Warmth
a gift fic for magicaldestiny
Winter in the Barrel is brutal.
Stealing quietly through the tangle of narrow, trash-strewn alleyways, Inej keeps her hands and face wrapped in the folds of her long, hooded cloak. Partially this is habit; no one should know her face, and the closer her hands are to her knives, the quicker she can free them to ward off any pickpocket or mugger who takes her for an easy mark. But mostly she does it so her nose doesn't freeze off her face and so her fingers, always exposed and bare, are warm enough to act in the instant that spells the difference between life and death.
Sometimes she wonders why she feels the cold so. Most of her childhood was spent in Ravka, where the winters are markedly colder than Kerch. Yet she never remembers a sensation of bone-deep chill such as she feels on these dark, hazy winter evenings in Ketterdam. Sitting around the campfire, nestled between her parents, and sheltered by the windbreak of half-a-dozen Suli wagons, however much the wind howled or the ice whirled in a tornado of frigid needles, nothing seemed to touch the deep, inner warmth she felt in the heart of her family's love.
Love is nowhere in the Barrel.
Coming up to the Slat, Inej sees a pale, wavering light in Kaz's window, a dim star to steer by. He's still awake, of course, waiting for her report. The intelligence she's gathered tonight will help him make the next move in the extortion plan he's been concocting. That's why he won't wait until the morning to see her.
No other reason.
She has to make herself believe that.
A wicked smile twists her lips, and Inej's nimble fingers reach for the crumbling stones lining the Slat's facade. A ladder couldn't be easier for her to climb. Her pointed boot-toes find the cracks and her strong arms and legs move in harmony. She's above the second floor before her heart even has a chance to beat faster, and is dangling outside Kaz's window a few moments later.
He hears her unlatch the window, but she doesn't intend to go unnoticed. The gable window above is far quieter; she knows, because she's oiled the latches herself.
He doesn't greet her. Not with words, anyway. But there is an intensity in the way his dark, deep eyes fix on her that makes Inej feel seen in a way that no one else can. Not just because it is her job to move unseen, but because those that do see her don't see Inej. They see a pretty Suli girl first, and very little else besides. They do not know and will never know her.
Kaz does.
She fully turns to the window to close it, a blush rising to her cheeks as her heartbeat finally catches up enough to flush her with heat. If her grip fumbles a bit on the latch, it is no one's business but hers.
"Well?" his voice rasps up her spine.
She turns, laying out the facts of what she's seen, bare and plain as crow-picked bones. Kaz listens, a muscle in his jaw bunching and relaxing, as the cogs in his twisted mind turn and slot into place. Then she sees what she's expecting. A flash of a smirk, there and gone like lightning.
"So Mr. Varnas has a taste for the back-alley, does he?" he mutters. "Dangerous."
"So many places where things can go wrong," Inej agrees, a smile of her own matching his. She chafes her cold hands together, a quick shiver chattering her teeth. "What do we do next?"
He doesn't answer, gaze fixed on her clasped hands. "You're cold," he says, his own fingers flexing. Outward, then back in. A familiar gesture Inej tries to ignore, but never quite can.
She shrugs. "Cold night. Wouldn't hurt you to have a fire, though."
It's an idle jab. Kaz saves his money for the Crow Club, where the expense is seen and doubles its value.
His hands flex again, and he sets aside his cane.
"Here," with a shrug of his shoulders, he shucks off his heavy, dark wool coat. After a blank moment of surprise, where Kaz's jaw works and his eyes dodge hers, she steps forward to take it. It takes her another moment, just holding the jacket in her hands, before she slowly drapes it over her shoulders. It seems too intimate to put her arms through the sleeves, so she just wraps herself in the lingering warmth left by his body.
Another shiver runs through her. Kaz still hasn't looked her way, but he catches the motion.
"Better?"
She swallows, dry. "Yes."