Maya was taking a stroll through West Stave on the way to the slats that Kaz had rebuilt. The new slats were a lot better than the old one; it had more rooms. For his higher-ranking Crows the top floor had twelve rooms in all; even though she wasn't a high rank Maya had one herself she was planning to return too. Living at Wylan and Jesper's place was feeling a little stifling so after a couple of weeks she was ready to leave after packing up her clothes she carried them down West Stave.
She had never seen the komedie brute plays, but she enjoyed the costumes. She observed all the characters out and about such as the Mister Crimson dressed in red and black, the scarab queen in glittering green costume topped off with veil for a mask, the madman in a cringe orange color costume with an eye bulging mask, the lost bride in a blue and a white silk cape with a veil and a crown of flowers.
Maya found she couldn't turn her gaze from one person dressed as the gray imp wearing a gray tunic with a horned mask with bulbous eyes as much as she tried. Her eyes were fixated on him as she was approached.
Her ribs burned as she felt someone kick her from behind her knees making her fall hard to the ground, a cloth was stuck into her mouth, and she had a black hoodie pulled over her head a knee was placed on her back as her hands were tied. The bag she used to carry her clothes dropped in the middle of the streets.
Maya was pulled to her feet by both Imps one let her arm go once she got to her feet the other pulled her along as she stumbled about the loose graveled unpaved roads. She found her footing as she entered a building, In the distance she caught the sounds of a casino which grew feint as she was forced to go in the opposite direction of the noise and was pushed into a chair. Her legs were tied to the chair, after the Imps were told to leave by a voice that had to belong to Kaz Brekker.
"Scream and I'll put this back in." Kaz warned when he was sure the imps had gone. He wore his usual black suit and leather gloves. He pulled the cloth out of her mouth leaving it dry, but she used that moment to take in huge gulps of breath as it was hard to breathe through her nose.
She found herself underneath the crow club where Kaz had built an underground tunnel to move to and from places without being noticed. "Listen." Kaz said giving her face a slap, he was talking to her for several minutes without her noticing. They were in a dark room lit at Kaz's back giving her a clear view of him.
She looked up at him in dismay. "I know you were working with The Wild Ones tell me why." Kaz leaned onto his cane staring into her eyes. "The Wild ones? What are..." She didn't get a chance to ask as Kaz lifted his cane and pushed it into her left side Maya cringed in pain he didn't have to use any kind of force to draw out pain as it hasn't healed yet.
"You couldn't of spoken to them or their lying please Kaz." She suffered as his cane hit her side. "Don't try lying to me I spoke to them, and they confessed. I never should of let you in on Sturmhond's meeting I see now that was a mistake but that doesn't excuse you from cozying up to another gang to try to weasel your way in."
"All I want to hear is why conspired with another gang do that and I'll let you go. A morphine pill or two would get rid of the pain I'm inducing onto your ribs. All the pain will go away once you explain it all." Kaz promised. "Kaz, I hadn't..." She felt his cane hit her left side with more force, she bent over in pain which didn't help her bruised ribs at all.
"I've been abusing your ribs for a while now and you still hadn't broken out in sobs how interesting when before all it took was one question for you to sob cause of the pain in your side, counting on Inej's compassion were you? She is a lovely woman to good for me but what do you do." He said with a shrug. "Kaz I never worked with another gang." This time when he hit her left side, he did it with such force as to crack several ribs causing the sound to echo within the underground layer.
"And you expect me to believe that you arrived just in time before I got shot by coincidence? No, you wanted to be Inej and I's savior so you can get in on the millions... quarter of a million kruge not enough for you?" Maya started to whimper. "No Kaz." She moaned with difficulty her breathing become shallow as breathing became much harder. "Then tell me why you told The Wild Ones Inej's identity? If you think this is all the pain, you'll feel you're mistaken. You have twelve ribs on both sides and other bones I can break."
Maya heard Kaz's voice in her ears as she woke up in Wylan and Jesper's spare room almost feeling like Kaz had cracked her ribs.
Maya let out a choked sob pushing her head into her pillow letting the tears fall. She couldn't stop shaking for nearly an hour as she lay in bed confused. She always had visions of the future not always when she slept but when she was awake too. The Wild Ones told Kaz she had worked with them? She quietly got up picked up the clothes she picked out for the day and washed up in the bathroom sink.
She dressed in a navy-blue shirt woven with white details at the shoulders and simplistic sleeves. In the same color white, she added a faux collar tie. Her pants were a simple color of jet black that matched her top perfectly. She shuttered when she realized it was the outfit that she was kidnapped in. It's going to happen today she realized in horror.
She put on her jacket and went into the living room. The kitchen was still dark at five am, so she knew she had at least an hour to fulfill a part of her premonition and catch them off guard before she was kidnapped. She replayed the kidnapping in her head as she prepared the guns and made sure they were loaded.
She resized the pistol so that it fit around her waist and add more holes to loop it and cut off the extra leather that didn't quite fit her. The Imp behind her was shorter than she was, so he would be easy to take down. Maya thought as she used the blade cut the leather with and secured it to her upper arm.
She ended up putting one of the guns back after she re-fitted the holster and found that only one would fit. When she was finished the sun was just rising and Maya found herself closing the door behind her with a sense of dread. Kaz was the king of the barrel if he thought she was a traitor her life in Ketterdam was over.
she made her way down to the barrel stopping when she reached the part of her vision where she was admiring the costumes and waited until her eyes met with Imp approaching her, she turned around in time to perceive the one from behind coming up to her and ran to meet him taking out her knife from her upper arm.
The imp behind her stopped and dropped the rope he was carrying as Maya caught up with him easily, and she pushed the knife up to his throat before he made another move. "Take me to Kaz." She said to the Imp in front of her. She moved the knife, so it wasn't apparent and held it to his kidney her hand beneath his Imp costume.
The Imp she held was shorter than Maya by far, and the larger one looked like he would try to fight her, but his companion shook his head. "As long as you don't hurt him." He said sounding defeated. Maya nodded as she let her hand's loop around the neck of the one imp forcing a smile on her lips.
As far as anyone would see she was infatuated with the guy in the Imp costume. She followed the taller Imp, and they soon were in front of the crow club. The guys at the door let them in without question though they looked a bit confused when they were out of the door attendants' sight and there was no one else around she pulled her arm off around the smaller Imp.
She pulled the gun from Jester's Holster and aimed it at the taller Imp as he tried to run ahead to tell Kaz ahead of time. "You are too." She told the smaller of the two. Maya's side was bothering her after having to lean forward to hold a knife to the imp's side.
Kaz looked up at their footstep, he however kept a calm demeanor as he faced them. "I believe you have questions for me." Maya said. "We didn't talk promise." The smaller imp added. "Quiet." Maya demanded. "Why don't we let the imps go?" Kaz asked. "Why, so they can tell everyone that I'm holding you hostage?" She demanded. "They know how to keep their mouths shut." Kaz replied.
"It seems this little training exorcise went awry. Someone spoke of the demonstration that was to be done on you. It isn't an easy one, but we've done it several times." He looked pointedly at Maya who looked confused for a moment before getting the hint. "Yes, I was angry." Maya said pointing the gun to the floor. "You may leave I'll talk to her." Kaz said to the imps. They left without a second thought.
"We both know that's bullshit." Maya said when she was sure they were alone. "Yeah, but Inej wouldn't be happy to know that I was going to torture you. Especially with no proof if word got out. Who told you?" Kaz asked conversationally ignoring the gun. "No one did Kaz. I have the power to see into the future. I have seen everything you planned to do to me." "Prove it." Kaz demanded. "Let's start off with how I came to be in Ketterdam." Maya suggested.
"Why don't we go up to my apartment if it's going to be a long story." Kaz suggested. Maya agreed and they made their way up to his apartment. Maya has never been in his home before.
Kaz sat in his char as Maya sat on the couch making herself at home after taking Jesper's holster off and setting his gun on the living room table. Maya told this to Wylan and Jesper, but this was the first time Kaz was hearing her back story. Except this time, she wasn't going to exclude her abilities in the telling.
"My father died long before I got to know him, my family came from royalty in England, but she married a commoner and was forced to step down to be able to marry him. He was wealthy and owned a mansion, so they married, and she moved in with him.
He owned quite a few factories along with land that he hired men to toil. One thing my mother didn't expect was when he died of a heart attack." Kaz knew that Maya was a rare beauty with her being pale and had a fox face long bleach blond hair that was naturally wavy and athletic body, it was the reason why she got her own room in the slats so she wouldn't be bothered when she went to rest.
"She didn't know woman weren't allowed to own property, so she was forced to marry if she wished to keep her wealth, she was a genteel woman and accepted it however she didn't get to choose her second husband so that's where my stepfather came in. I would know things before they happened like if someone was going to come to the house little things like but my stepfather who was very religious man would correct my behavior as he put it."
She looked Kaz in the eyes as she said this. "As I got older the corrections got worse, I can't remember the number of times I tried to stop bad things from happening like a family friend from being swindled. They ended up losing everything ending up in the poor house."
"Ever since then my stepfather kept an even closer eye on me and claimed I was from the devil correcting my behavior almost on a daily basis. My uncle on my father's side thought I should know how to defend myself when I turned eleven and taught me how to fight. He was the only reason I made it through the abuse I suffered from my stepfather." She said bitterly. "My stepfather than planned to marry me off for the dowry. He had plenty of money especially added to it from my mother's fortune, but I ran before he could force me into a marriage."
"I knew we had a couple of workers in the field from Ravka Ethan and Dill and they wanted to leave the country, so I sold one of my mother's jewelries bought us a boat, and they sailed us here it took 6 months. They taught me Ravkan, and all was well until we arrived that is. They went off to gamble." Kaz knew this part as it was his casino, they tried to gamble in. "They thought offering you to me was the best bet as I had the biggest casino." Kaz explained as he filled her in what happened.
Dill and Ethan were grabbed by his security when they tried to spend the American dollars in the crow club and were detained after they talked about Maya being an heiress and asked about selling her. "The boss might be interested." One of the men said. They took this as a good thing and agreed readily. They were brought into a room, their hands tied behind their back on Kaz's order before he entered.
"It's just a precaution just security protecting me." Kaz said to put them at ease as he entered leaning on his cane. "So, this heiress who is she?" Kaz asked. "Her names Maya." Ethan said eagerly. "Pretty girl she has eyes you've never seen before green and blue irises. She's pale white her eyes are round and has a small nose and full lips. She's average height at five feet ten inches and she lost a bit of weight on the way here. "You mean you brought her to Ketterdam?" Kaz asked. "Yeah, she practically begged us too we were stuck in America for five years but if you don't want to accept American dollars if you buy her than we can gamble with what we make off her. Fifteen grand."
"I want a to see her first." Kaz interjected. "We'll just go get her." Dill said expecting to be cut free. "I'll tell you what I can go get her." Kaz offered without moving to untie them. "How will we know you will pay us; you might just steal her off us." Ethan said. "If you don't, I'll just break some bones until you do." Kaz threatened. Dill automatically told him where to find her as Ethan looked stunned at his friend's stupidity. "Take them out back and kill them." Kaz told his guards.
Kaz found it easy to get Maya to follow him from the boat, though he spoke little Ravkan, he managed to promised to bring her to Wylan who spoke it more fluently. He figured she followed him had something to do with him seeming less a danger because of his cane. When they left the boat, a drunken man tried to grabbed Maya, and she immediately grabbed him by his throat and kicked him in his groin when he bent over, she kicked his teeth in.
"I didn't follow you because you were a cripple it was because I had a vison of you coming to my aide. My abilities were greatly hindered on the boat trip, but I saw you clearly."
"So, you say you have yet to prove to me your ability to see the future." Kaz pointed out. "I can also see past events, so I'll prove my knowledge to you Kaz Brekker. You met Jesper when hired two thugs to supposedly rough him up, but truth was you did so you can recruit him when you caught wind, he was a great shot with his revolvers." Kaz shifted in his seat uneasily. "Our little secret." Maya said.
"Wylan tolerates you because you're the reason why he has his fortune and why his mother was freed from an asylum. His father his serving life in Hellgate because he was believed to have conspired with the Shu something about jurda parem. These are facts I couldn't of gotten on my own." Maya pointed out. Kaz kept his expression impassive. "I'll think on it." Kaz said.
"In the meantime, Jesper wouldn't be too happy you took his gun." Kaz pointed out. "Yeah, I know Jesper is frantically looking for it now. Has been for a while now." Maya confessed. Kaz picked up the broken holster. "This can go in the trash, but I'll bring back the gun, I'll tell him I took it." Kaz offered. "Why would you do that? Wylan's pretty peeved about you coming and going in his house as it is without you supposedly taking things." Kaz shrugged not offering an explanation.
"If I hear you ran, I'm going to hunt you down to ends of the earth because I'll take it as your guilty of conspiring with The Wild Ones. If I so much get a whiff that you had something to do with Inej's identity getting out..." He left the rest unfinished. Maya didn't bother saying anything Kaz escorted her out the door of the main stairs, halfway down there a landing led down to Suites that Kaz had rented out for pigeons who wished to stay at the crow club. She walked past the suites down to the entrance.