#criminal boys know their dangerous suli girls

[lissa-edem]

Part 2 about powerful Inej and Zoya.

Zoya and Inej: *disappeared*

Nikolai: I hope, everyone here knows how to dig?

Jesper: why? what are you going to dig? a secret tunnel between Ravka and Shu Han?

Kaz, answering instead of Nik: graves.

[simpingcorner]

Daughter of the Shadows  ch.2

Word Count: ~1.4k Warnings: mild violence (stabbing, mentions of gunshots, physical fighting), blood, alcohol, gambling,mention of human tr*****, implied SA,not proofread, let me know if I forgot something.

Author's Note: Second chapter to my Grishaverse fanfic. A reminder this is insipred by my SoC DR so it’ll follow both the books and the show plotlines, there will be changes to the canon characters and their storylines, it’s also a Kaz Brekker x OC. | English isn’t my first language so please bear with me and tell me if there’s something wrong. I hope you like it.

all rights to leigh bardugo, i only owny liith and her backstory (other ocs will be introduced later)

Read part 1 here - Ch. 3 - Ch. 4 - Ch. 5 -  Ch. 6

CHAPTER 2 

LILITH 

Inej's silent footsteps brought her back to reality, the rooftops of the city stretched out beneath their feet, their legs dangled over the apex of the roof, their eyes studied the streets and the movements beneath them, "You know he won't take you with him if that cut doesn't heal. " The Suli said without shifting her gaze from the streets, "It's lucky it's already healed then." the brown haired one replied, pulling her sleeve over her palm, Inej's gaze stopped on the younger girl beside her, a mixture of concern and pride expressed in the brown irises, "Be careful." she said before disappearing behind Lilith.

The rhythmic clatter of his cane echoed on the roof tiles, a rhythm now known, familiar, "I have a job for you." Exclaimed the boy's impassive, hoarse voice, "What business?" "A banquet will be held for the Council Members, you will infiltrate with the actors of the Komedie Brute along with Specht." "Who is the target?" "Jellen Radmakker."

The second floor of the Geldrennen Hotel had been reserved by the Council Members, five of the richest men in Ketterdam, interested only in their image, their place in the city's food chain, protected by more guards than anyone could count, accustomed to wealth, luxury, security, indifferent to the city's needs, concerned only with dressing well, with showing the rest of the city how rich they were, oblivious to how many teenagers and children had lost their innocence by becoming criminals because of them, because none of them deigned to help the citizens, too worried about losing their investment in Jurda's production.

The girl pulled her veil over her face, the costume of the Lost Bride allowed her to hide, to camouflage herself among the actors, no one seemed to notice the few extra actors, but that was her speciality, hiding in the shadows even when the shadows were not there. Lilith noticed Specht's gaze on her, although older than her she knew he had to answer to the girl's orders, all the members of the Crows knew they had to answer to her orders; her reputation, her name, her history, the legends about her past and her family made her more dangerous and important than anyone thought.

The girl's brown eyes studied the room, Jellen Radmakker was sitting at the table, two armed men were staring at him ready to defend him; to his right was Nathan Boreg dressed in grey, his gaze passed from his colleagues to the guards to the actors, the man's breathing was quickened, although he tried to hide it you could see the drops of sweat forming on his forehead; Karl Dryden sat opposite Radmakker, his gaze fixed on the roast quail on the table in front of him, his mouth open, waiting to dig into the dish; to his left Jan Van Eck resided with a look of superiority and disgust towards the rest of the diners, his purple velvet suit fell perfectly over his body, his gold ring shone on his left ring finger under the dim light of the candles, four guards behind him scanned the room for threats; at the head of the table the figure of Hoede resided boredly waiting for entertainment and wine. "I have had news of the arrival of a more than prosperous merchant cargo." Broke the silence Radmakker, "A durast, a healer, a squaller and three other unspecified Grisha." "When will they arrive?" "By the end of the month. I understand they will be sold on the third port when they arrive. No one has been informed of their arrival yet so we will have exclusive rights to them." "I want the names and any information you have on them by tomorrow night." The three merchants exchanged information for the duration of the dinner, information they were not supposed to exchange in public. Their plans were unknown to the girl but the mere knowledge that other kids would be sold to the highest bidder made her blood boil, she adjusted the gloves on her hands, the veil on her face and the wreath on her forehead before shifting her gaze from the merchants' table to Specht, the man was listening to the conversations of the guards, focus on finding something to tell his boss.

The streets of Ketterdam were illuminated by oil lamps and animated by tourists and locals, the Pleasure District, known as the Barrel, was floodlit despite the fact that the sun had been down for several hours, the men and women working in the various bars attracted customers with false claims, false promises, false truths necessary to survive in this place; the tourists looked around, too focused on the bars, the scenes and promises of an unforgettable time to notice the disappearance of watches, wallets, valuables and other items; blonde hair blocked Lilith's view, the voices around the girl seemed to suddenly disappear the moment she felt the pressure of a hand approaching her side, her left hand clasped on the blonde's wrist, the dagger clutched in her right hand stopped at the thief's side, two pitch black eyes locked into Lilith's brown ones, her blonde eyebrows furrowed in shame and disappointment, a half smile formed on Lilith's face before the girl released her grip on the blonde, "You need to relax your breath and your arm, the pressure of the hand near the pocket would have brought you a lot of trouble." Explained Lilith to the blonde, "Check the other dagger." Said the thief with a proud grin, Lilith's hand moved to the dagger hidden in her boot, pulling it out before releasing her grip on the accomplice's wrist, "You must conceal your footsteps, though the noise in these streets is impossible to muffle, your footsteps echo like a pin on marble." The two kids nodded at the brunette before turning on their heels, "Shouldn't you be checking the tables at the Club?" shouted Lilith before turning the corner towards the Slat.

It happened before she could even notice, two men grabbed her arms while a third stopped in front of her, the man's face inches from hers, the smell of alcohol and smoke invaded her nostrils, the three drunk and out of it men stared at her with hungry stares, a look she knew all too well, a look she had seen all too many times at Emerald Palace, the dagger slipped from her sleeve into her hand before making contact with the arm of one of the three men, the man's blood stained the girl's glove, the wreath slipped from her forehead, breaking on impact with the cubblestone beneath her, the dagger in her left hand ready to be used on the second man, eyes fixed on the enemy, her right hand ready to move if necessary but before she could do anything else the smell of gunpowder invaded her nostrils, the man in front of her groaned before falling to the ground in pain, a pool of blood began to spread beneath his body; before the girl could recognise the shooter she felt a burning sensation between her ribs, her hand clutched her side, crimson red began to cover her hand, she managed to pull the dagger from her boot in time to find a new home in the man's sternum before everything went black.

Her body lay motionless in Jesper's arms, blood oozed from her side, the cut on her right forearm had reopened during the confrontation, her closed eyes and almost non-existent breathing forced Jesper to run through the streets, making space for himself by shouting and pushing tourists and workers, Big Bolliger noticed Lilith unconscious in his arms before he even noticed Jesper shouting and trying to get into the Crows Club, the line of people waiting to enter protested at the sight of the scene, "I've been here for three hours." "I've been waiting my turn since before the sun went down," were some of the comments Jesper could hear before turning towards the Pigeons, "And she’s dying. If you want I'll shoot you too so you can come in," the boy replied before entering the club. Inej was the first to notice Jesper, she stood beside him studying the girl's wounds, her gaze and expression impassive, used by now to such scenes, "Take her to her room, I'll go get Kaz." "No.... Don’t.... Call him..." said Lilith between sighs, before losing consciousness again. Jesper and Inej knew not to go against the girl's wishes, but they needed Kaz to heal her, he was the only one who could find a healer and hire them before the worst happened, "Lil, we have to, he's the only one who can help you." Jesper's voice was gentle and concerned, "Milana... Work... At the Orchid..." Lilith's laboured breathing grew quicker and more erratic as Jesper laid her down on the mattress.

[swanimagines]

[x][x] IMAGINE BEING KAZ'S LITTLE SISTER WHO HE TAKES CARE OF IN SECRET AND THE CROWS FIND OUT ABOUT YOU.

requested by anon

(Also contains Kanej/Kaz x Inej because jealousy is a good plotline + because originally, this was meant to be a oneshot but I couldn't make up enough content from a vague prompt)

--

There were a lot of things Kaz Brekker had left behind from his past. His name, his brother, feelings, kindness. But you weren't one of them. You were among the only things he had kept, and the only thing that had changed in between you was that he no longer could hug you or show you any physical affection. He hadn't told you the whole story about being the Bastard of the Barrel or Dirtyhands, and he made sure you wouldn't find out about who he truly was when he left your little home. You knew he ran a criminal gang and did heists, but you had still mostly a kind and loving picture of him, he didn't want it to be shattered by telling you what he had done to get revenge for Jordie and in a way, you. If Pekka hadn't taken all your money all those years ago, you would still be a happy family and Kaz wouldn't have to hide you.

You were the only one who remembered the time when he was just that sweet little boy who always protected you. The whole thing with Pekka and Jordie had scarred him for life, and for a long time, you were the only one he found a family within, who he cared about. You had changed your name too to protect yourself and lived in a nice house at the better side of Ketterdam. Kaz visited you late at night two times a week, and extra times if you needed it. You lived at the quietest part of the better area, but visiting you in broad daylight would have been far too dangerous, and Kaz wouldn’t do it unless it would be an extreme emergency. Fortunately that kind of a situation had never occurred.

He had made it clear years ago that you can’t come with him to the Barrel. He knew it would be dangerous for you - if anyone got to know that Dirtyhands had a sister… Kaz didn’t even want to imagine what could happen then. He had buried his feelings long ago, but with you he let Kaz Rietveld peek around the corner. You made him black coffee, and your way was Kaz’s favorite. He didn’t exactly know what you did with the coffee or if it was just the different type of beans. He stayed at your home for an hour or two at a time, checking everything is okay and just talking about how you’ve been. You could open up to him, and when you were sick, he dropped by more often. Kaz knew that there was always a risk of someone seeing him visiting you regularly, but he trusted he was being careful.

But the Crows had gotten curious about where Kaz disappeared at night. At first, Jesper was suspecting Kaz had a hidden partner, but he also saw the different closeness between him and Inej and had also suspected Kaz having a crush on her for years, so if he had a hidden partner... it wouldn't make really sense. Kaz wasn't a player, he fought with feelings overall so it felt unlikely that he'd have so strong feelings for two people.

So Jesper talked Inej into following Kaz, claiming that he still thinks that Kaz has someone special hidden away. The Suli girl was reluctant, but agreed eventually, she was secretly worried about Kaz having a partner too.

And when she saw Kaz knocking on a door of a small house at the better area of Ketterdam and a woman opened the door with a smile, her heart sank. But she also felt the black cloud of jealousy and the feeling of betrayal coming over. So all the things Kaz had made her read between the lines were either lies or he just wanted to play with her feelings?

But at the same time, her heart told her that Kaz wasn't like that. He wouldn't do that. But she still left the scene, going back to the Slat, holding back angry tears. And once there, she went straight to the bar counter and poured herself a shot, a confused Jesper beside her.

"What happened?" he asked, and Inej glared at him.

"You were right. Kaz has a girlfriend. Or maybe even a wife." she muttered, causing Jesper to frown as Inej downed the shot.

"I didn't say it- I said it just because I knew that it would get you to go check the situation." Jesper told her and from the corner of his eye, he saw Kaz entering the Slat. Inej looked like she wanted to slap the man.

"Storm coming..." Jesper muttered and made sure to keep his eyes on the glass in front of him.

"Why didn't you tell me about her?" Inej asked the man once he came close enough.

"Who?"

"That woman you meet two times a week."

Kaz looked at the Suli girl in visible confusion, but then it dawned to him. "You were following me."

Inej took another step towards Kaz. "I knew you're a liar and a rotten, lost cause but I didn't think you'd spin two women in between your fingers like this." Inej growled. "You know that I have difficulties in trusting people, and then-"

Kaz cut Inej off. "She's my sister."

"Your- what?"

Kaz sighed. "She's my sister. I visit Y/N so I know she's safe. I also give her money so she would manage. I just don't talk about her because she'd be in danger if people knew who she is, and she doesn't know about the Bastard of the Barrel or Dirtyhands and I'd like to keep it that way. And I don't 'spin' anyone in between my fingers, I don't have time for relationships, I thought you knew that."

The anger in Inej's heart subsided quickly and it was replaced with embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

Kaz nodded slowly, sighing again and making his way upstairs. Jesper came to stand beside Inej. "Well. At least you still have your man."

---

A/N: I know you requested a "fic" and probably waited for a longer piece but as much as I love Kaz, I can't keep breaking my own rules to make all my Kaz pieces long when the request is gif imagine-sized because otherwise I could burn myself out with Kaz because people would always assume long pieces even from the vaguest of requests and that would eventually also mirror itself on other characters I don't crush on. I'm sorry if I've disappointed you by not providing a oneshot.

[x-fern-weh-x]

What Happened to You?

Author's Note: cut me some slack if this sucks, this is my first fanfiction... anyways, please enjoy!

----------

Jordie Rietveld honestly and wholeheartedly thought that his brother was dead.

The Queen’s Lady plague had knocked them both to a deep, unrecoverable sickness, and they were both drifting in and out of consciousness.

But he’d been awake when they took his brother’s dead body away.

He’d shielded himself from the bodymen’s eyes, the cart full of corpses repulsive enough to provide him the strength to hide around the corner, watching tentatively with bloodshot eyes as one of them slung Kaz’s body over his shoulder, tossing him into the pile without care.

After that, there had been many times when he’d wanted to give up. There’s no one waiting for you in this world. Why should you even try? Why shouldn’t you lie here until you die?

But every time these thoughts almost overcame him, he thought of Kaz’s smiling face, sitting on the bridge with a mug of hot chocolate in his hands. Would he want you to die?

So Jordie kept fighting.

However, he hadn’t ever expected to see his brother again. Kaz Rietveld was dead, there was no question about that.

----------

The streets of Ketterdam brought back memories. In a sea of bad, the good ones were like a golden strand sewn into the torn fabric of Jordie’s mind, precious but thin and few. This is why he had never returned before.

The first thing he tried to do was to get a job, which was hard to do in this city overrun by the poor and the criminals. The most commonly spoken about seemed to be a man called ‘Dirtyhands,’ lethal for his young age, and the leader of the gang called the Dregs.

Jordie quickly managed to find work at a restaurant that needed someone to clean their grimy ovens and their cutlery for a meager wage of two kruge an hour. It was a sick way to spend his life, moving from town to town, working until he decided to try his luck somewhere different, all the way until he found his way back here, to Ketterdam.

He didn’t know what came over him the day he agreed to go gambling at the Crow Club one night. It might have been his severe lack of any recreation in his life, it might have been fate.

Jordie took his few payments with him, only enough to place a few bets. But it didn’t take long for someone to sniff out a fake coin, and soon he was being escorted up a steep flight of stairs by two guards, then he was shoved into a dark office.

A man sat across the room from him, his gloved hands resting atop an intricate cane, a crow’s head at the crown. He couldn’t be older than eighteen, but he had a kind of dangerousness about him that showed Jordie not to provoke him. Dirtyhands. Jordie felt like he’d seen him somewhere, but there was no way to know where. Jordie wasn’t sure if he wanted to know where.

At his right side stood a small Suli girl, about the same age, a long, dark braid flowing down her back like a waterfall. She was glaring at him with just as much intensity.

“Were you aware that you were using counterfeit coins?” The man asked, and his voice surprised Jordie. It was like sandpaper, a low scratchiness to it, just like his. Had he been hit by a bout of the plague, too? It was a silly notion. At that age, he’d have been around ten or eleven when the plague came around. No kid could have beat that without some mark, PTSD in the worst cases.

“No, I was not,” Jordie said, afraid. “But I don’t understand why you’d bring me in here instead of just throwing me out.”

“This is an expensive counterfeit,” the Suli girl spoke for the first time, “only those rich enough could make something look and feel so much like the real thing.”

“So we need you to tell us. Where did you get these?” the man stood up, tapping his finger slowly on the crow’s head of his cane, a slow, gentle reminder of the weapon that lay in his grasp.

“I’m not sure, sir. My employer—Korotkov Tarasovich—paid me with these. My work isn’t important either. I clean for them.”

“A Ravkan man.” the man noted, and Jordie nodded. “And what is your name?”

“Jordan Rietveld.”

With those two words, the man’s cold, serious demeanor was simply stripped away.

He stumbled, falling against a wall, and the Suli girl immediately ran to him. He was completely unfocused, and it felt like he simply wasn’t present in the room. He was gasping for air, mouthing words that Jordie couldn’t distinguish from across the room.

The girl was clearly trying to comfort him, but, strangely, not touching him. Physical contact is what anyone would need to ground them from a panic attack like this.

And that’s when Jordie heard it.

“Kaz. Kaz, I’m right here.” The girl. She’d called him Kaz.

Logical thinking, Jordie. Kaz is a relatively common name.

But that didn’t explain the strange feeling that he’d known the criminal or the fact that said criminal was now having what seemed to be an anxiety attack at the mention of Jordie’s name.

Kaz. His innocent little brother, who he’d last seen almost nine years ago. Who he thought was dead.

After the initial shock, questions clouded his head. How was he alive? Had he ever come looking for Jordie? Why did he use a cane? What had made him… like this?

The girl spun towards Jordie. “What did you do to him?” She demanded. “Are you Grisha? A Heartrender?” She pulled out a couple of knives from what seemed like nowhere, and soon she had one pushed up against his throat.

“What is his name?” Jordie asked her.

“Excuse me?” she snarled, pushing the other knife into Jordie’s gut, holding him from behind.

“Dirtyhands. What is his name?”

She hesitated before saying, “Kaz. His name is Kaz Brekker.”

Brekker. Not Rietveld, Brekker. Maybe this was all a strange, strange coincidence.

That’s when Kaz spoke, his voice thick with rasp, but this time, Jordie could hear a hint of a little boy, vulnerable and innocent, scared of what the dangerous streets of Ketterdam had to offer.

“No, Inej.” His breath was shaky, but he was standing, leaning heavily on his cane. “Remember when I first met you? When you asked me if my name was real? What did I say?”

The girl looked shocked. “Real enough,” she recounted. She looked between Jordie and Kaz, and Jordie could see the puzzle pieces connecting in her head. “Rietveld… The R tattoo… on your arm…”

The reality hit Jordie like a gunshot. This was his brother standing in front of him, scarred and solemn, he looked like the type of man that tried to swindle unsuspecting young hopefuls, someone that would do anything for money. The kind of man that had swindled him, nine long years ago. “Kaz…” He whispered, letting the name escape his lips again after a long, long time. “What happened to you?”

[witchybooks]

Six of Crows (Review #12)

Descriptions:

Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he’ll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist: Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached) Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world) Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it) Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don’t kill each other first.

My Thoughts:

Overall i enjoyed this. I loved the characters. I’d have to say Inej, Nina, Kaz were my favorites out of the group. But all the characters were great and they were all complex in their own ways. I loved learning about their stories as the book went on. which helped me connect to all of them more and it added some mystery to them, beacuse your wondering why do they act like they do. I think this quote really sums up each of the characters.

“A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who has become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.”

Besides the characters my favorite thing in this book was the awsome female friendship bewteen Inej and Nina. I mean it was so refreshing to see a loving and trusting relationship between to women. We need more of that in YA. So Leigh Bardugo i aplaud you on that. *Claps loudly* 

Besides the characters you have a great plot & world building in this book. A lot of this book kept me on my toes. I would think one thing was going to happen, but then a completly diffrent thing would happen. As for the world building i think it was solid. The way she described the ice court and Ketterdam was easy to follow. (it was the same way in the Grisha series.) Although saying all that i only had one problem and that was in the middle it got a little slow for me. Just for me. :)

But in the end i had a great time with this book. It made me laugh and cry. I am so excited to pick up crooked kingdom next month. (after acowar). 

Stars: 4.75

Six of Crows GR page

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