When Kaz pulled back the covers of his bed to finally, finally try to sleep, the black lump he saw there startled him. "What the hell!" he couldn't help exclaiming aloud, jerking back. Inej had left that morning, sailing away on the ship he had christened The Wraith, hunting slavers. He knew he wouldn't sleep easily, with the ache of missing her, so he had worked at the Crow Club until very late, trying to find something to occupy his mind.

As Kaz had insisted, they were trying to keep their new relationship secret, so he did not go to the ship to see her off. He thought they had said their goodbyes the night before at Wylan's, Kaz slipping into her room through her window, for a final conversation, a final embrace. But early the next morning, she had awakened him in his room.

"Come see the sunrise with me." Kaz had had barely four hours of sleep, but he would never miss the chance to spend more moments with her. He quickly dressed, and they climbed to the roof, as the rays of the sun touched the buildings in the distance. They sat next to each other, hips touching, arms around each other. They had said everything already, but they said it again anyway. It came down to: I love you. I'll miss you. As the sky lightened, Inej pulled away. "I have to go."

"I know," Kaz replied. "The tides."

She hugged him once last time, and she was gone. She did not look back, nor did Kaz, as he climbed back to his room. He decided there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep now, and went to his desk to work on accounts. He didn't notice that, while he had dressed, Inej had straightened his bed covers.

Kaz reached down and picked up the stuffed crow, not a real crow, but a toy, with cloth wings that could flap. His mouth twitched in a small smile as he recognized what it was. He supposed it was Inej referring to her new pet name for him, Crow. She had said, after those years of him calling her Wraith, she was entitled to give him one. He didn't care, if it made her happy, as long as she only said it when they were alone. The toy had elaborate stitching, to look like feathers, beady eyes, and a beak, carved to be slightly open. Clasped in the beak was a small piece of paper. Unfolding it, he saw, written in Inej's tiny neat script, This is your 2nd gift.

Then he saw there was also an envelope on the sheet, his name written on it. Laying the small crow down, he opened the letter. The message inside was brief.

I know you will worry about my safety as I hunt the slavers, far from your reach, from your ability to do anything for me. You already did what you could, helping me acquire the best ship, the best crew, the best weapons, and the best intelligence your money could provide. Please know that I worry about your safety also, with your Wraith no longer there to watch your back. I have done what I can to protect my Crow. I've given you a gift.

Love,

Inej

She'd left him a puzzle. She knew him so well. Kaz wondered if he could solve it before she came back. He was too tired to think clearly. Tomorrow, after he had rested, he would try to decipher her message. He didn't question why he put the little crow on the table beside his bed, where it looked like it was watching over him as he slept.

Inej knew she wanted a toy crow for the scheme she had planned. She couldn't find one in any of the usual toy shops, so she ending up going to an upscale store that did custom work. Initially she had only planned to purchase one, but when the toymaker showed her the sketch of what he could do, she decided to order a set of three. She thought the toys were adorable, and wanted one for herself. The other two were for Kaz. She would leave one for him in his bed, as a joke. A crow for my Crow.

The third she would put in a small child's bed, in that child's arms, not really a gift for the child, but a message, a warning, a threat, to the child's father. Leave my Crow alone, or suffer the wrath of the Wraith.

Inej wondered what Pekka Rollins would do with the toy crow. He would not, of course, keep it. Maybe burn it, or just throw it away. It had been expensive, but so worth it, after all, imaging Rollins' reaction to finding it in his son's bed. Something so adorable, being a harbinger of doom. It made her laugh. It might make Kaz smile. She would tell him about it eventually, afterwards.

The next morning (well, afternoon, he had slept in), Kaz tried to solve the puzzle of the gift, starting with searching his own rooms, knowing Inej was perfectly capable of entering his room whenever she wanted, as she had done so often before, and hiding something there, as she had the toy crow. Finding nothing, he thought of breaking into her room at Wylan's to search there. But then he realized he was just channeling his anxiety about her into action; that the place to start was to consider how this gift was supposed to protect him.

Inej was not around to protect him with her knives, or to be his lookout. Could she have hired a bodyguard? No. Kaz would recognize someone tailing him, and just see it a threat, making him twitchy.

Not a physical weapon. Kaz already owned every weapon he knew how to use, and he was unaware of anything new on the market.

What did Inej specialize in, beside her deadly accuracy with knives? Gathering information. Had she found out something useful, that would make him safer? But why not just tell him directly, if it was so important?

What else could the Wraith do to protect him, if not around him anymore? What else was the Wraith known for? Breaking into places difficult to access, sneaking up on people, and being dangerous. Had she killed someone she found to be threat to him, or maybe she just threatened the person? That seemed the most likely possibility. Now, who? His list of enemies, people who might want revenge on him, or to take him down, was long. He supposed he could just wait for a body to show up, to hear about an unsolved murder, or mysterious death. There seemed nothing more he could do, but wait. If some enemy had been threatened into inaction, that would be very difficult to discover.

But it didn't take long for Kaz to discover what Inej's gift had been. Within a few days, the word had gotten around that Pekka Rollins had packed up and left town, no one knew where. Sending his spiders to nose around, and making a few discreet inquires himself, it trickled out that there had been a break-in at the country house where Rollins was staying the night before he left. Kaz was sure that must be it. Not a difficult puzzle to solve, it turned out. Kaz appreciated Inej's thoughtfulness. He couldn't wait to hear the details of what she had done.

He took to moving the little crow, from his bedside to his desk and back again, depending on where he was. He knew it was ridiculous, but no one would know, and somehow, it felt like a piece of her was there with him, until she returned.