#-> had she really thought the world wouldn't change? She was a fool (post RoW)

[therooftopsofketterdam]

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[therooftopsofketterdam]

Dark eyes followed a storm of equally dark feathers as the crows, calling the Slat's rooftop their home, scattered into all different directions as Inej tossed a small handfull of cernels onto the gables. She watched them hop and squak and slither over the well made shingles as each tried to secure the prized treat for themselves.

Ever since Inej had returned the crows seemed to flock back to that specific sill attatched to an attic window. They'd never been gone exactly but crows remember faces as the Bastard of the Barrel once told her.

As the sun finally started to be claimed by dusk, Inej settled back, leaning against the cushions Kaz had left untouched on this space that was so clearly hers in an area that had formerly belonged to him alone. It was a sort of shared space now, she supposed. Neither her nor Kaz had talked about it yet, too caught up in their found joy, but Inej hung her belt and tunic and coats onto the pegs next to Kaz's hats. Some keepsakes she'd brought with her from her ship took a space on a haphazardly plank secured between too wooden beams that served as shelves. A vase filled with wild gyraniums stood of the former work desk, now table, close to the window. While her clothes still resided in that small, narrow room on the second floor that used to be hers and had never since had another tennant living in it, this place up here, the attic, slowly began to feel like home. With every new memory she made here, every new piece of armour she relearned to discard, that feeling only seemed to grow, like puzzel pieces slowly fitting together that had never quite seemed to belong before. They had transformed it into a space for both of them, together.

Inej smiled, both at this created space and the silly birds outside the window. She breathed in the sea salt air and felt herself relax, finally pulling the coil on the back of her head free, ready to onto the braid, the way she always did at the end of the day. Wearing her hair open around Kaz had been hard at first, wearing it open around anyone still terrified her, as once upon a time she'd been forced to wear it open just to please the whims of Tante Heleen. The familiar thunk of Kaz's cane and the slightly unsteady gait that followed up the stairs pulled her out of her musing and she looked up at him as the door closed behind him. His eyes seemed hard. The darkest shade of coffee and for a second the air was still, they simply regarded the other in this, for them, strangely domestic space. For the fraction of a second Inej feared that the hardness would stay, that he would avert his gaze and sit back on his desk to look through ledgers. That they were children again, forced to grow up and endure unimaginable nightmares and desperately in love but not know how to let themselves feel these emotions and be okay. It was like a fragment, a small shard of glass deeply imbedded in her mind, unreasonable and unwarrented, scabbed over and healing, but sometimes, old words still sharpened it and made it just sharp enough to cut.

Then he turned, shrugging off his coat, hanging up his hat and Inej looked back out to the crows, still perching in hopes for more treats, though she had none left to give. Mostly, though, she did it to give Kaz a moment of privacy after the buisness he had to conduct tonight. It had clearly been a success. Inej had been victorious on her own mission that day, securing information about a trade deal the Van Daal shipping company was about to make with their person of interest. The information was waiting in a note, folded beneath the vase of flowers on the table. Downstairs the dregs would be celebrating.

Up here, Inej smiled at him as he moved towards her, warm and soft, welcoming her boy of harsh lines home.

His question suprised her, though it was a pleasant sort of giddyness that seemed to pool through her chest and into her stomach, her smile turning into a tease. "Do you want to submit those lockpick fingers to a more substantial challenge?" She asked, her voice quiet, but she let go of the braid and turned so he would have an easier reach and a bit of space to sit down if he chose to do so. A silent invitation to follow upon his request. A slight shiver of nerves ran through her as she carefully took a breath, feeling shadows, ready to swallow her pool against her wrists and feet like shakles.

But his hands were ungloved, pale and slender and dextrious. The sight still felt somewhat strange to her, but she thanked her Saints that he shed his armour for her. Never in their life had they moved to strike against her and Inej felt a desire to press a kiss against them. Not yet, when he was flush off a victory and the lines between being king and Queen of the Barrel and simply Kaz Brekker and Inej Ghafa still felt harsh, but later, when the day had long since passed and they were quiet and there to keep each other safe and if she felt brave enough she would place her lips against them. If he'd permit it.

plotted starter for @therooftopsofketterdam

      As Kaz made his way up the stairs to the attic room, a sense of elation seemed to follow on his heels despite the fact that he'd outed a traitor tonight. It sometimes baffled him how anyone thought it even remotely wise to infiltrate his crew in the first place — he'd illustrated countless times that he was always several steps ahead. Not to mention, it was well known that if anyone crossed him, they'd either end up dead or very badly wounded. Some were even forced out of Ketterdam. He supposed that was one of the unfortunate drawbacks to success; more people wanted to tear you down.

      He suspected they thought, because Inej had returned and they'd clearly taken some steps to expand their relationship, that Kaz would be distracted. It was a fair assumption to make. However, few knew how deeply and intimately such a thing had always terrified Kaz and how hard he fought it when he wasn't tucked away in the attic room that he and Inej had gradually turned into a shared space, somewhere safe ... or, as safe as anyone could be in the Barrel, anyway. And that was where he found her when he opened the door.

      Inej perched on the windowsill that she'd long since claimed as her own, her dark hair uncoiled, revealing a long, thick braid. She glanced at him as he closed the door behind him and her wide brown eyes warmed at the sight of him. It sent a nervous flutter throughout his chest, even now that they'd crossed certain thresholds. After the nights events, his instincts were on high alert and, as always, they demanded that he protect himself from the softer, warmer emotions that churned inside of him.

      However, Kaz knew that wasn't an option here, not if he wanted her to stay. And of course he did. So, as he hung his coat and hat, peeled off his leather gloves and tucked them into his coat pocket, he took a breath and began to deconstruct the emotional armor, too. The tension in his limbs gradually eased, the hard lines of his face softened and his dark eyes warmed slightly in turn. He could see that Inej was about to unravel her braid to let her hair down — and, before he could talk himself out of it, Kaz made his way over to the windowsill, his cane giving its familiar thunk against the wooden floor.

      He'd had a wall hook specifically fitted to the crows head of his cane and, of course, he'd placed it close to the windowsill, where he'd always end up leaning it anyway. That was where he placed it — but Kaz did not sit, not yet. He gazed down at Inej, his expression emitting something warm and soft, despite the seemingly neutral shape of it. ❝I can help you,❞ he rasped, the phrase clearly intended as a means of asking permission. She usually lead, initiated something, but ... Kaz knew that Inej needed to know, to be reminded that he wanted this.