you, inej. you

A Kaz Brekker x Inej Ghafa story

It’s here. Well, half of it at least. I’m close to being done with the last few scenes so hopefully I can tie this up with a pretty bow this week.

For now, enjoy everyone’s favorite miscreants

“Someone’s lively tonight. Takes more than a storm to scare ol’ Ghafa the Terrible.”

Inej snorted. “The terrible? Saints, is that what they call me?”

“Some of them, I’m sure,” Kaz said with a serious tone, though the corners of his mouth were pulling up in a smile. He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it beside Inej’s hat, tucking his gloves in the pockets and setting his cane against the door.

She had rounded the corner of her desk and snaked her arms around him when he turned to face her. Her hand traced up his chest and rested on his jaw. “And what do you call me?”

Kaz hummed in thought. His hands roamed her sides precariously, holding her tight to him. “Beautiful. Dangerous,” he swallowed hard before dipping his head down. He nudged her temple with his nose and pressed against her hair, drunk on her scent. “Mine,” he rasped.

The Touch - Anne Sexton (insp.)

She glanced down. A red blossom of blood had spread on the bandage tied around her shoulder. She tugged awkwardly at the strip of towel. “I need Nina to fix this one.”

He didn’t mean to say it. He meant to let her go. “I can help you.”

Her gaze snapped to his in the mirror, wary as if gauging an opponent. They were the first words she’d spoken to him, standing in the parlor of the Menagerie, draped in purple silk, eyes lined in kohl. She had helped him. And she’d nearly destroyed him. Maybe he should let her finish the job.

— Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

NO MOURNERS. NO FUNERALS.

This is a little more niche as far as fan-efforts go, but figure it's worth boosting anyways:

SOC Fans are fundraising for billboards to put up in NYC and LA to save the Six of Crows spinoff.

Here's the Kickstarter - it's already about 2/3 of the way to target. Any small amount of money helps - even a $1 donation.

Momentarily, she wondered who he was before he lived in the attic of the Slat, and if there was ever someone to scold him for staying awake so late. She wondered what he dreamed about.

Likely a bathtub filled with kruge, she realized and pushed the thought away.

"Inej," Kaz said, and she heard the creak of his chair as he reached for another stack of papers. "You have an eye for art, don't you?"

Her brows rose. "Are you thinking about redecorating?" His walls were bare.

"I was thinking about Jan Van Eck's impenetrable gallery."

"Impenetrable," she repeated. "Seems unlikely."

Read on ao3: Kaz and Inej steal the DeKappel.

my hand was the one you reached for (all throughout the Great War), ch.8 ✨

Fandom: Six of Crows / Shadow and Bone (TV)

Pairing: Nina/Matthias

Tags: alternate universe: modern royalty; arranged marriage; enemies to lovers

Status: in progress???

Summary: Nina decides to enjoy her last night of freedom before her trip to Fjerda to meet her betrothed. What happens in Ketterdam stays in Ketterdam, right?

Extract:

"You're something else," he says, more to himself than anything, failing to find the words to define her. Realizing for the first time that it doesn't matter what or who she is, because he loves her exactly that way, loud laughter and sweet smiles and downright dirty at times. "You're overwhelming," he still says, because it's true, she is, and he wouldn't have her any other way. Nina lets out a giggle, and he watches the slender slope of her neck unfold as she throws her head back, the tips of her brown hair touching the grass and glinting in the sun. Of all things, perhaps it's the reckless abandon with which she laughs that he loves the most, the way she snorts like a little piggy with no care in the world about what she looks or sounds like. It's unladylike and he should find it unbecoming, but Matthias can't remember why. "I've heard that before," Nina says softly when her laughter dies down. She mirrors him, lying down on the blanket, her brown waves framing her face like a halo as she tilts her head towards him. "There's more to you than meets the eye, too." "Is there?" Matthias asks, curious.

KANEJ APPRECIATION WEEK 2023

LEIGH BARDUGO, SIX OF CROWS