Chapter 9: Brekker's hands rumor.

——♤——

The beauty of female rage was the most powerful thing a woman could ever feel, a rage that even men fear their chaotic anger, it's scarier when you know they're right.

Zaria always seemed to be a calm person and rarely snaps and always took care of situations calmly but when she snaps, it was scary and deadly.

The last time she was in full rage was when she was 8 years old, the day her mother showed her true color, holding the belt high in the air as she kept her daughter on the ground forcibly making her cry even harder.

She sobbed, tears staining her cheeks as she cried in anger and pain, it's crazy how an 8-year-old can feel these types of things, with each hit her cries got louder it eventually sounded like screams, screams full of pain as she begged for the saints for them to do something.

"oh saints..." she whispered with tears flowing down like a waterfall as she clasped her hand together, with each hit, her skin burned and itched making her shut her eyes in pain.

"okay! I understand, I'm sorry!" she yelled towards the crazy woman who not once stopped

Not noticing what she did 8-year-old Zaria with a move of her hand sent her mother flying towards the wall brick a little too violently to the point where the wall broke slightly.

Zaria was terrified and stared at her hands then back up to her mother who slid down the wall groaning in pain, the belt still in her hands as she death glared at the black-haired girl who was starting to slightly bleed from the places she hit mostly.

That was why she was always calm, not wanting to hurt someone and especially when she didn't know how to calm it down.

Yet here she sat in the club with a girl by her side and was smiling watching as blonde girl talked fixing her collar, "so you like women too?" Asked the blonde the raven haired girl.

Her flirty grin widened, "darling please, women are hotter than men." She replied tugging the blonde strand of hair behind her ear watching as the girl's cheeks painted red.

Kaz Brekker watched the girl, she was wearing a black suit, dark red silk shirt and black high waist pants, she was beautiful, the candles light kissing her skin making her absolutely ravishing.

He watched as the blonde clinging to her kissed her cheek before getting up, her white dress with lillies embroidered on the edge of the sleeves.

He watched as Zaria strengthened her posture, her hand sliding down the other girl's arm and to hold her hand bringing it closer to her lips.

She kissed her hand, making sure to glance at the burning girl. Her rings pressed against the cold white skin as her lips pressed softly against the other girl's soft hands.

The girl's name was Violet.

And with a few words leaving both their lips Violet left the club grinning like a mad woman, Zaria walked towards Kaz Brekker grinning innocently.

"What?"

Kaz rolled his eyes and walked uo the stairs hearing her follow him, her boots clicking in unison with his cane as she followed him quietly.

For the past months she's been here Kaz noticed a lot of habits, such as the way she would zone out when she's alone and stare into complete emptiness, the way she would cover her ears whenever she hears the rattling of chains.

He should ask her.

As soon as she was in his office she sat on one of the chairs rummaging through his stuff looking, "you have a job today." He said.

Zaria continued listening flipping through the pages and staring at Kaz Brekker's neat handwriting, "you will steal something for me, it's a very expensive ring."

She scoffed, "yeah no shit, why would I steal it if it wasn't expensive." Kaz Brekker rolled his eyes at the sarcasm, before resuming his words

Inej was going to follow the merchant and try to find a way to distract him, Kaz was teaching her how to pick a lock.

She took a pin from her hair listening to his words carefully and in a second the lock opened

——♤——

So here stood Zaria Isla in the room of a very wealthy merchant, she looked around looking for the ring and something valuable to take.

Took her a while, Zaria's fingers traced down the brick wall and accidentally pushed one, she could see a tiny crack, taking the brick off she stared at the black leather box.

Terrible hiding spot.

She thought, grabbing the box and opening it, eyes widening at the sight of a very expensive ring along with a necklace made of ravishing blue diamond.

"Holy shit." The sound of a door opening downstairs startled her and Zaria immediately put the box in her bag and put the brick back to it's place, opening the window to see Inej with slightly wide eyes she handed her the box.

Climbing out of the room, the door opened and Zaria pushed herself to the wall with slightly wide eyes, her foot was on the brick as she pushed herself off with all her force.

When she reached the rooftop, Inej handed the box back and peered down to see the merchant look around, "that was good." Zaria nodded and put the box back inside the bag.

Both the girls jamp from a roof to the other until they reached the Slat where Kaz told them to meet.

She walked up the stairs after greeting a bickering Jesper and Wylan, she sighed, throwing the bag on the bed and trying to stop herself from collapsing.

"Saints..." she whispered, Zaria hated how her mood suddenly changed and how her whole body was aching, the world was spinning as she held the counter of thr bathroom for support.

"Zaria?" A soft kind voice that belongs to no other than the flirty sharpshooter himself spoke, trying to sound as normal as she is, she replied.

"I'm fine, Jes! In the shower."

Jesper being her bestfriend for years knew something was off about her voice but didn't want to fight and force her to speak, "oh okay, are you sure?"

"Yeah, love. I'm sure!" She replied turning on the sink watching as the water ran, splashing her face with water she tried to regain her breathing.

It always happened.

Sometimes even randomly, her throat closes and she can't breathe it is said by her father that she was born with trouble breathing, and if she doesn't drink something sweet then she might faint or something.

She can't remember the name of the illness.

After taking a shower she gained her breathing finally her tensed shoulders relaxed followed by the rest of her body.

——♤——

She walked inside his bedroom holding the black velvet box and her book as she stepped in after shutting the door quietly behind.

Her wrists were itching, and the painful feeling of chains bruising her wrist came back as she shivered slightly at the awful nightmares, it was the same thing with Kaz Brekker, except the demons were gripping his wrist while trying to drown him.

but her, the monsters were pulling her by the wrists and legs with chains down to hell fire, instead of water.

She gulped, wrapping the blanket she unfolded from Kaz's bed around her body. She handed him the jewelry box before opening the book, freezing at the sight of a crow feather in the center of the book where she was.

She looked up at him to see him already staring at her, she showed him the feather with a cocked eyebrow watching as he rolled his eyes before going back to his work, "I didn't want to look for a bookmark so, I put that." 

She chuckled, "why do you have crow feathers laying around the room?" she asked, closing the book slightly, putting it on the edge of the desk, and placing her chin on top of her head leaning in closer.

"I found it outside and took it, that's all." she nodded at his words watching as he adjusted himself in his seat pushing his hip with a slight groan making her look away, the wall seemed more interesting.

Her cheeks flushed red as she crossed her legs, "I noticed that we don't know much about each other, tell me something true." She leaned on the desk very interested in whatever he was going to tell her.

Putting the quill down he threw his head back in exhaustion, his gloved hand running through his beautiful dark hair, before turning back towards her, she was watching every move he did with sparkling eyes.

"I don't have anything interesting to tell you, except the fact that some people think that I have claws instead of fingers" he replied with a scoff, she laughed throwing her head back, Kaz watched as she laughed, her laugh was contagious, it made him want to smile.

"Yeah, I heard that, Brekker's hands were stained with blood. Brekker's hands were covered in scars. Brekker had claws and not fingers because he was part demon. Brekker's touch burned like brimstone." She expressed mocking people's words followed by fake gasps to explain their surprise.

Kaz shook his head and stayed silent, eyeing her up and down, the way her hair was slightly curly from the braid she had this morning, a few strands out, and the way the pajamas slid slightly and showed more of her collarbone.

Her skin was flawless, the prettiest shade of brown he had ever seen.

Kaz wanted to test what would happen if he suddenly flirts with her, will she flirt back or blush, she always was the first one who flirted and loved the way people would crumble at her words and blush a deep crimson red.

"you're pretty when you laugh, I like it." Kaz never flirted with someone before and that was the only thing that came to mind at the moment, she froze, eyes slightly wide and mouth open as she was clearly taken back by his words.

Kaz Brekker flirting? never happened or heard of it.

Blood rushed through her veins and in a second her ears and cheeks were burning hot and the room temperature raised 100 degrees or so, "oh." that was the only word that left her lips.

she gulped and looked down before back up to his eyes, making straight eye contact, both melting at how beautiful they looked with only the light coming from the candles around them.

They stayed silent for about 3 whole minutes enjoying each other's eyes on one another, "you're handsome when you're relaxed, not with that usual scowl." she replied, cutting off the silence.

Zaria was an amazing flirt, always finding a way to make someone fall in love with her or have them wrapped around her fingers, but something about her flirting with Kaz Brekker made her blush.

not the person she's flirting with.

Part of her hates him for being such a cold-hearted asshole, but part of her also found him a very interesting person she wants to stay with at night and chat with, the mornings she wants to strangle him but the night falls, she finds herself sitting in his chair with his blanket wrapped around her body.

Kaz felt the same thing, In the morning she is always a pain in the ass, scoffing and mocking his words whenever he talks about an upcoming heist, yet at night, he doesn't even bother fighting her when she just steps in and sits in his chair.

She came 3 months ago, Brekker, get hold of yourself.

But he can't, nor can she.

Both were enjoying each other's company but only when the moon was up high in the sky and everyone in the Slat was asleep. Not in the morning, nor the afternoon, but when the moon glowed like a silvery claw in the night sky lighting the whole city.