A Coin Has Two Sides (Season Two) || Kaz Brekker x OC

12. You're Free

Hatred.

Pure hatred.

For Pekka Rollins.

For Kaz Brekker.

For her father.

For herself.

Her darkness had grabbed onto it and finally been able to burst through her barricades.

The ones she had put so much energy and effort into creating.

And now she was back to square one.

It was too risky for her to go to Black Veil. Pekka Rollins and his men would be there.

She didn't want to run into any of the crows and so the room at the inn was also off the table.

Gerik and Demius would still be back at her office, and she couldn't go to them, either.

She needed to be alone.

So she opted to visit a place she cherished more than any other.

One of the rooftops on the exchange.

It was a place she would frequently go to when she lived in Ketterdam.

A place of calmness, where she could sit with her thoughts and look up at the stars.

And that is exactly what she was doing now.

The stars above her shone brightly as she smoked one of her valdrien cigarettes for added relief.

Her mind recounted what had just happened.

How she started to black out.

How she opened her eyes to no longer see Pekka Rollins, but her father instead.

How she heard his voice speaking to her, commanding her, controlling her.

Winnie had felt the darkness begin to rise the second Pekka Rollins had landed his first punch to Kaz's stomach.

Stay calm.

His words to her were at the front of her mind.

And she had tried to. She had succeeded in staying put as she watched Kaz keel over in pain.

Despite her mind yelling at her to help him.

She didn't listen.

But when Pekka had turned to her and told her she was the one who needed to harm him, there was a snap.

She was put on the spot to choose between the two things her heart cherished the very most.

Her freedom or the boy she loved.

It was too much for her to bear.

And so her darkness was the thing that handled it for her.

It had chosen her freedom over Kaz Brekker.

But Winnie discovered almost immediately that isn't the choice she would have made.

She screamed to be back in control, cried, struggled against her tough dark side.

All she could hear was his voice in her head.

The things the darkness had told her.

I will never feel the same way about you as you do me.

They clawed at her heart, pushing her back down, making her lose hope.

She had always seen hope as a weakness. Something that was dangerous.