Cup, Crow, Rose
Fandom: Grishaverse: Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone Summary: Soulmarks are complicated. Nina's life is already so complicated that she doesn't want to seek them out. Like her teachers always warned, though, her soulmates seem determined to find her one way or another. Warnings: Canon-typical trauma and soulmates Word Count: 2,648 Ship(s): Nina Zenik/Matthias Helvar/Inej Ghafa/Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck/Kaz Brekker
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A/N: Is anyone really surprised that I chose to go with polycrows for the free day? I love them so much, lol. I also had a lot of fun exploring the soulmate AU that I wanted to do for this, so I hope that you guys also enjoy it! One day I might expand this into something bigger but I kind of like having it as a character study type thing. Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3
Each soulmark was different. A pair or group of soulmates would have a throughline that placed them together so that they could find each other, with varying levels of intricacy, but the soulmarks would all be different. For a pair of soulmates, the mark would be the same except for one thing that would represent the other person. For a group of soulmates, the mark would be different for each person that they were to meet so that it went in a sort of circle. Group soulmates were complicated and very rarely did the entire group actually find itself.
Nina had grown up seeing the soulmarks of the people around her, presented proudly once they had found and married each other. Her older sister figure Zoyaâs was a mix of leather wings pocked with scales that shimmered iridescent when displayed in the light correctly, conversely swapped on the back of her soulmate. Her other friend Genya had a book with ancient writing and a vile of dark red liquid on the back of her hand, a perfect match with her own soulmate. Nina had even been exposed to a queerplatonic soulmate marking too, a Inferni named Harshaw that had a cat made out of fire wrapping around his neck and collarbone before it met with a sunburst across his chest. She didnât know the manâs soulmate so hadnât seen how it had changed towards the other person, nor had she ever actually gotten a good look at a group of soulmates with marks like what hers appeared to be.
Ninaâs mark was a crow grasping for the last little bit of liquid in a wine glass, the beak and head warped with the shape of it. In addition to that was a single knife that touched the bottom of the glass. It tilted towards the crow but did not slice, like the bird was somehow performing a trick while trying to get its drink. She had learned how to hide it under the layers of her sleeves when she was out and how to cloak her skin over the top of it so that it was obscured when she had to undress in front of someone. For a spy such as herself, it was very dangerous for people to be able to identify her by her soulmark.Â
The first time that Nina saw one of her soulmarks, she was trapped in the belly of a slaver ship. She had her hands chained above her and could barely keep her eyes open because of the water seeping through the slats above her. It was dark and she was shivering with the force of the cold around her, so it was hard to make out. The mark had stood out starkly even amongst the heavy furs and wool that the Druskelle was wearing, black lines evident on his pale white skin. The crow drinking from a nearly empty cup appeared to be the throughline of their soulmark group because they were identical on the man in front of her as they had been on her own skin before she had hid it. The only difference was that the liquid at the base of the cup was holding a single rose that was weeping petals down onto the bird.
She of course hadnât acted on it. There was no way that he would be able to see her own mark and know that they shared the same throughline. She had no idea what the Fjerdan stance on soulmate groups was, it was one of their closest held secrets because those types were so rare. She didnât know what he would do if he found out that part of his group was a Grisha either. Nina doubted that he would have killed her in that moment because he was so adamant about the idea of her getting her trail for her crimes when she finally arrived in his homeland.
There were many chances for her to reveal her soulmark to him when they had wrecked the ship and washed up on those rocky shores, yet she used what little of her energy that she had left to keep it covered. She wasnât sure what she could trust him yet when he was still spouting the ideas of the people that he had trained with like if he didnât then he would cease to be. He wasnât safe because she was the witch that the hunter was doomed to kill, even if she was falling more and more in love with him by the day.
The next soulmark that she saw didnât belong to her, but she was sure that the one on her arm belonged to the girl. She had just been through a whirlwind that left her feeling as though she was going to die. She and Matthias had traveled together like they were not sworn enemies over miles and miles of land until they had arrived at a port where she had found some of her people. In a move that she came to regret almost immediately after seeing the way that he looked at her, Nina lied and said that he was a slaver so that he wouldnât be taken back to the Darklingâs court to be sentenced and killed as a witch hunter. She had tried to retract her statement when she got back, but she was simply given enough money to buy passage back to Ravka. She knew that she couldnât do that, not when the only soulmate that she might ever know, the one that held her mark, was locked in a jail that she had made for him.
She had been approached by a man that offered her a job. She was promised that she wouldnât have to work on her back, but rather putting on a show of her powers to anyone that came requesting it. She had said that she would think about it and then buried herself away in the covers of the room that they had lent to her. A young Suli girl broke into her window almost immediately after she was left alone, and it only took a couple of seconds for Nina to see the mark on her own arm.
It was the same crow reaching into the wine glass for the remnant of liquid. The changed element for her was the end of a cane that was pushing the cup closer to the crow, though it was only a few inches and thus not very identifying. Nina had seen it and then stood in the same spot, like the Saints had turned her to stone as she took in the appearance of the other girl. She had long black hair that was tightly pleated into a braid that hung over one of her shoulders. Her skin was bronzed and smooth, though her eyes were so dark that it made her entire face disappear as soon as Ninaâs gaze locked with them.
She was offered a place in the Dregs and a job through the White Rose, protection under Kaz Brekkerâs name. Inej was the girl, apparently, and she had explained that there was no true safety in the Barrel but there was a fear associated with the name of that man.Â
Nina and Inej began a relationship only a week after they had found out that they were soulmates. She hadnât been sure that anything would actually come of the discovery of another one of her soulmates since so little had happened with Matthias. She knew that meeting a criminal offering her a job was different than being kidnapped by a man trained to kill her, but it had still set a precedent in her mind that was rather difficult to overcome. Inej was more than happy to begin to get to know her and after only a month of dates spent under the moonlight on the rooftops of Ketterdam, they held hands and agreed to pursue a relationship.
Only two months after she had decided to work with the Dregs, Nina met Jesper. She immediately knew that she liked him and that the two of them would become very close friends. He was already close with Inej, though the girl refused to tell Nina how and why. Nina knew that there was something dark in Inejâs past that meant that she was very secretive about things that she felt were personal, including interpersonal relationships. Jesper hadnât been offended by the relationship that had cropped up between the two girls, in fact he seemed amused out of his mind about it.
His soulmark was revealed to her after a month of her trying to find out by various means of subterfuge. Eventually she had gotten so frustrated about being left out of the loop that she had walked into his room and then slammed and locked the door behind her so that he didnât have the chance to run. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the crow reaching into the cup, though his had a delicate pen that had spilled the ink inside. The throughline had confirmed that they were soulmates, though it meant that there was another person out there somewhere for their group.
Jesper and Nina started dating much faster than she and Inej had. It was easier for them to strike up something romantic, and then later sexual, because Jesper didnât have Inejâs trauma and had already been getting to know Nina throughout their friendship with the intent of eventually dating her.
Her life had only just begun to feel like it was leveling out when she met another member of their relationship. Wylan was a young boy that Kaz brought on to be their demolitions man whenever they had need of explosions. He and Nina didnât tend to run in the same circles in the Dregs, which meant that she knew of him in name only. After his second mission with the gang, Jesper had broken into her room in the White Rose only moments after her latest client had left to tell her about Wylanâs soulmark. According to Jesper, it was the same cup and crow but with the paws of a wolf standing on either side of the crow.Â
Nina had felt like her entire life was shattering at that. She had been thinking about the circle that they made and how many people could be missing but it was becoming increasingly difficult. Matthias was for her, she was for Inej, Jesper was now for Wylan, Wylan was for Matthias, but Inejâs mark didnât land with any of them and Jesper was still missing someone for him. That meant that there was at least one more person that they needed to add before they could truly feel complete.
She only found that person after she had finished collecting the others. She, Inej, and Jesper, had started up a relationship with Wylan not long after finding out where he was living after they discovered his soulmark. The four of them found one of the biggest rooms in the Slat and then decided that they were going to keep it as their own so that they could live in the happiness and safety of their soulmates. Wylan wasnât attracted to Inej or Nina, so they eventually discovered that he was meant to be their queerplatonic soulmate.
It was difficult and there were quite a few bumps in the road as they figured out how to navigate being soulmates while also being criminals, but they were all stubborn enough to make it work. Secrets were spilled, trauma was revealed, and love was confessed. They found out that Inej had been taken and forced to work in the Menagerie, that Jesper was zowa, that Wylan couldnât read and who his real parents were. It could have very easily driven them apart but instead it only served to weave them into an intricate, loving mess with each other.
Yet, despite everything that her lovers had shared with her, she was unable to tell them anything about one of the missing members of their circle. The night before the beginning of the Ice Court, though, it had all piled out of her. She admitted what she had been before she came to Kerch and then how she had met Matthias. She told them about the way that he laughed, how he ate his reindeer meat only after soaking it in water because chewing made his jaw hurt, how he snored in his sleep, and how he was the sweetest man she had ever met when not trying to kill her.
They rescued him and then the others had forgiven her for keeping him a secret. She nursed the bruises on her neck while crying into Jesperâs lap while Wylan held her spare hand. It was hard to know that her soulmate didnât want her, that he was unwilling to give up the way that he had been raised for the two people in his group that he had been taught to hate when they would bring him only joy.
Then the Ice Court had happened and he was deprogramed after seeing the way that they all cared for each other. They didnât have time to talk about it after she had taken the jurda parem so that she could save them on the dock, but she knew that he loved her again.Â
They had spent a lot of the journey nursing Nina back to health and talking about the little house in the country that they could get. Inej had spoken about a boat that she wanted to get so that she could hunt slavers, and Matthias had seem keen on joining her so that he could put his skills to good use. Nina knew that Wylan wasnât suited for that kind of work and would prefer to make art in the comfort of his own home, so she was okay with staying with him during her long recovery before she joined the others.
They came back to their city and found out that none of the money was waiting for them. They lost one of their soulmates and were stuck with the captive that they had just stolen from the most prestigious prison in the entire world. Kaz planned and schemed and they followed after him like they always did. Eventually, they got Inej back and things kept rolling. They were able to create a convoluted but thorough plan to take Jan Van Eck and Pekka Rollins, the two men hunting them, down.
Finally, everything was over. They were able to get Wylanâs mother back from the countryside to the home that she had chosen and where she belonged. Alys was sent up to a boathouse where she could live with her real soulmate and birds in peace. They all needed a good deal of time to recover, so they moved in the Van Eck mansion since it had plenty of room for them to grow and expand.
Kaz came to their door on a very rainy evening almost a month after all of their problems had seemingly been solved. Nina had been the one to check the door, so she welcomed him as their friend and invited him to come and dine with them. Her other soulmates were seated on the floor in the living room while they ate something that Inej had made. They were all very excited to see Kaz but they stayed quiet because it was clear that he was bursting with some kind of information.
Just like that, Kaz had rolled up his sleeve to reveal a crow reaching for the liquid in the bottom of a wine glass, the stem of which had been shattered by a bullet that was resting next to the completely unharmed crow. He was the last link of their circle and they finally had him.
