Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❛ i once was poison ivy but now i'm your daisy ❜ ( don't blame me ─── kaz brekker )
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It'd been a while since someone had called Zara Lantsov princess. She'd been fifteen when she'd been sent away to Ketterdam after an unfortunate 'grisha' incident with a visiting dignitary. He'd tried to slip his hand under her dress, which resulted in her stabbing him in the neck with a dinner knife. Her oldest brother, Vasily, had her sent to a school for troubled youngsters in Ketterdam. She never reached the school, instead choosing to throw herself from the carriage and onto the streets of the damned city. She went under a new name, Zara Volkov. She'd stolen the name from a trading ship in West Ravka after crossing the fold. She wasn't sneaky, or by any means subtle. She was in loose and dirty clothing, but she didn't have a speck of dirt on her. Her hair was blonde and pristine. She looked out of place in the hellscape of Ketterdam.
When Kaz Brekker first saw Zara Lantsov, he knew she was royalty. She carried herself with a certain stiffness and regality he only saw in royals. Not that he'd ever met any royals. Occasionally some royal dignitary or wife will journey to Ketterdam and spend their charges at the Crow Club. Zara reminded him of the royals who'd walked through those doors before her. Untouchable, perfect, beautiful. He'd quickly learned the only ships arriving in Ketterdam were Ravkan. It wasn't hard to put two and two together that the Lantsov princess had suddenly disappeared from the palace four days prior, and ships to Kerch were only from Ravka. He'd watched her for weeks after that. She'd walk around the city aimlessly, standing in front of the Crow club for a bit before walking away. He wondered whether she knew of it, or was just interested in the noises coming from it. It wasn't until three months into her stay that he had Inej approach her.
Kaz had called Zara a princess the moment he met her. She'd spent the day with Inej, who showed her around the Crow Club and her side of Ketterdam, and then met Kaz and Jesper. She was wary of Kaz, understandably so. He'd called her princess. In that moment all Zara could think about was how to leave. She tried to remember everything Nikolai had taught her before he'd left. She looked for anything sharp she could use to escape. He noticed, and told her he wasn't going to hurt her as long as she listened. He wasn't going to hurt her anyway. Killing a princess would bring unnecessary attention to him and the Crows. So he talked to her, and told her everything he needed from her. Starting with information and ending with loyalty. Zara did whatever she needed to make sure her identity would stay a secret.
