─── ❝She was expensive,
like the piece of velvet she was wearing,
but she demanded his heart,
not his money❞
or
─── in which he finds his crow in the most unfortunate t...
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chapter thirty, the beginning of the end
"KAZ IS RIGHT," Jesper admitted, his head hanging low as his sister was washing a bloody cloth in the tub.
Lavender wrung out the cloth, her hands aching from the pressure. "He's not. He understands that you all are valuable to him, but he will never admit it."
"Not about that," Jesper winced, looking at the mirror, and noticing the swelling around his lip. His jaw was tingling from the fighting just a few moments earlier. "That I put you in danger. I shouldn't have let you come."
Hanging the cloth on the side of the tub, she turned to her brother. "We've talked about this too many times by now, Jes. There wasn't a force in the world that would've made me stay in Ketterdam while you went off to risk your life. It wasn't your fault. It isn't your fault. We've all made it out alive."
Sighing, he looked at Lavender, stretching his long arm out and grabbed her sleeve, tugging on it for her to come closer. As she did, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a warm embrace, nuzzling his head in her neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist, closing her eyes.
"You are my family, Jes," Lavender's voice was muffled by his shirt. "I'd do anything for you."
His arms got tighter around her, holding her as if the fear of losing her only now came to the surface. So many things have happened, and it seemed that there wasn't time to even breathe in. He didn't know what the future had for them. He didn't know if they would all come out alive. And because of that, he needed to express his care for his family while he had the opportunity to do so.
Jesper sniffled, "Oh... I love you so much, Vi... I truly believe my ma sent you to us."
Pulling back, Lavender raised her hands and gently cupped his face, looking at his teary eyes. "When all of this will be over... I think you haven't visited your mother's grave long enough. She misses you. Your father misses you."
"Yeah," Jasper nodded, sniffling again as a few tears escaped. "Yeah..." He repeated. "If we managed to get out of the Ice Court, we'll manage to get out of Ketterdam."
She gently wiped his tears and pulled her arms down, giving him a gentle smile. She took another towel and submerged it under cold water before wringing it and giving it to him to press it against his jaw. She got back to cleaning out the surface – throwing out used bandages and little swaps, cleaning bloody towels.
Jesper hopped on the counter, looking at his sister, before he blurted out a question: "Who's Jordie?"
Lavender stopped for a second, but she quickly shook herself out of it and put a bit of soap on the stain, rubbing the towel together. She knew that it wasn't her story to tell and there was a reason why Kaz didn't go around throwing his story left and right. It was clear that his purpose was to have no weak links. No distant family that could be found by his real last name. No nightmares to haunt him with.
