CHAPTER TWO
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"WELL, THIS IS MUCH EASIER," Nikolai said as he took off his hat, revealing hair the same color as hers—Kira was waiting to see how long it would take for Kaz to figure that one out. Niko put his hat on the desk, as the doors closed behind Dreesen. "Tell me, what gave it away?"

"You dress too well for a bodyguard," replied Kaz as Nikolai turned to face them again. "And you were hanging on every word like it was your money on the table. You wanted to hear our story, but we don't know you." Kira avoided her gaze from Nikolai's as Kaz kept on going. "We know him. So you kept up the charade until now. My question is who are you?"

"What? You don't know me?" Nikolai said with a scoff and a grin grew on his face. He turned to the side. "Maybe in profile."

Kira snorted. "You conceited arse," she muttered under her breath and Nikolai grinned her way.

"What? No?" he asked Jesper and Kaz. "Very well. The name's Sturmhond."

Kira burst into laughter. All three men turned to her.

"Sorry, I just..." Her shoulders shook from silent laughter. "Do go on, Sturmhond."

Nikolai scowled her away as Jesper commented, "I've heard of you."

"Yeah, I should hope so."

"He's a very rich pirate," Jesper told Kira and Kaz.

"Privateer, actually. It's an important distinction."

"Is it?" Kira managed to ask before bursting out laughing again.

Kaz ignored her little show of insanity. "The question remains, why is the Sun Summoner so important to a privateer?"

"You may not be aware, but half the world is looking for her," said Nikolai, glaring daggers at Kira who merely sent him a thumbs up, as she tried hard not to keep laughing at her brother. "Or even just confirmation of death. And the reward's gone up. Twenty million to hand her over to Fjerda—"

"And you only offered us a million, you cheap bastard?" Kira asked undignified, that last part sobering her up. The laughter was gone from her voice and all that remain was incredulousness.

Nikolai ignored her. "Turns out the Fjerdans weren't particularly pleased with Kirigan and the Sun Summoner's plan to weaponize the Fold."

Kira analyzed the poster Nikolai opened for them with a tilted head. Alina's prettier in person.

Jesper let out a laugh. "Alina never had such—" he stopped himself, clearing his throat. "You were saying."

"You're on first-name terms," Nikolai said with a smile before his face fell into one worthy of a king. "Where is she now?"

Jesper groaned. "We don't know where Alina is. She's gone."

Nikolai scoffed. "Escaped?" He turned to Kaz. "I know you've gotten out of those cuffs. If I had time, I'd insist you tell me how."

Kaz let his handcuffs drop to the ground and Kira frowned. She had been too distracted by the fact her brother was here to remember to take off her cuffs.

"Thanks," Nikolai muttered before walking over to the desk in the office. "My intel informs me the Sun Summoner was wearing this," he held up the ugly thing Alina had given them and Kira grimaced, "when she entered the Fold. It's part of the Queen's collection. A well-known piece, the fabled garnets of Ivets. So, either she used this to pay you off to keep quiet about where she was going, or you found her bloody corpse and stole it off her neck like vultures."

"How dare you? How even..." Jesper sounded shocked and offended. "We are not vultures, we are crows." Nikolai stared blankly at him but his smile was mildly amused. "And that makes more sense with context. But my point is, we're not grave robbers."

Kira averted her gaze. She might not be a grave robber anymore but during the Queen's Lady plague, she was living off treasures belonging to corpses. What did it matter if the person was dead or alive? It was stealing either way. And stealing was profitable.

"Which means it was a payoff," Nikolai concluded.  "So you know where she went. Now if you tell me, I'll give you 20 seconds alone here before the Stadwatch comes back in."

"You can't bribe us," Jesper said with a scoff.

"Leave the necklace," replied Kaz and Jesper turned to him with a wild look. "Give us 20 seconds and I'll tell you."

"Kaz?"

Nikolai ignored Jesper and chuckled. "The bribe she paid you to keep quiet about her next move, in exchange for her next move." He nodded. "I like it."

"And you say you're not a pirate." Kira scoffed.

"Privateer, yes. There's a difference," he told her before looking back at Kaz. "Still, there is the mess of having to fence Royal jewels."

Nikolai reached into the inside of his jacket and took out a stack of money.

"Kaz," Jesper warned. Kaz ignored him and looked over at Kira. She shrugged.

"You three stepped off the Edam tonight. Was she with you then?" Nikolai pressed. "Is she in town somewhere?"

"She stayed on the ship to Novyi Zem."

Nikolai nodded. However, Kira was certainly not prepared for his next move. He reached forward, hooking his hand around the chain of her cuffs, and pulled her off the chair dragging her along with him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Kira asked looking back at Kaz and Jesper with a look that said, get the madman off me.

The two stood up but Nikolai didn't let her go. He smiled at them, putting the money on the table. "Good luck. Gentlemen."

And with that he opened the doors, pulling Kira with him as she struggled against him. "I swear to all the Saints above, Niko—"

She was cut off as he put his hand over her mouth and dragged her away, closing the doors behind him as she squirmed under his hold.

"Sturmhond," he corrected her. "Let's not go shouting around our names, sister."

With that, Nikolai shoved her into another room, ignoring as Dreesen called out for him somewhere out of Kira's eyesight. He closed the door behind him as Kira took in the small reading room.

To be fairly honest she hadn't put up any fight at all. If he had been anyone else he would've been on the other side of the room right now, his stupid golden cuffs jammed into his throat. Nikolai wasn't anyone else. He was her brother and she wanted to talk to him.

When she turned to face him again, Nikolai had his eyes narrowed. "You survived?"

"Specificity is a valuable quality, Niko," replied Kira as she crossed her arms in front of her. "You'll need it. I'm not sure which adventure I'm supposed to have survived."

Nikolai clenched his jaw and glared at her. "The one that made me believe you dead."

"Oh, right. Yes, I did survive. Clearly."

"And you didn't think about telling me?" Nikolai asked, raising an eyebrow at her. His face was void of any noticeable emotion but Kira knew that was the face he made as he tried to shove away his tears or genuine smiles.

"Dead people don't talk, Niko," she said meekly.

"I mourned you."

"I should hope so," Kira replied with a weak smile. "I'm your favorite sister."

"Saints, Kira." Nikolai let out a shaky laugh. In a second he had crossed the small space between them and smothered her in a hug.

Kira's chest welled up at the familiar sensation and she wrapped her arms tightly around her brother, burying her face in his shoulder. Nikolai was perhaps one of the only people in Ravka she had actually missed. One of the only people who had actually helped her through her journey in Ketterdam, with his obnoxious amount of wisdom for someone so young.

"Please do tell me you're not a fanatic impersonator," Nikolai mumbled against her hair.

Laughing, Kira pulled away from him and held her hand up, showing Nikolai the ring on her pinky finger. He grabbed her hand, inspecting the ring, and nodded, before swallowing. He looked up at her with glossy eyes, "Kira. You're alive."

"You're not about to cry, are you?"

Nikolai sniffed and shook his head, before looking away and blinking fast. "The light reflected on the gold of the ring... I was momentarily blinded."

"Right. Just like you were studying abroad, Captain?"

He let out a chuckle before looking at her again. "Who told you that?"

"Genya Safin. I told her you were too smart for a stuffy desk. That you were probably off building your flying ships."

A grin broke on his face and Nikolai barked out a laugh. "Not anymore. My ships already fly."

"Of course they do."

"If I'd known I was hiring you I would've refrained from having an intermediary."

"Then I'd probably argue my case and you'd be out of about twenty more million kruge," Kira replied.

"If you'd actually gotten the job done."

"Believe me, twenty million kruge would've been a lot more motivating," said Kira with a small amused smile and Nikolai rolled his eyes. 

Her brother was a cheap bastard. Only a million kruge for a living Saint? It was a lot but even then. The Ravkan diamond she had stolen months ago, wasn't even a Ravkan emerald and was worth about the same as on eighth of Saint. That was absurd.

"Money is a good servant, Kira. But a bad master," he replied.

She scoffed. "Says the pirate. Do the King and Queen know their Sobachka is off parlaying?"

"Privateer," Nikolai corrected. "And no. Do they know about you being a thief?"

"Criminal," Kira mimicked him before smirking. "I like to expand my horizons. Thievery, fraud, breaking and entry, kidnapping Saints... And our parents don't even know I'm alive."

"Clearly. But you saw them? At the palace?"

Kira nodded. "I wanted to murder them, to be fairly honest."

"Murder them as in..."

"Unalive them, Nikolai. Don't be such a prude. They threw me away like garbage after the whole Grisha accident."

"You're Grisha?" Nikolai asked as he gaped at her. "Wait. They told me you were... You volunteered to appease both sides. That that's why you crossed the Fold."

"Horrid people our parents, aren't they?"

Nikolai sunk into an armchair in the room, burying his head in his hands. "Saints," he muttered under his breath. "They sent you to the Fold like a lamb to the slaughter."

"I'm not a lamb, Niko," replied Kira, taking her own seat on a chair, as she fiddled with her ring. "Faina Kira was the victim. She's the one with the grave. I, for one, just have scars. I'm just Kira now. I'm not a lamb nor am I a princess."

Nikolai didn't say anything for a few moments, still shaking his head against his hands. Kira sighed.

"I saw Vasily," she said, changing the topic.

Nikolai peered up at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm still your favorite brother," he informed her promptly. Kira waved him off with a giggle.

She smiled at him and leaned back on her seat, clasping her hands over her stomach as hummed.  "You know, Niko... I do think we're bastards."

The corners of her brother's lips tugged up. "How do you figure?"

"Our brother looks more and more like father, and we both know that's not a good thing." Kira shrugged. "Our father must've been a lot more handsome."

"That's a lot of faith you have in mother. What makes you think we have the same father?"

Kira rolled her eyes. "We're too much alike. our hazel eyes did not come from mother and neither did our smiles or our teeth for that matter. And height, unfortunately." Nikolai scowled at that last part. "And no matter how much she tried to fake it, her hair is not nearly as golden as ours."

"Perhaps mother had a type. Or our fathers were twins."

"That's kinky on mother's part. Do you think she forgot which was which?"

"Either way my father was the more handsome twin. Obviously."

"Does reality ever think to slap you beside the head with a chair, brother?" Kira asked with an amused smile at Nikolai's smug face. "I'm clearly the better-looking sibling."

"Are you? I've been told I'm dashingly handsome—"

"No!" Kira's eyes widened in horror. She ran a hand through her face, scrunching up her nose. "Oh, my Saints! I'm you! I said that not a few days ago."

"That I'm dashingly handsome?" Nikolai mused with a smirk. "I'm glad to hear I'm still a big part of your—"

"No, you conceited arse. That I'm dashingly gorgeous."

"Now who's conceited?"

Kira and Nikolai stared at each other for a good couple of seconds before they both burst out laughing. It was nice to hear his laughter after it got lost in the depths of her memories.

Nikolai's voice was deeper and he had grown into a big man child that could conjure the authority of a king. She was proud of him. Even if he were never king, leadership suited him. And so did pirateship.

Because no matter how much he corrected her and said he was a Privateer. Only a pirate would slice his previous captain's fingers and feed them to his dog. At least that was the whisper she'd heard in the Fifth Harbor.

Once they calmed down, Nikolai stood up. "Well then, let's go."

"What?" Kira's head reeled back as she stared at Nikolai's extended hand.

"You're coming with me, Kira," he said as if it was obvious. Kira frowned at him. "I'm not leaving you in Ketterdam."

"Oh. You're playing the older brother card," Kira said in understanding. She nodded. "I'll play along. Where will we go then?"

"We'll find the Saint and go back—"

"That game got old fast," Kira interrupted.

"Kira—"

"I'm not going back to Ravka. Especially not with you. I'm not coming back from the dead. I'm not leaving Ketterdam. My home is here." She said it with as much finality as she could muster, which was a lot. But as she had now realized, the pair of them were more similar than she cared to admit. Nikolai was as stubborn as she was.

"I'm supposed to leave my sister in this hell hole?"

"Yes."

"Because you're the Whisperer or because you fell in love?" Nikolai challenged her but Kira remained emotionless as she looked up at him.

"Because I'm free here to live my life."

"With the Bastard of the Barrel?" Nikolai questioned with a slight grimace and Kira rolled her eyes.

"With my family of criminals, Niko. Besides, like calls to like," she added with a grin and pointed at herself, "I too am a bastard."

"We should form a club," he said dryly.

Kira shrugged. Nikolai was quiet for a few moments, running a hand through his hair as he narrowed his eyes at her. When she didn't even flinch under his "stern" stare, Nikolai reluctantly nodded.

"If you're not coming with me I can't help you out of here. It's quite literally out of my hands."

Kira rolled her eyes as she let her handcuffs clatter to the floor as she stood up. "Criminal, remember? I'll be fine."

"Stay alive?" Nikolai asked as he hugged her again. Kira nodded against his shoulder. "We'll see each other again."

"You're very dramatic, brother."

"Quite. Then again, I thought you were dead. You should be glad I'm not dragging you back to my ship, sister."

Kira laughed against his shoulder. "It's nice to feel wanted."

"By the law? Or by your favorite brother?"

"I don't want to lie to you, Niko."

"Brat."

"Bastard."

Nikolai pulled away from the hug and sighed. A smile graced his lips as he moved towards the door. He reached into his pocket and threw something toward her. Kira caught it in her hand and looked down. A ring lay in her hand, bigger than the one on her hand but not much bigger. The Ravkan crest had been worn out over time and only faint lines remained—but on the side, there was an N carved into the gold.

Kira looked up at Nikolai, an eyebrow raised. "Your old ring?"

"Thought you might like to add it to your collection," he said with a shrug. Kira slipped it into her middle finger. "Something to remember me by when you're flipping off the world."

"How come you still have it?"

"You carved the N on it," he told her with a grin, "I felt it was a good reminder of my sister."

Kira smiled a weak smile, one that made her bottom lip tremble. She bit the inside of her cheek. "I missed you, you know."

"I missed you, too."

And as she thought Nikolai was about to slip out of the door, he strode over to her and smothered her in one last hug. "I'm really glad you're not dead, Kira."

"Of course you are. I'm your favorite."

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