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🎵 🎵🎵

I've tried to leave it all behind me
But I woke up and there they were beside me
And I don't believe it but I guess it's true
Some feelings, they can travel too
Oh there it is again, sitting on my chest
Makes it hard to catch my breath
I scramble for the light to change
You're always on my mind
You're always on my mind
And I never minded being on my own
Then something broke in me and I wanted to go home
To be where you are
But even closer to you, you seem so very far
And now I'm reaching out with every note I sing
And I hope it gets to you on some pacific wind
Wraps itself around you and whispers in your ear
Tells you that I miss you and I wish that you were here
And if I stay home, I don't know
There'll be so much that I'll have to let go
You're disappearing all the time
But I still see you in the light
For you, the shadows fight
And it's beautiful but there's that tug in the sight
I must stop time traveling, you're always on my mind
You're always on my mind
You're always on my mind
And I never minded being on my own
Then something broke in me and I wanted to go home
To be where you are
But even closer to you, you seem so very far
And now I'm reaching out with every note I sing
And I hope it gets to you on some pacific wind
Wraps itself around you and whispers in your ear
Tells you that I miss you and I wish that you were here
We all need something watching over us
Be it the falcons, the clouds or the crows
And then the sea swept in and left us all speechless
Speechless
And I never minded being on my own
Then something broke in me and I wanted to go home
To be where you are
But even closer to you, you seem so very far
And now I'm reaching out with every note I sing
And I hope it gets to you on some pacific wind
Wraps itself around you and whispers in your ear
Tells you that I miss you and I wish that you were here
Wish that you were here
Wish that you were here
Wish that you were here
I wish that you

🎵🎵🎵

The damp walls gleamed shiny and black in the light from Kaz's lantern. The tunnel seemed impossibly long or maybe, it was because Kaz was limping more heavily after their long journey down the tunnel. But he wouldn't have to repeat the trip. They would leave by air along with the stolen titanium.

Before Kuwei's action, when they'd met the Grisha Triumvirate at Hotel Geldrenner. Aeolian had nagged Kaz to be healed by Genya, and the tailor had even offered to heal Kaz's bad leg but Kaz was determined not to be healed. It was a part of him, something that reminded him of the past and he didn't want to let go of it. Aeolian had understood and she didn't press on, instead, a bewitching smile appeared from the corner of her lips as she offered him her hand.

Kaz took her hand steadily and as he got up from the chair and turned to go. Genya was at the corner, bursting with glee.

Two picked locks later, they were waiting in a darkened doorway, peering through a small circular window. The base was built around a central yard full of building materials, which had once been open to the air. But now, most of the cargo was protected by the metal shell connected to the base walls, its roof humped like the back of a whale.

"The yard doesn't look well protected." Nikolai said.

"It isn't." Kaz said. "They're relying on their external defences, they've gotten comfortable."

Nikolai said. "Mister Brekker you would probably make an excellent security consultant for Ravka—if I don't think you wouldn't steal the golden roof right off the Little Palace."

"You're twitchy for a monarch," Kaz said, eyes still on the yard.

"Have you met many?" Nikolai asked.

"Plenty of men who call themselves kings." Kaz drummed his gloved fingers over the crow's head.

Nikolai glanced through the window again. "The fate of a nation resting on one's shoulders does make a fellow restless."

Thunder rumbled over the yard. Zoya's signal. That meant the airship was in place above the steel hull protecting the cargo.

"Stay alert," Kaz said as he pushed the door open and they creeped across the yard.

The storm was raging now, but they needed those sounds. Locating the operating box was easy enough, but an awful shriek went up from the metal hull as it creaked open.

"Kerch engineering," Kaz muttered.

But at last the shell split to reveal the roiling clouds of the night sky and the Cormorant hovering above. Though thunder and lighting crashed around them, thanks to the Squallers above, not a single drop of rain fell on the cargo below.

The bay doors of the airship opened and a cable was lowered.

"Go," Kaz said. "I'll keep watch."

Nikolai and Anika ran out into the yard, as Kaz kept watch. They had to hope the guards would stick to their routines. Nikolai grabbed the end of the cable and hooked its anchor to a metal beam at the base of the shell. A platform followed on a separate cable, it was stacked with aluminium. Carefully, Nikolai steered the platform onto position and set it beside the stash of titanium.

He took the hooks attached the platform cables and fastened them to a pallet of titanium. It would be easier with more hands, but they needed Kaz on lookout because he was the most vigilant among them. Anika and Nikolai sent titanium up and directed aluminium down, their progress was impossibly slow and tiring.

In situations like these Kaz seemed to miss Aeolian a little more, if she was here things would've been less complicated but she wasn't. She was out there in the world doing her thing and he wouldn't want to be the reason why she had to stop.

Before Aeolian attempted to climb Van Eck's silos, they went to Cirkus Zirkoa together to steal the gears. So that Wylan and Kaz could modify the gears to ensure Aeolian's safety at the silos.

Aeolian glanced at the caged animals with heavy eyes. That's one of the many things Kaz liked about the Shu princess, she was an animal person. "Feels like I'm at the Carnival of Rust." She'd sighed.

"Yeah, about that..." Kaz asked quietly. "Was it another mission of yours?"

She nodded, "it was." There was that distinct look on her face, which told Kaz, that it had been unpleasant. "I will end them, one day." She said, but it sounded more like a promise.

"I know you will," he mumbled. "Whatever you set your mind on, you do it."

She turned to him, "you really think so?"

He nodded.

"Oh Kazuki," she fiddled with the bunny tail she'd picked up on the way. "I wish fate had better timing for you and I."

"What?" Kaz baffled.

She smirked playfully as she headed towards one of the tents, without another word.

Kaz gave a low whistle and appeared, "guards approaching. We need to get out now."

"It can't have been thirty minutes," Nikolai huffed a breath of disbelief. "We've only got half the titanium on board. Maybe less."

"You can have half or you can have a gunfight." Kaz shrugged. "Jesper will be very sad he missed out."

They couldn't afford a brawl. No Ravkan agent could be found on this base, let alone the king of Ravka, regardless his disguise.

Nikolai looked up and signalled at the airship. "Let's go," he called.

Kaz hit the controls and the metal shell slowly began to close. They leapt onto what would be the final pallet of titanium as the crew of the airship drew them out.

Less then one hundred feet from the bay doors of the airship and Nikolai said, "something is wrong."

They peered down at the cable still hooked to the beam below.

"The anchor line isn't releasing," Nikolai said, then he gestured his people on the airship to try to release again, but the mechanism was stuck. "I have to go back down. I'll have to disengage it manually."

"There isn't time," said Kaz. "Those hull doors are going to close first. They can eject the cable, when we get to the top."

"If they simply released the cable, the anchor would be trapped inside the yard, evidence that someone had been where they shouldn't be." Nikolai looked at Kaz. "An investigation could lead back to Ravka."

Lights were moving along the western side of the building.

"The guards are coming." Anika informed.

"How long do I have?" Nikolai asked.

"Two minutes. Maybe three." Kaz responded. "Take your medicine, Sturmhond. They won't be able to prove the cable is Ravkan. Not right away."

"I can't let that happen." Nikolai glanced up at the airship worrisomely.

The soldiers and the Grisha were looking down on them panic stricken on their faces, thinking they might be caught any moment now and all these will end badly.

"There's no way to disguise what I'm about to do." Nikolai said as if he was about to do something crazy. "Tell me, Brekker, do you believe in monsters?"

"Of all kinds," Kaz nodded.

"Prepare to meet another." Nikolai closed his eyes.

What's he doing. Anika looked at him in confusion. Is he praying? Or is this some kind of Ravkan ritual?

Then like a horrifying nightmare, the demon uncoil. Anika nearly lost her footing. She can't be seeing things can she? She turned to Kaz, is he seeing what she's seeing and by the raised cane in Kaz's hand—she could tell, he too can see the shadow emerging and taking shape in the air before them.

"All saints and their ugly mothers!" Kaz baffled.

The demon spread its black wings and hurtled towards the opening in the hull doors. A moment later the monster wrenched the anchor free. Nikolai was controlling the demon somehow. The cable recoiled with sudden force and slammed against one of the stacked pallets of aluminium, sending bars of metal sliding.

"So much for leaving no trace," said Kaz, though his eyes were big as moons as they watched the demon sour upward back to them.

"They might not notice," Nikolai said hopefully.

The anchor cleared crack in the hull a barrel breath before the shell clamped shut. But the demon was trapped inside.

"Now what?" Said Kaz.

Nikolai seemed to have lost control over it as it slammed through the metal shell leaving a gaping hole in its wake.

"Think they won't notice that?" Kaz asked.

Nikolai glanced up at Zoya and with a nod Zoya brought her hands down in a swift arc. A bolt of lightning sizzled through the air besides them, it's heat searing the sky. It struck the shell at the edge of the hole the demon had made, making it look as if the storm had savaged the metal rooftop.

Rain spattered them in a gust as Zoya let it pour through the yard below. The airship swathed into the clouds. Moments later, they were inside the airship bay, soaked to the bone. Anika had never seen or being on an airship before, she should have been thrilled but the only thing she could think of was the demon that came out of Nikolai. Does the Shu princess know who Nikolai Lanstov really is? Is this why the wedding was postponed? She couldn't blame her. King or not, who'd want to be with a scary demon at the end of the day.

For a moment the demon hung in the wind, fearless and still hungry for blood and damage. Until Nikolai drew it back once more. "You'll fly again," he promised.

The airship doors banged shut. The crew stared at Nikolai terror and bewilderment flooding their faces. Zoya was shaking her head, Anika shook in both terror and cold. Kaz seemed only intrigued now that his initial fear had passed.

Nikolai clapped his hands together, rubbing his palms like lord of the manor returned from the hunt, in need of a good meal and a warm fire. "That went about as well as could be expected." He said in the most jovial tone. "Who needs a drink?"