Flower of the North [Kaz Brekker; Six of Crows]

chapter 6

AN: 🧍‍♀️um...so I lied. There will evidently be two updates this week. Here. This is the last chapter of the first arc.

After that day, everything seemed to change. Cecilia would go along her route, looking for Kaz everywhere she went in the Barrel, but he no longer showed up. She no longer felt his presence in the shadows either.

She wondered if she had done something wrong or if perhaps he realized that he didn't actually like her. The thought itself made Cecilia incredibly devastated, but she was quick to convince herself that Kaz probably was busy or needed some time to himself.

Whatever the reason was, she would give him the time he needed.

Cecilia kept up her joyful facade selling every single day despite the absence she clearly felt. However, she did feel another presence in the distance. And she caught a figure on the rooftops a few times that she was sure nobody else noticed. Cecilia didn't even think they knew that she knew they were there.

One day, walking through a quieter area of the Barrel, Cecilia caught sight of a figure in the alleyway by one of the many known gambling dens in the area. Cecilia hadn't gone into one since her visit to the Crow Club, though she was definitely interested in playing games again.

Cecilia peaked into the alleyway to see a boy about her age sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He was breathing heavily with a smirk on his face, though his hat did well to cover his eyes. What Cecilia couldn't get past though was the heavy bruising on his cheek and neck.

"Are you alright, sir?" Cecilia asked worriedly.

The boy immediately looked at her and Cecilia could see that the bruising went all the way up to his eye, which was painted red. He had probably popped a blood vessel in his eye. If she were to guess, he had gotten beaten and choked quite harshly, but he still seemed happy with the small stack of kruge in his hand.

The boy shrugged, "All good here, ma'am."

Cecilia looked around just outside the alleyway and made a split second decision to go to his side, "Can you keep a secret?"

She knew what she was about to do was a terrible idea. Probably the worst idea she had ever had. But Cecilia couldn't just leave him like this. She couldn't stand seeing people hurt. Especially children like her.

The boy tensed up as she knelt in front of him, but kept up his smug facade, "I'm sure I can."

Cecilia reached forward and the boy could smell the fragrance of flowers all over her. She lightly brushed her fingers over his face and down to his neck. The injury faded away as if it had never been there in the first place. And the boy blinked in confusion, touching his face after to feel none of the pain from before.

"You're-!"

Cecilia shushed him, "Secret. Just between you and me. Ok?"

The boy leaned forward, holding his hand out, "I'm Jesper."

Cecilia lightly shook his hand, "Nice to meet you Jesper. Take care of yourself, ok? You have a beautiful face. I'd hate to see it look like that again."

Cecilia walked to her flower cart and Jesper called after her, "Our secret, flower girl!"

Cecilia gave him a last wave with a gentle smile and made her way off. That decision was one that would change her life, and she didn't even know it.

~

Kaz sat alone in a back room of the Slat. He thought back to the girl he hadn't seen in weeks. He knew exactly when she would be there every day and kept himself hidden away despite the fact that his heart tugged at him to go see her.