vi. oh, cruel darkness embrace me

                                    

                                          




06. chapter six!
oh, cruel darkness embrace me
                          
trigger warning:
swearing, some small
mentions of violence   scars.



                          
    Novokribirsk, West Ravka, wasn't as cold as Ketterdam, but nothing seemed to be as cold as the look that Katarina continued to throw in the Conductor's way as she sat facing him in the carriage, she was sat between Jesper and Inej; as though the journey couldn't get more awkward and uncomfortable. 
                          
    "I didn't hire you simply to get us across the fold." Kaz spoke. "You're with us because you smuggle Grisha out of the Little Palace, and that's the location of our target."
                          
    "Sun Summoner." Inej piped up.
                          
    "Alleged."
                          
    "They wouldn't keep a fraud in the most secure location in all of Ravka."
                          
Katarina nodded in agreement, and Kaz's eyes soon looked in her direction although she didn't dare make eye contact with him, not now. 
                          
    "She's right. They would've dressed her up and presented her in front of the King by now, if she wasn't the real thing I'm sure he would've had Kirigan dispose of her."
                          
    "Mm," Jesper hummed. "You have such a way with words, Kitty Kat." 
                          
Katarina rolled her eyes at his words, but the silence between them was short lived.
                          
    "Kitty Kat? What is that supposed to mean?" Kaz asked, practically rolling his own eyes with every word. 
                          
    "It's just our little inside joke, isn't that right, Sabine?" 
                          
   "Shut up, Jesper."
                          
    "Yes, Ma'am."
                          
Kaz bit his tongue, instead choosing to turn back to the conductor and ignore the voice in his head. 
                          
    "You said you have contacts who can get us inside."
                          
    "Yes. One of them's with us."
                          
Katarina's eyes diverted from the road, back to the group. Everyone stared at her the same way she stared at the Conductor, dumbfounded. 
                          
    "What?"
                          
    "You're Grisha, you lived there, and I'm sure Kirigan will be glad to see you again. Not to mention you were the Queen's favourite-"
                          
    "I was her puppet." Katarina corrected. "No. Find a new contact."
                          
The conductor had the audacity to laugh at that. 
                          
    "You know Kirigan wouldn't let them turn you away."
                          
Katarina was indeed an inferni, but unlike anything the likes of Kirigan and the Queen had ever seen, they often called her the sorceress- they expected the world of her. The more the man before her spoke, the more her rage grew. She had read legends of powerful inferni's in the palace's library, one's whose eyes grew red like the flames that sprouted from their hands if they were powerful enough. She almost was, before she left Katarina's training was far from done, but she knew everything useful, everything expect how to calm down.
                          
    "And how is it you think the Palace treats runaway's?" It didn't seem possible, but the carriage grew even quieter. "Or Kirigan, hm? Do you think he'll greet me with open arms after I made a fool of him? I didn't think of you as so utterly stupid, conductor, and yet you continue to surprise me." 
                          
Arken couldn't find it within himself to stop, so he continued. 
                          
    "I believe it to be far more stupid to undermine your own powers, we all know what you're capable of."