My Name Is Adela Kirigan (A Shadow and Bone Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 34: Kaz Brekker's Plan

'The skiff is still here,' Inej said, her and Jesper standing across from Kaz, from where he sat at a desk. 'Travellers downstairs are complaining. They were due to cross this morning.'

'Orders from the Black General,' Kaz said, leaning back, a gloved hand on his cane. 'He plans to cross on it tomorrow.' 

'The general?' Jesper asked. 'Is that the same general who tried to... Oh, yeah, kill us all. That one.' 

'He has the Sun Summoner. And the other girl. Adela. His sister.' 

'Was this your plan all along? To have the general get her back so you can take her again?' Inej asked him. 

'And since when did you care about Adela Kirigan? The only thing right now should be the Sun Summoner,' Jesper said. 

'I have my reasons for wanting the other girl alive. My plan is to get us across the Fold. We aren't prepared for another fight.' 

'So you're not going to take another run at Alina?' Inej asked. 'And you're really willing to let a million kruge go?'

'Jesper and I can't do it without you.' 

'You've been saying that since day one,' Jesper remarked. 

'And you've made your position perfectly clear,' Kaz said to Inej. 

'So all you want is to cross the Fold?' Inej asked, still not quite believing him.

'Once we land in Novokribirsk, it's your choice what you do next.' 

'Okay. Hang on. Are we talking about boarding a skiff with people who will recognise us?' Jesper asked, breaking into the conversation. 'People who don't like us much.' 

'We'll have to blend in,' Kaz announced. 'Who else was on that skiff?' 

'Some people from the winter fete. Dignitaries from Kerch and Noyvi Zem on their way back home.'

'Now they're audience to one more light show. Jesper, how do you enjoy playing a Zemeni guard?' 

The next day... 

The curtain opened and Kirigan walked into the tent. Alina sat at a chair, wearing a black dress, with her hair all done up in a bun and decorated well, and her antler collar on full display. Adela was sitting on another chair, tied to it with a small chain that prevented her from using her Grisha powers.

'You are special,' he said, keeping his focus only on Alina. 'You do know that? And you're about to prove it to the world.' He walked closer. 'There will be foreign diplomats on this crossing of the Fold.' 

'If you want me to play along with your demonstration, you will release Mal,' she said. 

'Please. I just want to talk to you.' 

'I've had enough of your lies.' 

'And what lies are those?' 

'About the Black Heretic.' He crossed the room to a chair and sat, across from Alina. 'You spun all this guilt around your burden. The sins of your father. There was no father. You created the Fold. You killed my friends. My parents. And now your perversion of power extends to me.' 

'Baghra,' he snarled. 'How could you so easily believe the twisted words of that angry, old woman?' Adela chuckled from across the room, where she was bound to her chair. 

'You've been lying to us for a long time, brother. You're lucky I'm in these, because if I wasn't, I'd kill you. I may not know your long-held Grisha secrets, but I'm still just a version of you. Still just as powerful. And when I get out of these, first chance I get - I'm coming for you.' She made eye contact with him, her brown eyes dark and angry. He stood and crossed the room to her, leaning on the armrests of her chair and looking deep into her eyes. The corner of her mouth upturned in a smile. 'Should I cry for Mommy? Should I scream? I laugh in the face of my insecure, cruel brother who thinks that controlling a girl, stripping her of her agency and free will, and lying to his sister, his blood relation... I laugh in his face. Because he has no idea what he's started.' 

'You will mark my words, Adela. I will make you pay for siding with your mother.'

'Our mother, Aleksander. You've always hated Baghra, despised her for holding you back. She was trying to protect us! From the very beginning, she loved us both. But you shamed her. You disappointed her. You disobeyed her. Baghra was right. You're a manipulator, a liar, and a psychopath who cares about no one but himself. Who cares about nothing but power. And greed.' He raised his hand and in one swift motion, slapped Adela across the face. She spat out blood and a broken tooth, tears gathering in her eyes. 

'I remember the kind young man you once were. My brother. Aleksander. You cared about your people. You wanted to help them. But you started a war, and in exchange, you lost everyone and everything you loved. While Baghra retreated into the shadows of the Little Palace, I stayed by your side. I loved you as only a sister could. And when the King and Queen had me join them, when they began to take my freedom piece by piece, and they sent you off to fight in wars and to lead an army, I stood by you. I let them do it because I knew that my brother was helping fix Ravka. But it was all a means to an end, and that - that was to expand the Fold further for your own selfish ambition, your own selfish pride. And then Alina came. And you did the same thing to her, that you did to me,' she said, her voice cracking at the last moment. 'And for that, I will always hate you. I will never forgive you. Ever.' He stood to his full height. 

'So be it.' Alina stood. 

'Who should I believe? You've been lying to me since the day I met you.' 

'Telling you half a story is not the same as lying.' 

'And what about conspiring with the Apparat to poison the King and usurp the throne? Did you? Or did you want to tell half-truths about that, too?'

'Continuing to serve such a king would make me a traitor to my country. And my conscience.' 

'So then you're a martyr?'

'I would have thought you of all people would understand what it's like. To live in hiding for fear of being murdered simply for being. It's why I built the Little Palace in the first place.' He stood. 'Everything that I have done, everything that I have ever done, has been to make Ravka safer, to make Grisha safer!' 

'Did you think Genya was safe when you placed her under the King's watch?' Alina retorted, making a look somewhere between confusion and anger come over Kirigan's face. 'Am I to believe that you will show Baghra mercy? I could have made Grisha safe, but you never gave me a choice.' 

'Perhaps,' he said. 'But you have given me one. A chance to make amends. To finally win. The Fold was not your mistake...'

'The Fold was no mistake!' she shouted, bringing the conversation to a halt. He sighed. 

'I never intended for it to be the blight it's become. Or for men like the King or Zlatan to exploit it for their own gain.' 

'You put this collar on me to exploit my power for your gain!' He crossed to her and held her hands in his. 

'For us. To help us conquer the Fold together. You and me. You cannot do this on your own. And neither can I.' 

'We could have had this,' she said quietly. 'All of it. You could have made me your equal. Instead, you made me this.' She brought her hands to the antler collar sitting around her neck, stepping back and away from Kirigan. 'You don't care who suffers, as long as you win.' Tears shone in his eyes at the biting rejection, but still he said nothing. After a few moments, the expression in his eyes hardened as he looked up at her. 

'Fine. Make me your villain.' Turning on his heel, he left the room. Alina looked over at Adela, as she lifted her head to meet the eyes of the other girl, a trail of dried blood still adorning her lips, almost silently pleading with Adela to help in some way, but the older Grisha simply shook her head, saying, 

'He can't be saved.'