━━━ ❝ I pity the fool who wants to be a God. ❞
&
━━━ There is enough fire inside you to put
all of Hell to shame, but you are
pretending to be water, for someone
who is too afrai...
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CHAPTER XII. the honour between thieves
Oaths were useless. At least when staring down fate on your knees.
The blood obligation Leia had bound herself to the night of the bonfire completely slipped her mind. In its place, a selfish instinct prevailed.
To fight. To run. To live.
Would that be so bad? To have a Valentine not martyred?
Who was she, if nothing but a sword? The Valentines were destined to be tied to the feet of the crown. That was the price to be the blagoslovennyy.
No power without chains.
Such a noble future was bleak in her father's opinion, who spoiled the sisters with a temporary bliss of their childhood. They ran free from etiquette classes, unlike other court children whose mannerisms mirrored a statute. Much of Nikolai's gracefulness was moulded from hours in class. His glib tongue, however, was purely him. Him, and a whole lot of trouble.
Leia hadn't seen the Lanstov princes since they left Os Alta. She was nine when her mother abdicated the Ravkan court. Overnight, the Darkling became the sole Second Army advisor to Alexander the Third—Nikolai and Vasily's father.
Rumours that the Valentines fell out of favour travelled almost everywhere but Balakirev, where they relocated. According to her mother, it was perfect because no politicians could be seen for miles there. But for Leia and Selma, it was a living hell.
Ugly whispers grew claws then, poking that her mother's thirst for power forced her out. Even when Selma finally ran away to the Little Palace and they returned to Os Atla, their mother never went back to court.
Looking back, Balakirev was paradise. If only Selma didn't run to the Little Palace. Perhaps none of it would have happened. She wouldn't have died, Leia wouldn't have been orphaned by her birthright, wouldn't have ended up in Ketterdam.
Wouldn't have met Kaz. The unfortunate serendipity that came limping out of an alleyway.
Kaz's grotesque, bloodied face was his first greeting. Albeit looking closed to meeting his maker, his gaze burned with raw hatred. Mariam warned about Kaz, the shining new star on the streets who possessed such carnal ruthlessness.
Weeks passed and Kaz still clung to her thoughts like a parasite. So, she sought him out. And Mariam was right, he was ruthless. Kaz damn near tore out her insides with a rusty fishing hook, until she summoned dirty canal water to drown the rat.
Leia learnt that night, Kaz was no canal rat. He was a viper.
"Destruction and rebirth are one and the same." Kaz's mannerisms completely changed after she summoned the elements. "Empires fall and another rise. The Valentines may be erased, but the rising of a Bennett is just the beginning."
