(𝐊𝐀𝐙 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐊𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐗 𝐅. 𝐎𝐂)
❝︎Why didn't he see
it coming?❞︎
BORN A PRISONER, TURNED INTO
one of the best soldiers of the Second
Army was Vera Sokolov, a Fjerdan
girl born with Shadow Sum...
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THE FIRST THING Vera was aware of when she opened her eyes, was that Toyla was sitting right beside her, looming over her with his hand covering her mouth. What in the...?
She reached up, trying to pull his hand off when she realized there was something in her mouth. But Toyla shook his head, his other hand reaching for hers to move it back down, "Eat it."
The item in her mouth was skinny and crunchy. When she ate it she scrunched her face at the taste. It was bitter. She frowned after she swallowed it, not enjoying the taste. Once Toyla noticed her ate it, he retracted his hand. "What...?"
"Apologies." Toyla offered her a calming smile, "It's the cure for the poison."
"It's..." Vera waved him off, shaking her head as she tried to catch her breath, "Thank you."
A struggle to her right caught her attention. Kaz was lying on the ground, and Inej was by his side, holding her hand over his mouth just like Toyla had been. "Here. Wake up. Kaz!" Suddenly Kaz was awake and pushing Inej away, scurrying to the side of the room and breathing heavily, "Sorry." Inej said quickly.
"Is everyone alive?" Wylan's worried voice came from outside the room, still on the other side of the door.
"We're alive," Inej responded.
Wylan breathed out in relief, "Okay."
Toyla caught Inej's eye, "I owe you my life."
Inej struggled to respond for a moment, but once she did it was only to brush his gratitude off, "It was Wylan. He saved us."
"Wylan did?" Jesper's voice brought Vera's attention to him. He was doubled over, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes were wide, causing surprised wrinkles on his forehead.
"You're welcome," Wylan called through the door. Toyla tossed Inej one of her blades as the group took a moment to breathe.
"We almost died, didn't we?" Jesper stood up abruptly, an enlightened expression on his face, "Same time... I had the most incredible hallucination. Did anyone else get lulled into a comforting sense of joy?" Jesper was on the verge of tears when everyone turned to him slowly.
