Chapter 1: Kaz 1
Chapter Text
Kaz rolled his eyes. Jesper and this servant boy looked utterly smitten with each other, and Kaz didn’t really have time to deal with their simpering.
“– but when Nina disappeared a couple months ago, well, a lot changed,” Jesper said flippantly, as if he weren’t talking about Kaz’s missing sister the way one might discuss breakfast plans.
“But a lot changed when Jordie died too –” Wylan began.
Kaz saw red. “– don’t. You are not allowed to speak his name,” Kaz snarled. “Never say his name again, you hear me?”
Wylan squeaked, his face draining instantly.
“Hey! Don’t yell at him, it’s not like he meant –” Jesper started, but Kaz needed to leave the situation before he slammed Wylan into the convenient wall behind him.
He ignored where Jesper called after him once, but noted when Jesper turned to the servant to explain.
“He’s just really sensitive about it right now –” Jesper began past Wylan’s incessant apologies.
“– I’m really sorry, I really didn’t mean to –” Wylan continued to blubber, but Kaz had had enough of all that.
He limped down a new corridor, Wylan’s excessive apologies fading quickly the further he trudged down the hallway.
His heart skipped a beat, and he focused on where he was headed, coming up to the reason his heart was malfunctioning.
“Inej,” he said, tilting his head at her.
“Kaz,” she returned in a similar tone, the small smile playing at the edge of her perfect lips betraying her.
“Any news from your parents?” he asked stiffly, and the faint smile left her mouth.
“Not as of yet,” she shook her head. “But I’m sure she’s okay –”
“– yeah, well, we all hoped Jordie was okay, until he turned out to not be in the slightest,” he spat, his anger building again. Not at her. At the lack of control he had over the entire situation.
Inej nodded sharply, closing her mouth with a snap.
He sighed internally. He’d been working on this, on not snapping at people, especially not Inej, but he always found a way to bungle it entirely two minutes later.
His head throbbed.
He missed Jordie.
“Well, I can still have hope that she’s okay, even if you don’t,” she said firmly.
He almost argued. Almost told her it was foolish, useless, to have any kind of hope when they had so little information.
But the ache of wanting to sit with Jordie pulsed into life again, cutting off that blistering reply. He needed to think. He needed to think clearly, and he could never do it around Inej, especially when she looked at him like that.
He turned on his heel, abandoning the conversation without another word.
Inej made a small noise but he ignored it as he limped away, too intent on clearing his head. Even the rhythmic click of his cane down the marbled hallway stung him, interrupting his racing thoughts. He needed to be outside, to move across grass and dirt that didn’t make much more than a dull thud as he dragged his lame leg behind him.
The outdoors welcomed him with a thick gust of wind that died down almost as quickly as it had started.
The royal graveyard was around the back, so he made his way to the most recent addition.
He sat in front of Jordie’s large headstone, his leg protesting as he sat on the bench provided.
He didn’t say anything – he never did – but the roiling emotions that caught up to him seemed to paralyze him away.
Then he realized that, despite the strength of the emotions faded away as if they’d never excited at all, the paralysis stayed.
And stayed.
And stayed.
He tried to move his hand, to grip his cane tighter, but even that he couldn’t manage.
A man moved toward him, weaving through the gravestones like he owned the place.
A familiar looking man.
Kaz snarled when he realized who he was, that being the only thing he could do. He couldn’t even bare his teeth very far.
Jan Van Eck walked silently up to him, coming to stand between Kaz and Jordie’s grave. “Finally, Prince Kaz,” he said in his venomous voice. He laid a firm hand on Kaz’s shoulder.
He tried to flinch away, to dodge the palm that rested on his body now, but he couldn’t. He didn’t even know if he could puke right now if it came down to that.
Everything about him was frozen.
Van Eck seemed to notice anyway. Maybe his expression had changed just enough to show visible discomfort at least. “Ah, yes, your little touch aversion. Well, that’ll certainly complicate things, don’t you think?”
Kaz didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but he tried to retort to it anyway.
But he couldn’t. He couldn’t move his lips, his jaw, his tongue.
His face pinched horribly.
His body began to hunch over, crushed under a huge invisible weight. Nothing physically touched him – Van Eck’s hand wasn’t on him anymore – but the absence of anything visible to attribute the sensations made him want to sigh.
Magic. The thing Van Eck had been banished for in the first damn place.
Suddenly, he looked up at Van Eck, now a giant above him. If Van Eck had been the one to grow, why was Kaz so affected –?
He could move now, but his arms felt heavy still. He tried to lift one of them, a curtain of black feathers obscuring his vision as he looked for his hands.
He didn’t have them. He didn’t have hands anymore.
He desperately tried to bring his hands in front of his face, but only succeeded in shielding his vision entirely with the…wings. The bird wings in front of his face.
Was he…a bird? He looked up at Van Eck for an explanation he knew he wouldn’t get.
He tried to open his mouth – now a beak – to speak, but when he attempted to push a single word out, all that came out was a low, gravelly squawk.
His sluggish brain whisked away his memory of how he’d managed to get himself into such a predicament. He tried to remember, to recall the events that just happened…his brain going in mushy circles trying to find something that might not exist anymore.
Van Eck, he suddenly thought, looking up at the human who grinned down at him.
“Now, the magical law requires me to tell you how to break this heavy transforming spell,” he said in an ‘of course’ kind of tone that slid sideways through Kaz’s tired brain. “But no one else needs to know. So,” he stood so tall above Kaz that he got dizzy trying to find his face.
Or maybe he was just dizzy.
“To break this curse, you must get your true love to profess their love for you,” Van Eck said as if about to add yadda yadda yadda at any point. “If they profess their love to another, the curse will remain on your forever.” The ugly grin widened. “So. You’d better hope your true love doesn’t accidentally tell anyone else of her love, right?”
Kaz tried to remember what a true love was – not necessarily who his was, just the concept in general – but his mind refused to make any connections.
Kaz’s eyelids began to close around his vision. So…so tired, he found himself registering.
“They always fall asleep,” Van Eck mumbled to himself. “Why do they always fall asleep? Surely this is a Rietveld thing? Because it doesn't happen with anyone else.”
Kaz briefly wondered why he might be falling asleep before his brain cut out entirely to make way for such a manufactured sleep, he wanted to call bullshit.
But he couldn’t.
Because he was already asleep.
Chapter 2: Wylan 1
Chapter Text
“
I’m really sorry,” Wylan looked desperately from Kaz’s retreating form back to Prince Jesper. “I really didn’t mean to set him off —“ he said, skirting expertly around the actual issue.
The guilt issue.
Prince Jesper — or, as Wylan called him in his head, Jes — waved him off. “It’s not you, it’s not. He’s just…finicky. And a little wounded,” he sighed, scratching the back of his head. “It’s not you.”
Wylan opened his mouth to continue when Anika came up behind him.
“Hey, Wylan. You’re needed in the kitchens,” she told him, and he nodded, hopping into a run away from Jes.
“See you later?” Jes called after him.
Wylan nodded but didn’t say anything verbally. He didn’t trust his voice to maintain.
Anika led him down to the kitchens where Rotty ruffled his hair.
“Hey, something’s going on in your chambers. Check it out for us? We didn’t wanna disturb anything religious.”
Wylan nodded quickly. “Thanks,” he said, turning and running for his chambers.
It wasn’t religious materials making the fuss, but he was happy to let his coworkers think as much.
It was a far better conclusion to come to than the truth. He didn’t need to be kicked out of his job for practicing any level of the explicitly banded magic he’d been up to.
He’d managed to score a lone chamber to himself at the moment – Rotty had warned him that that might change in the future, but he appreciated the privacy for now – but it still felt cluttered beyond what was reasonable.
He dodged the large bowl he’d been using for larger messages from his father, then looked back at it.
A new message sat inside the small bottle that rested on the bottom of the bowl.
He uncorked the bottle, holding it up to his ear.
“He better be coming now. I’m sick of waiting,” his father growled the message.
Wylan sighed, speaking into the bottle quickly but distinctly. “He’ll probably be There in a half hour,” he said quietly, corking the bottle again.
He waited for a response, and got one almost immediately. “He better,” his father said impatiently. “Or that boy of yours will get it instead.”
The threat wasn’t hollow as far as Wylan knew, so he swallowed his fear down and set the bottle back in the basin.
Then he left the room, telling Rotty that it was mostly taken care of.
“Mostly?” Rotty laughed.
Wylan nodded anxiously. “There’s just one more thing to do, but it takes time.”
Rotty nodded along. “Sounds good. Mind taking these linens up to Princess Inej’s guest room?”
Wylan agreed – as if he really had a choice.
Arms loaded with linens and his mind loaded with guilt, he made his way up to Princess Inej’s room she took when she visited, hoping he wouldn't run into Jes.
He didn’t, so he spent the next half hour killing time running all sorts of errands for any other servant who looked like they genuinely didn’t want to do their task who’d give it to him.
Half an hour later, he crept back into his chambers to see if a new message had been delivered.
It had been, in the form of an emotion and an intangible object.
He dumped out the emotion and the illusion of the object.
His heart clenched and he thought he might be sick.
Glee. Utter victory, and a single black feather.
Wylan really might be puke.
He continued his chores as outlined by Rotty when he’d confirmed to his superior that his “religious” ritual had been completed.
Jes found him then, as he mopped the ballroom floor. “Listen,” the prince said almost conspiratorially. “I figured I’d mention it, what with your current job and all.”
Wylna looked up at him, trying to ignore the churning in his own gut as he watched Jes’ face try to suppress a grin. “Yes?” he asked.
“Well, there’s a huge ball coming up, and I’m totally not supposed to be doing anything with any servant, but..” he trailed off.
Wylan blinked at him.
Jes grinned now, albeit hesitantly. “Would you…dance with me? At least once?”
Wylan stared helplessly at him. Oh, how he wanted to agree! How he wanted nothing more than to accept.
But Jes’ continued life as a human sat on the line.
“I’d really love to,” he began. “But…I don’t know if I’m going to…be there.”
Jes looked confused. “...don’t all the servants have to be there?” he asked.
And he was correct. Wylan needed a different excuse.
“I might be moving soon,” he came up with. It was partially true, at least.
Jes looked incredibly crestfallen. “Oh,” he said gloomily.
“If I’m still here,” Wylan added, hoping his father never learned of what he was about to say. “I will absolutely dance with you.”
Jes’ features perked up at that. “Really? Oh, perfect!” he crowed, beginning to head off. “Oh!” he turned around, pointing at Wylan’s chest. “You haven’t seen Kaz, have you?”
Wylan shook his head. He didn’t trust himself to speak properly now either.
“That’s okay, I’ll find him eventually,” Jes shrugged, exiting the ballroom.
Wylan returned to his pit of shame.
He forced himself to cry quietly until he could return to his chamber.
Once there, he cried into his hands for a few minutes. He just didn’t know what he could do to help.
Well, to help someone other than his father.
He didn’t even register to check for another message until his thoughts wandered over to his father again a while later.
There was one.
He uncorked the bottle with shaky hands, holding it up to his ear.
“Get your ass down to the gravesite. I have another job for you.” His father sounded angry.
But, then, didn't he always?
Wylan sighed, wiped all evidence of his tears away, and slipped out of the castle to meet his father.
Chapter Text
Inej wandered the halls, bumping into Jesper on the third floor.
“What’s going on?” he asked immediately; probably her face gave something away.
She sighed. “I’m looking for Kaz,” she admitted. But before she could add any justification for it, Jesper nodded along.
“Yeah, me too,” he said. “I’ve looked in his office and his bedroom.”
“I looked there too, and also that nook in the library,” she added.
Jesper sighed.
“I’m just hoping he’s not missing. Like, actually missing. Like, Nina missing,” Inej voiced, and Jesper shrugged.
“Me too,” he agreed. “But he’s probably just hiding somewhere to get away from all the ball preparations.”
Inej shook her head, unconvinced. “I’m telling you, something was off about him the last time I talked to him.”
“I’ll say,” Jesper said suddenly, and she looked curiously up at him. “He yelled at a servant.”
Inej raised an eyebrow. “Which servant?”
“Wylan,” he informed her, and she scoffed.
“No, he did not,” she argued. Wylan wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“He did!” Jesper countered. “Wylan brought up Jordie because Nina got brought up – and the poor guy really misses a lot of social cues – but there was no reason to yell at him about it.”
Inej frowned. “He brought up Jordie in our conversation too,” she recalled.
Jesper sighed again. “I figured it must be some kind of anniversary for them, but he’s still acting more aggressive about it than usual.”
Inej narrowed her eyes. “We need to find him now,” she began.
A weird, loud smacking noise on the window next to them made them both jump.
“What the hell was that?” she asked in a hushed voice.
Jesper walked cautiously over to the window. He glanced down. “Looks like a bird flew into the window. It’s gone, just left a couple feathers behind,” he told her, and she came over to see for herself.
Indeed, two black feathers lay on the balcony. She internally winced for the bird’s unfortunately abrupt stop. She rubbed her forehead tiredly.
“Hey,” Jesper said gently, taking her hand away from her face to hold it. “We’ll find him, and then you two can dance at the ball for hours,” he proclaimed.
Inej laughed. “You know as well as I do that he can’t do that,” she reminded him.
Jesper looked vaguely confused. “What? He’s had lessons since he was –”
“No, dumbass,” Inej cut in. “The touch thing.”
“Oh. Right,” Jesper said glumly before perking up. “Well, you’ll be able to stature longingly into each other’s eyes soon enough.”
Inej laughed again.
“I’m gonna go beg Wylan for a second dance, hang on, yeah?” Jesper let go of her hand, walking backwards away from her.
“You do that,” she said with a small smile.
Jesper grinned, flashing her two thumbs up, and left down the hallway.
Inej sighed, putting her face in her hands.
The same weird smacking noise made her jump even higher as something slammed hard against the window pane again.
She watched out the window as a crow flew away quickly.
“That’s weird,” she mumbled to herself, wondering if she’d imagined the whole thing. She really was exhausted.
But she needed to find Kaz first.
So she sighed, collected herself, and continued her hunt for him.
Notes:
This one's on the shorter side, for sure, but the next chapter will be much longer, I promise <3
Chapter 4: Kaz 2
Notes:
Whoops this chapter has been sitting there done for two days and then I just...didn't post it. So here you go now <3
Chapter Text
The pain radiating from every single one of Kaz’s new bones hurt. It was worse than his leg pain, because at least that had been mostly centralized in one place, not discounting the extra pain from dragging the lame one around everywhere.
But this? This was something else entirely. This was everywhere. And it was constant.
And he wondered if perhaps he could go insane just from the pain, never mind the fact that he used to be something else.
He woke up suddenly, blinking his eyes that felt new and old at the same time.
The bearded human who’d watched him go to sleep had disappeared, and left Kaz alone, laying across a stone slab with weird runes carved into it. Etched.
He had a feeling he should know what they were, but he didn’t know. Not right now.
He hardly knew anything.
He blinked fully awake, that lingering fatigue seeming to drip away down his tail feathers. Flapping his wings experimentally, he hopped off the scratched up stone and found that even that split second of hovering down eased the pain just enough for him to think.
To think the word castle before it faded from his mind again.
He hopped into flight, getting up into the air to a height that felt more normal for his brain.
But oh! The relief in his brittle bones kept him light and airy as he flew around in circles, trying to avoid landing again. Trying to avoid that ravaging pain he felt somehow connected to not flapping his wings.
As he soared higher and higher, his brain cleared more and more.
Castle.
He jerked his beak to the side. That big building! The big stone structure he flew toward, that’s what a castle was.
He needed to go there, he knew that much.
Kaz flew eagerly, coasting down a little as he circled the castle, looking. Searching. He looked for something.
No. Someone. He looked for someone, but who that someone was, he didn’t know until –
Until he saw her.
The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
She looked sad, but he couldn’t determine the cause.
A thick pane of glass stood between them.
He wondered if he could break the glass that separated them, using his beak as a point. Surely it would be sharp enough?
He needed to try. If nothing else, he needed to try.
For that beautiful woman.
He mustered up his courage – or strength, maybe – before flying directly into the glass, bracing for impact.
The impact to his beak jarred up his face, the rest of his small body smacking into the window. He fell, hitting the hard ground in absolute pain before immediately getting up, deserting the few tail feathers he’d lost in the process.
He needed to keep flying to stave off the inevitable return of immense pain and the fog that threatened to overtake his mind again. So he hopped back up, flapping up a storm trying to get back up to the level with the window.
He’d gotten a little turned around by the impact and subsequent fall, but he decided to just fly around the entirety of the castle again to keep his presence of mind sharp enough to figure out a way to get to her.
Kaz returned to the exact window, the beautiful woman still standing there, but now he could see another someone next to her.
The other someone looked awfully familiar too.
Well, last time, his beak hadn’t been nearly sharp enough. Maybe his body would be effective enough to use the whole thing. Punch the glass with his entire frame.
He knew he was smaller now than he had been previously, but he underestimated just how much smaller until he tried again.
He tried to act more as a rock than a knife, but all he ended up managing was to hit his head, jostling what little brain he had left.
He flew away from the window, distraught but unable to come up with another plan. His head was just far too fuzzy to come up with another even remotely viable at the moment.
But he knew he needed to get that woman’s attention soon. Very soon. That was all he could think, when he could think. Fast. Quickly. Soon.
He coasted down through the air, the bustle of the ground of the castle drawing him in. He landed on a branch, ignoring the return of the full body agony in favor of listening to the words the humans spoke.
“...ball…”
“...royals…”
“...ballroom…”
Ball. He knew he knew that term. Well, he knew he should know what it meant. Mostly he just knew it meant a few different things, but he had a feeling this ball wasn’t the round soft kind. More like an action. An…
…event?
It was too hazy right now, so he flew away, relishing in the minor relief he got while he flew back to the stone slab with the runes – words? Was that the term for them, words? – he’d woken up on.
He landed on the stone surface, hoping that if he kept flapping his wings, the widespread pain would relinquish its grip on him.
It didn’t.
He limped across the stone slab, falling over with the sudden return of fatigue.
He slept for who even knew how long – certainly Kaz didn’t know, he’d been asleep the whole time – only to wake up to see another, rather plump crow looking at him inquisitively.
The inexplicable feeling that he knew this crow erupted in his brain, and he tried to determine what to ask.
He needed to ask something, but what?
Probably “Who are you?” Or maybe “Do you know who I am?”
He tried to speak, to say Do you know me the very least, only to get out an unintelligible low squawk that sounded nothing like any of the words he’d been trying to say.
Fury boiled over into his veins, and he tried to frown. But he couldn’t do that at the moment either.
The other crow nuzzled his cheek.
He flew back quickly, the nuzzle stinging him horribly. This new pain overtook all of the new constant pain he’d been trying to sleep away. He didn’t know where the stinging had originated from, but he had the vague feeling it had been like that Before as well.
The other crow opened its beak, and he prepared himself to hear a nondescript squawk like the one he’d given. “Kaz,” it said gutterally enough that if he hadn’t known exactly what it was saying, he wouldn’t have known what it was trying to say.
But that was him. He was Kaz.
“Who?” he asked, although it sounded more like hoo than anything else.
“Knee,” the other crow said.
Kaz cocked his head. Yes, it was true, his knee still hurt, but what about it?
“Knee,” the crow insisted, nuzzling him again.
Kaz flew up to get away – that stinging really got to him in a way he couldn’t explain – clearing his mind enough to build a bridge of connections to this crow.
He landed again, cocking his head the other way. He knew who it was.
Nina.
“Knee?” he asked, not quite getting her full name out either.
Nina fluttered her wings excitedly, “Eck,” she squawked. “Eck. Eck.”
Kaz bobbed his head. “Eck,” he confirmed.
That was the name of the human who’d doomed him as well.
Another name danced around his slowly clearing brain, just out of reach for a while until he managed to secure it in one place.
“Neh,” he managed, his pronunciation of Inej’s name even worse than usual.
Nina cocked her head, looking confused now.
Kaz nudged her with the very tips of his feathers of his wing – which turned out to not sting nearly as bad as her nuzzling him – getting her to back up a step.
Kaz flew up a little, coming back down, jerking his head up all the while. “Neh,” he urged her.
Nina nodded, flying up with him when he tried again to fly up.
The trip to the castle could’ve taken any length of time – time didn’t feel all that important as a crow – but they got there at night. That particular feature barely dawned on him as he tried to see through the window he’d tried to break down earlier, finding the lack of a sun something of a determent.
But when he got close enough to actually see through, Inej wasn’t there anymore.
Kaz tried to frown again, landing on the balcony to squawk in frustration.
“Hoo?” Nina asked next to him.
Kaz ignored her for now, hopping off the balcony into the air again to fly around the castle looking for that beautiful woman again.
He circled maybe three times – numbers were also a bit of a mystery at the moment – before he found Nina hovering at the window of a large spacious room alight with lanterns and the dull roar of many humans all together in one space.
The ballroom, his cloudy brain told him.
Kaz tried to sigh – not being able to do so in the slightest – before flying up to where Nina now perched on a high balcony overlooking the ballroom.
He looked at where Nina’s beak pointed, watching a tall, broad blond man stand on the edge of the ballroom, watching everyone dance. He didn’t dance, didn’t move once the entire time Kaz and Nina stared at him.
Nina’s dark eyes had gone blank and he wondered if she was losing access to her brain the way he was until he realized her expression for what it actually was: sadness.
Kaz, awkwardly not knowing what to do now, nudged her with his feather tips again. “As?” he asked.
Nina bobbed her head, looking as dejected as a crow can, bowing her head now in despair.
Kaz nodded once before going back to looking for Inej. Even as a human, he’d be useless in this situation where comfort would be required.
“Hoo?” Nina asked again.
“Neh,” Kaz replied, not looking at her, busy roving his beady little eyes over the entire crowd looking for her.
Nina suddenly nudged him with her feathers, stinging his entire body again. But before he could squawk in annoyance at the unannounced touch, his eyes followed down the length of her right wing where it pointed to the far edge of the ballroom.
Kaz peered around Nina until she backed up a little to give him more room to see what she’d seen.
There! His heart clenched as he watched her dance around in small, quick circles with someone.
Then he blinked rapidly, trying to determine if he was dreaming. Did crows dream? Did crows who used to be humans dream?
He didn't know.
All he knew was that he knew the person Inej danced with at the moment, and it didn’t make any sense.
He watched Inej dance with himself, around and around and around again.
Kaz watched Inej dance with Kaz until he couldn’t decide how real anything was anymore.
Chapter 5: Wylan 2
Chapter Text
Wylan didn’t want to do this. He really didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to do anything to hurt anyone ever.
His father on the other hand…
“If you want Prince Jesper to make it out of this alive, you’ll do exactly what I say,” his father growled, eyeing him for a reaction.
Wylan didn’t react. Or, well, he tried not to. Jes seemed to like Wylan, at least, which was nice, but the threat of his demise was all it would take for Wylan to comply.
And Jan Van Eck knew it.
Wylan sighed. “What am I doing?” he asked, resigned.
“You’re getting an explicit confession of love or loyalty out of that girl,” his father told him firmly.
Wylan blinked. “What girl?”
“Kaz’s girl,” his father said as though he weren’t the brightest candle in the room.
And maybe he wasn’t.
“Why?” he asked.
“You know how the magic works,” his father said dismissively.
“...I know how to break the spell,” Wylan verified slowly. “How am I getting a confession out of her? She doesn’t love me.”
His father rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I forget how stupid you are,” he snapped.
Wylan said nothing. The insult about his intellect from Jan was typical at this point, after all.
“You’re not going as you,” his father stressed. “You’re going as Kaz.”
Wylan jerked back. “What?”
“She’s going to swear her love to who she thinks is Kaz, and doom him forever,” his father said gleefully. “It’s going to be wonderful.”
“What are you talking about?” Wylan protested. “What happens if she swears her love to someone else?” He knew magic and most of the rules, but he’d never heard of this one before.
Jan Van Eck grinned wickedly. “She’ll seal his fate as a crow forever, of course, and both of them will be none the wiser.” He turned and picked something up, thrusting it at Wylan’s chest. “Now, here is your costume, don’t forget those stupid gloves –”
“Wait, what?” Wylan asked, grappling with the fancy suit and black gloves.
“Stand still so I can curse you,” Jan said, waving his hands around Wylan’s entire body.
“Wait –” Wylan tried to protest, but suddenly he began to stretch painfully upward, like he’d jumped but stayed in midair. The stretching stopped when he was about eye level with his father, a stranger feeling to him than the uncomfortable ache that filled his entire body. He looked down at his body, trying to figure out where his body had gone. His clothes were tight on him in some places, but way too loose in others.
The freckles that decorated his arms were gone, replaced with the palest skin he’d ever seen. He tried to step forward on his right leg, only to crumple to the ground when his knee buckled and gave way beneath him.
“What the –?” he asked himself, the clothes his father had given him tumbling out of his hands onto the ground. His voice sounded wrong, too. Raspy, gravelly, perpetually hoarse. His throat ached, like it was raw from screaming.
He patted his head, where his haircut had changed – along with his hair. No longer did he have tight curls, but straight sleek hair that his hand slipped off of in a way his hair would never let him. There were no curls for his fingernails to get trapped in.
He looked up at his father in horror. “Wait, I’m cursed now?”
His father sighed exasperatedly. “The magic requires me to tell you that you’ll be uncursed by a declaration of love to you,” he rattled off as if he were reading a particularly boring list. “But it’s not like anyone can tell your prince that.”
Wylan gaped at him. “So I’m supposed to be Kaz forever?” he asked in Kaz’s harsh voice.
“Play this right for me, and I’ll help you become yourself again,” his father said through gritted teeth. “As much as I hate you, I hate Kaz more.”
Wylan nodded slowly, trying to decide how horrible his new various pains were.
“I have his cane, here,” his father tossed him the crow head cane. He barely caught it as he struggled to his feet, taking the bundle of clothes with him. “Get dressed, play the part correctly, then get back here.”
Wylan nodded again, going behind a convenient bush to change. Kaz’s suit fit perfectly on his new body – so it must’ve been filched directly from his closet – and he tucked his servant’s outfit under the bush for later. When he would hopefully be in his own body again.
The pinching pain in his head and spine ached, but his right knee killed. He wondered how Kaz managed it all the time. Maybe he’d just gotten used to it.
He hoped he’d become used to it quickly.
He slipped the gloves on now, and gripped the cane head tightly, trying to remember exactly how Kaz walked – or, well, limped.
His cane was in his left hand, for one. He knew that. And the cane acted as a third leg, really, that worked in tandem with the bad one.
He practiced with the cane for a bit to get a feel for it before coming out to present himself to his father. “Okay?”
His father looked him over. “Looking as detestable as ever,” he sneered.
Wylan stayed quiet.
“Get going. Now,” Jan said sternly.
Wylan nodded and turned on his heel, limping back to the castle.
He needed to signal to Inej somehow that the person with her wasn't even the actual Kaz. But he needed to do it without tipping his father off. He’d probably have spies or at least magical eyes into the entire thing, so Wylan needed to be as casual about it as possible.
For Jes’ sake, as well as his own.
Oh, Jes, he thought desperately. He wasn’t going to be able to have that dance with him tonight.
He tried not to cry about it. Kaz would never cry, and he figured the evidence of crying would be much more damning on such pale skin.
So he resisted that urge, at least.
“If you mess this up, you’ll never be you again,” his father called after him as he left the small clearing. “I’ll make sure of it. So play him right!”
Shit. He really needed a plan to not jeopardize anyone’s fate.
But…as it stood, someone was going to have to take the fall by the end of the night.
He just didn’t know who he’d prefer it to be.
Well, no one. No one was his answer. But it probably wasn’t the correct answer.
His father?
He shut that thought down immediately. No good ever came from thinking like that.
Maybe he’d need to leave the thinking to someone smarter. Someone like Inej. Or Jes.
He made it back to the castle, gathering all the suave he could muster. He tried for deadpan as well. Kaz’s emotions were a complete mystery to him at the best of times, so he hoped he could be as quietly charming as the Prince could be.
The guards at the gate gave him a double take as he approached. “Prince Kaz!” the burly man gasped. “We thought you were d –”
“– missing, we thought you were missing,” the other thinner man cut in, shooting the other guard a look. The first guard balked a little.
Wylan pretended not to see it. “Well, I’m back now. If you’ll excuse me, I have a ball to attend.” He stood patiently with his cane in front of him the way Kaz sometimes did when he waited.
The guards exchanged a quick glance with each other before opening the doors for him.
As the door closed again behind Wylan, he heard the burly man say, in a low voice, “Did he seem off to you?”
Wylan stood straighter. He apparently hadn’t sold that performance as well as he needed to. He cracked his neck quickly, as if that would relieve any of the tension from where his spine had stretched to accommodate Kaz’s height. It didn’t, so he just sighed and made his way to the ballroom.
He slipped into the room as quietly as he could, searching for Inej.
He found her at almost the same time she saw him, her face changing from dour and hopeless to bright and elated in an instant.
Jes stood next to her, following her eyeline to rest on Wylan. His own eyes lit up and oh god, he looked so relieved to see Kaz, and oh god, he was so handsome –
He snapped back to where Inej had begun to make her way over to him.
How to tip her off, though? Could he take his gloves off?
No, because Kaz wouldn’t do that in a million years. Wylan had never seen his hands until he’d become the Prince, so it was unlikely that that would be seen as neutral. It would raise too much of an alarm, and then his father would immediately know Wylan had tried to sabotage the whole thing.
He decided to just look desperately as Inej, who frowned at his expression.
Confusion swept over her soft features. “You okay, Kaz?” she asked in her slightly accented alto. “Where have you even been?”
“I’ve been at Jordie’s grave,” he answered immediately. Maybe if he sprinkled enough hints early on, he’d come up with a better plan.
“...that can’t be the only place you’ve been,” she gave a little laugh. “You’ve been gone for two days.”
“Well, that’s where I started, at least. Care to dance?” he asked, holding out his gloved hand to her.
She looked at it curiously, but eventually took it.
He led her onto the dance floor, trying to decide how to work his plaguing guilt into something he could use to warn her.
And Jes.
Chapter 6: Inej 2
Chapter Text
“Maybe we should send out a search party?” Inej asked, wringing her hands. “I know he’d really hate that, but I just don’t know what else to do!” She looked up at where Jesper looked at her sympathetically.
“Maybe after the ball?” he half agreed distractedly. His gaze swept the ballroom again. “Have you seen Wylan?”
Inej shrugged. “Not in a while; why, were you two going to dance?” she tried for a light comment.
Jesper sighed. “Yeah, I thought so, but he might’ve already moved away,” he said disappointedly, kicking at the ground with his thick soled boots.
Inej watched him for a moment before looking at where the main doors had opened to reveal –
She slapped Jesper’s arm a couple times in excitement. “Jesper, it’s – Jes –” she babbled, still smacking him.
“– ow, Inej, ow, what?” he grabbed her hand to stop it from flailing, looking over in the same direction. “I guess we don’t need that search party after all,” he grinned, looking as relieved as Inej felt as she dropped her hand.
“I’m gonna…” she trailed off, hurrying toward where Kaz stood rather awkwardly just past the now closed doors. Her grin grew wider and wider as she approached him.
He seemed to be staring past her, focused on something else. But as she got to him, his eyes snapped back onto hers.
Something was wrong, her gut told her instantly. He usually looked at her like…like she was the only person in the world. Like he couldn’t believe he’d been graced by her presence.
Like she was special.
But now, he looked at her so flatly, she didn’t know how to even articulate the issue without sounding somewhat conceited.
Maybe it had something to do with how he’d gone missing.
“You okay, Kaz?” she asked as soon as he was within earshot. “Where have you been?”
Kaz’s dark eyes looked…empty as he spoke stiltedly. “I’ve been at Jordie’s grave,” he rasped.
She waited, but he didn’t elaborate. Maybe he was just tired or something, she tried to convince her confusion. “...that can’t be the only place you’ve been,” she laughed. His dull eyes didn’t even seem to register her giggle. Strange. “You’ve been gone for two days.”
Kaz winced; a weird reaction to be sure, but not out of the question, she supposed. “Well, that’s where I started, at least. Care to dance?” His hand came up, palm facing the ceiling as he stared impassively at her.
Inej, taken aback, tried to put the scattered pieces together he was throwing at her. Something was definitely wrong, but she could finally see that small glimmer in his eyes that told her he was currently scheming about something. But what he was plotting was unclear at the moment, and he didn’t seem about to let her in on it.
She stared at his hand again. Maybe she was just in the middle of one of Kaz’s secret schemes, one where he expected her to Yes And everything he did.
She could play along.
Inej accepted the hand, waiting as he set his cane aside as an afterthought before leading her onto the dance floor. Even that tripped her up. He usually treated his cane as an extension of himself. He usually stayed acutely aware of where it was and where it was going.
But maybe he was just really preoccupied with whatever this current scheme was about, she decided.
They stood on the dance floor, assuming the position of everyone else. She hadn't expected that, either. Kaz stood entirely too close to her.
He’d never stood this close to her, not once. They could touch in far more places like this than just where he held both of her hands.
The music began. They moved with it.
Or, well, she moved with it. Kaz suddenly became incredibly clumsy on his feet, as if he kept forgetting he had a bad knee.
Strange.
Someone backed up against Kaz’s back. Inej watched as his eyes widened and he turned, straight up hissing at them. He glared daggers at the startled couple as he seemed to be visibly dealing with the pain of the sudden contact, gritting his teeth like he might break his molars.
“My apologies, Prince Kaz,” they mumbled, sweeping their partner away from him.
No, it was more than the obvious pain, she realized. It wasn’t as though Kaz hadn't been careful to avoid it; it was as though Kaz had somehow forgotten he had haphephobia. As if he hadn’t been expecting it to hurt him.
But he didn’t explain himself or his odd behavior. He just continued where he seemed to be settling better into a rhythm with her. Their shoes brushed against each other occasionally, but except for a sudden inhale of breath from Kaz halfway through, they danced in silence.
Finally, Inej needed her burning questions answered. She leveled her eyes up to his. “Okay, you have to tell me what the current plan is,” she told him firmly.
Kaz looked at her oddly. “What plan?” he asked flatly.
Inej widened her eyes a little. “Kaz, something is up with you, and I can’t keep up if you don't tell me –” she broke off, realizing that Kaz had stopped looking at her in favor of staring at someone behind her. Not just staring. Gazing. Longingly.
She turned her head to see Jesper standing next to Matthias, talking quietly to where the stone face man nodded a few times. Matthias moved away. Kaz kept his puppy dog eyes on Jesper.
She turned back, confused again.
What was happening? Why was Kaz looking at Jesper the way he usually looked at her?
She didn’t know Kaz also liked men.
“Kaz?” she asked, but he didn’t respond to his own name, his eyes looked sad now. All his lack of response did was increase her concern. “Kaz,” she said a little louder, squeezing his hand when he still didn’t look at her.
He tore his eyes off of Jesper, looking at her…scared?
Why would Kaz be scared? She’d rarely seen him so visibly distraught.
“Inej,” he said finally, and she took a step to the side in time with the swelling music. “Do you love me?”
Inej blinked. Kaz didn’t bring up feelings. Like, ever. She’d never heard him sound so plainly desperate for an answer. “...what do you mean?” she asked eventually, trying to hold his wandering gaze. Wandering…over her shoulder again – what was up with that tonight? What about Jesper had changed so suddenly over two days that Kaz couldn’t keep his eyes off of his best friend?
He looked back at her distractedly, seeming to fumble with the dance steps again. He swallowed thickly. “Do you love me?” he asked again, earnestly.
Inej studied him. She didn’t really know what to even say to that.
Because of course she loved him. Of course she did. But his behavior over the course of the last hour had thrown her so entirely off, she didn’t know what to do anymore. “You know how I feel,” she said vaguely, which wasn’t really an answer, but that made it his turn to study her.
He seemed genuinely torn about how to proceed. Like she didn’t follow some unknown script. Finally, he spoke up, gazing at her with a torrent of emotions whirling closer to the surface of his eyes as she’d ever seen him. “Then swear it. Swear that you love me.”
Inej, scared now that Kaz had just said the word ‘love,’ like, three times non flippantly, caught his eyes straying to ogle where Jes stayed on the other end of the ballroom behind her. She threw a quick look over her shoulder to be certain that was still the case.
Yep. Kaz’s eyes were only on Jesper.
“I’ll swear it as soon as you tell me what’s going on,” she promised.
Kaz paled quickly as they came to a slow stop as the music ended. She’d rarely seen Kaz pale either – the last time had been when they’d been informed that Nina had gone missing, and even then, it had only been a little bit, not this blood draining entirely from his face complexion.
“Kaz,” she whispered. “I can't help until I know what’s wrong.”
The next dance started.
They started up again to the slower song.
Kaz, for his part, looked utterly terrified, which in turn terrified her. His eyes flickered back behind her to Jesper again, and she’d just about had it with him tonight –
“Kaz, I’m starting to wonder who –” she began, stopping abruptly. “Wait.” She pursed her lips at where he just looked at her blankly. “...you’re not Kaz, are you?”
Kaz paled further. “Why would you say that?” he asked, but notably didn't snap, further confirming for her that she was right. He sounded desperate.
“You need to tell me where Kaz is,” she commanded him as they swayed as though nothing were wrong.
The person she was certain was a Kaz impersonator cleared his throat. “I’m right here, Inej,” he said.
He didn’t say her name right. Kaz always said her name right. Her name just then had sounded the way…the way people who didn’t know her personally said it. Like…strangers. And…servants.
All the clues had been subtle, but now, with that last piece, she thought she knew exactly who this was.
Based mostly on the ogling of one Jesper Fahey.
“Wylan, I can help you,” she said quietly. “Just tell me where Kaz is.”
Wylan as Kaz gulped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tried.
Inej sighed. “Wylan, I don’t think we have time for you to try to bluff your way out of this,” she said sternly. “Why are you Kaz?”
Wylan as Kaz sighed. “He said he’d kill Jes if I didn’t,” he rasped, throwing her off as he used a nickname for Jesper she hadn’t heard many people use lately.
“Keep dancing, Wylan,” Inej said as his feet slowed. “Nothing is wrong, so we’re still dancing.”
Wylan nodded frantically, continuing his stumbling steps.
“Who is blackmailing you?” Inej asked as though they were discussing something entirely benign.
“My father,” said Kaz’s mouth on Wylan.
“Who is your father?” she asked now, trying to get as many pieces as possible as quickly as possible.
“You know who,” he said cryptically.
Inej frowned. “No. I don’t. Which is why I asked –” she broke off, realizing that yes, actually. She did know. “I thought your last name was Hendriks,” she said a little accusingly.
“That’s my mother’s maiden name,” Wylan Van Eck explained.
Inej pursed her lips again. “Where is Kaz?” she asked again.
Wylan shook his head. “That’s not the right question,” he said softly.
Inej raised an eyebrow. “Okay…? So what’s the right question?”
“The right question is ‘what is Kaz?’” Wylan said slowly.
“Okay,” Inej said, trying to keep her impatience in check. Wylan was a victim as much as Kaz seemed to be. “So what is Kaz?”
“His cane,” Wylan jerked his head a little.
Inej looked at the cane disbelievingly. “He is not an inanimate object, that’s not possible,” she began.
“No, the head of his cane,” Wylan urged her.
Inej looked at the cane again. “He’s…a crow?” she understood in a flash.
Wylan nodded once. “Mhm,” he said noncommittally, stepping on her toes again.
She didn’t comment on it. “Where would a crow be?” she asked now.
“That’s not the right question either,” Wylan told her.
“Where would Kaz be?” she guessed.
Wylan nodded once.
“How do we get you uncursed too?” she asked.
Wylan looked hopeful for once. “The same way you’ll need to save Kaz,” he said vaguely.
“Great,” Inej said a little shortly. “How.”
“The spell prevents me from telling you,” Wylan said apologetically. “But I told you everything you need to know already.”
Inej stared at him, calculating everything Wylan had said as Kaz. “Okay,” she said finally. “I think I know where you’re going with this.” She began to pull on his hands. “Let’s go over to Jesper real quick.”
Kaz’s face paled again, but despite his tripping feet, Inej easily led him across the dance floor to where Jesper stood, frowning a little as he looked out over the crowd again.
“Jesper! Come here,” Inej beckoned him when they got close enough for him to hear her voice over the music and movement.
Jesper’s eyes caught onto hers before flickering over to Wylan and beginning to grin as he made his way over to them. “Hey, Kaz,” he greeted them, eyes flickering down at where they still held hands. Wylan’s grip seemed to be tightening. “Long time no see – I bet you have some kind of wild story to explain yourself.”
Kaz’s face burned visibly.
Jesper stared at him, confusion painted across his face. “What?” he asked, eyes going back and forth between Wylan and Inej. “Wait, what does that mean?”
Inej cleared her throat, getting his attention again. “Jesper, you need to tell Kaz how much you love Wylan,” she told him firmly.
Jesper’s confusion deepened, and he cocked his head at her. “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, his pitch rising.
Inej ground her teeth. Of all the times for Jesper to not keep up with her improvisation, it had to be now. “Jesper, I’m not kidding. Explain to Kaz in great detail how much you love Wylan. Right now,” she demanded.
Jesper’s entire face scrunched as he seemed to be weighing his options and he didn’t like any of them. “Okay?” he finally agreed as hesitantly as if she’d asked him to chop his arm off. “Uh, Kaz, I – no, this is weird,” he interrupted himself, turning back to Inej. “Inej, what’s going on?”
Inej pursed her lips. “Jesper, I will explain everything later,” she promised. “But right now, you need to confess your love. Now. Keep going.”
“Okay…?” Jesper trailed off, sizing Wylan up. “Uh, Kaz. I love Wylan. A lot. I think he’s funny, and sweet, and handsome, and what the hell, since I’m supposed to go into great detail, he’s got a cute ass.”
Wylan laughed, the sound incredibly foreign coming from Kaz’s mouth. The raspiness of it frankly startled Inej more than it should’ve.
Jesper jerked back at the laugh, eyebrows knotting together into more than confusion: he was alarmed. “Why’s Kaz laughing? What does that mean? Inej?” he pleaded with her.
“Swear it,” she prompted him urgently. “Swear that you love him.”
Jesper looked at her as if she’d gone entirely insane.
“We don’t have much time,” she gritted her teeth tightly. “Do it.”
Jesper turned back to face Wylan, his concern seeming to skyrocket. “Uh, I swear with all my heart that I love Wylan Hendriks?”
Wylan sighed with obvious relief, Kaz’s figure beginning to shrink back down to be more level with Inej’s height than Jesper’s.
Jesper’s eyes were wide as saucers, darting back and forth between her and Wylan, but she didn’t need to stick around any longer: Wylan could handle this from here.
Besides, she was already sure she knew where Kaz was.
She began to hurry away, stopping by Wylan’s voice.
“Nina’s in the same predicament,” he called after her in his own high voice.
“Does she have to be in front of him?” Inej confirmed, walking backwards to keep facing him a little longer.
Wylan nodded.
“I’ll bring her back,” she promised, turning on her heel so she could grab Kaz’s cane where Wylan had set it down, and someone’s small purse from the same table.
Then she stole outside, heading for Jordie’s grave.
Jordie’s grave was crowded by a huddle of crows, most of whom flew away as she approached.
She paused. She didn’t know which one was Kaz, they all looked the same. “Kaz?” she ventured.
Two crows hopped toward her, separating themselves from the remains of the pack.
“Which of you is Kaz?” she pestered.
One of them began to limp toward her, fluttering his wings halfheartedly.
“Oh, Kaz,” she said, sitting on the ground in front of him. He looked up at her with dark, beady eyes. “I love you just how you are, and I swear with all my heart that I love you.”
The crow’s head cocked, but his form began to swell, his head rising higher and higher as the wings disappeared in favor of growing fingers instead.
Inej sat back as Kaz came back into his human form, slower than Wylan had. But maybe he’d been like this for longer than Wylan had been him.
The first noise he made was a low hiss. He kept hissing, sharp trills through his gritted teeth as he flapped his arms once in a distinctly birdlike way.
“Hey, Kaz. Hey,” she said softly. “It’s just me. It’s just Inej.”
He stopped hissing to look at her, his dark eyes piercing into hers. “Do you really?” he rasped.
“Do I really what?” Inej asked, concerned.
Kaz looked down and said nothing.
Inej smiled to herself. There he was, there was the Kaz she knew. “Yes, Kaz. I do really love you.”
He kept looking down until finally he mumbled, “Can I have my cane?”
She handed it over. He grabbed it, using it to get to his shaky feet. His breaths came out a little sharply still, and he wobbled, but she wasn’t about to help him stand. He seemed distraught as it was, let alone adding touch into the equation.
“Van Eck did this?” she confirmed.
Kaz nodded curtly. Then his face devolved into panic. “Where did Nina go?” he asked hoarsely.
“She’s also a crow?” Inej asked.
Kaz nodded distractedly, still looking around.
The other crow who’d stepped away from the flock came over to where Inej began to stand, nuzzling her foot.
Inej laughed, bending down to pick her up carefully. “There she is,” she said cheerfully, tucking Nina into the small stolen purse.
She looked up just in time to see Jan Van Eck knock Kaz across the back of the head with the hilt of a large knife.
Kaz crumpled to the ground, holding his head. He looked dazed.
Van Eck looked mad as hell. “Leave it to my stupid son to mess everything up,” he growled, pointing the knife at where Kaz had fallen to the ground.
“Leave it to your son to save the day, actually,” Inej said calmly, swinging the purse around so Nina was behind her and out of Van Eck’s line of sight.
Van Eck snorted. “Well, I guess I have to clean up the mess he’s made. Again,” he stressed.
The knife came at her before she could blink, the blade slicing through her flesh to dig into her shoulder. A blossom of agony wrenched through her, and she cried out, falling to her knees.
Kaz’s eyes turned murderous, and she couldn’t help but marvel at how handsome he was when he was being protective of her.
She really did love this man, she thought hazily, pawing at the knife still in her body.
Kaz’s cane swung up with his body, but she forced herself to focus on digging the knife out despite the copious amounts of blood and tears falling away from her in the process.
She needed to hold her own so Kaz could get Van Eck what he deserved.
Chapter 7: Kaz 3
Notes:
Whoops, took me a minute, but I got there in the end <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Inej’s laugh rang in his dizzy head. He’d fallen awkwardly under where he could hear Van Eck grousing loudly to – Inej? Him? He wasn’t sure.
“Leave it to my stupid son to mess everything up,” he snarled above where Kaz tried to get back up.
His head spun, and so did the world. Quite frankly, it felt like how being a crow had felt, and he wasn’t exactly eager to return to that state of mind.
“Leave it to your son to save the day, actually,” Inej’s clear voice said firmly in front of him.
So he forced himself to blink rapidly, to dispel the cloudy vision he’d been gifted with.
Only to see a thick knife fly through the air to smack into Inej’s shoulder with a meaty thwack.
She cried out, sinking to her knees, the purse she’d put Nina into thudding against her back.
Kaz narrowed his eyes at where she tried to dig the blade out with shaky hands, and turned on Van Eck.
He swung up with his cane, using it as a bludgeon as he stood back up, a little clumsily.
But Van Eck seemed to not think he’d be in any kind of commission, because he looked more shocked than anything else at Kaz’s attacks.
Kaz let his cane fly through the air, harshly hitting where Van Eck had been.
Either Van Eck was faster than Kaz wanted to give him credit for, or Kaz was slower from that bump on the head than he wanted to believe.
Van Eck’s hands tried to stretch out – uselessly, Kaz thought vaguely before realizing the actual reason for it.
Kaz didn’t know how much Inej knew about the magic part of the equation, but he needed to make sure she didn’t get caught in the crossfire. “Don’t stop moving!” he yelled over his shoulder, swinging on Van Eck again. The older man dodged again, starting to pant. “He can’t – if – you – move –!”
Kaz swung a little harder, but the extra force behind the weapon didn’t actually help him this time. Van Eck was too fast at the moment.
So Kaz opted to just swing more as opposed to harder.
Van Eck’s teeth gritted loudly as he backed up with every swing. “Oh, you think you’re so smart, don’t you –?” he roared, thrusting an empty threat at Kaz.
A knife appeared suddenly, embedded into his chest. The glittering gold hilt shone under the light of the moon, his choked gasps starting to gurgle as blood entered his lungs.
Van Eck fell on his knees hard, hands pawing at it. His mouth opened and closed like a startled goldfish, unable to fully comprehend his own demise.
Kaz turned on his heel to go to where Inej stood, holding her wound with one bloody hand, the knife gone from her shoulder.
He put the pieces together far later than he should’ve, but he had just been a crow, and then brained with the handle of said knife.
Inej’s sobs seemed far bigger than they had been, her body racked with deep, earth shattering inhales.
“Inej? Inej, what’s wrong?” he tried, trying to understand. She held her knife wound fairly loosely, so that probably wasn’t the issue.
Inej’s deep brown eyes found his, absolutely flooded with tears. “I-I-I killed someone,” she wailed, trying to swipe her tears away to almost no avail.
“Inej,” he paused, trying to decide how to handle the opposing goals in his mind. “Inej, I’m…sorry, but we have to figure out how to get Nina back.”
He winced at his own words, but she just nodded along, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve.
“I know how, we gotta get her back to Matthias,” she told him, obviously trying to breathe a little slower. She patted the purse the crow Nina still sat inside of, swinging it around so it hung on her hip instead of her back.
Kaz nodded, holding out a gloved hand for her to take.
Inej did take it, gripping it like a lifeline as he helped her stand.
And then she didn’t let go.
She didn’t let go, even as he pulled her in the direction of the castle.
She didn’t let go, even as she explained to him everything that had happened while he’d been a crow.
And she didn’t let go, even as he gripped her hand as tightly as he dared.
Inej just smiled at him, and gave him an assuring nod, and squeezed his hand.
And Kaz almost smiled back.
Notes:
Def on the shorter side, this chapter, but it's all I got :) I got no more outline lol
always_reading2027 on Chapter 3 Fri 08 Mar 2024 12:56AM UTC
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Linzsocal on Chapter 5 Wed 02 Oct 2024 10:41AM UTC
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dearmrsawyer on Chapter 7 Tue 21 May 2024 12:14PM UTC
Last Edited Tue 21 May 2024 12:14PM UTC
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