The Red Ribbon {Kaz Brekker X Reader}

When The Church Bells Ring

~ Y/N Pov ~

//It's the final countdown do do do doooo//

I dream of bloodshed, of stormwitches, and of Kaz. I silently curse my brain for never letting me get a second of rest from the matters at hand. With my eyes closed and myself still half-asleep, I can hear the chimes of the bells from the Church of Barter. They sound two...four...six times. It is still early in the morning. The auction won't start for another few hours.

I stir fully awake and in doing so, accidentally bump into Inej. She opens her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Six bells."

"Is Kaz awake?" She inquires.

I look over to the bastard of the Barrel, still snoozing. "Surprisingly, no."

Inej then rolls over and tries to salvage the few hours of peace we have left before all goes to hell. I don't blame her. I stifle a yawn, but my mind is awake. I glance over at Inej and then tap her shoulder. She turns to me with her eyes still closed.

"What?"

"Wanna go roof jumping?" I ask. When I arrived at Black Veil from Eil Komedie, I was weakened, and had to decline Inej's invitation to go roof hopping. Now is the last chance we may have before the world turns upside down.

Inej immediately opens her eyes and smiles, then stretches out. "Absolutely I do."

We silently braid our hair fresh for the day and grab our knives. Then we leave through the small bathroom window. Genya's tailoring skills are awesome because I can barely feel any pain in my shoulder, and I don't need any bandages because she closed the wound.

With that being said, Inej wastes no time. She quickly goes from rooftop to rooftop and smiles as if she's on the seas. I follow closely behind, letting the Wraith guide us over the Ketterdam streets where tourists stumble out of the casinos, unaware of the time. After a minute, I realize where she is taking us.

We soar down the rooftops of West Stave and swiftly approach Fifth Harbor. The sun is starting to rise. We stand on the edge of the roof closest to the water and look down. Sailors begin their day of work, too tired to look up. We both know it is too dangerous to try and steal a boat right now, so instead, we just let our legs dangle from the edge of the roof and let the sun warm our faces.

I look at berth sixteen. The Ferolind bobs gently in the morning tide. Grisha refugees are currently huddled belowdecks, where me and the Crows once called home for a few weeks at a time. No one knows of their whereabouts, though. They will depart to Ravka in a few hours, with the Grisha Triumverate on board. It is funny how this city can hold secrets in such plain sight.

Inej and I watch as a sailor walks onto the upper deck of the Ferolind, opening a fresh tin of Jurda for an early morning stimulant. I summon the water from the harbor and splash him from behind. The sailor drops his tin and turns around in fright, expecting someone to be there. Of course, that isn't the case. He quickly runs off the ship and down the harbor, as me and Inej snicker on the roof. For a moment, life is as it was before we knew that jurda parem existed.

We sit in silence for almost an hour, before our moment of peace is interrupted by the church bells ringing seven times.

I stand. "We better get back before Kaz wakes up."