Matthias felt himself jerk into awareness at Nina's small huff of laughter next to him. Cracking open an eye, in the gloomy crypt they were using as a base, he saw a demjin in the doorway. No, just the demjin, he reminded himself. With a few clicks inside he stopped in front of Nina and silently handed over a burgundy tin.

"Oh," Nina sighed, "you do love me!"

"Tell that to the child I stole it off of."

Nina's still slightly shaking hand grabbed the tin from his gloved one. She struggled the lid open and then Matthias watched her eyes go adorably large before looking up at him,

"These are the expensive ones!"

"Fine," Kaz shrugged, "off a man that was also carrying a bouquet of roses."

"You stop at roses then?" Nina teased back, raising an arched eyebrow at him.

Kaz just glared in return for a beat and then clicked away further into the tomb toward Jesper and Wylan. Matthias watched as Nina held the tin to her chest for a moment and then set the food aside. Like all the other treats everyone had been bringing her. He was moving before he realized, sitting in the chair next to her bed as she laid back down. She grabbed onto the edge of his shirt and after a few quiet moments was back asleep.

So the demon did have moments of civility he mused. But as the voices in the other room muffled toward him he couldn't help but remember all the other moments he'd witnessed kindness from a man he still thought was mostly evil.

He'd brought Nina several deliveries of foods to tempt her. Even a large stack of waffles one day that he'd sat in front of her for and watched Nina force every bite down. Matthias had expected a smile but Kaz had just nodded and gone back to all his strategizing. Kaz would go over plans with Wylan several times without losing his patience - something that seemed in very short supply with almost everyone else. He would explain it in several different ways until he was sure Wylan understood exactly what he was asking for.

Jesper and Kaz had a shorthand language he'd only known other brothers in arms to have. With the kind of closeness that comes from implicit trust and experience in the trenches. Kaz never told him to settle down or pay attention when Jesper's hands twirled his guns around his fingers. All his commanders and teachers back in Fjerda had beaten the unrest he'd had out of his limbs and mind. He even continued to involve Kuwei. Calling upon his input and expertise even when the boy was mostly there as bait and collateral.

He'd watched all this happen from his own quiet corner, giving his input only when asked. His main concern was Nina. But on occasion, when he could tell Kaz was lost in thought and didn't realize he was there, Matthias could see the fatigue and panic building on his face. It was admirable. A general never shows fear to his men. But there was fear.

Every day that passed with Inej still being held captive was pitting them further against the odds. He wanted the little assassin back as much as anyone else, she had saved them on so many occasions, and you didn't leave your team behind. It was more than that to Kaz, of course. Everyone could see the desperation starting to leak through the cracks in the demon's armor. He was a better man when she was around, even if he couldn't admit it to himself. Matthias could sympathize. But he just stayed in his corner, protecting the one thing that meant more than anything else to him.

"Matthias," the rasp of his name was quiet.

He shook himself from his thoughts and looked at Nina first, still fast asleep her hand clutched to his shirt. The shadows shifted and Kaz nodded toward the other room. He gently pried her hand free and followed him into all his scheming.