Katerina Petrova was on the run and had to hide her past. But among thieves and murderers, did that really matter? All that mattered to Kaz Brekker was whether or not his prized grisha was up for the job. He didn't ask questions and that's what made...
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━━katerina often wondered what her past self would think of her now. how the once feared general of the second army was now in hellgate, breaking out a drüskelle. for sure, the old katerina would be disgusted beyond reasoning.
yet, her eyes were remained trained on the creature below them. it was some kind of reptile, its thick body covered in grey-green scales, its head wide and flat, its yellow eyes slitted. it moved slowly, sinuously, its low-slung body sliding lazily over the ground. there was a white crust around the broad crescent of its mouth, and when it opened its jaws to roar again, something wet, white, and foaming dripped from its pointed teeth.
"what is that thing?" nina asked.
"rinca moten," katerina answered. their fracturing friendship had been amended when katerina snuck some sweets and gave them to nina, minutes prior to them entering the prison. "a desert lizard. the poison from its mouth is lethal."
"it seems pretty slow on its feet."
"yes. it seems that way," inej chimed in.
the prisoner lunged forward with his knife. the big lizard moved so quickly that if katerina wasn't used to watching fast things, she would have lost track of it. one moment the prisoner was bearing down on it; the next, the lizard was on the other side of the arena. bare seconds later, it had slammed into the prisoner, pinning him to the ground as he screamed its poison dripping over his face, leaving smoky trails wherever it touched his skin.
the creature dropped its weight on the prisoner with a sickening crunch and set about slowly mauling his shoulder as he lay there shrieking.
the crowd was booing.
nina averted her eyes, unable to watch. "what is this?"
"welcome to the hellshow," said kaz. "pekka rollins got the idea a few years back and pitched it to the right council member."
"the merchant council knows?"
"of course they know, nina," katerina, who was in between both of them, said. "there's money to be made here."
nina didn't seem pleased with the answer as she gripped her fist tighter. katerina looked back down, the crowd continued to boo as guards entered the arena to remove the prisoner's remains, tendrils of smoke still curling from his ruined flesh.
"why are they complaining?" nina asked angrily. "isn't this what they came here for?"
and just for the fun of it, katerina started to boo as well. kaz looked at her weirdly before rolling his eyes and turning his attention back to nina, "they wanted a fight. they were expecting him to last longer."
"this is disgusting."
kaz shrugged and katerina was still boo-ing. "only disgusting thing about it is that i didn't think of it first."
