A child, a mystery, a powerful Etherealnik... and perhaps something more. Even Kishira has yet to uncover all of her own secrets. But maybe it starts with the ominous black bird that haunts her windowsill and the space between her collarbones.
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ketterdam, kerch
"I'm the pirate king!" Nikolai sang. "Sturmhond!"
He probably shouldn't be in the Little Palace unsupervised, but the king and queen and general had long ago given up on trying to keep the young prince and Shadow Summoner in their respective places. They adamantly refused to be separated, no matter what.
"And I'm the evil queen!" Kishira shouted, stepping up onto a stool to stand over him. "Are you a bad pirate or a valiant pirate?" She challenged him playfully.
"I am a valiant pirate!" He declared. "And I will stop your evilness!"
He pretended to drive a fake sword into her heart, and she cried out, falling dramatically back onto her feather bed.
The door opened, and Kishira's nanny stepped in. "What's this??" She demanded. "Miss Kirigan! Why is there a boy in your room??"
The girl jumped to her feet, giggling wildly as she grabbed Nikolai's wrist and dragged him after her as she slipped past the nanny and sprinted away down the corridor.
Kishira wondered if their games as children had truly been nothing more than a coincidence. Nikolai was now a pirate named Sturmhond, and she was wanted by half the world. What if she was meant to be the great evil after all?
Her thoughts were broken by Jesper's voice. "We are in the literal bottom of the Barrel."
"Stadwatch don't patrol down here," Kaz said. "We're safer. Inej, what did you find?"
She appeared beside Jesper from seemingly nowhere, making the sharpshooter jump. "We're accused of murdering Tante Heleen."
"Wait what?" Jesper frowned. "We didn't do that though. Wait, did you do that?"
She wrinkled her nose at him.
"Pekka fucking Rollins beat me to it, didn't he?" Kishira glared.
"And then framed us for murder," Kaz finished.
Inej nodded. "He wanted to punish us for taking the job after he warned you off."
"But why take it out on Tante Heleen?" Jesper asked.
"She held the deed to the Crow Club," Kaz told him. "She and I cut a deal so Inej could help us with the Sun Summoner. So Rollins killed her."
"He owns the club." Inej sighed. "Everyone who works there now works for Pekka Rollins. There's more." She pushed up her sleeve, exposing the tattoo identifying her as a Menagerie indenture.
"The Menagerie."
"He owns that now, too. Along with everything else the Menagerie owns." Her voice shook slightly at that.
