sails were already trimmed, and they were on their way out of the harbour in moments, though not nearly as fast as he would have liked.

He knew he should have tried to secure some Squallers for the journey, but they were hell to come by.

There was chaos on deck, people shouting and trying to get the
schooner into open sea as quickly as possible.

"Specht!" he yelled at the man he'd chosen to captain the vessel, a.sailor with a talent for knifework who had fallen on hard times and ended up stuck in the lower ranks of the Dregs.

"Get your crew in shape before I start cracking skulls."

Specht saluted - then seemed to catch himself.

He wasn't in the navy any longer, and Kaz wasn't a commanding officer.

The pain in Kaz's leg was terrible, the worst it had been since he'd first
broken it falling off the roof of a bank near the Geldstraat.

It was possible he'd fractured the bone again.

Y/N's weight wasn't helping, but when
Jesper stepped into his path to offer help, Kaz shoved past him.

"Where's Nina?" Kaz snarled.

"Seeing to the wounded below. She already took care of me." Dimly
Kaz registered the dried blood on Jesper's thigh.

"Wylan got dinged during the fight. Let me help you-"

"Get out of my way," Kaz said, and plunged past him down the ramp
that led belowdecks.

He found Nina tending to Wylan in a narrow cabin, her hands drifting
over his arm, knitting the flesh of the bullet wound together.

It was barely a graze.

"Move," Kaz demanded, and Wylan practically leaped from the table.
"I'm not finished-" began Nina.

Then she caught sight of Y/N.

"Saints," she swore. "What happened?"

"Knife wound."

The cramped cabin was lit by several bright lanterns and a stash of
clean bandages had been laid out on a shelf beside a bottle of camphor.

Gently, Kaz placed Y/N on the table that had been bolted to the deck.

"That's a lot of blood," Nina said on a low breath.

"Help her."

"Kaz, I'm a Heartrender, not a real Healer."

"She'll be dead by the time we find one. Get to work."

"You're in my light."

Kaz stepped back into the passageway.

Y/N lay perfectly still on the table, her luminous Y/s/c skin dull in the swaying lamplight.

He was alive because of Y/N.

They all were. They'd managed to fight
their way out of a corner, but only because she'd prevented them from
being surrounded.

Kaz knew death.

He could feel its presence on the ship
now, looming over them, ready to take his Reaper. He was covered in her
blood.

"Unless you can be useful, go away," Nina said without looking up at
him. "You're making me nervous."

He hesitated, then stomped back the
way he'd come, stopping to purloin a clean shirt from another cabin.