Our Fractured Souls | Kaz Brekker

[12]

12

Kaz

As soon as the door clicked shut, Matthias lunged for him.

Kaz let it happen. He'd been expecting it.

Matthias clamped one filthy hand over Kaz's mouth. The sensation of skin on skin sent a riot of revulsion through Kaz's head, but because he'd been anticipating the attack, he managed to control the sickness that overcame him. Matthias' other hand rooted around in Kaz's coat pockets, first one then the other.

"Fer esje?" he grunted angrily in Fjerdan. Kaz had no idea what he was saying, he'd had no earthly clue what Viktorya had snarled before she left either, then or in the cell earlier. All he knew was it most definitely was a threat.

Then the brute hissed in Kerch, "Where is it?"

Kaz gave Helvar another moment of frenzied searching, just as the door was violently swung open.

Viktorya. He knew she'd stayed just outside. She'd been too keen not to notice the way the Fjerdan's hands were twitching, itching to wrap around Kaz's awaiting throat. He knew she was reeling in fury, simply in the way her eyes blazed and her hands surged up, twisting around each other. He felt the air pressure drop dramatically, ears popping with it.

Helvar grunted, and his hold on Kaz dropped as he went to cup his aching ears. This allowed Kaz to drop his elbow and jab upwards, forcing Helvar to loosen his grip. Kaz slipped away easily and Vik's hands twitched, seconds from pulling apart and erupting the room into a torrent of her fury.

Inhaling sharply and shoving away those phantom tides that had begun to climb him, Kaz shot her a warning glance.

She caught the stare and nodded, however reluctantly. Her fingers loosened and she dropped them at her sides. In turn, she used the pressure around Helvar to bear down upon him, forcing the brute to crouch on the floor, groaning as his skull throbbed relentlessly. Kaz saw a note of red drip down the Fjerdan's face and flicked his wrist at Viktorya.

The girl pulled the pressure back, leaving Helvar grunting on his knees as he wiped at the blood dripping from his nose.

Kaz moved and smacked Helvar behind the right leg with his cane. The big Fjerdan collapsed completely. When he tried to shove up again, Kaz kicked him.

"Stay down, you pathetic skiv."

Again, Helvar tried to rise. He was fast, and prison had made him strong. Kaz was almost caught off guard by the sudden surge of power from the lump of muscle beneath him. But thankfully, Viktorya leaped in and cracked him good and hard on the jaw, then Kaz gave the pressure points on Helvar's meaty shoulders two lightning-quick jabs with the tip of his cane.

The Fjerdan grunted as his arms went limp and useless at his sides.

Kaz flipped his cane in his hand and pressed the carved crow's beak against Helvar's throat.

"Move again and I'll smash your jaw so badly you'll be drinking your meals for the rest of your life." He all but growled.

"I thought you were smart enough to heed warnings, druskelle." Viktorya hissed, blue eyes sharper than ice. "I told you if you hurt him, I'd kill you. If I see a single muscle on you so much as twitch, I'll do something so much worse. Something that might have your little roed fetla crumbling in a spiral of sorrow." She kicked him over, so he was laying on his back.

Kaz's heart thundered as he watched Viktorya, something like pure admiration flashing through his chest. She was beautiful like this, furious, deadly, gorgeous. As she always was to him, but now, it seemed heightened.