Chapter One

The Bastard of The Barrel

Kaz Brekker awoke that morning.

Quite honestly that was the largest contribution to his foul mood.

This may be stretching it too far, he was by no means suicidal, perhaps once, perhaps a weaker Kaz, one with a different name and a different body. But in this time, this Kaz was kept alive by spite and determination. He would not go anywhere, by his hand or by any other, until he had reached his goals until Pekka Rollins had lost everything he held dear.

Every day that moment seemed to move infuriatingly further away.

He clenched his jaw as he made his way through the alley, his cane an extension of his body, more reliable than his leg had been in years. He enjoyed the way people parted as he walked, it was necessary, and it was satisfying.

Tonight, was not a job of sorts, it was a collection of information from one of his least favourite places in the Barrel. The woman and girls in the menagerie did not keep the same distance he had grown to command from the dredges and pigeons of the Barrel, perhaps they could not afford to with Heleen's eyes on them. But the men who entered in and out of the place were at their calmest within its walls, their secrets pouring out freely, into the ears of woman, into the ears of Tante Heleen, and unbeknownst to them, for some extra coin, into his own.

So, he gritted his teeth as touches that he supposed were meant to be gentle brushed against his jacket, kept his eyes straight ahead as he walked.

He was not a man who got snuck upon, not now and certainly not in a place like this, so when he felt a tug on his jacket, he very nearly could not hide his surprise, the girl in infront of him was not dressed inconspicuously, fake silks and bells adorned her outfit, she was clearly meant to be an exotic prize like so many of Heleen's girls.

Before he could snap at her away, she was speaking quickly and quietly.

"I can help you."

As suddenly as she came, she was gone, he looked around quickly but there was no sign of her.

He did not hear a single bell jingle throughout the encounter.

It was this fact that led to what Kaz did next, by the next day the girl returned to Tante Heleen's room and within hours, only a small part of which had been with her alone to explain his offer and the contract, he had himself a potential spider.

The transferring of her indenture was easy enough, he expected her to be too stunned to follow him out and yet she was behind him before the door had full shut.

"Why?"

He turned to face her, "you said you could help me, I'm in need of someone who can be invisible, who can become a ghost. Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so."

"Then that is why."

She shook her head, "You could train any of the men on the street, why me?" Her voice held an accusation filled with suspicion and slight fear.

He sighed, Kaz was not used to having to explain his choices. Was not used to anyone daring to ask, except for Jesper on occasion, when he was feeing especially obnoxious.

"Aside from your costume being obnoxiously bright, it is also coated in bells, but you snuck up on me last night. Do I look like the sort of man who is snuck up on?"

"I can't be the first."

The first since he had emerged from those damned canals, but that hardly mattered.

"You have the potential to be very dangerous Inej Ghafta, I would rather you not be dangerous to me."

Enough had been said, he turned and began to walk back as she followed. He had thought to ask if she had anything from her room to gather and yet instantly thought better of it, if she had anything of value it would be long gone by now.

"This isn't … it isn't a trick, is it?"

Kaz scowled at the very implication, he had a reputation for many things, things he was proud of, things he had worked and threatened and killed to earn. The things he was sure she was fearing of him, were not on the list. "If it were a trick, I'd promise you safety. I'd offer you happiness. I don't know if that exists in the Barrel, but you'll find none of it with me."

She seemed to be oddly comforted by his words. "All right, how do we begin?"

"Let's start by getting out of here and finding you some proper clothes. Oh, and Inej," he said as he led her out of the salon, "don't ever sneak up on me again."

"Your room is here, there's a lock."

"But you can pick it?" Her eyes were blank, but her body was still stiff, on guard. He could use his words and be plain about his intentions, but it was no surprise that she would continue to expect the worse from him for a long time.

"Should there be a time where I pick that lock, it will not be with the intention of bringing you harm." He turned to go, bringing his hand into his pocket, and throwing a bundle to her as he turned. She caught it quickly and opened it to reveal his lockpicking set. She looked up to him in confusion, he wondered if she would learn to not wear her emotions on her face so clearly, especially around him.

"They aren't my only set, there is a chest in your room, it contains sheets for your bed and clothing for the night. Pick it and they are yours." He continued walking and ignored her initial indignation, she stopped quickly, however, and he heard the door shut behind her, the lock clicking instantly.

It was not cruel, not as cruel as Dirtyhands had been known to be on new Dregs. Jesper hadn't been able to get into his room on his first day. He was certain she'd slept in far worse conditions than a lack of blankets and clean clothing, the cold of the slat was an incentive.

He went to his own room feeling no guilt. His own focus was on his leg which had stiffened with the cold and was certain to be worse in the morning if he did not lift it now.

His routine at night in the Slat was the same each night if he were not on a job. He remained awake in his chair, his leg up on a small, concealed stool that was kicked away upon the slightest noise outside his door. He completed paperwork and went over notes of the information left for him, he listened to the sounds of his Dregs as they stumbled in and out of The Slat, he did not like to sleep, needed to be present should something go wrong. It was far more common for Kaz to be asleep in his chair, hand still on his cane awake and yet alert, than to be in his bed.

He told himself it was for that reason and nothing more, that it had little to do with the rigidness of the chair holding off the images of the water rising, of cold flesh.

Kaz was certain he had not drifted off yet, yet he was alerted to a change in the room through a rising twinge of his leg, the cold had increased. He turned his head, his grip on his cane tightening. He was up and out of the chair as quick as could be allowed, his eyes scanning the room as he saw the source of the cold, the window open, curtains billowing slightly. A window he never opened, and always kept locked.

"If you're hiding, I will find you." He called out in a carefully measured voice, he sensed the presence of someone behind him and turned back to face his desk. No one was there and yet something was amiss. He walked towards his desk and picked up the new addition to it, a heavy brass lock. He looked back to the window, now closed.

He did not know whether to feel pleased that she had figured out the lock, albeit a simple one, within hours, or angered that she had entered his room without permission.

What did not escape his notice was that he had given her a room on the third floor, his room was in the attic.

The matter was not for tonight however, for tonight he returned to his chair and continued his routine, the lock held in one hand.

He rapped twice on the door, it opened on the second knock, the lock sliding quickly. He wondered if she recognized his footsteps by now, the tapping of his cane against the wooden floor?

She was dressed in the blacks he had given her, her bed made behind him. She stared at him hard, a challenge in her eyes and a clear yearning for some sort of praise.

"May I come in?"

She blinked away what he thought could have been disappointment or surprise, but nodded and moved out of the doorway slightly. Not far enough for his liking, he rose an eyebrow and she moved out further.

He walked through, choosing not to say anything, if it was praise, she was wanting, it wouldn't be found in the Barrels and it would not be coming from him, not from a simple task such as lockpicking.

He walked a lap around the room, hands running over the small desk, the windowsill, perched open the bed made neatly. The chest shut. His gloves ran along that too before he stopped in front of Inej, still near the door, however, she had moved so that her back was facing the wall, moving slightly to keep him in her sights throughout.

"You will notice that I knocked?" Both hands stayed on the cane as he waited.

She nodded.

"You will also notice then, that I asked before entering?"

"Yes." Her cheeks gave her away, reddening slightly. It was good to know she knew her mistakes, but the point needed to be made.

"The room you had at the Menagerie had a lock on the outside, I won't guess how many entered that room without your permission, touched your belongings and enforced that the room was not your own, correct?"

She nodded. Her fists tightened and her body stiffened. He ignored it.

"I gave you this room, I gave you a lock and until now I intended to keep my distance from entering, to allow it to become your own. A charity I did not give other dredges, a show of good faith."

She was staring at the ground; her body had a slight tremor. He took a step further away, closer to the door.

"The next time you want to prove a point, don't do it by entering my lodgings without my permission. Allow me the consideration I allow you." He began to exit and made it out the door before she had shaken herself from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. Here." She held out the lockpicking kit, head down.

"Keep it, don't be sorry, don't do it again."

He was a few steps away when she was next to him again.

"Wait, is that the punishment?"

Ah, he didn't consider the levels of punishment she would have faced at Helenes, he had chalked up the fear to his being a man and being in the room, understandable and not something he wanted to use against her. She may have thought she would receive a beating.

"I don't do punishments Inej, I get even. You invaded my space, I invaded yours. I would say we are even now, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Consider the matter resolved, follow me, we need to see what you can do, the sooner you're ready the sooner you begin."

She followed him wordlessly, he found he liked the silence.