Flower of the North [Kaz Brekker; Six of Crows]

chapter 26

It was cold. Freezing cold.

The shock that Cecilia felt when she hit the water left her nearly gasping. The binds around her body had been released while they were falling.

Cecilia bit the small packet in her mouth, nearly cringing as she felt the substance coating her mouth. It would keep the water from her system for 10 minutes.

The water was unforgiving, the tides smashing into the group as they were sent spiraling. There was no control. Just unyielding chaos.

Cecilia's heart was pounding as she clenched tighter onto the hair pins in her hands, hoping they wouldn't be taken from her.

She tried to clear the panic from her veins, hoping to keep the baleen working just a little longer.

When she finally emerged from the water, she was gasping and heaving for air. Her chest hurt from the effort of keeping her alive past the effects of the baleen. Cecilia frantically wiped the remnants of the sticky substance from her mouth.

Cecilia looked up, seeing Matthias dragging Kaz's unconscious body from the water. She forced her shaking body up and stumbled over, collapsing by him.

"Saints, is he breathing?" Nina asked.

Cecilia's shaking hands laid tenderly on Kaz's cheeks. Her hair cascaded over him like a drape as she laid her ear over his chest.

"No," she breathed out, tears stinging her eyes.

His heartbeat was so faint. It was fading fast.

Matthias was hardly gentle as he moved her aside and began compressions on Kaz's chest, "I should let you die."

Cecilia remained by Kaz's side, swiping the trailing water off his cheeks with her thumbs as she muttered in Shu, "Please don't die. Don't do this to me."

Nina crawled over, "Let me help before you crack his sternum. Does he have a pulse?"

Cecilia moved her fingers to his neck, "Fading fast. Nina..."

Nina gave the girl a determined look, "He's gonna be fine. Get his shirt open."

Matthias tore away the druskelle uniform and Nina placed her hands over his chest. Cecilia's carefully monitoring eyes could see how Nina was forcing his heart to contract.

"Can you breathe for him?" Nina asked.

Cecilia was taken aback for a moment before remembering this was necessary. She pinched Kaz's nose shut and pushed her mouth to his, breathing air into his lungs. She hated the thought of doing such a thing to him when he was unconscious and dying, but there wasn't much choice.

"Will he live?" Kuwei asked.

"He will," Cecilia insisted before she pressed her lips to Kaz's again.

Moments later, she pushed back as Kaz's heart shifted, signaling that he was breathing on his own again. He coughed, water spewing from his mouth. Almost instinctively, he pushed Cecilia and Nina away from him.

"Don't touch me," his tone was cracked but venomous.

"You're in shock, demjin. You almost drowned. You should have drowned," Matthias explained.

Kaz shuddered, "Drowned."

Cecilia stared at him as if he was a ghost, wiping the tears from beneath her eyes. She didn't care that he had pushed her away, only that he was alive to do it.

Nina nodded, "Ice Court, remember? Impossible heist? Near death? Three million kruge waiting for you in Ketterdam?"

"Four million," Kaz corrected as he sat up.