Heartrender (KAZ BREKKER) [1]

Fourteen

Ciardia
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Ciardia peeked her head around the corner. Making sure no one was coming as she rushed to the dark courtyard. The shadow of Jesper could be seen, she gave herself a sigh of relief.

With haste, she ran towards him. "Jesper." Jesper jumped and whipped himself around guns in hand ready to fire.

"Saints. Don't scare me like that." He let out a breath. He placed his guns back into his holster and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Where have you been?"

"I can ask you the same thing, jerk." She punched his shoulder playfully before her smile disappeared. "Kirigan knows I'm here."

Jesper let out an uneasy laugh. "Haha very funny." Her face stayed serious and his uneasy laugh turned to a panic-induced freakout. "You're serious. We are dead. We are so dead."

"Guards are looking for me. Kaz is going to murder me if I'm not caught by the time he gets out of there.

"Someone's coming," Jesper said pulling her behind a statue. The two watched as a figure; who as she came closer appeared to be a girl, ran up to a carriage hopping into the chest in the back.

"Is that?" Ciardia asked looking over to Jesper for a confirmation.

"You bet your pretty face it is," He pulled himself away from the statue and let out a shocked laugh. "Maybe Kaz won't kill you after all."

"He'll maybe make it less brutal." She said walking beside him, "I'm still dead."

"Please. Kaz couldn't hurt a hair on your head even if he tried." Jesper snorted, crossing his arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jesper only smirked before they were interrupted by two more members of their party.

"What happened?" Jesper asked Kaz and Inej as they approached.

"She's real. She made the lights sing." Inej said in amazement. Kaz on the other hand kept his cold stature.

"We lost her," Kaz said his voice laced with disappointment and anger.

"Did we?" Jesper asked with a cheeky smile. He winked at Ciardia as if asking her to play along.

"We don't know where she is," Kaz added, his tone becoming slightly annoyed at Jesper's happy tone. Kaz's eyes glanced over at Ciardia for a brief second, she shrunk back from his glaze scared to tell him she had been uncovered. 

"Don't we?" Jesper laughed, leading the group to the carriage the Sun Summoner had crawled into. "Just ask."

"Jesper..."

"Just ask." He smiled, climbing up on top of the seat the driver sits in. 

The other two followed suit sitting beside Jesper but Ciardia paused and looked to the empty compartment. "I'm going to ride back here. I'm not feeling too well." Kaz gave her a once over, scanning her face before he nodded his head. Ciardia didn't want to have a fight tonight. She wanted to avoid the topic for as long as she could, but she knew deep down Kaz always finds out. 

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Kirigan 

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The dimly light halls of the dungeons filled his line of view. Zoya greeted him, she stood tall as he approached. "Has he talked?" 

"A lot of lies. Ivan's with him."  Zoya explained, falling into the same walking pace as her general. In front of them stood Ivan in his red jacket, beside a chair with a certain conductor tied into it. 

"I've been swindled. Hoodwinked." He pleaded, desperately. 

"My guards tell me that they caught you fleeing the scene of the crime," Kirigan said, his tone unassumed with the story he was about to be told.