𝕬𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝕷𝖚𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖇𝖞 - [𝗞𝗮𝘇 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗿]

𝐱𝐢𝐱. 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘰𝘷

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 — alina starkov

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 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐍 in, eventually, and the moment his plump lips had parted, they hadn't shut. He'd ranted and raved with waving hands that their Sun Summoner had just so happened to stumble into the trunk of the very carriage they were all perched upon.

 Inej hadn't been unable to stifle her shock, and to say that Jesper revelled in it would have been an understatement. The Zemeni sharpshooter had bumped his boney shoulder into Aleksa, grinning from ear to ear — he was utterly proud of himself.

 Kaz had remained silent and showed as little emotion as one of Inej's knives. His lips remained thinned into a sliver, his eyes narrowed on the boy who bounced in his seat whilst occasionally drifting towards Aleksa who simply loved to infuriate him by offering her most perfect wink.

 Still, even despite the harsh edges Kaz outwardly portrayed, even he couldn't stifle the feeling of victory that tore through his gut and made the skin on his arms buzz. After all, if they had admitted defeat and trailed home to the smog-filled streets of Ketterdam, they'd have nothing...

  Not that his crows knew that, of course.

 It was a secret that could ruin him and the very people around him, and it tore away at his edges; he was becoming desperate, almost reckless. 

 He'd pushed himself too far inside the Palace and now he was paying for it; every jolt of the carriage sent a shockwave of pain through his leg and it took every inch of concentration so as to not hiss in pain and clamp his eyes shut.

 Secrets were once again the very thing that threatened to tear them all apart. Kaz could have told them, warned them at least, but he didn't. To say he had regretted the choice he'd made back in Ketterdam would have been false, for the way Aleksa and Inej relied on each other when it came to both fighting and support... He couldn't bring himself to be the cause of a divide. But more than that, he couldn't have even attempted such a heist without his Crows; Aleksa had been right. 

 Without Inej there was no Aleksa, and without Aleksa, there was no Jesper. He'd have been alone once again.

 Now, with the Sun Summoner sitting in the palm of his leather-bound hands; his secret could remain as such.

 Aleksa, once the Little Palace had finally faded from view, had let out a heavy sigh that made her slump into Jesper. The panic and fear of bumping into her brother and being taken away from her Crows for good was pushed away. The nerves of failing in their quest to steal the Sun Summoner were gone. She could breathe again.