𝕾𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖉𝖘 - 𝙺𝚊𝚣 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚔𝚔𝚎𝚛

XI

Mira snaps her eyes open. Her body is covered in a layer of sweat, but her clothes are clean.

Her side throbs, but her throat sobs more. The pain is bad, but not debilitating. Or maybe that's her ego talking. Either way, she forces herself to take in the spinning room. Inej is on the table beside her, unconscious and in visible pain. Mira wishes she could bring Oomen back just to kill him again, with proper tools this time.

The door opens softly and her head whips around to see Nina.

"Thank you." She wouldn't be able to say it enough.

Nina jumps. "Saints, you're awake!" Her eyes start to water.

Mira wonders if she said something wrong. She's too tired to puzzle it out. "Are you okay?"

Nina nods and hurries over to her. "Thank goodness you're alright! Because if you weren't Kaz would've killed me. I'm not a healer, I can't fix it."

"But you did." Mira lets the Corporalnik hug her for a moment. "Are you okay?" Nina must be exhausted, looking after one near-death patient and her.

Nina takes a step back. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Mira blinks her eyes a couple times. "A couple more days of rest and a few million kruge." She tries to prop herself up on her arms and sit up.

Nina, bless her heart, doesn't let Mira move two inches. "No, nope, you are not getting up until I deem you able."

The Tidemaker rolls her eyes but obliges. It would be bad manners to ruin all of Nina's hard work. "Inej's knives?"

Nina raises a brow.

"They're dirty. I don't want her to have to wake up to that." Inej was going to wake up. Even though her breathing is shallow and making Mira nervous. She had to wake up.

The Heartrender sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "No wonder Kaz..." she trails off, leaving Mira to ponder what she was going to say. Nina holds her hand and props her up with five pillows before letting go to find the Suli warrior's knives.

Mira looks around, the ebbing and flowing of the currents welcome her back.

Nina rests the knives gently on Mira's lap. "What are you thinking about?" She tests the waters with a question. Next to Wylan, Mira was the newest addition to the team, and far more dangerous.

Her hands trace over the blades of the knives, the dried blood flaking on her fingertips. "How much I want to kill Oomen."

The girl nods and hands Mira a rag and a large glass of water. "Jesper said you looked like you were going to personally shake hands with the devil, and he was going to thank you."

"I already did that." She starts picking at the blood, getting as much off before using water. "Brekker and I had to seal the deal somehow."

Nina laughs a little and shakes her head. "Kaz never says thank you."

"No, he doesn't." Mira dips the rag in the water and starts to clean off the knives. "He should though. There is a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It'd be a shame to lose her's."

Nina tilts her head in mild confusion.

"From an old story my father used to tell me." The sick days, the staying in bed while her parents cared for her and her sister. The memories hurt more than usual after her dream. "How long was I out?"

"A day." Nina looks over to Inej and checks her breathing and pulse.

"How long is she going to be out?" Her eyes trace the prone Suli girl.