Chapter 27: Oh, oh, I'm falling in love.

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The pages were full of ordinary sermons, but the ornate back cover hid two lenses that acted as a long glass, she stared at the thing before handing it to Inej 

"Clever," Inej remarked as she peered through, Zaria nodded in agreement at Inej's statement and looked around her eyes catching a wagon.

she followed the wagon tilting her head to get a better look, with a clenched jaw she twirled the ring between her fingers, chewing her lip, a move that everyone loved.

"Four guards," noted Inej just like Matthias has said, two were stationed on each side of the gatehouse, and one of them was chatting with the driver of the prison wagon, who handed him a packet of documents. 

"They’re the first line of defense," said Matthias watching the guards, "They’ll check paperwork and confirm identities, flag anyone they think requires closer scrutiny. By this time tomorrow, the line going through the gates will be full of Hringkälla guests and backed up all the way to the gorge."

Zaria had a wide wicked grin by now, "By then we’ll be inside," she and Kaz spoke in unison and both looked at one another with cocked eyebrows, Zaria's lips twitched at them speaking at the same time.

Inej looked between them trying to hide her grin and shook her head at the two, Zaria caught her eyes and immediately looked away.

"Saints," Inej said as the door swung open. Ten prisoners were seated along benches that ran the wagon’s length, their wrists and feet shackled, black sacks over their heads.

Zaria's breath hitched, and the whole world started spinning as the feeling of metal digging into her skin came back, she lifted her sleeve and started scratching her skin.

Kaz's eyes landed on her, he was unfazed by the shackles, he was a criminal after all, and he was more worried about her.

"Hooded, chained, and shackled?" said Jesper. "You’re sure we can’t go in as entertainers? I hear Wylan really kills it on the flute."

Jesper's eyes went to his best friend who sat frozen, eyes wide, and not once did she move, she was in fright as if the world just crushed her.

"We go in as we are," said Kaz, "as criminals." he said and Zaria was still dead in her spot, her chest going up and down in rapid breaths yet they were so quiet, "Absolutely not," she said shaking her head.

"shackled? really? I can't do this. give me any job and I will do it, just please don't do this, Kaz." she begged him still scratching her skin in pure frustration.

"You have to." she clenched her hands into fists and death glared at him, eyes burning with rage but she knew there was no other way, Nina reached for her hands, holding them in hers so she stops scratching the soft brown skin.

letting out a shaky breath and running her thumb over Nina's delicate skin, Zaria did everything she can to not look at the prisoners and blink away the tears that started covering her eyes.

Kaz never felt this stupid really, he knew what will happen in the wagon, they will be stuck together due to how small the space is, and with Kaz's haphephobia, he knew something bad will happen to him, he will either have a panic attack, body trembling like a leaf, heavy breaths escaping his lips, the feeling of his brother's cold body.

but he also knew what would happen to Zaria, the shackles, she will be scratching her soft skin so badly until it starts bleeding, will do anything to get rid of them, bruising her wrists by wiggling a lot, she will probably even faint and let her own demons drag her down to hell, torture and exhaust her more than she already is, not to mention that she despised tight spots.

Especially a wagon.

Both of them will 100% suffer, it is so clear.

Nina ran her thumb over her skin to calm her nerves down, Zaria let out a sigh and closed her eyes in exhaustion.

Thinking about what she got herself into she threw her head on the table in pure annoyance, Inej ran her hand through Zaria's hair while listening carefully to Kaz's plan.

Once she was about to stop her movement at the thought of Zaria hating it she suddenly felt the teenager's hand on hers putting it back where it was.

Inej chuckled at the girl, rolling a strand of her between her fingers, "watch your back, Brekker, I will kill you with those shackles." threatened the black-haired girl while glaring up at him, Kaz tipped his head to the side looking down at her form.

If only he was the hand holding hers instead of Nina, running his hand through her hair instead of the Suli girl, anything will be good.

"you will do us both good, dear, trust me." butterflies teleported in her stomach as she fought off the redness of her cheeks, covering it with a frown.

Rolling her eyes at him she lifted herself from the table and cracked her knuckles, tilting her head to get rid of the exhaustion.

"The driver is going to notice six more prisoners when he opens the door." spoke Nina, "If only I’d thought of that," replied the bastard of the barrel drily, "I can tell you’ve never picked a pocket."

“And I can tell you’ve never given enough thought to your haircut.”

and Zaria couldn't help but chuckle at that, Inej followed soon behind and both the girls laughed at Kaz's look, he frowned and ran a self-conscious hand along the side of his head. 

"There’s nothing wrong with my haircut that can’t be fixed by four million kruge." Zaria was biting her lips to stop herself from smiling at the heartrender and Dirtyhands bickering.

Jesper cocked his head to one side, grey eyes alight, "We’re going to use a bunk biscuit, aren’t we?"

 "Exactly." Matthias seemed to read her thoughts as the next words that left his lips were the exact same thing she thought, "I don’t know that word, bunkbiscuit," said Matthias, running the syllables together. 

Zaria nodded in agreement, muttering a small "same" under her breath as Nina gave Kaz a sour look, "Neither do I. We’re not as streetwise as you, Dirtyhands."

"Nor will you ever be," Kaz said easily and could see the Zemeni girl roll her eyes beside him, "Remember our friend Mark?" Wylan winced at that. 

"Let’s say that mark is a tourist walking through the Barrel. He’s heard it’s a good place to get rolled, so he keeps patting his wallet, making sure it’s there, congratulating himself on just how alert and cautious he’s being. No fool he. Of course every time he pats his back pocket or the front of his coat, what is he doing? He’s telling every thief on the Stave exactly where he keeps his scrub."

 "saints," grumbled Nina with a scrunched nose, "I’ve probably done that." Inej spoke, "everyone does" 

Jesper lifted a brow, "Not everyone." Zaria and Nina looked at him with raised eyebrows, "no offense, Jesper, you never have anything in your wallet except dust." Zaria pressed her lips together into a line.

 Nina nodded at Zaria's words, and Jesper's jaw dropped in shock, "exactly, thank you Z, That’s only because you never have anything in your wallet." Nina shot back and Jesper fell dramatically, hand on his chest in pain.

"Mean." he said watching the two grishas who looked at each other and replied in unison, "factual." both the girls high-fived one another with wicked grins and Jesper glared at them.

"Facts are for the unimaginative," Jesper said with a dismissive wave and Kaz cut their bickering off.

"Now, a bad thief," continued Kaz, "one who doesn’t know his way around, just makes the grab and tries to run for it. Good way to get pinched by the stadwatch. But a proper thief – like myself – nabs the wallet and puts something else in its place."

Zaria looked him up and down judging, a grimace appearing across her face as she crossed her arms at the boss, "you sound so proud, it makes me want to punch you." she spoke watching him with fake scorn.

Kaz turned his head towards her in pure annoyance, and the Dregs watched them glare at each other for a hot minute until someone finally decided to speak cutting off the silence.

"A biscuit?" with one last fierce look he resumed his words.

"Bunk biscuit is just a name. It can be a rock, a bar of soap, or even an old roll if it’s the right size. A proper thief can tell the weight of a wallet just by the way it changes the hang of a man’s coat. He makes the switch, and the poor mark keeps tapping his pocket, happy as can be. It’s not until he tries to pay for an omelet or lay his stake at a table that he realizes he’s been done for a sucker. By then the thief is somewhere safe, counting up his scrub."

Wylan shifted unhappily in his chair, "Duping innocent people isn’t something to be proud of." 

"See, Wylan gets it, thank you Wylan." she shot the boy a smile and he nodded back at her.

"It is if you do it well." Kaz gave a nod to the prison wagon, now rumbling its way up the road toward the Ice Court and the second checkpoint, "We’re going to be the biscuit."

Zaria's eyes trailed towards the wagon doing everything she can to push away the monsters gripping her wrist and forcing her to scratch or even rip her skin off.

"Hold on," said Nina's hand in front of her, "The door locks on the outside. How do we get in and get the door locked again?"

"That’s only a problem if you don’t know a proper thief. Leave the locks to me." Zaria's eyes went back to Kaz and she swore she almost beamed, she has never seen Kaz take care of locks before in front of her eyes.

"So we have to unlock, unchain.." she shivered at the thought, "and incapacitate six prisoners, take their places, and somehow get the wagon sealed tight again without the guards or the other prisoners being the wiser?" Jesper asked stretching out his long legs.

"That’s right." Kaz nodded at his words, "Any other impossible feats you’d like us to accomplish?"

The barest smile flickered over Kaz’s lips, and Zaria's breath hitched as soon as she noticed, she tilted her head to the side to get a better look, his smile was indescribable, she couldn't describe it, saints, how beautiful he was.

his pretty brown eyes sparkled and Zaria finally let the smile take over her frown, her entire body burning at the sight in front of her, it wasn't big but her sitting beside him was the whole sun.

Oh, oh, she's falling in love. Oh, no.

Nina was sent out to chat with the locals and try to discover the best place to lay their ambush for the wagon. After the horrors of Gestinge’s herring, they’d demanded Kaz provide something edible and were waiting for Nina and Inej in a crowded bakery, nursing hot cups of coffee mixed with chocolate, the wreckage of demolished rolls and cookies spread over their table in little piles of buttery crumbs. Inej noted that Matthias’ mug sat untouched before him, slowly cooling as he stared out the window. 

Zaria sat quietly doing everything she can to forget Kaz's small grin, she cleared her throat finally and scooted closer to Matthias, a frown on her face.

"I am sorry." she suddenly spoke making the Fjerdan look up, "I shouldn't have threatened you, though, you were an asshole to say that" Matthias nodded his head in agreement.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, Nina won't stop ordering me to apologize ever since.." he trailed off watching her nod, he didn't have to finish his words, she understood him.

Okay fine, she was still mad about Matthias's words earlier but she had to forgive him one day, besides they were similar.

"Right, well I suppose I forgive you." If she didn't forgive him, Matthias would understand, he said a wrong and rude thing to her, and she had all the right not to pardon him.

"Thank you." Zaria nodded and looked down at her ringed hands, "This must be hard for you," she said playing with one of her rings, "To be here but not really be home." He looked down at his cup. 

"Indeed." Zaria pressed her lips into a firm line, "I, know what that feels like, dear Helvar, I miss my home too." she replied smiling sadly when remembering her house that is probably empty, her room dusty since her sister also left to Ravka.

Kaz turned away and began chatting with Jesper, he seemed to do that whenever she mentioned going back to Novyi Zem, "you are worried about Nina being out there, aren't you?" asked the girl seeing his facial expression.

"No." he replied, "she's very good at this, you know. She’s a natural actress." Zaria said, rolling her eyes at him and stretching, "I’m aware," he stated grimly.

"She can be anything to anyone." 

"She’s best when she’s Nina." 

"And who is that?" he asked, crossing his huge arms in front of his chest, "I suspect you know better than any of us," she said mimicking his move.

"She’s brave," he said grudgingly, "and funny." resumed Zaria, "Foolish. Every last thing needn’t be a joke."

"She is very bold." said Zaria, "Loud." Zaria chuckled and leaned in with a smile on her lips, "So why do your eyes keep searching the crowd for her?"

Matthias's eyes widened and he immediately opposed, "They do not,” Zaria laughed at the ferocity of his grimace. He drew a finger through a pile of crumbs, "Nina is everything you say. It’s too much."

"mhm, I know," she murmured, taking a sip of the coffee that reminded her of Kaz's irises, "Maybe you’re just not enough."

before he could reply, the bell on the bakery door jingled, and Nina sailed inside, cheeks rosy, brown hair in a gorgeous tangle, and stated, "Someone needs to start feeding me sweet rolls immediately."

Zaria's eyes went to Matthias and she swore she could see the relief in them, she didn't imagine it, it was there, clear as daylight. 

She smiled at the two and shook her head, Inej suddenly appeared by her side placing what seemed to be a Pomegranate tart she probably stole from one of the bakeries.

Zaria's eyes lit at the sight of her favorite fruit, she got up and wrapped her arms around Inej's without a word, a bright smile on her lips as she hid her face into the suli's girl neck.

"Thank you so much, Inej!" she exclaimed with eyes twinkling happily, Inej wrapped her arms around the girl as tightly and grinned, "of course, saw it and since pomegranate is your favorite, thought I'll bring it to you."

Zaria kissed both the girl's cheeks which reddened and immediately grabbed a fork and knife, crushed pistachios on top of the snowy white cream along with what seemed to be edible foil also, it was big enough for six people to take a bite.

Taking a bite, Zaria beamed like an idiot, tears almost covering her eyes at how delicious the cake was, savoring each bite and the fruit popping in her mouth.

"Saints, this is.. absolutely fucking tasty. you should try it," she said handing a piece to Inej who took it gladly, munching and also savoring each bite, then Nina whose cheeks burned in joy from how hard she was smiling, Wylan, Jesper, Matthias who took it grumbling after Nina elbowed him and then Kaz.

Zaria gave him the best part, the one with cream and sweetest, the one she wanted to take but wanted to give it to Kaz, she rolled her eyes at him.

"No, I'm good." he said turning away, Zaria cocked an eyebrow, "can you for once stop being an asshole and just take a bite? it's like I'm poisoning you." she huffed her arms starting to hurt from passing to everyone.

Jesper wiggled his eyebrows, "It's worth it, just take a bite." The crows nodded and told him what it tastes like and after finally having enough of their whines, he finally turned his head and stared at the golden fork in front of him to see what all the fuss was about.

She was holding the fork with a scowl, Kaz looked at her with a raised eyebrow before taking a bite leaving nothing behind, with that he turned away and chewed peacefully.

The cake was indeed delicious, the sweetness of the dark red fruit along with the cream creating the perfect flavor, sweet yet not too much, taking in every bite.

and with that they continued their plans, Kaz glancing at the girl eating, humming and closing her eyes at the taste, a habit he noticed she did whenever eating was the way she tapped her feet against the floor and did a little dance.

He fought his grin and looked away clenching his jaw, heat rushing to his neck and ears, stretching his bad leg in front of him.

Saints, What was she doing to him?

No, he can't, he can't fall in love, she will go back to Novyi Zem, she will leave him as soon as this heist is finished.

Probably go to the little Palace, help Nikolai Lantsov or Zoya Nazyalensky, she will leave him, and he didn't want to get close otherwise he will feel empty without her presence.

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A/N: Yes. Zaria gave Kaz some cake from her own fork and gave him the best part.
We need to find a ship name.
Also Zaria's trauma</3
I was listening to Taylor Swift while writting this so yeah