PIGEON - a Grishaverse OC story

Chapter 2 - Dirtyhands

Milena stood, chugged her bottle almost empty and smiled, trying desperately to ignore her unsettled stomach. The image of the cheating mans blistered hands was filtering what was really happening. She could hear his screams.

"Mr. Brekker" Milena chuckled, gesturing for the bastard of the barrel to enter.

He kicked the door closed behind him. Milena leaned against the table, swaying a bit on her feet then waving for him to sit. There was no sense of welcome in his sharp face.

He did not sit down, the tip of his cane disorganizing the weaving of the carpet below. His tone was evil and threatening. And Milena felt intimidated, even when she was taller than him.

"That man you burned was mine" He clutched his cane with his gloved fingers.

He didn't look the slightest concerned for the man himself. Kaz was probably worried about the money he carried in his pocket or what new trick he had used to cheat.

"Well he was cheating, so what do you expect?" Milena breathed, still holding the tinfoil wrapped bottle in hand.

"I expect you to maintain a valuable alliance with Per Haskell" Kaz sneered.

"He should be the man to teach not to cheat" Milena countered.

She set the bottle down and sat onto her plump armchair, folding her arms upon the table. She held eye contact with Kaz, letting her fingers spark and trail with blue flame.

"Check under the poker table, street witch" he enunciated the name like none did, with disgust, not fear "You'll find a wealthy amount of stolen Kruge"

Milena laughed a bit, picking at her tooth with her finger. She raised her eyebrows at the young boy who was still standing. He acted nothing like his age. She was older than him but she wouldn't deny it. But his reputation won hers over.

"You sell your own men out, hmm?" Milena sucked in a breath, squinting her eyes.

Deep inside she knew Kaz was probably correct, and had just saved her a few hundred Kruge. But maybe he had hired that man just to make her feel in debt. Like she owed him something.

"Are the rumours about you true?" She asked him, genuinely curios.

"Depends what you want to hear" Kaz answered, then lowered himself into the rickety chair, twirling his cane against the floor.

"You," Milena pointed at Kaz, "asked me that once" she leaned back with a sigh, staring the boy down.

In that moment she bieleved he would kill her if it offered any use too him. His hat tilted downward and lined his black eyes full of murder. Milena wondered where his hate truly came from.

"Did I give you an answer?" She questioned.

He did not reply. Not due to a lack of something to say but to drag the intimidating silence out and put Milena on edge. She had tried to throw him off balance by heating his cane or the whole room up but he was untouchable.

"Well let me remind you" Milena stood up, leaning over the table and gazing down at Kaz. His jaw and cheekbones were excentuated in the yellow light. He looked scary. Really, scary.

"The blood, really boils. My hands are stained red, and you know what? My hair used to be white" Milena nodded, her eyes wide and words dragged out,

"You couldn't really manage with out those gloves, right?"

She didn't expect an answer. Kaz was as still as a painting, his face unmoving. But something passed through his eyes. An acknowledgement of his weakness. Anger, and grief.