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CHAPTER SIXTEEN; one wrong look
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ABOARD THE FEROLIND KAZ HAD SEEN Ace exchange a few words with Nina, the latter who had merely a couple of hours before the aftermath of the parem settled in. Smiling softly, Ace kissed the Heartrender on the cheek and disappeared below deck. He let his eyes roam the rest of them and they fell on Wylan who was fiddling with his hands nervously.
It didn't take more than a few seconds of nervously bouncing on his heels for Wylan to come to Kaz to warn him that he couldn't be used as leverage against his father. Wylan was red-faced, barely able to speak the words of his supposed 'affliction'. Kaz had only shrugged. Some men were poets. Some were farmers. Some were rich merchants. Wylan could draw a perfect elevation. He'd made a drill that could cut through Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewelry. So what if he couldn't read?
Kaz had expected the boy to balk at the idea of being tailored to look like Kuwei. A transformation that extreme was beyond the power of any Grisha not using parem. He warned the boy it might be permanent but Wylan only shrugged, saying he needed to know what his father really thought about him. And so, Kaz went to Nina and after a few moments of coercing her into the job, both of them met Wylan and Kuwei in the furthest cabin below deck.
As Nina worked on getting the merchling looking like the replica of the Shu Inferni, her glittering dazed eyes fell on him, as he leaned against the furthest wall from them, his crow head cane safely tucked under his hands—the weight of it a comfort Kaz didn't take for granted. "Your heartbeat is as steady as they come. You're not even an ounce worried Wylan won't get his face back are you?"
"Why should I be?"
"It was my choice," Wylan confirmed and Kaz cocked a brow his way, proving his point. He wasn't about to worry for others.
"Yes, but you're clearly apprehensive," replied Nina and Wylan flushed. Nina continued, her eyes on Wylan's face but Kaz had the inkling feeling her next words would be directed at him. "I can hear everyone's heart in this ship. Sense everyone's blood rushing through their veins. It's mesmerizing. But not quite as mesmerizing as hearing your breathing catch each time you look at her." Nina's eyes met his again and Kaz clenched his jaw. "It's like you can't believe she's real. Your heart rate spikes too, in case you didn't know."
"I'm glad you're almost at the withdrawal stage," replied Kaz, his smile cutting, cold and Nina merely smiled at him, though her lip wobbled slightly at the thought of the pain that was to come. Kaz almost felt sorry. Almost.
"Don't you wanna know what happens when she looks at you?"
Kaz stilled, not answering. His grip on the cane tightened and Nina smiled victoriously—his cold small heart was a traitorous bastard and Kaz was sure it had spiked in the slightest at the thought Ace would react any differently when she looked at him. He knew her heart rate spiked when he touched her, he had felt her pulse fluttering beneath his lips, but Nina didn't need to know about that.
