A Coin Has Two Sides || Kaz Brekker x OC

2. It Will Take a Miracle

Wysteria had decided to escape long before she did it.

She didn't exactly have a choice but to wait. The palace was well guarded, with limited entrances and exits, not to mention the strict orders all the guards had to watch over her from her father.

Even if she had managed to successfully escape, she still had the Fold to deal with.

Ideally, she would cross it to put as much distance between herself and her father as possible but the only method of crossing she could think of involved the army and that was out of the question.

She could go around but that meant travelling to Fjerda, and as a Grisha there was no way she would step foot even close to there alive.

So, she was left with the following information.

Outcome 1 : Try to escape the Little Palace and fail

Outcome 2 : Succeed in escaping the Little Palace and attempt to stay hidden in Ravka, eventually getting caught by her father and fail

Outcome 3 : Succeed in escaping the Little Palace and attempt to cross the Fold on an army ship which would get her caught by her father and fail

Outcome 4 : Succeed in escaping the Little Palace and try to go around the Fold by travelling into Fjerda, getting killed by Druskelle and fail

Outcome 5 : Succeed in escaping the Little Palace and by some Saint's miracle cross the Fold to end up in unknown territory on her own possibly getting herself killed and fail

Wysteria had limited things to occupy the time she spent locked away in her room, so she spent most of her time plotting her escape. She went through a rollercoaster of ideas. Coming up with something she believed could work only to be disappointed when she thought it through and realized it was too dangerous.

She would more than often come to the sad conclusion that escaping the Little Palace was, in a word, impossible ... right?

But, despite her constant disappointment, she never gave up hope. Hope that one day she would escape, cross the Fold, and find a new life. One in which she would be happy, calm, free from the shadows that reminded her of the darkness that laid within her.

And on the day of her sixteenth birthday, that hope finally had a time to flourish.

__________<>__________

Her father had entered her room to awake her and wish her a happy birthday.

He gently repeated the same thing he said every year, 'this is the age you will finally accept who you truly are'.

Who she truly was?

That was another thing Wysteria found herself thinking about a lot. Her father always reminded her she was a powerful Grisha with the ability to help him control the Fold.

It was the only version of herself she had been told she was, and yet something inside of her disagreed.

She believed she was something different.

Not the darkness her father was, but the light her mother was. She believed this was symbolized by the almost white hair she had been born with.

Her mother's hair.

She had discovered that her hair was linked to something inside her.

When her mother died, her hair had begun to shine a little less, and don't even get her started on the one strand of jet-black hair that hung just behind her ear.

It had appeared after she committed her greatest shame. The very thing that had convinced her father that she was this other person, this version of herself that he had been begging her to reveal.

But now isn't the time for reminiscing as Wysteria suddenly heard her father say, "I will be back in two days' time".

"What?", the tired girl groaned as she attempted to pay attention and wake from her slumber.

"I'll be leaving today to go down to the army base. New recruits need to be put in line. They have been slacking a lot recently so a visit from their General ought to straighten them out", he explained.

"What time are we leaving then?" Wysteria grumbled, turning into her pillow.

"I'm going alone", her father said almost in a whisper.

"What?!"

From an early age her father took her with him anytime he left the Little Palace. He wanted to show her what was happening with the army, the war, the Fold. He wanted to show her what she would one day control herself.

He had never left her by herself before. Ever.

"It's your birthday, my darling. I see no need to drag you down to the base with me for such simple matters. You should stay here and rest".

With all her might, Wysteria tried not to sound too excited that she might finally get her attempt at freedom.

"Right, of course, yeh, totally. I mean I'm completely exhausted and it is my birthday, so I get to do what I want and what I want is to sleep. All day. To sleep. Alone."

Good going Winnie, you absolute moron. He's going to see right through you.

To her surprise her father simply smiled and placed a delicate kiss to her forehead as he stood to leave, uttering, "Absolutely. Rest is important to maintain the strength you'll need for the plans I have for you this year".

Wysteria shuddered at the thought of what he might have in store for her. It couldn't possibly get any worse. Could it?

Whilst in thought she hadn't noticed her father leave, locking her in her room to begin acting out a plan she had been thinking of for years.

A plan to escape to Ketterdam.

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I love writing Winnies' life pre-Kaz so that you guys can get to know her a bit better. He will arrive at some point, obviously. Sorry if this was awful <3