The Phoenix Summoner (ON HOLD)

40

Anya woke up from her deep slumber gasping. She took deep breaths running her hand through her hair. She couldn't believe it. Alina was her sister and not only that but her mother somehow was able to suppress her power. She sits up resting her arms on her knees. She looks over to see Inej sleeping soundly near her.

The Crows and Anya had taken refuge for the night in an abandoned barn. Kaz figured it would be the perfect way to lay low until General Kirigan and the Second Army had passed.

She stands up wrapping her cloak back around her. She walks towards the barn door walking pass Kaz and Jesper who were laying against a pile of heigh. She quietly pushes the door open and walks outside, not realizing Kaz had woken up.

Anya sat on a log looking up at the stars. She couldn't believe that once again she had been lied to and another part of her life had just been one big lie.

She always knew she was powerful and she knew at sometimes it could be dangerous and uncontrollable. But what did she do that terrified her parents into sending Alina away? Alina, the scared mapmaker she met on the skiff was her baby sister. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that Aleksander somehow knew Alina was baby sister.

A tear rolls down her cheek and she sucks in a breath. She raises her hand to her mouth to suppress a sob as reality sets in. Unbeknownst to her, Kaz stands watching her from the door way, a longing look on his face.

He had been wanting to talk to Anya ever since escaping Kirigan. There were so many questions looming around his head. What was the relationship between Kirigan and Anya? Why did she think he was dead? He took a deep breath gaining the courage to finally walk over to her.

"You're different." He says startling Anya.

"I remember a time when you were too scared to even step on a ladybug." It was true. When they were kids, Anya adored every sort of life the world had to offer. From bugs to plants Anya made work to take care of everything she came across. To see her bending the wills of her fellow Grisha like she did with the Inferni honestly almost scared Kaz. Almost. Anya quickly looks up meeting Kaz's gaze. She wipes her eyes looking away. She hated when people saw her cry.

"That's what happens when you spend your entire life trapped behind walls." Anya sighed. Kaz limped over taking a seat beside Anya. They sat in silence listening to the gentle nosies of nature.

"You know..." Anya began "I remember when we use to stay out all hours of the night just to watch the stars." A small smile appears on Anya's face while Kaz keeps a firm gaze on her.

"We'd lay in the meadow behind my house and let the brush cover us so my parents wouldn't catch us." Kaz let out a small smile before returning to his familiar stoic expression. Those were his favorite nights growing up. He and Anya would lie on the ground and gaze up at the stars. Nothing else mattered in those moments. Just them.

"Then why'd you leave?" He asked rather sharply. A look of surprise washed on her face at Kaz's sharp attitude.

"Kaz-"

"I thought you were dead. Do you know what it was like for me? To see you one day and then the next you were gone." Kaz could feel his blood rising, and took a few deep breaths to compose himself.

"The day they found your parents in the woods, I assumed the worst. I thought you had been killed by some animal and dragged away into whatever dark depths it crawled out of but no. You've been living it up in the Little Palace with your Shadow Summoner lover. No letter to tell me you were alive or anything."

"I didn't forget about you. Do you honestly think that if I did, I would be wearing this." She snaps taking out her necklace from her shirt.

"When you took out your pendant in the church, everything that General Kirigan had done to block my memories was torn down. And I remembered everything. My first year in the Little Palace I wrote to you everyday." She says grasping onto the necklace. His eyes flicker down to the pendant clutched in her palm and back up.

"You were all I could think about when I got to the Little Palace. You never returned my letters so naturally I assumed you didn't want to see or hear from me ever again. So I pushed you to the back of my mind like I thought you did with me."

Kaz could feel his heart doing somersaults in his chest. He couldn't believe it. She had wrote him letters he had never received. She never forgot him.

"We're you in love with General Kirigan?" Kaz questioned.

"I think I loved the idea of him loving me, though I always felt something was holding me back from actually loving him." Anya answered honestly.

"Do you know what it could've been?" Kaz whispered leaning slightly closer to her. Kaz knew he was in love with her when they were kids. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to tell her. He held hope that this time would be different.

Anya's breath hitched as she felt herself moving closer as well. She gazed deeply into his dark grey eyes feeling her heart beat a hundred miles a minute, and Kaz Brekker was the culprit of it. Yes, she remembers having a school girl crush on him when they were kids but she always thought it was just that. Seeing him now maybe it was actually more than she thought.

"Maybe." She whispered. Her eyes flickered between his lips and his eyes and him doing the same as well. They both realized how close they were to each other and quickly backed away awkwardly looking everywhere but each other.

"I-uh. We should probably get some sleep." Anya suggested. She quickly stood up before he could respond and made her way back to the barn leaving Kaz to ponder his thoughts on the bench.