𝐈𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐄𝐋𝐒𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒- ᴋᴀᴢ ʙʀᴇᴋᴋᴇʀ

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍

For the first time in Kaz's life, he was lost. Not in a physical sense, of course, that wasn't just improbable, but impossible. Kaz seemed to have each second mapped out in minute detail and laminated onto the ridges of his brain, navigating life the same way he navigated the Barrel. Instead, he was stumbling through the crevices of his mind, failing to find a right or wrong. He was searching for a straightforward answer to a problem that likely had no solution. And yet, it made him frantic, because how could he continue to stand beside someone that so clearly was ready to step away and leave at her first chance without even saying it out loud. Someone who clouded his mind and ripped away all of his good judgment like a fresh scab. Part of him wanted to hate her for entangling his thoughts, but he knew he was to blame for letting himself succumb to the weakness.

Still, hate was much too cruel of a word to describe his feelings toward someone who had been a relentless force at his side for years. It was even distasteful in his own head that he might feel such a thing when he had once dismissed her and she had chosen to stay. She had chosen to stay with him. But she wanted freedom and a happily ever after, and Kaz couldn't understand hope. However, he did know second chances and new identities. How could he hate her for that?

He could continue to fight for her and to fight for a chance to slip past the barrier he had built between them, but it was becoming more and more obvious that it wouldn't even matter. Still, if it was even possible, some part of him was drawn to the flick of her wrist before she lunged into battle and violently magnetized to the way she had never once asked for him to give more of himself when he so greatly knew she deserved that more than anything else he could give her.

Her presence was the first one he had recognized, pulling him swiftly from the thoughts he despised so much. Thoughts of her. They were the worst. Just as bad as the noise in the bar that he sat in now that they were safely in Kribirsk and on the other side of the Fold. The crowd was rowdy, energized by the performers looking for extra coin.

"We're in luck, there's a good chance we can crack on," Kaz started. A plan was a proper and welcome distraction. "Now that we're three days travel from the capital, the next play is finding a way inside the Little Palace. It turns out the Kribirsk archives house the Little Palace blueprints. But, they're kept under lock and key and far from the prying eyes of the masses."

"Yes!" Jesper pounded the table with his fist in excitement.

"What does that mean?" Arken asked.

"Time for a heist, of course," the sharpshooter said while elbowing Shivanni in the side, eliciting a small smirk from the girl. Nothing like a good, old-fashioned heist to mask your problems. Kaz watched as she turned to Inez with a smile and her eyes began to light up with a flicker of something that he hadn't seen her encompass in a long time.

"I have a job for you," Kaz told Arken. "We need to hitch a ride to the little palace. Make friends."

"You," his gloved finger pointed itself like a compass towards Shivanni and towards the only direction he seemed to be capable of going in, even if that was in circles. "Come with me."

***

"Good day to you, sir! My name is Ivanovski, the sculptor, and this is my unfortunate assistant, Anya." They stood in the Royal Archives dressed in garments that were far too cheery for either of them to ever wear on a normal basis. It was the best part of the facade, becoming someone else.

Kaz brought the hand opposite his cane and cupped it as if he had some fascinating secret to share with the archives keeper. A secret, yes, but far more disgruntling than fascinating.