WICKED GAME [shadow and bone]

silent agreement

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄:

"is that an insult that I still look like a little girl?"

It was safe to say that Kaz Brekker was shocked. His intentional (and only) thought was that Katerina will rat him out to other Grisha and that will be the end of him, yet here he was.

"Sit down, your leg must be killing you." The man didn't bother to ask how she knew yet stayed in the same place unmoving.

"I don't n..."

"I said sit!" The redhead snapped, staring him right into the eyes. Then she softened her voice. "Please."

Kaz let out a heavy breath through his nose, then hesitantly sat down on the plush chair. In the same chair, Katerina was sitting the other day when Aleksander came to her room.

The girl sighed. She walked over to her desk and leaned over it, head bowed, her arms supporting her body. The redhead raised her head and turned around. She stayed in the same place in front of the table, arms crossed upon her chest. She inspected the man sitting not too far away from her.

He had taken down the ridiculous hat that every guard had to wear, his hair messy falling over his forehead. Katerina had to restrain herself from walking to him and sliding her hand through his hair to keep them in place.

"Why did you lie to me?" Kaz's head shot up. There was no point in asking what the girl was talking about. He knew.

Truth be told Kaz had no idea why and it seemed that Katerina understood that she will not be getting any answer.

A silence fell between them. They could hear distant chatter and laughter, music from the celebrations but overall, it was quite peaceful.

"I am sorry."

Kaz once more raised his head to see that she was not looking at him but somewhere in the distance. All trails of anger were gone from her face and for a second Kaz even felt sorry for how unhappy Katerina looked.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." Katerina brought back all the memories that she had taken from Kaz's mind and reminisced them all over again. Kaz, of course, had no idea of what she is talking about, that is until she continued. "All the pain, suffering, trauma. You had to go through that alone even though we made a promise." She breathed out a heavy breath. "I tried to help you; I tried to take half of it and put it on my shoulders." The redhead looked at Kaz who was carefully watching her. "Did you feel it? The heavy weight? It should be much lighter now."

Kaz Brekker would be lying yet again if he said that yesterday after the encounter with the girl something in him didn't feel different. The horrible memories of Jordie and betrayal were sitting in him weighing him down every day, yet just yesterday at one point the weight did become much lighter.