INEFFABLE | kaz brekker

chapter eighteen

Jesper stood as Kaz and Elham approached the fire. Inej was seated next to Alina, and Elham could tell from her posture that she was nervous. Inej gave a small smile, before turning to Alina.

"I've never met a Saint before."

Alina smiled. "I've never been a Saint before."

Inej gripped Alina's hand. "Wherever you are, whatever you need...my hand is yours."

Alina raised a brow, before picking up her blade. "I think I like that hand with a dagger in it. I couldn't hold onto yours, so take mine as a replacement. It's not much, but it'll fend off a bully or two."

"I know just what to name it."

Elham smiled at the exchange, before turning to Kaz who looked unamused. She rolled her eyes, handing Jesper the sack Kaz had handed her earlier. He handed it over to Mal.

"Step one, a change of clothes. It's worked for me."

Inej helped Alina stand, and Mal took the sack, thanking Jesper. Alina glanced around at the Crows.

"So...will you still be trying to kidnap me?"

Jesper shook his head. "Of course not."

Kaz sharply turned to him, glaring, and Elham knew her face must have twisted up in confusion. Did he really think after all of that, that he was going to just snatch her up and send her off for kruge? Elham had accepted her fate if they made it home without the kruge, and she wasn't going back on that now. She wouldn't trade her freedom for another's.

Kaz eyed Jesper. "Have you found religion too?"

"No, it's just...I'm exhausted! Besides, it'd be bad form to kidnap someone after they saved your life."

Kaz turned to Alina. "You are quite valuable, you know?"

Alina nodded, slowly making her way over to stand in front of Kaz. She pulled an entirely too flashy necklace, in Elham's opinion, out of her pocket, holding it out. It was potentially the most expensive object she had ever seen, and she couldn't help but let her eyes widen staring at it.

"So is this." Alina held out the necklace, and Kaz slowly took it from her, eying it.

"I saw this on a portrait of one of the queens in the Little Palace."

"It's not a gift. It's to keep quiet about who I am. Where I go from here."

Kaz eyed her, before nodding. He held a gloved hand out for her to shake. "The deal is the deal."

Alina shook his hand, and he passed the necklace over to Elham, who immediately pocketed it. She probably would have found a way to get ahold of it somehow sooner or later, so why not give it to her for safekeeping? After all, it is her freedom that depends on keeping it safe, she'd guard it with her life. Elham doubted anyone back in Ketterdam would try to pickpocket the Valkyrie, and if they did, they'd meet their untimely end.

Alina and Mal walked far enough out to have some privacy to change, and soon after made their way back to the Crows and Zoya, still around the fire. Alina walked up to the fire, tossing her black and gold kefta into the flames.

Mal watched the kefta slowly catch fire. "I didn't expect it to burn at all. But it can be destroyed in the end. Just like him."

Elham scoffed, creating a small ball of fire before tossing it onto the burnt kefta. "You should have let me do it. I would have made sure it burned. Could have made sure it all burned, if it came down to it. I would have liked to see the Darkling burn too, but I'll settle for him being massacred by his own creation. I always loved a little bit of poetic justice."