and there's nothing wrong with being a lizard either.
unless you were born to be a hawk.

— LEIGH BARDUGO

the thought was this:
that all my life had been murk and depths,
but i was not a part of that dark water.
i was a creature within it.

— MADELINE MILLER

          SOMETIME IN the past five years, Levana Andreyev stopped believing in the saints.

          She doesn't know exactly when it happened. She doesn't know when her world stopped revolving around celestial approval, when her actions ceased to funnel towards the sole goal of pleasing her ancestors. How does one's world stop orbiting around the sun they've spent their life chasing? How does the sun lose its luster, the moon lose its shine? Perhaps it was the day she arrived at training, bright-eyed and flush-faced, ready to learn all that the Little Palace had to offer. Perhaps it was the day she received the news that her best friend had died. Perhaps it was the day she learned that the family she'd dreamt of meeting had never wanted her people safe, only controlled. That's what she tells herself, anyway.

          Really, Lev knows, it was the day she came to Ketterdam.

          Ketterdam, with its dark alleys and even darker brothels, greedy-eyed politicians and worn pubs. Ketterdam, with its gangs and barrel bosses and secrets, everything Ravka is not. For anyone smart enough to recognize its dangers, it is a bomb waiting to explode, but for a fourteen-year-old girl fleeing charges of desertion in her home country, it is a haven: Levana can bide her time, waiting for the day when Ravka's bloody slate is wiped clean. In Ketterdam, Levana can shed the skin of her Second Army past and slip into the shadows. In Ketterdam, Levana can build up armor.

          Work as muscle-for-hire teaches Lev to forget Ravka and its saints and catch the foggy taste of smoke on the harbor, the bitter tang of ale from the bars on West Stave in its place. The Barrel is no place for the little girl brought up on the Little Palace's manners and poise, and when she's approached by Dirtyhands — one of the Barrel's worst — with the offer to join his gang, Lev realizes it's best to pretend she never existed at all.

          So when Kaz Brekker and his band of miscreants ask for her help with a dangerous job back in Ravka in exchange for her freedom, she wonders if the saints have finally cursed her for turning her back on them — after all, they don't call him Dirtyhands for nothing.

          (Then again, maybe they are looking out for her — because since when did Kaz Brekker smile?)

lee ji-eun
LEV ANDREYEV

✦

freddy carter
KAZ BREKKER

amita suman
INEJ GHAFA

kit young
JESPER FAHEY

rebecca ferguson
JESSIKA CORDOVA

jenny boyd
ANIKA

anya chalotra
ZOYA NAZYALENSKY

&& ALSO . . .

ben barnes — GENERAL KIRIGAN
daisy head — GENYA SAFIN
jessie mei li — ALINA STARKOV
archie renaux — MAL ORETSEV

scan code to listen on spotify.

&& DEDICATIONS.

first off a big thank u to silksenses for allowing me to use parts of her layout and generally being an amazing person 🥺💕 second, this fic is for vizslas, jcpiters, kryzes, sweetjawregui, tinkertaydust, uItrxviolet, and all the other kaz brekker stans who have been waiting FOREVER to see our boy on screen 😭😭 WE WON JOE!! WE WON!!!!

&& AUTHOR'S NOTE.

this story is set in NETFLIX'S SHADOW AND BONE show. it will follow the events of season one with some extra content in between. with that being said, i plan to tweak certain things about kaz/the plot in general — however, i will make sure to let everyone know beforehand in case someone misses it. please don't be rude if you see that happen, it's a personal choice. i also changed some of the casting (mainly zoya) just to fit with what i imagine the characters looking like. as always, this is MY FIC, and the casting choices are for ME. you may imagine the characters any way you want, this was just what i preferred!

moving on, HELLO GRISHAVERSE FANS!!! i am VERY EXCITED TO BE HERE!!!! i've been a freddy carter simp since joining wp a year (?) ago but i never got around to writing a kaz fic before now. before we begin, i have a few things to say:

— ⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️ this fic will contain topics such as blood/gore, violence, mentions of sexual assault/abuse, trauma and PTSD, and excessive swearing. do not keep reading if you aren't comfortable with reading about any of those things!!!!!!

— second, FROM EDEN is loosely based on my absolute favorite movie, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. kaz and lev's relationship will be (somewhat) inspired by howl and sophie's and i am vv excited to explore that aspect of their dynamic! there is going to be so much to unpack about their history and also their views of themselves and one another and i cannot WAIT for everyone to get to read it!

— because i haven't been able to find official ages for all of the characters beyond the fact that they've been aged up (if anyone knows please tell me lmao), i went ahead and made the cast — with obvious exceptions — in the 19-20 age range. lev is 19 when this fic starts, as is inej, and kaz and jesper are 20.

OK I'M DONE NOW!!!!!! i am very excited for everyone to meet lev and i hope everyone is as well!! it's going to be a wild ride but the ending is worth it i swear 🥳