tear you apart, kaz brekker (discon.)

xii. the power and the glory

12. chapter twelve!
the power and the glory

trigger warnings:
nothing too bad!!!

Katarina had made it. Ravka. The air was cleaner, but the people seemed just as hostile as they had been in Ketterdam. It didn't matter, she scolded herself, she was home. And home only meant one thing Thalia.

Two things! Save Alina, and Thalia.

Ravka was her home, and yet she'd never felt like such a stranger. When she walked the streets amongst the crows, eyes were on her. The voice in her head told her to stop being so paranoid, she was a living legend, a myth in the flesh. Is this what Alina felt like? It must have been quite the headline; the degenerate deuci, the disappearing deuci maybe?

She liked that one better.

Kribirsk, East Ravka was exactly how she had remembered it to be. The bar they sat in hadn't changed since her last visit either. It still reeked of the same Grisha-hating, snobs that wished to be as close to the Little Palace as they possibly could.

Igorning the rotten glances from the people surrounding her, Katarina stole the last of Jesper's chips, sending him an evil smirk when he turned to her in shock.

"So..." When he turned back around to speak, she grabbed ahold of his beer and took the smallest, most unnoticeable sip she could before placing it back down just as he picked it up again. "That went well."

Cutting him off rather abruptly, Arken slammed his glass on to the bar.

"The Little Palace winter fete. There's just no way we can find a way to the Sun Summoner without Nina."

His gaze lifted from the piece of paper in his hands to Katarina.

"No."

"Sabine-"

"My real name is Katarina, and incase I misspoke, no."

Kaz eyed the two of them suspiciously.

"What about that girl? The now you sent the letter to because you wanted her to help you find a way in to the palace," Annika spoke, but Katarina shrugged, narrowing her eyes at the red head. "Yeah, you said 'like old times' or something?"

"You're delusional, was your drink spiked?"

Annika's eyes widened, and at the very same time she felt herself be kicked in the leg. Hard.

"Oh, must've been someone else."

"Mhm." Katarina hummed, glaring at her over the edge of her cup. Annika slumped back into her chair, muttering something under her breath with annoyance. "Worry about yourself and your crows, Kaz."

His chest tightened when she spoke, it always did, but she didn't even look at him this time.

    "I didn't say anything." He said from behind her, there was barely any space between them, but enough for him to be comfortable.

She turned around, her hair hitting his chest as she did so. "You didn't have to."

Kaz could've sworn she heard the way his breathing hitched, he had never been close to her– at least not close enough to see her. Really see her. Beyond her Jesper like jokes and incredibly irritating but strangely attractive reactions, she was just Katarina.