Inej pov:
As Van Eck and his cronies moved out of the room, Inej crawled towards Kaz. She didn't know why they let her stay in there, maybe so it would hurt more when Van Eck killed one of them.
He looked terrible. His clothes were far from their usual spotlessness, the back of his head was bleeding badly, and his arm was bent in the wrong angle, bone jutting out from the collar of his shirt.
Inej tried her best not to jostle him, removing her second shirt so that she was left only in a sheer tank. She pressed it against his head and heard him groan softly, the sound bringing tears to her eyes.
Saints, she hadn't been with him for more than a day, and things had already gone horribly. Inej felt like the bad luck trailed her everywhere she went. A small break from her tedious job, one that had far less successes than she expected, and it led her to an even worse situation. At least it had been her that was taken with Kaz, not Wylan, or Jesper.
Inej moved behind him to sit against the wall, propping his head in her lap. Her thigh still bled, but she could care less. A cut like that was nothing compared to what she had endured only a few months before.
Inej felt wrong removing Kaz's shirt, but she had seen the way he had hunched over when he stood, and she was worried there was more she wasn't seeing.
Sure enough, when Inej unbuttoned his bloody shirt she saw a terrible mix of black, blues, and greens edging Kaz's ribs. One of his ribs was jutting out from his side and Inej bit back a wave of nausea as she focused her attention on his shoulder. Inej was no medic, but she was the closest he would get. She had tended to the occasional Dregs member when they were really desperate, when Nina couldn't take them all.
Inej used her fingers to rip away Kaz's right sleeve and pulled the fabric to his left side.
She pulled him farther up her, taking his muscled forearm in her right hand and clutching her other arm around his his front and to his collarbone. His skin was icy on her warm fingers and Inej leaned her head to rest lightly on the back of his neck. She tried to catch the breath she had not found for the past several minutes. When she lifted her head Kaz's own lolled back slightly. His voice was barely a whisper.
"Do it, Inej."
She could have sobbed at how broken he sounded, but Inej set his shoulder as quick as she could. His bellow of pain was terrible, and Inej cradled his arm back in his lap as gently as she could, letting him heave while he leaned on her.
"I'm sorry."
Not a Suli word, but one she felt she needed to say.
Kaz let out what she thought was a laugh. His voice was deep and bitter, "Don't be sorry Inej, if I had told him where Yul-Bo was we wouldn't be in this situation."
Had he been in better condition she would have slapped him. "Do you remember how hard we worked to hide his location?" Kaz just rasped a breath. She softened her voice, "Giving up his location would have taken away from everything we did. It would be all for nothing."
"All of it?" He asked.
Inej sighed and ran her fingers through the parts of his hair that weren't crusted with blood. She thought about Kaz bandaging her in the bathroom, about her reuniting with her parents.
"Not all of it."
Kaz smiled a little, but he grimaced when he shifted his body, letting his left hand search his face.
Inej brought her shirt back up to the back of his head which still dribbled blood.
"I wish I could see you right now," he mused.
His tone was calm, but Inej could tell he was afraid of the possible permanence of the metal band by the frantic searching of his hand along the visor.
"We'll get it off, Kaz." She touched his hand without realizing. He didn't recoil. Kaz let her take his shaking hand in her own and she held him until his breathing calmed completely.
"Did you see what they had around their mouths," he asked.
"Yes," she responded, "it looked like some kind of synthetic fabric, probably able to block out whatever that chemical was."
Kaz nodded slightly, he had probably assumed the same thing.
At some point Kaz either fell asleep or passed back out in her arms. She sat with him until the terrible noise of the door latch opening shook Inej from her temporary relaxation.
"I hope you two had time to get reacuainted, now the real fun will begin."
