STRANGER, jesper fahey

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Let's get this over with."

Gwen had thought of herself as quite funny when she'd slipped away quietly when her brothers back was turned, disappearing out of the window with the wind around her a mere caress against her bruised flesh that ached as if it had been wounded anew. Thought she was very funny indeed actually because the thought of him talking to an empty room before finally turning and realizing he was alone was definitely something she thought he deserved for the absolute shambled mess he'd left her life in because of his whole, 'not dead' thing that had been teetering her ever closer the the edge of damnation.

And so, when she'd landed upon the ground, almost slipping because of the damp cobblestones that she didn't dare spare a glance down to see just why they were wet, there was a small smile curling over her lips, a barely there thing that felt foreign on her face, mainly because for once, it hadn't been Jesper that had put it there. But then the moment that name, that damned name that brought forth a storm inside of her mind, inside of her still breathing corpse, that moment of happiness was dropped quicker than she would of liked as she took a breath and closed her eyes.

She knew she wouldn't of been forgiven, knew she would of been despised for her treachery, truly, she did and she had accepted that as a fact...but that didn't mean looking at him, seeing those lips that had pressed against hers so gently and made her heart sing in blissful praise, seeing his grey eyes that haunted her like a welcome ghost that had maimed all else for her, simply seeing him, his unutterable name, an ache in her throat, an agony in her chest...it didn't mean that it didn't hurt when she could feel that spite dancing over his battleworn skin like a disease that only she could catch, only she could taste because it was theirs.

The sky rumbled above her, feeling her grief and only acting in kind as she risked a quiet breath, trying her hardest to keep that pathetic mourning at ease, at least until she was back home where no one would find evidence of her ruin. And when she could finally see without the weight if her unurshed tears blurring her vision, she began to walk slowly out of the alleyway that had concealed her in darkness, each footstep louder than a bomb inside of her mind, painful and loud and Oh so very deserving for the monster she'd made of herself.

However, Gwen found herself abruptly stopping in her tracks, freezing up with her every muscle tense with unease as she noticed someone rather familar standing at the doors of the Slat, their gaze firmly trained upon her with something mischievous upon her frustratingly pretty face as she saddled up beside her with a large smirk curling over her plump lips...and the Rietveld girl really didn't know what do so when the corpse witch smiled at her like that. "So, do you have any embarrassing stories of your brother that I can use as blackmail against him?"

Of course, there was many things that she expected Nina Zenik to say, many things indeed...perhaps about her grisha abilities that she, herself was still finding out more about with every day that passed, perhaps about the title of the Stranger, perhaps asking her about what it felt like to be the monster that made the whole of Ketterdam shiver with unease at the monster waiting for them in the winds. There was many things she expected her to say, but that hadn't been one of them as Gwen almost missed her footing, looking up sharply at the girl beside her and wondering if she was having some kind of stroke.

"Should I be concerned?" She eventually asked slowly, carefully, blue eyes of wicked sin holding a certain caution as she continued her stroll along the crooked cobblestones below her, bruised hands still crossed behind her back but willing to bend to her will just like they always were, the call of destruction a stronger presence than pain ever had been or ever would be.