Kaz POV
My leg screams for rest with each step I take. I slow and Wylan follows without a complaint. He feels guilty. I don't care. I have to see the job done. I have to see her. The plan should have gone smoothly on their part. That's when I see her limp frame being carried by Inej.
My pace quickens and the pain subsides to an ache as my heart races. Fear overtakes my senses and I have to get to her. Inej and Nina rush to meet me. As I near them I see she is covered in blood. Inej"s hands are covered in it from holding her. Her face is smeared with the dark liquid.
"What happened?" I demand.
"We were ambushed and, Emris took a knife to the back and a bullet to her calf.
"Nina, can you feel a heartbeat?"
"I can't feel any of yours. There's nothing from any of you." Nina says sadly.
"Damn it." I remove my gloves and place my fingers to her neck. A dull pulse emerges from her neck and I sigh. "She's alive but not for long. Let's go."
We rush to the boat and I see to it that Inej keeps her back elevated to not move the dagger. She will bleed out if it moves an inch. My arms ache from rowing but I keep pushing. Just a little farther. Rotty helps.
"Stop," I tell Rotty. He obeys and we drift to the edge of the bank. We quickly move and over the hill I see stadwatch. "They're setting up a blockade."
We travel through the streets of Ketterdam at a painful pace. I push the group forward to Jesper's father's residence he is staying in a hotel. We scramble up the stairs and bang on his door.
"Yes. Oh, come inside." He urges us inside as soon as he sees us and our conditions. I find a blanket and lay it on the ground in the bathroom. Inej lays Emris's limp body on her stomach. I quickly grasp the knife and pull. The dagger comes out easy but the bleeding is bad. Thick hot blood pours from her wound. I apply pressure with a cloth and Nina directs me to move it as she stitches the would closed.
"Who'd you like a doctor?" Colm Fahey asks.
"No." We all protest.
Nina lays Emris on her back and I stare at her face. She could be sleeping for all I would have known. I remember the first time she got stabbed and came to me. I was frantic. Now I sit and watch as her chest rises and falls.
"She'll be right." Nina insists.
I ignore her and they all leave me alone. I move closer to Emris. I gently stroke her hair away from her face. I dampen a cloth and remove my gloves. I gently wipe the crusted blood from her skin. I lean against the wall and sigh. I hear a rustle and I look at Emris. Her eyes slowly flutter open she tries to move but I push her back down on the blanket.
"Don't move, Emris." I snatch my hand back as the hands grab hold of me. "You've been stabbed and shot."
"My favorite combination of injuries." She says in a small voice. "You're alive?" Emris breathes. She twists her head around and I help her sit up next to me. "What? How."
"I'm breathing and my hearts beating." I grin.
"No, the man said you were as good as dead." I watch as tears fill her eyes and I take a step across the line. I pull her close and she tentatively places a hand on my chest as I wrap my arms around her. She rests her head on my shoulder and sobs. "I'm glad you're alive." She says.
"I'm glad you're alive, Darling," I say clutching her close as the hands tug at me.
"I love it when you call me that." She says.
"Me too." I smile and let sleep both take us away.