𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 ↦ Kaz Brekker

xxi. trade

"Give me a day or two to get the information together and then I shall find you and deliver it,"

"Can I not just come to you?" He asked, stepping closer and into her personal space as Stasiaj fought the urge to reach for a fang. Now was not the time. She still needed to know who he had taken her from. "A girl like you would surely need some company whilst she works."

"I have company at home," Stasiaj replied, her mind immediately going to Kaz. "And he doesn't like other men coming close so lest you want an eye removed, I'll find you."

"Lucky man,"

"That he is," Stasiaj replied, before stalking out as quickly as she dared and heading for home once more, her breath leaving her in short huffs. She doubted that she would make it to the island where the others were keeping the pregnant woman.

∘☽༓☾∘

"Malkus?" Kaz raised an eyebrow, seeing the little boy sitting by the quay, finally free of the shadows that normally wreathed all of Stasiaj's vipers. "What are you doing?"

Malkus didn't answer, grabbing Kaz's coat sleeve and tugging him along after him. Kaz tensed, before looking down at the child, who seemed to know that he didn't like being touched, and was being very careful not to go anywhere near his skin or gloves.

"What happened?" He asked, as Malkus lead him into an alleyway, opened one of the manhole covers and dropped down below. Kaz narrowed his eyes, before following the boy into the tunnels, closing the lid.

Malkus turned left and then right as they occasionally passed other members of Stasiaj's vipers, who hurried on as if they hadn't seen him. Finally, they reached the den, where Ivarn was pacing.

"Good, you're here," 

"Why am I here?" Kaz asked, as the other vipers in there glared at him venomously. 

"Something happened with Stasiaj," Ivarn replied. "She came back from the embassies shaking and she locked herself in her room. Stasiaj never does that. She always comes to check in on us first. So, I sent Malkus to fetch you. She'll talk to you."

"Snake won't talk..."

"Yes she will," Ivarn cut him off, his glare harsh as he stared up at Kaz. "She'll talk to you. At least try."

Kaz left the room to talk to Stasiaj, worry curling in his stomach as he traced the familiar path to her room. Knocking on the door, Kaz waited for a sound but heard nothing. 

"Snake?" There wasn't a reply, and Kaz sighed, before pulling his tools from his coat pocket and unlocking the door quickly, his hands almost trembling in his haste to see if Stasiaj was alright. The door clicked, and Kaz pushed it open slowly, his eyebrows furrowing.

Whenever he and Stasiaj had meetings together, her room had always been clean and orderly. She had mentioned, in an offhand way once, that she liked to keep things clean because living on the streets never allowed her such a luxury.

But her room wasn't clean. It wasn't neat and it wasn't orderly. The curtains were torn down from their hold, papers all over the floor, her desk overturned, her bed sheets thrown off of the mattress and clothes ripped from hangers. His immediate thought was that someone had broken in, but if they had, the vipers wouldn't have been downstairs.

Turning quickly, Kaz tried to find Stasiaj in the madness, looking around carefully, before his eyes landed on a shivering form in the corner of the room, partly hidden by the bed and shadows. 

"Sn..." He trailed off, before correcting himself and setting his cane down on the bed. "Stasiaj, it's me. It's Kaz."

Her fingers were latched into her hair, rocking and shivering slowly and Kaz was reminded of what Stasiaj was like when she had been on the ship. But this was different, there was no water around and she had been awake enough, whilst on the ship, to know and talk to him.

Kaz reached out, before pausing as he fought down his own tremors. He was no use to Stasiaj if he was also unsure of himself. Taking another deep breath, Kaz reached forward and touched Stasiaj's knuckles gently. 

She barely reacted, and Kaz took that as a sign, carefully unthreading her hands from her hair. It was just like removing her daggers, which were now embedded in the walls around the room, and Kaz took another deep breath as he pulled her other hand from her hair with equal care.

Stasiaj barely saw him, her eyes unfocused and rimmed with red, her hands still trembling in her lap. Kaz crouched in front of her again, fighting the pang in his knee.

"Stasiaj, it's me," He murmured, but she barely responded. "Snake, come on, get up!"

Again, nothing, and Kaz sighed and pushed himself to his feet. Quickly, he flipped the mattress back onto the bed, placing her bed clothes on top and pushing the remainder of her furniture back into place. If he could straighten it up, maybe that would help Stasiaj, help her come back to him. The papers were next and he tried his best not to skim over the information on the pages, setting them on her desk with the remainder of her fangs, which he'd had to pull from the walls of her room.

Turning back to her, Kaz sighed as she still hadn't moved. He wanted to comfort her, to hug her and tell her that he had her, that everything was going to be alright. But, he couldn't. He'd already exerted himself for the day, so Kaz thought of the next best thing.

Quickly, the teenager pulled his heavy trench coat off of his shoulders, shaking some water from the hem, before he slung it over Stasiaj's form, wrapping her in the thick wool.

"There," He murmured, pulling it around her carefully. "I'm going to get you some water and then we need to talk, Stasiaj."

Kaz left the room, leaving Stasiaj to pull the large coat tighter around her, taking comfort in the warmth that it provided. It smelled like Kaz. It smelled like home.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

Stasiaj's just having a really rough time at the moment, but Kaz is simping over her consistently. Also, no touch or hug really, but he gave her his coat which is the equivalent of a hug at this point.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx