A Coin Has Two Sides (Season Two) || Kaz Brekker x OC

25. Burn

The ceremony for Winnie's father had begun.

Everyone travelled across the desert to meet Zoya so they could carry out the destruction of his body as Alina wished.

The shadow summoner had trailed far ahead of everyone.

She was trying to organise her mind.

She was trying to work out exactly what she was feeling.

She was trying to decide how she would finally bid her father a goodbye.

To finally sever him from her life.

To finally remove his torment from herself.

To finally be free.

Winnie took a seat on a stone step as the group set up her father on a table made of large branches.

There were four torches that were lit and placed to the side.

Eventually, the time came for it to begin.

The crows stood behind Winnie as she was joined by Genya, Zoya, and Alina.

The four girls that had felt the pain of her father more than anyone.

The four girls who deserved to burn him.

On the other side of the table stood Mal at the bottom of a small stone staircase.

Nikolai was standing in the middle of the staircase and Tolya, Tamar, Adrik, and Nadia took their own places on the top step behind the prince.

Winnie refused to look at her father's body.

The second she looked at him, anger filled her body.

An anger that her darkness wanted to latch on to.

Winnie had to pull her eyes away to keep herself together.

Her veins started turning a black colour.

She felt her breathing begin to deepen.

Her vision cloud over.

But she was snapped out of it by Jesper's hand on hers.

He placed a valdrien cigarette in her palm before stepping back in his place next to Inej at the left end of the line.

Winnie gave him a grateful smile before walking up to the torch and using it to light her cigarette.

As she inhaled the smoke, she felt herself begin to relax.

Its effects weren't as noticeable as they used to be before.

Perhaps increasing the dose may fix that problem.

Alina took her free hand and Winnie turned her head to look at her sister.

"You go first, Winnie. You have every right", she whispered.

Winnie looked to Genya.

The tailor had scars across her face and an eye patch.

Winnie recognised them from the scar on her own arm.

Her father's nichevo'ya.

Winnie had cried in Genya's arms as she apologised repeatedly when she first saw her old friend.

But she was quickly reminded of Genya's sweet nature and kind heart as the girl told her she wasn't to blame. If anything she saved her.

She had also tried her best to fix up the black scars on Winnie's arms.

But in the present, Genya nodded in agreement with Alina.

Winnie then turned to her left to make eye contact with Zoya.