Kerch, Ketterdam
Three Years Earlier
INEJ
It hadn't occurred to Inej to be afraid of her new boss. She'd only realised the true extent of Kaz's reputation when she was cornered on the street a couple of weeks ago by a group of Dime Lions.
She had wanted to scream when they surrounded her, but instead, she stood tall and watched them shiver as she proclaimed herself Kaz Brekker's Wraith , holding up her new knife Sankt Petyr in defence. Inej enjoyed watching their smirks fall, contorting into expressions of fear as she slunk away into the shadows, scaling the building and sprinting her way back to the Slat, her heart in her mouth.
To her, this mysterious Mr Brekker was simply a boss, yet another man who owned her, and it had only been six months since he had brought her from the Menagerie, and still, she was weary of Dirtyhands and his Dregs. So, Instead of entering through the front door like the rest of them, she usually climbed into her small room and entered through the window, also avoiding the others by eating her meals silently and quickly and only talking to another soul when reporting to the stern, calculated Kaz. He had helped her, trained her on how to hold a knife, pick locks and choke a man, but he didn't teach her how to disappear, how to shadow a man or to scale the buildings without making a sound - that was all her.
She was currently alone in her room.
It may be small, mouldy and rather damp but it was hers , and she could decorate it, she could live in it and she could feel safe in it .
She thanked her Saints once more that she didn't have to be in the Menagerie anymore. She brought her hand to her necklace and gently ran her fingers along the knitted symbol, trying to remember the scent of her caravan. She was sure that it had smelled like fresh basil, or was it rosemary? She couldn't quite remember, like how she couldn't exactly remember whether her Mother had brown eyes like her or green like her father. She didn't want to forget her home, but she felt it slipping away more and more each day. She could feel the tears filling in her eyes.
She was brought back from her thoughts by a loud knock at her door and the shouting that followed it.
"Wraith, the boss has a job for you." The sound of Rotty's kaelish accent rang through the door.
She sighed silently and wiped her eyes, opening her window and climbing out onto the ledge, starting the climb to Kaz's office.
Inej hadn't even thought twice about Kaz's office the first time she entered it, she was too worked up and defensive to give it a second look as Kaz spoke to her about the terms of her indenture. She was just in disbelief over her fortune and she wasn't entirely sure that she could trust this alleged "Kaz Brekker" Maybe he was just like the men in the Menagerie.
However, when Kaz gave her a lock for her door in the Slat and a copy of the contract for her indenture, she felt like she could finally breathe again.
Now, entering his office through his window, which she had taken to doing - doors weren't her forte - she spared the room a look, noting all the different bottles of cologne that were placed on his windowsill, Inej thought this was ridiculous, because he wore the same one every day, so she wondered why he would bother to buy different scents, plus Inej had grown fond of the familiar oaky smell of Kaz.
She also knew that Kaz wasn't in his office, as she looked around the room she didn't see Kaz anywhere, his chair at his desk being empty. A pang of panic surged through her, if Kaz had been taken from the Slat, then it wasn't safe anymore, if Kaz wasn't protecting the Slat, anyone could get her. She tried to shake off these thoughts as she walked towards the desk. Inej looked down to the desk with a raised brow, fingering through a pile of documents, seeing that they were all bank statements for a man named Pekka Rollins. Inej wondered what business Kaz had with the leader of the Dime Lions.
"Found anything worthwhile?"
Inej jumped out of her skin, turning around to see a rather smug-looking Kaz, who was covered tip to toe in crimson blood.
"Certainly, I was just entertaining myself while you were…" Inej stopped, crossing her arms and smirking, "On a killing spree?"
Kaz rolled his eyes and walked over to the sink next to his desk, peeling off his stained gloves. The first time he had stripped off his gloves in front of her, she had expected his hands to be badly burnt or deformed. She certainly didn't expect him to have slender white scarless hands who looked simply pristine.
Now as Kaz unveiled his hands, Inej didn't bat an eyelid, but she still felt secretly prideful overseeing the mysterious hands of 'Dirtyhands' himself.
"Bollinger and I had to deal with a spy who thought that following us to the Slat was a good idea," Kaz explained, shrugging off his coat and tossing it to Inej. She huffed but quickly hung it up, this little bit of their routine was something she didn't want to admit she liked. "Rotty said you had a job for me?" Inej enquired wondering how he would know if Kaz needed her when he had obviously been bashing some poor souls head in.
"Oh yes, well I did tell Rotty that, but as it turns out, the spy that I wanted you to shadow is now happily lying dead at the bottom of the river." Kaz almost chuckled, and Inej turned to look at him once again, her breath catching in her throat as Kaz pulled off his bloody shirt.
"Probably not so happily." Inej breathed out, glad Kaz's back was to her so that she could effectively avoid his gaze. She wondered how he managed to have such smooth skin, her own back is surely littered with scars, unlike the smooth milky muscles that line Brekker's back. She mentally cursed herself for thinking this, for Saint's sake -the man is currently covered in the blood of another human being.
"Death is just the next great adventure Wraith, any man would be happy to face it, especially the men who rot in the barrel." Kaz huffed out, washing his arms in his sink. Inej sat atop of Kaz's desk, a small frown marring her face.
"Not all men are evil Kaz." She whispered, remembering the true kindness of her father, and the love he had brought to her life. Kaz stopped suddenly and wiped his hands on a towel, the blood immediately staining the fabric.
"No, not all men, but the barrel... Well, let's just say the barrel has a reputation for bringing out the evil in a man." Kaz said shortly, and Inej realised he was studying her expression. She also realised that Kaz had another tattoo, a swirly looking letter R that rested on his upper arm, all the questions bubbling up in her chest.
"And yourself?" She started, looking Kaz solidly in the eye for the first time since she crept up to him in the Menagerie. Matching his gaze and challenging him to think of her as an equal.
"Surely you don't believe that you're truly evil?" she asked, wishing that Kaz's armour would slip, even if it was just for a second, a millisecond.
"Oh darling Inej, Haven't you heard? I'm the Bastard of the Barrel, I'm the root of all evil."
Somehow, even though Kaz truly seems to believe this, something told Inej that Kaz was more than that, that underneath those big leather gloves, there was just a delicate boy, who was good. But then again, Inej was known for being a dreamer.
