❛ ʻʻ .. it's strange how fate
keeps bringing us together .. 〞
in which a girl who can see a person's fate from the touch of a hand falls for the one boy fearing human touch.
━━ KAZ BREKKER
frenemies to lovers, slowburn
shadow & bone - crooked ki...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
xxxiii. a fallen idol – Randvi
IT felt as though the gods were taunting her.
Randvi had been so close to having her brother back, but once again he had been ripped away from her. Maybe he had never been there at all. Maybe it had been an illusion after all, and she had seen only what she wanted to see.
And yet, she pushed away her doubt, searching for the light hope brought. She had something to live for, a dream to chase, a family of her own.
Hope was dangerous, but it was also the reason she had made it this far.
Kaz and Randvi had been stalking the perimeter of the treasury for what felt like an etentiry, in almost complete silence. Her mind was whirring, too busy thinking about her brother, praying he had made it to the rest of the crew, praying Jakov was keeping everyone safe. She wanted to know what plagued Kaz's mind, who he was thinking of.
But she knew the answer. Inej.
She had seen them talking on the roof before they'd descended down to pose as girls from the Menagerie. She had seen the way Kaz's pupils dilated, the look he'd given her after receiving his gloves, the way he'd feared for her. He was thinking of Inej, who was lovely and brave, who had scaled a burning incinerator for her crew, and was the reason they were all still alive.
So what had Kaz wanted to tell her up on the roof?
Perhaps it was that he couldn't tell her he needed her because he needed Inej instead. That he could never love her because his heart belonged to Inej.
His Wraith, his Queen.
"They say you can hear Djel talking from this tree." Kaz hummed nonchalantly, in an almost mocking way.
"I wonder if it tells jokes."
"If Djel's anything like the Fjerdans, I doubt he has a sense of humour."
"What makes you think Djel is a he?"
Kaz merely laughed to himself, continuing to focus on strapping Wylan's root bombs to the base of the ash tree. As a child Randvi had believed the stories of the talking tree, had believed Djel lived within it. Kaz would have laughed if he'd heard her admit that, but even as she stood waiting for the tree to fall, she believed it could talk.
And what would Djel whisper to her? You are a blight on this earth and even death is too good for you. Why did she bother to place even an ounce of faith in a god set on seeing her killed?
"So," She began, leaning her weight against the ash tree. "What do you think of my brother?"
Kaz stood upright, motioning her to move away from the tree. "He's arrogant and stubborn, a bit like you, only he looks nothing like you."
