Kaz Brekker

You sat with Nina as she healed the wound on your arm. Her heart-visualizing abilities were transforming the tissue into a scar.

Jesper was in the room too, and they both realized you were upset about your conversation with Kaz. He was acting like a fool. Still, in front of his crows. Distancing himself? Why?

• "Maybe he, I don't know, Kaz is just... Kaz."

Jesper fixes his hair in front of the mirror, glancing at you.

• "That's different. I just don't understand why he would lie to me... give me stupid tasks that anyone could easily do, just to keep me away!"

• "Because he would rather push you away than admit that he has any feelings for you."

Nina said, and you all fell silent. She hesitated, finishing treating the wound.

• "I... shouldn't have said this out loud?"

• "I... that's not true..." They both exchanged glances.

What Nina had said earlier kept running through your head. There had always been something between you and Kaz. But this couldn't happen. He couldn't physically touch you, not because of the trauma he'd suffered in the past. Those days working at the zoo still gave you nightmares.

The two most feared men in Ketterdam. Too weak to even touch each other.