The crow and the beast - Kaz brekker

chapter 53 - will you?

The next morning Cara made breakfast. While they sat at the kitchen table she asked the question that she had wanted to ask since yesterday evening. "so was your mission successful?" Kaz looked up from his plate. "did you find the letter?" when Cara nodded at him he spoke again. "yes, we destroyed the whole facility and the people inside were dealt with. The powder was all destroyed." Cara nodded.

she stood up to put her plate away and pressed a kiss to the top of kaz's head while she walked by whispering "thank you" into his hair. When she put her plate away she turned back around. "sooo mr brekker do you want to see what I have done with your gang?" when he lifted an eyebrow at her she smirked and went into the hallway to put on her coat.

kaz stood up as well but remained in the kitchen, leaning on his cane watching as Cara excitingly put on her coat and grabber her keys. "come on then, don't you want to know what I have spent all your kruge on?" now that sentence got kaz moving as he grumbled something underneath his breath that Cara couldn't quite understand but she knew it was about kruge.

they both walked to the stable as Cara greeted ben who was already riding on a big warmblood in the outside arena. "is that a new horse?" kaz commented. Cara smirked before answering but did not turn towards kaz so he could see her smirk. "uum . . . yea." She walked up to the stall doors and opened them up revealing the stable full of happy horses who just had their own breakfast.

she turned to kaz and motioned for him to go inside first. His eyes had grown wide, he looked at all the strong horses walking by the stalls and noticing their schedules and training observation papers on each stall. "you have been busy here." he said. "yes I have, follow me." she motioned for kaz to follow her to the back of the stable and once they exited through the back door she spread her arms while turning back to kaz. "tadaa" around them were the 4 carts she had bought from the merchant as well, 2 bigger ones that needed to be pulled by at least 2 horses and 2 smaller ones.

"I remember you wanted to start a trading caravan so I took it upon myself to get you the equipment, the merchant who I bought it all from is now our new maintenance guy that will repair and maintain the quality of the carts. Today we were going to move 2 carts to ketterdam with 5 horses that are ready for work." Kaz was at a loss for words, he had not expected any of this.

Cara saw and she walked up to him. by the stern look on his face she wasn't as sure anymore if this was what kaz had wanted. "I am sorry if its not what you wanted I thought .. – " kaz cut her off by snaking his free hand around her waist and pulling her slightly closer. "it's exactly how I wanted it, I love you." he pressed a kiss to her head.

"shall we go to ketterdam? She asked him and when he nodded she made her way back to the stables taking the right saddle and bridle with her for elvis. she walked over to the horse but when she wanted tot ack him up kaz stopped her taking the saddle from her to do it himself. She then went back to get belle's tack. She knew that the merchant who she had been from before had gone out of business and left kerch so it was safe for belle to be going into ketterdam now.

kaz was already waiting outside on elvis for her so she quickly got on belle and walked next to him. "I missed this, its been a while since we took a ride together." Kaz looked over to her for a moment, she could read his face clear as day, he was anxious for something. "don't worry I haven't run your gang to the ground." Kaz scoffed but a slight smirk played around his lips.

they soon got to the slat and parked the horses in the stables. When kaz entered the room got quitter some people whispering 'the boss is back'. He did not pay them any attention and made his way to his office until he stopped in front of the door to his office and turned his body a little towards Cara. "what happened to my door?" Cara felt her cheeks heat up slightly. "nothing in particular, a little situation that got resolved quickly." Kaz lifted an eyebrow but did not ask any more questions before he opened the door to his office.

he sat himself down on the chair behind his desk while Cara walked passed him to stand in front of the window to look outside on the streets of ketterdam. She smiled to herself deep in thought when suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw kaz stand behind her. "I asked if you were okay to pick-up the order I have placed with nina" kaz whispered to her. she turned around and placed a kiss to his cheek.

"of course, I will be back soon." She left kaz in his office and went downstairs, she decided to walk over to nina's place. A few people greeted her on the streets as she went by and soon she had made it over to the waffle house. The place was filled with people enjoying their waffles and she saw nina was busy behind the counter getting everybody's orders ready. However when her eyes fell on Cara she smiled brightly.

"Cara! You are just in time! Matthias is wrapping your order now. How are you today?" Cara walked over to the counter. "I am good, how are you nina? The place is packed! Maybe you should open a second store soon." Cara joked. "Your waffle recipe is an absolute hit! It is our most popular one! And I know you said it as a joke but I am actually looking at buying a second building already!"

Cara giggled. "that is great nina!" just then Matthias came from the back and placed a package on the counter in front of Cara. He smiled at her. "good morning." He greeted her. "good morning to you Matthias, I never would have guessed I would see you smile while working in a waffle house." Matthias chuckled lightly before disappearing to the back again. "isn't he a sweetheart." Nina chuckled. She then reached over and gave the package to Cara. "tell kaz it is on the house." Cara smiled. "I will, bye nina!" nina was already listening to the next costumer but she waved her goodbye.

Cara quickly made her way back to the slat. When she entered a few dregs that weren't here before greeted her as she made her way to kaz's office again. when she opened the door to his office she saw a dreg sitting in front of kaz's desk. "you are dismissed." Kaz said a little to quickly and the dreg quickly made his way out of the office greeting Cara in the process. Cara placed the package on the desk. "its on the house."

kaz only nodded as he finished writing something down on a piece of paper before he stood up and put on his coat quickly and took the package in his free arm while taking his cane in the other. He walked over to a confused Cara and pressed a light kiss on her cheek before making his way out of his office glancing behind him to see if Cara was following him, of course she did so as kaz walked back to the stable and put the package in the saddlebag of elvis while he got on himself. Cara quickly got on belle and followed him. kaz was a man of few words and she trusted him so she did not ask where they were going, not that she would have gotten an answer anyway.

kaz made his way to the gate of ketterdam and then to the fields beyond, he glanced over his shoulder to Cara before he spurred on elvis and they broke off in a gallop leaving Cara in the dust. However belle wasn't taking any of it and she broke off into a gallop to catching up to them. they both rode together and elvis and belle seemed to have just as much fun as their riders. Soon kaz diverted elvis from the path and went to beach.

the ride was pleasant, the sun was shining and for once in kerch it was genuinely a warm day. Then kaz slowed down and Cara followed him until they reached a spot overlooking the beach and the ocean. A little place was even set up for them, a blanket on the ground with an open tent to protect them against the wind. Kaz got off of elvis and even extended his hand to help her off belle, taking out the package of waffle, the horses wandered off to graze.

kaz motioned for her to pick a spot on the blanket and sat himself down next to her. "I thought you would appreciate this." He said quietly. Cara was looking out at the ocean, this was a beautiful spot. "its beautiful, thank you kaz." she turned towards him as he gave her a waffle to eat. "I should be the one to thank you, I heard how much work you have put into everything here while I was away." Cara shrugged. "I did it for you, I would do everything for you, you know that." Kaz smirked.

he threw an arm around Cara's shoulders as she put her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long while just enjoying the presence of the other and watching the waves hit the beach. Then all of a sudden a ship seemed to appear on the horizon. Slowly it came closer. "what's that?" she asked kaz. she felt the muscles in his shoulder and arm stiffen when he answered. "I don't know."

Cara stood up and walked to the edge of the little hill they were on to get a better view. She felt movement behind her and then kaz gave her a spyglass. She placed it against her eye and found the boat in the distance. A laugh escaped her lips when she found the boat, jesper was waving with both hands like an idiot behind the wheel while wylan was running towards the wheel to take over. On the deck she saw nina and Matthias, Matthias had an arm around nina as they looked towards where she was. Then in the crows nest she found inej waving with one hand while holding onto a rope with her other.

"what are they doing?" she giggled. When she heard kaz clear his throat she removed the spyglass from her eye and turned towards him only to find him sitting on one knee next to her, she turned her body towards him the spyglass falling from her hands as she brought them to her mouth. "Cara, you know I don't do emotional speeches and talking about my feelings but I would like you to know that there is not a moment in the day where I don't think about you. ever since I met you I can not get you out of my head, you have helped me overcome my demons and . . . I love you. I want to protect you and be by your side for as long as I can. Cara will you marry me?"

in his hand was a beautiful silver ring with a red diamond in the middle, a crow perched next to the diamond. She loved the ring from the moment she laid eyes on it. She was so stunned that she forgot to answer the poor man in front of her it wasn't until she saw his unsure expression that she realized she was supposed to actually answer him. "yes! Yes of course I will marry you!" kaz used his cane to stand up and stuck out his hand asking for hers. Only now she realized he had even removed his gloves.

she put her hand in his and he carefully slid the ring onto her ring finger. his hands trembled as he did so but not because of his trauma, Cara had noticed he has been anxious all day and now she knew why. Once he let his hands fall to his side she took his face in her hands and kissed him, he immediately returned the kiss and put his arms around her waist bringing her close. She was the first to pull away and took his hand in hers. "I love you kaz brekker" the smile plastered on his face was genuine, in the distance she could still hear the other crows cheering as the wind carried their voices to them. "I am ready" kaz whispered to her. "ready for what?" Cara asked him. "ready for anything life throws at us. Ready to be the man you deserve" Cara smiled at him as she kissed him once more. "I will take you in any way I can have you." 

AN: a few chapters left now!