Page 150 of Bone Year

“But he’s in bad shape, Maelis. Professor Nestor took him upstairs a few minutes ago for surgery. You can probably go see him from the gallery.”

I nod, peeling off toward the stairs, ignoring my ankle completely.

I make it to the eighth floor in record time, panting as I reach the first operating room and peek inside through the window in the door.

Fuck.

They’re removing corruption from someone, and all I see is oozing black flesh being held up and tossed onto a scale. Once the healer shifts to the side, I see the patient. It’s not him. I don’t recognize them, and I go to the next window.

I see the large bone saw before I see anything else, moving across a leg above the knee, and my heart lurches into my throat.

Oh gods.

I look up to see who the patient is, and it’s a girl I recognize from Fracture and Form, but I don’t recall her name. She’s sedated, but my heart breaks for her, because they may save her life, but she’s never going to be a Veilguard now without a leg.

I jog to the next room and see a flash of a silvery-white wing.

That’s him.

My angel.

I push the door open, running to the bedside to get a better look.

“Miss Rose.” Professor Nestor sounds shocked and annoyed.

Then I see him.

“Jace,” I whisper as I come up beside him.

He’s still awake, coherent, and shockingly calm for the state of him. I swallow as I take in his face. His left eye, still attached to the muscles, is hanging out on his cheek. Someone is there on the other side of him, fully suited up with a mask, gown, and gloves, keeping the eye moist with a syringe of clear fluid.

Jace’s good eye finds mine. I place my hand on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay. Professor Nestor is a mad genius, remember? He’ll put it back in. You’ll still see out of it.”

I’m nodding more for myself than for Jace but trying to reassure him.

“Miss Rose, do not make false promises. This boy’s eyeball has a twisted creature’s nail stuck in it. It may be beyond saving.”

I suck in a breath, my eyes going wide as I look back down at Jace, who still hasn’t spoken.

“Is he hurt anywhere else?” I ask, looking across the room at Nestor, where he’s arranging a tray of tools he’ll need for the procedure.

“He took a bad hit to the head, but he’ll survive.” He looks up at me.

“I want to scrub in. I need to make sure he’s okay.”

Professor Nestor shakes his head. “You’re too attached to this. Go be useful somewhere else. I need to sedate him now and get started. Out with you.” He waves a gloved hand at me toward the door.

I take a step closer to Jace and place my hand gently atop his head, brushing a strand of his light-blond hair from his temple.

“I’ll be watching the whole time. You’re going to get through this.”

His good eye narrows on me.

“Leave. I don’t want your face to be the last thing I see if I don’t make it.”

I almost choke. What he says feels like a stab right through my chest.