❛ 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...
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li. death's lullaby – Kaz
WHEN KAZ SHOULD have thought of nothing but the plan to tear Van Eck and Pekka Rollins apart, he thought of Randvi. He thought of her, alone and afraid, listening to Van Eck's taunts just as Inej had endured.
She's strong, he reminded himself as he paced Colm Fahey's room, she'll make it.
He'd been sat in that chair for what felt like hours, answering his crews questions on the plan to bring down Van Eck, letting the pieces of the plan shift into place. He saw the scheme's final shape in his mind, the steps it would take to get them there, the infinite ways they might falter or be found out. It was a mad, spiky monster of a plan, and that was what it had to be for them to succeed.
Johannus Rietveld. He'd told a kind of truth. Johannus Rietveld had never existed. Kaz had used Jordie's middle name and their shared family name to create the farmer's identity years ago.
He wasn't certain why he'd purchased the farm where he'd grown up or why he'd continued to make trades and acquire property under the Rietveld name. Was Johannus Rietveld meant to be his Jakob Hertzoon? A respectable identity like the one Pekka Rollins had crafted to better dupe gullible pigeons? Or had it been some way of resurrecting the family he'd lost? Did it even matter? Johannus Rietveld existed on paper and in bank records, and Colm Fahey was perfect to play the role.
When the meeting had finally broke apart, the coffee had gone cold and the sun shone through the large windows of the hotel. Despite the bright light streaming through the windows, they would all try to get a few hours' rest. He could not. We don't stop. Kaz's whole body ached with exhaustion. His leg had ceased throbbing and now it just radiated pain.
Nina was curled up in the sofa in Matthias' lap, Jesper spread across another chair, Wylan asleep at a table surrounded by small sketches. Inej was awake, hiding inside the bathroom tending to her wounds. I should help her, a voice demanded.
It was only he and Jakov left awake, and Jakov had done nothing but stare daggers at the thought Randvi had been abandoned.
There was a knock at the door. Suddenly everyone had awoken, on their feet searching for weapons. Kaz heard Rotty's voice call out from the outside of the double white doors. With a deep sigh, Kaz watched Jakov make his way to the door, then there were a series of shouts. He rushed with the rest of his crew to see what the commotion was.
And there, lying limp in Rotty's arms, was Randvi, her skin grey and pale, dripping with blood.
Kaz rushed forwards, forgetting the ache of his leg, his tiredness slipping away into nothingness. Please be alive, please be alive. The thought of Randvi dead didn't bare thinking about. He wouldn't lose her, and if he did, Van Eck would regret ever daring to take her from him.
