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sissytobitch10seconds · 5 months

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Empire of Dirt

Fandom: Grishaverse: Six of Crows Summary: Kaz Brekker refused to take his father's name when his mother married, as well as the name of his husband. Wylan Van Eck wants to focus on his art despite his new marriage being more than he bargained for. Nina Zenik is fed up of carriages and pearls, but her new fiance obviously isn't. Matthias Helvar was expecting a pretty Russian princess and instead was given a woman that rocks his world. Jesper Fahey may be running from his own pain, but he can help others face it. Inej Ghafa wants her family and out of her cage. Warnings: Canon-typical violence, murder attempts, skip-able sexual content, implied rape/non-con, and child abuse Word Count: ~230k (Chapter 1: 5,903) Chapters: 39 Ship(s): Kaz Brekker/Wylan Van Eck/Jesper Fahey/Inej Ghafa/Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik

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A/N: TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of ableism, unhealthy parental relationships, and canon-typical child abuse.

Wylan knew that something was wrong when his father came to visit him personally. It wasn’t like they were the type of family that he heard stories about coming from the Dame Hansen’s daughter, where they never saw each other outside of banquets, but it was still a rare occasion. Jan had other things to do that busied up his time, including doting his terribly young wife. Wylan himself was busy with his studies and trying to avoid his tutors like his life depended on it.

He had been sequestered away in his room while trying to work on his writing when the knock came. Wylan’s room was on the other side of their large estate from Alys’ and his father’s rooms were. It had the same dark cherry parquet wood on the floor that matched the rest of the house, though Wylan would have preferred something like ash or oak because of the lighter grain. The wallpaper was a violet color with little pink blossoms in tidy rows making up a pattern that he had counted on the nights when the pain on his back or thighs was too much to let him sleep. There was a door on the wall kitty corner to the one that the hallway connected to that led to his personal bathroom and closet, which were very similar in their style to the bedroom itself. His bed held a couple of down pillows and a thick winter quilt that his mother had sewed herself before she had been sent away to their summer estate to stop making the new wife uncomfortable. His most treasured possessions were the ones squirreled away in the cedar chest pressed against the edge of the bed, though he pretended that he preferred the ones he had laid out on the shelves overflowing with books that he would never be able to read.

Near the hearth that lay on the wall that connected to the hallway was a seating area with a couch and two comfortable chairs, both of them matching the color of the drapes and the rug that they pinned down. Across from that, there were three ornate windows filled with stained and clear glass with a desk that had everything he needed to study on it, which was where he currently was.

The light was pouring down over the paper and casting little rainbows against the grain of the shiny wood. It was a welcome distraction to the headache that was beginning to bloom behind his eyes as he tried to get the words on the page to stay in the same place for long enough to read them.

He had turned when the knock sounded, waiting for the servant to enter, do whatever business they had, and then leave. When no one came in, he figured that it had to be someone of an actual standing that had to respect him at least a small bit. No one in his home respected him because they knew what his parents thought of him and what his tutors had done to him. The fact that he still had a tutor was a great shame that the Van Eck family was trying desperately to hide.

He tried to fight back the lump in his throat when he realized that Master Lukas could have come back earlier than expected and called, “You may enter.”

Wylan felt his heart stop and then resume beating, only when it started again it was far faster than it had been before. “Father,” he greeted as he pushed up from his desk to face the other man.

Jan Van Eck was an imposing man even to those that were taller than him. He had a regular stature and build compared to the rest of the nobles that had been born into their wealth as they had. It was the ego and presence that took up a room and could make fully grown men with higher status quiet down to listen. He shared Wylan’s red hair, though the son’s was dimmer and closer to brown. He was wearing a finely pressed white shirt with a pair of breezy, fine cotton pants in the red of their family crest.

“Wylan, how are your studies going?” he asked, the first question that he was always asked. Usually in public, Wylan would be expected to make up some kind of answer concerning college or advanced arithmetic so it would seem like he wasn’t quite the failure that he actually was. When they were in the safety of their own home with only their family and staff, his shame was expected to be on full display.

He glanced back down the papers that he had been trying to decipher. Shame burned on his cheeks as he choked out his answer, “Not well, Father. I’m sure that Master Lukas has already visited you today to tell you of my failures.” His skin ached and hurt where he had been struck when he had made a mistake, making himself and his tutor look foolish.

Master Lukas had been brought in from abroad in Belgium because he had been known to work miracles, but Wylan was beginning to think that he just lived with the family of the child that he was supposed to be tutoring long enough that he could blackmail them into saying good things about him. He had certainly never actually tried to help Wylan in a way that none of the other tutors had tried. His beatings weren’t even new or inventive.

Jan chuckled and sat down at Wylan’s desk. It was clear that the power balance had changed at that. Despite the fact that this was supposed to be his personal chamber, his father was always in control when he did something like that. Wylan had gotten very good at recognizing those kinds of messages from people because it could often mean his health and safety if he read it wrong.

“Master Lukas actually had good things to say about you today,” Jan replied as he idly played with some of the things that were spread out over his son’s space. “He told me that you’re picking up the Russian he’s been teaching you very well.”

It took a good deal of self-restraint to not roll his eyes. Wylan almost felt like he was learning it from the servants or teaching it to himself despite his illiteracy. They had quite a few people working with them from Russia, mostly because that country had been taking over the neighboring territories which forced a lot of people to flee if they didn’t want to conform to the new government and way of life. Those people were kind enough to him even if they kept in their own circles, but it was still far better than dealing with the German servants.

“I’m glad that he’s pleased with my progress,” Wylan said instead of pitching the fit that he wanted to. “What did you come to speak with me about, Father?”

“Straight to the point. You may make a nobleman yet,” Jan chuckled.

Wylan knew that wasn’t going to happen no matter what the man that had sired him said. After Alys had been raised up in the ranks of the spouses that Jan had taken, it was clear that any child she had would come in the line of succession above Wylan. It was an outdated system and not one that he agreed with, but no one had asked him, so his opinion meant literally nothing. “Thank you, Father,” he replied curtly. He just wanted it to be over already.

Jan shuffled a bit where he was sitting at the desk. It made a shock of fear rush through Wylan as he realized that his father was uncomfortable with something. Jan had been raised as a nobleman, just as Wylan should have been and was until it was discovered that he couldn’t read. The elder Van Eck was so good at controlling his emotions, as every noble had to be, that Wylan had been a little shocked to see anything genuine from him. The man cleared his throat and then said, “I just wanted to inform you that I have found you a spouse.”

“A spouse?” Wylan asked, feeling his stomach sink low. It was uncommon for someone his age that was also from a noble family to be without a married partner, but somehow he still hadn’t quite been expecting it. He was the great shame of his family so he had assumed that until he finally riddled out his little problem, he would be kept locked away and unmarried.

“Yes, a spouse,” Jan huffed and nodded. “It’s about time that you got married and I found someone of the same social standing as you. He’s the second in line for his father’s rather large trading and property company as well as a local lord. Not quite the marquis that we are, but good nonetheless. The boy is around the same age as you so it’s not like your mother will have to worry.”

Wylan bit at the insides of his cheeks to resist the urge to shout back at his father. Jan had married Marya in an arranged marriage, as people of their social standing often did, but he had never even pretended to care about her the way that the other noblemen did their wives. He pretended to love Alys because she was the second wife that he had taken and he wanted to give people a reason to think that she had been moved up to the first wife status that wasn’t his defective son, but he didn’t care about her either.

As much as he didn’t like the idea that he was just another asset that his father could shuffle around as he pleased, he didn’t want to risk being married off to a woman. He had told his mother that he was only interested in being with men when he was fourteen and there had already been so much weighing on his mind. As much as Jan didn’t want to admit it, Wylan knew that his father had gone to Marya to get advice on who to marry him off to. He was grateful that his mother had advised Jan to pick a man instead of a woman, even if he would eventually have to take a wife so that he could produce some kind of heir. Though it was probably less of a problem given the fact that he was second to inherit after the child that Alys was pregnant with. Even if that child resulted in a girl, then any son that she bore would be above Wylan.

“Thank you, Father. When am I to be married?” he asked. He walked up to the edge of his desk to try and crowd his father out of his room so that he could have his space back to himself. So many emotions were brewing in the forefront of his head and the pit of his stomach that he knew he was going to have to take several hours to unravel them before he even began to process what they were.

“The Rollins family are going to be arriving here in the next couple of days. You’re going to marry the oldest boy, I don’t recall his name. I want you to make sure that you are on your best behavior when you meet him so that the he doesn’t persuade his father to dissolve the betrothal,” Jan informed him instead of answering the question.

Something like that had happened in England with the brat of a prince that was set to inherit the throne, the first time that it had happened in such a public life. Ever since his parents had given in, every noble was scared of it now. Wylan doubted that he would be able to get away with something like that, or anyone in Germany for that matter.

“I’ll be as kind to him as I can be,” Wylan gave the platitude as easily as water ran off a duck’s back. It had been a long time since someone had visited their home or he had been taken out to visit other nobles where he was chastised to behave himself. He had never really been prone to misbehaving when he was a child, but sometimes he spoke without thinking about it first. “Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

Jan stood up from Wylan’s chair and moved towards the door. Before he grasped the handle he turned and said, “For now, yes. When the Rollins get here we’ll discuss more details about the when and wheres of the wedding.”

“Of course,” he nodded the acknowledgement. He remained standing in front of his desk, turning his body so that he was facing towards his father and never giving him a second to attack. Jan walked to the door and shut it snugly behind him, trapping Wylan in the gilded cage that he had grown up in.

The boy sank down into the chair that his father had been occupying moments before. He had felt more like a man than he ever had in his life as he began to make scraping, tiny bits of progress forward in his studies but now he felt more scared and unsure of his place in the world than he had in a long time.

So much was going to change when he got married. He was of a higher standing than the man he was going to be wed to, so it wasn’t likely that he would have to move out of one of the estates that his father owned. Briefly, he hoped that he would be sent to the summer home that his mother was living at. It was possible that he was such a disgrace that he and his future husband would instead be moved to the other man’s lands, hidden away from any connection that Wylan could have to the rest of the Van Eck household. Given that him being seen as the lesser man in the marriage when he was the one that had more power would be even more of a slap of the face to his family name than people finding out that he was illiterate, he didn’t think that it was likely.

It wasn’t common for nobles to sleep in the same beds as each other outside of the wedding night, thankfully. He wasn’t sure that he was going to get along with his future husband, but if they never had to spend any time together then it didn’t really matter. He did wonder if his father had mentioned the fact that he couldn’t read to the other nobleman when they were working out the details of the marriage, and if he had what that would mean when Wylan met the man he was engaged to.

He was both scared and excited for what the future was holding for him, energy rushing through his body and leaving him exhausted all at once. He felt conflicted over the idea of his father making decisions about his life without having consulting him in the slightest, but he knew that was pretty standard when it came to living the life of a noble. He was scared for what his marriage was going to turn out to be, if his spouse was going to be anything like Alys or if he would end up in the kind of marriage that his mother had been in. He didn’t think that he would mind becoming the second husband or spouse like his mother had, but he didn’t want to spend the late winter evenings weeping or mourning what could have been.

Wylan placed his head down into his hands and blew out a steady breath. He scrubbed at his face to try and rid himself of the anxious thoughts that were gnawing a hole through his stomach. He stood and walked to his bed before he collapsed, deciding that a nap was the best thing for him in that moment.

---

Just as his father had said, the family that had set up the other half of the betrothal arrived three days after Jan had informed him that he was going to be getting married. They must have packed all of their things and gotten ready for their journey as soon as they sent the runner with the letter to the Van Eck estate for them to arrive that quickly. That or Jan had just forgotten to inform Wylan about one of the most important things that would be happening to him in his entire life, which he was slightly more inclined to believe.

Wylan had woken early in the morning when one of the servants bustled into the room to inform him of what had happened. Apparently a quick horse had been sent in front of the family to tell Jan that they were approaching and they had arrived late that night. The family of the man that Wylan was going to have to spend the rest of his life with had been sleeping under the same roof as him and he had been none the wiser.

The next hour or so was a mad scramble for everything to fall into place so that he was somewhat presentable. He had bathed quickly and scrubbed himself pink so that he knew he was truly clean. He had dotted scented oils on both of his wrists and behind his ears so that he smelled of bergamot and lavender, which were scents that reminded him pleasantly of his mother. He wished desperately that she could be there with him when he met the man that he was to marry, but he knew that Jan and Alys would never allow that to happen. She was considered to be almost a spinster since she had married Jan when they were both the same age and only ever birthed one surviving child. It was shameful to have both wives living in the same house, that much Jan did care about, but he didn’t care enough to go and visit Wylan’s mother where she was staying.

He had to put thoughts of his mother quickly out of his head as he continued getting ready for the day. He dressed in a fine, starched white shirt with beautifully ornate silver buttons that lay flat against his body. He had a pair of black cotton slacks that would allow him a little room to breathe in the heavy summer air. The outfit was accompanied with a brocade and silk vest in the deep crimson red of the Van Eck estate’s colors. He forewent a tie but pinned the little golden laurel wreath pin onto his chest above his heart. It matched with the leaf cufflinks that kept the shirt shut at his wrists in a way that he knew made him look respectable but made him feel like a child’s doll.

The servant that had come to wake him for an early breakfast fussed with the unruly brown-red curls that sat in a mop on the top of his head. Wylan sat at his desk while the rising sun breezed in with the smell of the morning dew, trying to get in bites of buttered bread and cold ham cuts while a brush was dragged through his hair. Eventually they worked it out so that they were no longer sleep-tangled snarls but rather ringlets that clung to his scalp and the undersides of his ears.

He left his room just in time to see the head butler of the house coming to fetch him. The servant that had helped him get ready whisked his food off towards the kitchen so that the dishes could be washed. Wylan turned and watched the remnants of the bread he hadn’t had the time to eat for only a moment before he turned and walked after the man. He didn’t bother to try and talk to him since he knew that it was pointless, none of the servants in the house that were from Germany thought that he was worthy of their attention.

They walked down the large marble staircase to the parlor where the rest of Wylan’s family, minus his mother who was not in their home, was already sitting. Alys was dressed in a fine cotton gown that had ornate trim on the hem and around her cuffs, forgoing a corset because of the growing bump on her stomach. Her hair was done up in intricate coils that meant she had to have been up before even Wylan despite the fact that she had been married almost two years ago and today wasn’t about her. Jan was dressed as he always was, with the same crisp white shirt and black slacks that Wylan had gotten into. His vest was a darker shade of red than Wylan’s and the family pin was placed onto his tie instead of over his heart.

“Father,” Wylan greeted politely as he walked behind the couch that they were sitting in. The former parlor was where they met all of their esteemed guests, though Wylan knew that his father had most likely seen to the family during their late arrival the night before. The room was dark parquet wood along the floor, ingrained with little strips of silver and gold that were sealed in with a solvent Wylan had never gotten the opportunity to study instead of burned in like the bedrooms. The walls were painted white and blue so that they were cheery and bright instead of the drab wood that laid just underneath. There was a large, ornate rub that pictured a scene of birds flying over a bouquet of flowers trapped underneath the furniture that had the house color for the cushions and a gaudy gold finish over the wood. There were two couches with a small table between them, and then two chairs in front of the fireplace. The walls were also lined with expensive DeKappel paintings and portraits of their family back when Wylan was very young. The most recent inclusion had been of Jan and Alys on their wedding day, but looking at it made Wylan’s skin crawl.

“You’re cutting it rather short,” Jan said testily.

“My apologies Father, it took a while to get my hair into working order,” he replied. He wanted to scream that he hadn’t been prepared for what was going to happen to him, that he had been given barely any warning, that he had woken up not an hour ago and expected to be fully ready in forty-five minutes. Instead, he clasped his hands behind him for only a moment to dig his nails into the meat of the opposite palm so that the pain could ground him.

When the doors opened, Wylan expected that it would be the family that he had gotten all dressed up to meet. Instead, it was a flurry of servants bringing in a breakfast that they should have taken in the main dining room. He knew that the parlor was a better first impression to make, but if they had been sitting at the table he would have been allowed to eat. The fact that there was no space left for him on the couch that his family had taken their places on meant that he was expected not to touch anything, which would also explain why he had gotten his morning meal in his room.

He tried to ignore the way that his mouth watered when he smelled the herbal black tea they had imported from Asia, seasoned with lemon and honey for Alys, or when he saw the flaky pastries filled with the jams and jellies they had imported for England. There was also a fair bit of heavier foods, fried potatoes and bacon set in the center of the table. Wylan had never been a fan of things that left his fingers greasy, so he paid very little attention to those plates. He wanted the pastries and a steaming cup of the coffee that they had just brought in for his father.

Just as the food had finished getting set up and the servants disappeared through the secret door to let them have a quiet entrance and exit on the other side of the room, the grand doors opened again. “Marquis Van Eck, I would like to introduce you to the esteemed Lord Pekka Rollins and Lady Margit Rollins, along with their son, Kaz, and daughter, Saskia” the head butler said as he stepped aside and motioned towards them.

Jan stood up so that he could move around the couch and meet Pekka. The two men clasped hands and exchanged greetings with each other before they returned back to where they were before. Alys remained sitting, which she was allowed to do as both the new lady of the house and a pregnant person. Wylan also remained where he was, almost frozen in place as he looked over the two individuals that were following along with their parents.

The girl was pretty enough, not that Wylan had ever been a very good judge of that. She had pale skin that was completely unblemished with even a single beauty mark. She was wearing a small bit of kohl around her eyes and rouge on her lips and cheeks. She had a red ribbon tied around her head so that it was keeping her straight cut hair out of her face. Her hair reached down to her shoulders and had a small curl to it that framed her face wonderfully.

The boy was who actually caught Wylan’s attention because he knew that his father had betrothed him to a man. He had angular features that brought attention to his jaw and cheekbones, as well as framed his dark eyes. His hair was raven black and cropped short around the sides but left decently long on the top, pushed back with some kind of gel. His skin was almost a clammy kind of pale, like it had been left under the water for too long. He had a shiny silver scar along his neck and another one over his lips. He was wearing a pair of black slacks with a white shirt, the buttons wooden and plain. His tie was the same deep emerald color that Pekka was wearing, which meant it must have been the family color the same way that Wylan’s was red. His arms were framed by the way that the shirt pulled at his shoulders and highlighted the defined muscles of his biceps. The vest that he was wearing had a simple striped green and black pattern on the front but looked as though it had been made while still on his body because of how well it fit. He walked with a cane made of black wood with the skull of a raven carved into the metal handle.

Wylan felt the breath be pulled from his lungs by an invisible force. He couldn’t believe that he was actually marrying someone that looked that handsome and terrifying at the same time. He had never seen Kaz out at any of the parties that he had been dragged along to before the it became apparent that his infliction wasn’t going away. It made him wonder if they were both the disgraced children that had to be hidden away from the world, which made him feel a little better about the arrangement. The second day after being told about the engagement, guilt had begun to consume him from the inside out as he realized that a real person was being saddled with his shame the same way that his family had. If they were both unwanted, then maybe they could find solace in each other.

Pekka sat down on the couch with his wife and daughter on either side of him. As was tradition, Kaz went to stand behind the couch like Wylan was. Jan sat back beside his wife and smiled warmly at the family across from them, or as warmly as a man that was willing to lock away his own family when they no longer served him could. “Please, do help yourselves to some breakfast.”

Saskia took one of the flaky pastries and a cup of tea, nibbling and sipping as delicately as a lady that was raised with her station could. Margit took her own bit of food and ate elegantly, refined and poised but more homely than Alys could ever hope to be.

“I trust that your journey went smoothly,” Jan said as he got his own portion of food.

“It did,” Pekka nodded. “We had some trouble with some trees felled by a summer storm, but it was nothing that my men and team couldn’t handle. It’s that right, Kaz?”

He turned to look back at his son, who Wylan had been staring at. The boy in question turned his attention away from the hidden servant’s door and gave his father a rueful look that Wylan desperately wanted to know about. He had been terrified that he was going to have to have practiced manners and rehearsed conversations for the rest of his life like his mother, but if this was the way that his fiance was acting in front of his betrothed’s family, then he didn’t have to worry about what happened behind closed doors.

“Of course, Father,” he nearly sneered out the phrase as he shifted his weight slightly.

Margit shifted so that she was facing more towards Alys. “Congratulations on your pregnancy, by the way. I’ve been meaning to send you a card but things have been so busy recently, what with Saskia’s debut into society and Kaz getting engaged to your boy.”

“Oh, he’s my stepson,” Alys replied immediately, like it wasn’t a humiliation to Wylan and Marya. He grit his teeth together and tried to center himself as he turned his attention back to Kaz. He had always liked people watching and Kaz was a sight to behold.

“I understand, Kaz is also my stepson,” she said, gesturing to the boy behind her. He glared down at her with a deep darkness to his eyes that sent a shiver throughout Wylan’s entire body. He was able to keep still, however, since he had years of practice when it came to hiding what he was feeling.

“Your family has two other boys, don’t you?” Alys asked, nibbling on another one of the flaky pastries.

Margit nodded her head, “One of them unfortunately passed away of consumption recently, sadly enough. Our youngest and the heir to our estate had to stay home. It’s too hard on a little one to have a boring trip like this one.”

Once the women had finally wrapped up their conversation, they moved on to what the other family had really arrived to talk about. Jan turned to glance at his son, “Wylan, why don’t you and the Rollins boy get to know each other over by the fireplace? You’re going to be working together quite closely, after all.”

“Of course, Father,” Wylan replied with a stiff bow of his head. He turned on his heel and walked over to the set of chairs by the fire, though it took a lot of effort to take his eyes away from Kaz. He didn’t have to worry about not seeing him for too long as they both took their places by the fire. Kaz set himself down in the chair with a muffled grunt behind his teeth, the leg on the opposite side of his cane stretching out towards the crackling flames.

They both sat in silence for a bit, the voices of their parents making small talk drifting through the parlor towards them. It was warped enough that he couldn’t totally make out the words since he didn’t really want to bother with it. Eventually, the red-haired boy turned towards his fiance and said, “My name is Wylan.”

“I’m fully aware of that,” Kaz replied.

He let out a small sigh, his heart sinking low in his chest. If their relationship was going to be that bad from the beginning then maybe he had been right to worry. He tried to soothe those thoughts by reassuring himself that they could become hesitant business partners, they didn’t have to be in love with each other. Love was a rarity for nobles, which was why it was common for commoners to be taken as the fourth or fifth spouse of someone.

“I was just trying to make conversation,” Wylan grumbled as he brought his hand up to cover his mouth.

Kaz completely ignored him. His dark eyes flit over to their families and then again over to the wall. Wylan was still unsure about how he had found out that was where the door led since it was completely sealed into the wall, part of the pattern that the pictures were hung inside of, but his eyes were glued to that specific space. “Where does that passage lead?” he asked.

Wylan’s brows furrowed together as he flicked a quick glance towards the hidden door just to make sure it was the one that Kaz had mentioned. “It’s the servant’s passage.”

“Can we go through it without our parents noticing that we’re gone?” Kaz asked.

“Of course. It makes basically no noise so that the maids can come through and tend to us without interrupting conversation,” Wylan replied. He didn’t know what the other boy was getting at but it was making him a little nervous.

Kaz placed his cane down on the ground silently and then pushed himself into a standing position. The other followed quickly, nervous about what was happening and what kind of punishment it might bring him but eager to find out more about the person that he was going to be marrying. He was distantly aware of the inane conversation that Alys had struck up with Saskia.

The taller of the two jerked his head towards the passage, clearly meaning that he wanted Wylan to open it. He did as he was asked, taking two long steps towards the passage and running his hand down the spot in the wallpaper that would let it open up. The two of them ducked underneath the low entrance and then emerged into the servant’s passage.

It was a dark hallway filled with peeling paint, no one ever having enough time to fix that when they were too busy running around after Wylan’s family, and gas lamps to let people see where they were going. The door closed behind them and sealed them inside, carefully hidden away from their families and the political talk neither of them cared about.

“Why did you want to come in here?” Wylan asked, his heart beating up in his throat as they stepped down the hallway.

“They’re not letting us eat because we’re supposed to be getting to know each other. What better way to learn about another person than by helping them with a heist?” Kaz replied as he began down the long passage.

Wylan stood stock still for a moment, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. He briefly wondered what kind of marriage he was getting himself into before he darted down the hallway before Kaz could get too far ahead of him.

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