⭒ DEATH ― kaz brekker ⭒

42 - Azalea

Inej and I have been saddled with the task of planting explosives into the Church of Barter, a place that's incredibly difficult to get into on the day of the most eventful and essential auction in, if I dare say, Kerch's history. Inej and I are both talented at keeping hidden, being unseen and stealthy. But that's where the similarities end. From our habits to techniques and beliefs, we're polar opposites. Even tracked down to the very way we sneak around, we're impossibly different. The Wraith is hardwired differently. She hides in the places no one thinks to look, the cracks and crevices only the most skilled know how to find. She uses the simplest things to her advantage, hidden so expertly in the folds of a curtain or the shadows of the roof's lip that not even the best in the Barrel could possibly catch her.

But I, Azalea Milayen, am no Wraith.

Though I'm sure that's already been established since day one.

I hide in plain sight. I walk into vaults and treasuries with my shoulders squared and my chin lifted so nobody suspects a thing. I take the routes they expect thieves to take the very most, which is enough to make them sloppy when they think that it's so incredibly obvious nobody in their right mind would possibly attempt something like that. Some would call me lazy.

I would correct them and say intelligent.

So now, I simply find the drainpipe leading up to Ghezen's palm and scale it. Yes, there are guards left and right. But no one bats an eye, no one suspects a thing when I'm wearing a, if slightly oversized, roof inspector's uniform, supplied to me by Kaz. No one seems to find it strange that I'm climbing without any safety ropes or even the simple requirement of a ladder, not on such an important day when the real threats are out there, waiting to strike. It isn't worth the time of the patrols to go through the entire process of verifying my credentials while the Merchant Council is in the midst of arriving. So I climb until I reach the chapel's dome, grabbing onto the edge of it and pulling myself up.

The dome is smooth without many footholds so I stay cautious as I get my feet onto it, leaning against the warm material of the roof, slightly slick from the morning mist. I shuffle to the side on the narrow rim of the lip of the dome before hopping off of it onto Ghezen's thumb, where I meet up with Inej. She plants her explosive as I plant mine on the roof before we both perch on the metal work overlooking the proceedings, obstructed just barely by the mesh screen and wide slats.

As we wait for everyone to begin settling down in their seats, eyes trained on the currently empty chapel, my thoughts wander.

I wonder if today will go as planned and we'll get our money, but things seldom ever go according to plan. It's likely that something is going to go wrong, I just can't seem to place what it will be. I'm slightly sleep deprived after last night, but it doesn't affect me too much.

If anything, it serves as a distraction from everything.

By everything, I mean Kaz.

I can't help but consider whether or not I should ditch it all and catch the first ship out to Novyi Zem the moment the harbors are reopened by Van Eck. I'm so unprepared for the future, for a future with Kaz in these streets. A future he might be satisfied by, but one I could never reciprocate the feeling for. The thought of rotting away in the Barrel, never seeing Inej, Nina, nor Jesper again, makes me feel sick. Maybe I'd even miss Wylan's innocent angle and Matthias' obliviousness. I'm not certain that Kaz could make up for all of that.

And what about Kaz and I?

Would I be able to live without being able to curl up in his arms or kiss him without having him tense up or draw away from me? Could the small, fragments of stolen moments we share ever suffice?