the world ender! GRISHAVERSE

𝖝𝖝𝖎𝖎. 𝖆 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖓 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖘!

"You're no stunner either," she grumbled, half coherent. "No offense, Wylan."

"The stadwatch didn't take you?" Nina asked, leaping forwards, Inej on her tail. Wylan cleared the mess of maps and papers on the table with a frantic sweep of his arm and Matthias set her down with unprecedented gentleness. "Kuwei, go get Kaz and Jesper!"

"An explosion I think," Anya muttered, wincing as Inej's lithe fingers fluttered through the sticky dark fabric of her shirt, peeling it away from her skin. "Wasn't Jes and Wylan, thought."

"It was Grisha," Nina explained. "Grisha with wings - like you."

"Nichevo'ya?" Anya whispered, eyes wide with horror, blood running cold. Her fingers shook and reached for Nina. "Nina, were they- "

"No, no," Nina reassured her, pulling out their equipment. "Not them. It was the parem, Anya."

"Inej," Anya gasped. "You got out? You and Kaz? Where's Jes?"

"All thanks to you," Inej smiled gently. "Kaz and Jesper went out to see if the stadwatch had really caught you."

"What happened?" Wylan asked her, brushing her wet hair out of her face. "How did you make it out?"

She couldn't tell them about Ulla, especially not like this. "I'm the World Ender," she cackled, stopping to cough up another round of canal water. "And as you can see, I'm fairly certain the bomb sent me flying into the canal."

"And you swam all the way here?" Matthias asked, voice uncertain.

"Can't remember," she rasped. "All a bit blurry - think my ribs might be broken."

The taunting voice at the back of her mind finally broke through. "You're hurt. Let me in and you'll never feel pain again."

"Fuck off," she grunted, ignoring Wylan's affronted expression as he stepped up next to Inej. "Not you, Wylan."

A thundering of steps echoed from outside the room, and within seconds, long fingers were cradling her cheeks. "Ghezen, Anya! You had me worrying like a grandma!"

"Who let the kid out?" Kaz asked, pulling the boy back into the tomb by the back of his shirt. "I told you to -"

Anya's head rolled to the side, cheek pressing down against the table. Her tired eyes focused in on Kaz as he stopped in his tracks on the steps down into the room. One hand was clenched tightly around his cane and the other rested on the front of his coat, over the hidden pocket inside. "Don't look at me like that," Anya croaked, wincing as Nina began to prod at the metal poking out of her flesh. "People will start think you were worried about me."

A small noise escaped from the back of Kaz's throat and he made his way down the steps towards her. "Now's not the time for jokes," he muttered quietly, glancing at the others around the room. "Jesper can get the metal out, and Nina can stitch you up."

"What about the rest of us?" Wylan asked.

"The work's not going to do itself," Kaz snarled, hand tightening around his cane. Inej gave her hand a squeeze, taking the mangled scraps of fabric with her. Wylan stopped to kiss her forehead before scampering out of the room after Matthias and Kuwei.