Of Crows and Eagles // Grishaverse

Some Kind of Hell

Kaz

Kaz stared out at the horde of people filing into the war room. Genya and the rest of the Grisha Triumvirate, Tamar, a small group of her spies, Inej, their crew. The room was far too small, the sounds of this many voices cresting over his head like waves lapping around his feet, threatening to pull him under.

Kaz took a seat at the end of the table, Inej beside him. An Etherealki he had never met before sat on his other side. Their arms brushed slightly and Kaz recoiled, trying to appear calm as he drew back in disgust. Inej slid her chair over a few inches, allowing him more room.

He and Inej had left the ball early, choosing instead to wander the Grand Palace, pocketing whatever small artifacts piqued their interest. They had been too buried in the palace's labyrinth of passages to hear the screams, so it had been quite a shock when Genya came racing up to them, shouting something about the royal couple being kidnapped. Kaz didn't know how she had managed to find them, considering she'd been too distraught to even notice the emerald ring glistening on Inej's finger.

Kaz had wanted to let out a cry of delight at the news about Zoya, though the knowledge that Nikolai had been taken prisoner too put a slight damper on his mood. Kaz was strangely fond of the young king, though he'd never admit to it.

Genya had spewed some nonsense about their particular skill sets being crucial in the effort to root out the kidnappers and their accomplices, to which Kaz nodded sagely. He wasn't all that eager to assist Ravka with their issues yet again, but they were offering a steep price. Kaz had done the conversions in his head and it totaled to around six hundred thousand kruge.

"Count us in," he said, as an audible sigh of relief escaped Genya's lips. Maybe Zoya would be killed in the crossfire, he mused hopefully, then shook the thought from his head. Inej would strangle him if she ever found out he'd been wishing death on one of her fellow Suli.

Now, they were crowded into the war room with at least a quarter of the Second Army, everyone shoving and shouting, jostling for space. No one seemed entirely sure what was going on. Inej's hand lay on the table, the Lantsov emerald still glimmering on her finger. There wasn't a thing about her that didn't catch his eye, but he was surprised that he was the only person in the room who seemed aware of the garish jewel adorning her finger.

"Silence," Genya roared, slamming her palms onto the table. Kaz felt it shake beneath her weight. He hadn't taken her for the shouting type, but it seemed the world was full of surprises at the moment.

"As many of you may have figured out," she continued, "our esteemed royal couple have disappeared." Kaz had to suppress a scoff. Did she take them all for idiots?

"We need to collect our Sun Summoners for questioning," Genya declared. Though Kaz hadn't been in the ballroom for the attack, she had given them a brief run-down of what had occurred and it hadn't been difficult to piece together the rest.

"Your Sun Summoners?" Kaz asked dubiously. "I find it hard to believe Zoya Nazyalensky invited a bunch of lowly soldiers to her wedding."

"She didn't," Genya said, her eyes narrowing.

Kaz thought back on what she had told them about the events of the past hour. A flash of light, sudden and unexpected, followed by screams and a general sense of chaos. Yet when the light dimmed, the room itself remained unchanged. No broken windows or splintered doors. No guards found dead. "This was an inside job."

"What are relations like with your nobility?" Inej asked, leaning forward. Kaz smiled. It was reassuring to know there was at least one other person in this room who wasn't entirely clueless.