❛ ʻʻ .. it's strange how fate
keeps bringing us together .. 〞
in which a girl who can see a person's fate from the touch of a hand falls for the one boy fearing human touch.
━━ KAZ BREKKER
frenemies to lovers, slowburn
shadow & bone - crooked ki...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
xxiv. once a drüskelle, always a drüskelle – Randvi
THE further south they travelled, the further they grew from the coast, the more the ice broke up, the thick snow giving a way to a gentler white blanket, with glimpses of the black earth beneath it. Slashes of forests grew more frequent, as did the sight of animal tracks.
When the rest of the crew grew slow and tired, Randvi would run ahead, following the tracks left by small rabbits and deer into the patches of pine trees. By the time the group caught up with her, she'd have a rabbit slewn over her shoulder.
It was her own way of distracting herself from the job before them. They would be walking straight into the Ice Court, filled with the very people that had taken everything Randvi loved away from her. It was a death trap.
Perhaps this whole heist was an elaborate plan concocted by Kaz to get revenge for what happened in Ravka. Unlikely, she scoffed to herself. But was it?
Being in Fjerda was bringing back too many memories. And every night she would awaken to the same nightmare – blood covered snow, and the sight of countless lifeless bodies. Coming back to Fjerda was a mistake, but she had no way of turning back now.
"No, Hringkaaalle." Nina dragged out from ahead of her, trying to teach Inej Fjerdan. "You have to hang on the last syllable a bit."
"Hringalah?" Tried Inej.
Randvi just laughed, shaking her head and picking up her steps to walk besides the two. The Little Palace may have taught their Grisha every language in the world, but was nothing more than textbook, or the type spoken by royals and diplomats.
"You're saying it wrong," Randvi corrected with a smug smile. "the royal family may not think much the way you speak, but peasants can sense a rat from miles away. That's the beauty of growing up with rats, you learn what to look out for."
"What a lovely analogy." Nina said sarcastically, and when the three of them finished giggling and looked ahead, they noticed Matthias staring right at Nina.
They must have caught him staring, as he cleared his throat and said. "Do not eat the snow, it will only dehydrate you and lower your body temperature." Then he purged on forwards.
With a wide smile, briefly wiggling her eyebrows at Nina, Randvi trailed on behind Matthias up the hill. In the distance, she could just take out the faint outline of something. As they came over the rise of the hill, Randvi stopped dead in her tracks, her breath falling from her lungs.
"Stop! You don't want to–"
But it was too late. Nina clapped a hand over her mouth, and somewhere behind her, Randvi heard Wylan gagging.
Before them stood three stakes, driven deep into the ice, hidden by the shelter of rocks. Bound to the stakes were three charred bodies, their blackened skin still smouldering.
