Tainted Opal - Kaz Brekker x Reader

5 - To Kill a Mother

I lifted my head up from the leather seat in the office, the fabric sticking to my skin. Kaz stood in front of me, the desk between us. His face was hard, it always seemed to be.

"I left for a reason, you know," my voice carried a heavy weight of the past. My thoughts feel foggy. I don't want to talk about this.

"You're a pirate-"

"Was, Kaz, I was a pirate," I corrected with a sharp tone. I fiddled with the stitching of my thick pants, easing my mind before I continued. "I wasn't a member of the Kraken Killers, I was from a smaller crew. A group of ruthless, but unimportant people." Kaz listened silently as I spoke, a sense of concentration rooted deeply within him. He probably wonders if I'm lying. "We were the Mouse Petals, seemingly soft and enticing, but brutally unforgiving. My dear old dad was the Captain, he taught me to take charge and... dispose of unwanted weak links. When he was busy, my mom would tell me the many ways to have a man or woman wrapped around your finger."

"Why did you leave, not enough dabloons?"

"Because, it was brutal. Innocent people worse off than us became our targets when Greed finally consumed my father. He began taking it out on my mother when plans didn't... go so smoothly. Any mistake made by the crew was a consent to death," I explained while bile rose in my throat, my eyes dripping like broken faucets. "Mom made a mistake, she...-," I choked on my words. "It doesn't matter, but what matters is that she's dead. Dad killed her." I looked up at Kaz again, my face red from crying... and maybe because he looked so good right now.

He finally spoke after what felt like an eternity, "why didn't you tell us? Might have been useful to know," he rasped.

"It's helpful information, sure, but it never came up in conversation. What did you want me to do? While we're navigating sea routes just turn to you saying 'hey Kaz, by the way I used to be a fucking pirate and I watched my mom die'?" I snapped.

"Well, we are on a boat, any time would have been a good time, really. All Jesper did at dinner one night was tell pirate puns," Kaz combated, the grip on his cane tightening, and his face distorting into a grim scowl.

I stayed silent as he stared me down. For whatever reason I cared what Kaz thought of me, what the Crows thought of me. I got up from the leather chair, ripping my bare skin off the sweat stained seat. As I walked past Kaz, I saw him eye me. I stopped, "you wanna say something or can I go?"

His silence answer my question, so I trudged my way up the wooden stairs onto the sunny ship deck. The sloshing waves grew more tipsy, drunkenly tipping the boat this way and that without a care in the world. Oh, how I envied the ocean.

Inej appeared from the slivers of shadow that existed midday, her flexible body contorting into view. I gave her a weak smile as a greeting before laying on a patch of loose rope on the ship's stern.

"How was easdropping, doll?" I asked Inej with a smooth tone.

"Oh-, I-,"

"I'm not upset Inej, I'm a sucker for gossip and old habits die hard," I sighed with a forced laugh as she sleuthed her way next to me. She gracefully sat down next to me, her sleek hair falling into her face.

She smiled at me, a friendly care rested on her face. It wasn't a look of someone who felt initial pity for anyone they saw, it was a keen understanding that was followed by empathy.

"He likes you, well, I'm not sure he really likes anyone, but if he did, it was be us Crows."

"I'm not a Crow,"

"Maybe this heist will prove otherwise," her eyes held a knowing gleam, she understood the pain it was to deal with Kaz sometimes. But I felt a little warm inside when she implied my acceptance.