❝ 𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❞ | kaz brekker

¹³ the princeling

❝ 𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❞

the princeling

Paedyn made sure to kick the stadwatch holding her when he shoved her down into a chair next to Kaz. The boy's skin looked better and he wore an unreadable expression.

"Watch the coat," Jesper complained, "What's all this, then?"

The same stadwatch from before grinned as he turned to them. "Somebody paid good kruge to spend some time alone with you three."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the double doors behind them flew open. Dreesen appeared in the doorway, a scowl on his face. "Criminals."

"Dreesen," Kaz greeted. The man hummed in response as he walked into the room with three bodyguards behind him.

For a moment, the world seemed to stop around her as she locked eyes with one of the bodyguards. She wasn't in the Little Palace for long, but she had been introduced to the royal family.

If Nikolai Lantsov recognized her in any way, his face did not show it.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Dreesen asked, staring them down.

"We've been framed for murder?" Jesper suggested.

"Evicted from our own club?" Paedyn added sheepishly.

Dreesen scoffed. "I'm not asking about that. Where is Alina Starkov?"

"We don't have her," Kaz replied.

"Obviously." Dreesen rolled his eyes. "You left with an advance on my million kruge with passage on my ship. And you dare to return empty-handed. The deal was meant to include one Sun Summoner in exchange for the advance. And you step off the ship with no such person in your possession. Clearly, you must have something of value to me or else you would not have dared-"

"It wasn't your money, Dreesen," Kaz interrupted. "You were brought in as an intermediary. Someone to hire the likes of us. But this operation wasn't yours." His gaze turned to Nikolai. "It was his. Wasn't it?"

"Outrageous-"

Nikolai cut Dreesen off, "Oh, yes. Convincing. Thank you, Dreesen, but I'll take it from here."

The Prince of Ravka smirked at the three of them, leaning towards Dreesen when he didn't move.

"That was me politely telling you to get out," he spoke, authority dripping from his words like venom, "so go on."

Dreesen scoffed, but turned around to show himself out.

"Well, this is much easier," Nikolai said, taking off his hat. He placed it on the desk as the double doors slammed shut behind Dreesen. "Tell me, what gave it away?"

"You dress too well for a bodyguard," Kaz replied, "And you were hanging on every word like it was your money on the table. You wanted to hear our story, but we don't know you. We know him. So you kept up the charade until now. My question is who are you?"

"What? You don't know me?" The prince spoke with a scoff and a grin grew on his face. He turned to the side. "Maybe in profile."

Jesper and Kaz shared a look, clearly having no idea who he was.

Nikolai turned to Paedyn with a grin. "Come on, one of you has to know me."

He turned his head again and Paedyn rolled her eyes. "An idiot?" She suggested, to which the blonde frowned.

"What? No? Very well. The name's Sturmhond."

"I've heard of you," Jesper commented as Paedyn raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I should hope so."

"He's a very rich pirate," Jesper explained to Kaz and Paedyn.

"Privateer, actually. It's an important distinction."

"The question remains, why is the Sun Summoner so important to a privateer?" Kaz asked.

"You may not be aware, but half the world is looking for her," Nikolai said. "Or even just confirmation of death. And the reward's gone up. Twenty million to hand her over to Fjerda. Turns out they weren't particularly pleased with Kirigan and the Sun Summoner's plan to weaponize the Fold."

He showed them a poster of the two, tilting his head as Kaz analyzed it.

Jesper let out a laugh. "Aline never had such-" he paused, realizing what he was about to do and cleared his throat. "You were saying."

"You're on first-name terms," Nikolai grinned for a moment before it fell. "Where is she now?"

Jesper groaned. "We don't know where Alina is. She's gone."

Nikolai scoffed. "Escaped?" He turned to Kaz. "I know you've gotten out of those cuffs. If I had time, I'd insist you tell me how."

Kaz let his handcuffs drop to the ground, reminding Paedyn that she should get out of her own.

Nikolai walked over to the desk in the office. "My intel informs me the Sun Summoner was wearing this," he held up the jewelry Alina had given Kaz to keep quiet, "when she entered the Fold. It's part of the Queen's collection. A well-known piece, the fabled garnets of Ivets. So, either she used this to pay you off to keep quiet about where she was going, or you found her bloody corpse and stole it off her neck like vultures."

"How dare you? How even..." Jesper's voice was shocked and offended. "We are not vultures, we are crows." Nikolai stared at him blankly. "And that makes more sense with context. But my point is, we're not grave robbers."

"Which means it was a payoff," Nikolai concluded. "So you know where she went. Now if you tell me, I'll give you 20 seconds alone here before the Stadwatch comes back in."

"You can't bribe us," Jesper scoffed.

"Leave the necklace," Kaz replied, catching the attention of his crows. "Give us 20 seconds and I'll tell you."

"Kaz?" Paedyn asked in a hushed whisper.

Nikolai ignored her and chuckled. "The bribe she paid you to keep quiet about her next move, in exchange for her next move." He nodded. "I like it. Still, there is the mess of having to fence Royal jewels."

Nikolai reached into the inside of his jacket and took out a stack of money.

"Kaz," Paedyn warned, hissing at him under her breath, "Alina doesn't deserve this."

"You three stepped off the Edam tonight. Was she with you then?" Nikolai pressed. "Is she in town somewhere?"

"She stayed on the ship to Novyi Zem."

Nikolai nodded, turning around to leave. Before he reached the doors, he glanced over his shoulder and threw a wink towards Paedyn. She gulped, realizing her identity was no secret to him.

┌───────────── ☆ ─────────────┐

author's note: chapter two! what do we think so far?