Strange Birds | Kaz Brekker & Inej Ghafa

fifteen | home

Neave rolled her eyes, struggling to hide her smile. Those words were the closest Kaz would get to admitting that he liked having Neave around. Maybe, in some way, Kaz Brekker cared about Neave.

"Thank you," she told him again. "But I won't stay with you if you simply plan on using me, Kaz. I have to stay hidden. No one can know who I am or what power I have."

"I understand," he said as if he had expected her response. "If you want to leave, then I won't stop you. But I want you to stay, Neave, and not just because of your potential. I need someone like you on my team."

"Not as a barmaid?" Neave questioned.

"A barmaid but with additional duties now," Kaz offered.

Neave smiled at that. "I suppose I do owe you, after all."

"Consider your debt paid," Kaz told her, and then reached into his pocket as the delicate gold chain rested in the palm of his gloved hand with Neave's eyes falling on the rose. Seeing it, her heart strained with regret, hating herself for being so foolish to sacrifice something so priceless. "You can have it back."

"But..." Neave stared at the necklace in disbelief.

"It's worthless, Neave," said Kaz, dropping the chain in her hand. "But not to you. I only agreed to let you come so that I could figure you out."

"And have you figured me out?" Neave asked.

"I'm starting to," he admitted, offering a hint of a smile. "You're more than just a barmaid, Neave. More than the General's daughter."

Neave felt like she was herself with the three — acting recklessly with a hint of sweetness. But to be offered a place within the Dregs wasn't something to take lightly since they were a criminal gang. Yet, Neave fit in with them in her own way.

"If I join you," said Neave, trying not to let it show what she truly desired. "Then what would be expected of me? You have your sharp-shooter and your wraith, but where do I fit in?"

"I can think of a few ways," he answered with the silent promise that there was always a place for Neave. "That's if you trust me?"

Neave felt the corner of her lips tug upwards, finding the question comedic more than anything. Between them, the matter of trust had gone back and forth, and now here they both were with perhaps an understanding falling between them for the first time.

"That depends," said Neave. "On if you trust me."

"Surprisingly, I do," Kaz admitted. "And I don't trust easily, Neave."

"I know," she had more than enough evidence of that. "I trust you, Kaz. But I have one condition on joining you."

"What's that?" Kaz asked.

"If Alina needs me, then I will drop everything to help her," Neave informed him, where she suspected it might be the same for Inej too.

"Very well," he held out his hand as Neave stared at it, slowly accepting it with her smaller hand as his gloves were cold from the cool breeze. "The deal is the deal."

☼

Neave changed behind the bushes quickly before the two made their way back towards the campfire. The jewelled necklace hung heavy in Neave's pocket, where she planned on selling it at the first chance she got with the aim to use the money to free Inej from the Menagerie.

The small rose hung back around her neck, light-weight and delicate compared to the thick jewels. It felt as if a small piece of her that had been missing had returned with Neave fully at ease now.