CHAPTER TWO;
too late

♠

THE IRONY OF THE SITUATION Kaz found himself in was simple: he was miserable without his Misery.

It had been just under a week since they'd arrived in Ketterdam—since she'd been taken—and Kaz was sure he hadn't slept more than necessary to keep him from collapsing out of sheer exhaustion. He needed to find her; he needed to save her; he needed to burn Van Eck and his legacy to ashes and get rid of the Shu who was more trouble than he was profitable.

He'd given up on trying to make anything else a priority—pretend anything else was. It was useless to do so because without her in sight he felt lost. Not even destroying Pekka Rollins gave him enough motivation to push through life—he needed to find her, he needed his reason to live, as opposed to surviving through wrath and spite.

Van Eck had given him seven days to hand in the Shu for Ace. That was when he took her but by now Kaz was nearly sure Van Eck had connected the dots on who she was, and if his theory about Ace's father, Lavern, and Van Eck's late wife was correct then Van Eck wouldn't free Ace. Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, wasn't afraid of much, but the thought that his Bela Miseria might be dead seemed to throw him to the moment he thought he'd die on Reaper's Barge—lost and drowning and urging himself to grab onto anything that kept him moving and alive.

Only three days after Ace had been taken, Rotty had alerted Kaz to the lights that had appeared on Eil Komedie, and the fact that boats had been seen coming and going there at odd hours, often carrying a young Suli man. With Inej's intel, he'd quickly been identified as Adem Bajan, a music teacher indentured to Van Eck for the last six months. He'd joined the Van Eck household after Wylan had left home, but Wylan wasn't surprised his father had secured professional musical instruction for Alys.

Alys. The key to his plan. That was Van Eck's problem: Too much to lose. And he gave them a map of what to steal first. Breaking into Cornelis Smeet's office, Jan Van Eck's lawyer had been easy—while Jesper and Nina kept Smeet busy at Club Cumulus, a gambling parlor, Kaz and Wylan met up with Inej at the office while Matthias kept guard.

And because he knew Ace was being kept at Eil Komedie, he only had to look for someplace close by where Van Eck could be keeping Alys. The day Rotty had told him about Eil Komedie, Kaz's first impulse was to go to the island, slaughter everyone and get his girl. However logic and reason stepped in—Van Eck would be prepared with more firepower than they could fight, maybe even a few Grisha using parem, he would have her well-guarded if she wasn't already... He wouldn't make it so easy on them.

They had to hit where the mark wasn't looking—that's what she would do too. And he could only hope it wasn't too late to save Ace.

Momentarily though, they were returning to the Black Veil, an eerie place, a miniature city of white marble mausoleums, many carved into the shape of ships, their stone figureheads weeping as they cut across an invisible sea. The cemetery was the perfect safe house for them, it had been abandoned due to the first bad plague outbreak more than a hundred years ago, and after the Merchant Council prohibited burial within city limits no one went to the cemetery anymore.

The rumors of hauntings kept even the curious away, the mist that surrounded the willows and stoned masts only adding to the eerie feeling and obscuring the occasional lantern light. Of course, none of that mattered if people heard Nina and Jesper argue at the top of their lungs—Kaz's headache seemed permanent these days.

"I don't think you're showing proper appreciation for what I just went through," Jesper was saying as he stomped through the cemetery.

"You spent a night at the tables losing someone else's money," Nina shot back. "Isn't that essentially a holiday for you?"

Kaz knocked his cane hard against a gravestone and they both went quiet, moving swiftly into fighting stances.

Nina relaxed as soon as she caught sight of the three of them in the shadows. "Oh, it's you."

"Yes, it's us." Kaz used his cane to herd them both toward the center of the island. "And you would have heard us if you hadn't been busy shouting at each other. Stop gawking like you've never seen a girl in a dress before, Matthias."

"I wasn't gawking," Matthias said.

"Be quiet, Brekker," Nina said. "I like it when he gawks."

"How did the mission go?" asked Matthias as they walked toward the tomb where Kuwei was staying in.

"It's not a mission; it's a job," Nina corrected. "And it went splendidly."

"Yeah," said Jesper. "Splendidly. Except that my revolvers are currently collecting dust in the Club Cumulus safe. Smeet was afraid to walk home with them, the hopeless podge. Just thinking of my babies in his sweaty hands—"

"No one told you to wager them," interrupted Kaz just as Inej arrived and began walking beside him.

"You dealt me into a corner. How the hell else was I supposed to get Smeet to stay at the tables?"

Kuwei poked his head out of the huge stone tomb as they approached. Kaz wanted to strangle the troublesome Shu boy and all his presence had caused him to go wrong—if it wasn't for him and his father and the jurda parem business, Ace wouldn't be in a situation where she could already be dead or being driven to madness alone and stuck.

"What did I tell you?" Kaz growled, pointing his cane at him.

"My Kerch isn't very good," protested Kuwei.

"Don't run game on me, kid. It's good enough. Stay in the tomb."

Kuwei hung his head. "Stay in the tomb," he repeated glumly."

They followed the Shu boy inside. The tomb was constructed to look like an ancient cargo ship, its interior carved into a vast stone hull. It even had stained-glass portholes that cast rainbows on the crypt floor in the late afternoon.

"Guess what we saw on our way out of the Lid?" Nina asked as Kaz walked over to where the map of the city was laid out, his eyes falling almost immediately on the little island of Eil Komedie.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and took out a deck of cards, shuffling through it as he heard the others talk. He had to be patient—Ace would smack him if she found out how close he was to go head first into Eil Komedie; sans plan or power arm or anything that confirmed victory as opposed to his demise.

"Two Shu warships sitting in the harbor," said Jesper as he dug through their food stores.

Nina threw a hairpin at him. "I was going to make them guess."

"Shu?" asked Kuwei, returning to where he'd spread his notebooks over the table.

Nina nodded. "Cannons out, red flags flying."

"I talked to Specht earlier," said Kaz. "The embassies are full up with diplomats and soldiers. Zemeni, Kaelish, Ravkan."

"You think they know about Kuwei?" Jesper asked.

"I think they know about parem," said Kaz. "Rumors, at least. And there were plenty of interested parties at the Ice Court to pick up gossip about Kuwei's... liberation." He turned his gaze on Matthias. "The Fjerdans are here too. They've got a whole contingent of drüskelle with them."

Kuwei sighed mournfully, and Jesper plunked down next to him, giving him a nudge with his shoulder. "Isn't it nice to be wanted?"

Kaz's jaw twitched. Ace always said that—always wanted the reward for her capture to double, triple, she wanted to be wanted by everyone, be infamous to the point there was not a single person who hadn't heard of her.

But they wanted the thief, Ace, not the person, Bela Miseria, and now, that little seemingly innocent reward poster, might've been the reason she wouldn't get out of Eil Komedie alive. And throwing logic and reason out of the window, if his plan failed at kidnapping Alys, Kaz would force his way onto the island and get to her, even if that meant he died in the process of getting her to safety—even if she smacked him for it.

"This is good for us," said Kaz. "The Shu and the Fjerdans don't know where to start looking for Kuwei, and all those diplos making trouble at the Stadhall are going to create some nice noise to distract Van Eck."

"What happened at Smeet's office?" Nina asked. "Did you find out where Van Eck is keeping her?"

"I have a pretty good idea. We strike tomorrow at midnight."

"Is that enough time to prepare?" asked Wylan.

"It's all the time we have," snapped Kaz, barely able to keep the bite off his voice—they didn't seem to understand how much danger Ace was in. "We're not going to wait for an engraved invitation. What's your progress on the weevil?"

Jesper's brows shot up. "The weevil?"

Wylan removed a small vial from his coat and set it down on the table.

"That's a weevil?" asked Matthias with a frown.

"Not a real weevil," said Wylan. "It's a chemical weevil. It doesn't really have a name yet."

"You've got to give it a name," said Jesper. "How else will you call it to dinner?"

"Forget what it's called," Kaz said. "What matters is that this little vial is going to eat Van Eck's bank accounts and his reputation."

Wylan cleared his throat. "Possibly. The chemistry is complicated. I was hoping Kuwei would help."

Nina said something to Kuwei in Shu. He shrugged and looked away, lip jutting out slightly.

"Well?" Jesper prodded.

"I have other interests," Kuwei replied.

Kaz's gaze pinned Kuwei like the tip of a dagger. "I suggest rethinking your priorities."

"Kaz," Inej started but closed her mouth when he pinned her with the same look.

Jesper gave Kuwei another nudge. "That's Kaz's way of saying, 'HelpWylan or I'll seal you up in one of these tombs and see how that suits your interests.' "

Kuwei swallowed and nodded grudgingly.

"The power of negotiation," Jesper said, and shoved a cracker in his mouth.

"Wylan—and the obliging Kuwei—will get the weevil working," Kaz continued. "Once we have Ace, we can move on to Van Eck's silos."

Inej shot him a look, they'd talked about this before. She'd told him they could do both at the same time, that she could take care of the silos as they saved Ace but Kaz had told her no. He couldn't risk splitting the group's efforts on helping Ace and Inej was his best chance of getting in and out of the island if need be—if she was worried about the silos then it wouldn't work. Ace was his priority, his everything at this point, he needed her with him before anything else.

Nina rolled her eyes. "Good thing this is all about getting our money and not about saving Ace. Definitely not about that."

Kaz was grateful that no matter how jagged he was on the inside the others still thought of him as a heartless bastard—given, his heart wasn't exactly with him anymore, not that he would ever admit that with so many words.

"If you don't care about money, Nina dear, call it by its other names."

"Kruge? Scrub? Kaz's one true love?"

"Freedom, security, retribution."

"You can't put a price on those things."

"No? I bet Jesper can. It's the price of the lien on his father's farm." The sharpshooter looked at the toes of his boots. "For Inej is the price of freedom. What about you, Wylan? Can you put a price on the chance to walk away from Ketterdam and live your own life? And Nina, I suspect you and your Fjerdan may want something more to subsist on than patriotism and longing glances. Ace might have a number in mind too. It's the price of a future, and it's Van Eck's turn to pay."

"Ace's life is worth more than that," said Matthias."To all of us."

"We get Ace. We get our money. It's as simple as that," he said, sitting down on a stool.

Only with this group, it was never as simple as that. Kaz watched as they began arguing again, after he'd told them all they needed to worry about was their job, they'd begun to debate where Kuwei would be sent to after all was over. Both Nina and the Shu were adamant on Ravka and Kaz started to get the itch to strangle someone again.

Matthias shook his head. "This isn't a decision to be made lightly."

Kuwei's jaw set. "I would prefer to go to Ravka."

"See?" said Nina."No, I do not," said Matthias. "We can't just hand such a prize over toRavka."

"He's a person, not a prize, and he wants to go."

"Do we all get to do what we want now?" asked Jesper. "Because I have a list."

There was a long, tense pause, then Kaz ran a gloved thumb over the crease of his trousers and said, "Nina, love, translate for me? I want to make sure Kuwei and I understand each other."

"Kaz—" she said warningly.

Kaz shifted forward and rested his hands on his knees, "I think it's important that you understand the changes in your circumstances. Van Eck knows the first place you'd go for sanctuary would be Ravka, so any ship bound for its shore is going to be searched top to bottom. The only Tailors powerful enough to make you look like someone else are in Ravka, unless Nina wants to take another dose of parem."

Matthias growled and Kaz shrugged.

"Which is unlikely," he conceded. "Now, I assume you don't want me to cart you back to Fjerda or the Shu Han?"

It was clear Nina had finished the translation when Kuwei yelped, "No!"

"Then your choices are Novyi Zem and the Southern Colonies, but the Kerch presence in the colonies is far lower no matter how much control they have over locals. Also, the weather is better, if you're partial to that kind of thing. You are a stolen painting, Kuwei. Too recognizable to sell on the open market, too valuable to leave lying around. You are worthless to me."

"She's not translating that," Inej snapped, her face painted in empathy and Nina nodded in agreement. Kaz clenched his jaw.

"Then translate this: My sole concern is keeping you away from Jan VanEck, and if you want me to start exploring more definite options, a bullet is a lot cheaper than putting you on a ship to the Southern Colonies."

Nina did translate, though haltingly. Kuwei responded in Shu. She hesitated. "He says you're cruel."

"I'm pragmatic. If I were cruel, I'd give him a eulogy instead of a conversation. So, Kuwei, you'll go to the Southern Colonies, Ace has family there used to keeping stolen things safe, and when the heat has died down, you can find your way to Ravka or Matthias'grandmother's house for all I care."

"Leave my grandmother out of this," Matthias said.

Nina translated, and at last, Kuwei gave a stiff nod.

Kaz checked his watch. "Now that we're in agreement, you all know what your responsibilities are. There are a lot of things that can go wrong between now and tomorrow night, so talk through the plan and then talk through it again. We only have one shot at this."

"Van Eck will set up a perimeter. He'll have her heavily guarded," said Matthias.

"That's right. He has more guns, more men, and more resources. All we have is surprise, and we're not going to squander it." He was expecting them to go after Ace, Kaz's weakness so to speak, and so, Kaz would go after Van Eck's weakness, and if he didn't return Ace safe and sound, not one hair on her pretty head touched, he would make sure Van Eck regretted ever crossing him—well, he'd do so either way.

A soft scraping sounded from outside. Instantly, they were on their feet and ready, even Kuwei. But a moment later Rotty and Specht slipped into the tomb.

"What business?" asked Kaz.

"The Shu have set up at their embassy," said Specht. "Everyone on the lid is talking about it."

"Numbers?"

"Forty, give or take," said Rotty, kicking the mud from his boots."Heavily armed, but still operating under diplomatic flags. No one knows exactly what they want."

"We do," said Jesper.

"I didn't get too near the Slat," said Rotty, "but Per Haskell's antsy, and he's not being quiet about it. Without you around, work's piling up for the old man. Now there are rumors you're back in the city and had a run-in with a merch. Oh, and there was some kind of attack at one of the harbors a few days ago. Bunch of sailors killed, harbormaster's office turned into a pile of splinters, but no one knows details."

"From what I heard it was some sort of enhanced Grisha, most likely using parem," Inej added, "but I can't be sure."

"All right," said Kaz. "But no one's connected us to the raid at the Ice Court or parem?"

"No," said Inej as Rotty and Specht shook their heads.

Wylan looked surprised. "That means Pekka Rollins hasn't talked."

"Give him time," said Kaz. He'd freed the bastard at the Ice Court, so he could destroy him like he deserved to be destroyed, in his own city, his dignity on the ground and everything ripped away from him. Brick by brick. And in the meanwhile, Kaz had traded his shares of the Crow Club and the Fifth Harbor, along with his DeKappel, for enough money from Rollins to pull off what he needed to do. "He knows we have Kuwei stashed somewhere. The letter to Ravka will only keep him chasing his tail for so long."

Jesper tapped his fingers restlessly on his thighs. "Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?"

"So?" said Kaz.

"Well, usually it's just half the city."

"Or a rare three-quarters," added Inej, "depends on who Kaz upset."

Kaz rolled his eyes at the two of them as Inej kept speaking of the news of the city, Rotty and Specht putting in their own versions of the stories. Apparently, Muzzen, who'd been posing as Matthias in Hellgate had died in the infirmary. And someone was kicking up dust looking for Jesper.

"His creditors will have to wait," said Kaz, and Jesper winced.

"No," Rotty said with a shake of his head. "A man showed up at the university. Jesper, he claims he's your father."

•••

Colm Fahey turned out to be more of a pleasant surprise than a catastrophic one. The man had an honest face, something in his expression that reminded Kaz of his past as a Rietveld, of the farm where he grew up. And because of his honest face, he had managed to swindle him into his plan to discredit Van Eck, simply by renting him a room at the Geldrenner Hotel.

After an ambush at the university where Jesper went to meet his father, they'd reconvened at Black Veil, where they made up an elaborate story to save Jesper from trying to explain his criminal ways to his father, and Kaz's brain had been working all the while, the deck of cards in his hands providing more comfort than his cane at this point, and he'd made it a point Colm Fahey had to rent another room in another hotel under a fake name—Jesper wasn't too happy about his father being included, but good thing Kaz didn't care.

"But why?" Colm had sputtered.

"Because some people want Jesper dead, and they already used you to lure him out of hiding once. I have no doubt they'd be willing to take you hostage, and there's too much of that going around already." Kaz scribbled a few instructions to Rotty and handed him a very thick stack of kruge. "Feel free to take your meals in the dining room, Mister Fahey, but I'd ask that you forgo the sights and stay inside the hotel until we contact you. If anyone asks your business, you're here for a bit of rest and relaxation."

Colm considered Rotty and then Kaz. He expelled a decisive breath. "No. I thank you, but this is a mistake." He turned to Jesper. "We'll find another way to pay the debt. Or we'll start over somewhere else."

"You're not giving up the farm," Jesper said. He lowered his voice."She's there. We can't leave her."

"Jes—"

"Please, Da. Please let me make this right. I know—" He swallowed, his bony shoulders bunching. "I know I let you down. Just give me one more chance."

"We don't belong here, Jes. This place is too loud, too lawless. Nothing makes sense."

"Mister Fahey," Kaz said quietly. "You know what they say about walking in a cow pasture?"

Kaz ignored the other's skeptical looks as Colm replied, "Keep your head down and watch your step."

Kaz nodded. "Just think of Ketterdam as a really big cow pasture." The barest smile tugged at the furrow of Colm's mouth. "Give us three days to get your money and get you and your son out of Kerch safely."

"Is that really possible?"

"Anything can happen in this city."

"That thought doesn't fill me with confidence."

He rose, and Jesper shot to his feet."Da?"

"Three days, Jesper. Then we go home. With or without the money." He rested a hand on Jesper's shoulder. "And for Saints' sake, be careful. All of you."

Then Colm Fahey was saying his goodbyes to Jesper and disappearing through the stone graves with Rotty and Specht. He turned to wave and was gone.

"I should go with him," Jesper said, hovering in the doorway.

"You already almost got him killed once," said Kaz. "Inej will follow and make sure he's safe."

Inej nodded and hugged Jesper before slipping out of the tomb.

"Do we know who set up the ambush at the university?" Wylan asked.

"Jesper's father went to the stadwatch," said Matthias. "I'm sure many of the officers are susceptible to bribes."

"True," said Nina. "But it can't be a coincidence that the bank called in his loan when they did."

Wylan sat down at the table. "If the banks are involved, my father may be behind it."

"Pekka Rollins has influence at the banks too," Kaz said, still shuffling the deck, his jaw set tight.

"Could they be working together?" Nina asked.

Jesper rubbed his hands over his face. "All the Saints and your Aunt Eva, let's hope not."

"I'm not ruling anything out," said Kaz, standing up. "But none of this changes what has to happen tonight. Here." He reached inside one of the niches in the wall.

"My revolvers!" Jesper exclaimed, clutching them to his chest. "Oh, hello, you gorgeous things." His grin was dazzling. "You got them back!"

"The safe at the Cumulus is an easy crack."

"Thank you, Kaz. Thank you."

"What good is a shooter without his guns?" Kaz asked. "You've been in the red too long. We all have. This is the night we start paying our debts."

•••

Thanks to Smeet's files, Kaz had located the lake house, a fine property ten miles south of the city, easy to defend, comfortably appointed, and listed under the Hendriks name—Wylan's mother's maiden name. Always hit where the mark isn't looking.

Van Eck had expected a rescue attempt on Ace, so that was where he'd concentrated his forces. And Kaz had encouraged that, telling Matthias and Jesper to be as conspicuous as possible when they brought a gondel down to one of the private berths at Fifth Harbor. At eleven bells, Rotty and Specht had left Kuwei at Black Veil and, dressed in heavy cloaks to hide their faces, launched the boat, making a tremendous show of shouting to supposed compatriots setting out from other berths—most of them confused tourists who weren't sure why strange men were yelling at them from a gondel. Meanwhile, Nina and Jesper had been paired up in the assault on the lake house along with Kaz too.

It had been a swift task, with barely any casualties, none on their side. Only now Kaz was thoroughly regretting his choice. Alys' sniffling became a kind of wobbly deep breathing, and by the time they'd gotten her settled comfortably at the tomb and even found a little cushion for her feet, she'd let out a long wail.

"I want to go hooooooome," she'd cried. "I want my dog."

From then on, the crying hadn't stopped. Kaz had eventually thrown his hands up in frustration, and they'd all stepped outside the tomb to try to find some quiet.

"Are pregnant women always like this?" Nina whined.

Matthias glanced inside the stone hull. "Only the kidnapped ones."

"I can't hear myself think," said Nina.

"Maybe if we took the blindfold off?" Wylan suggested. "We could wear our Komedie Brute masks."

Kaz shook his head. "We can't risk her leading Van Eck back here."

"She's going to make herself ill," said Matthias.

"We're in the middle of a job," Kaz said. "There's a lot that has to happen before the exchange tomorrow. Someone find a way to shut her up, or I will."

"She's a frightened girl—" Wylan protested.

"I didn't ask for a description."

But Wylan kept on. "Kaz, promise me you won't—"

"Before you finish that sentence, I want you to think about what a promise from me costs and what you're willing to pay for it."

"It's not her fault her parents shoved her into a marriage with my father."

"Alys isn't here because she did something wrong. She's here because she's leverage."

"She's just a pregnant girl—"

"Getting pregnant isn't actually a special talent. Ask any luckless girl in the Barrel."

"Kaz, fighting won't get us anywhere," Inej said quietly.

Wylan nodded, "Ace wouldn't want—"

In the space of a breath, Kaz had shoved Wylan against the tomb wall with his forearm, the crow head of his cane wedged beneath Wylan's jaw. "Tell me my business again." Wylan swallowed and parted his lips. "Do it," said Kaz. "And I'll cut the tongue from your head and feed it to the first stray cat I find."

"Kaz—" Jesper said cautiously. Kaz ignored him.

He glared at Wylan for a few more moments before releasing him with a heavy breath, he could feel anger and frustration rolling off him in waves. He needed to get to her before it was too late. "Someone stick a cork in that girl before I get back," he said and strode off into the graveyard.

Only he didn't walk further than a few tombstones before he heard Rotty call his name. Turning, Kaz rose an eyebrow at the man. "What business?"

"There was a fire," Rotty said as he tried to catch his breath.

"And?"

"There was a fire in Eil Komedie."

Kaz's breathing stopped altogether. Without another one, he rushed past Rotty, ditched his cane, grabbed a Komedie Brute costume, and donned it quickly as he ventured into the city. By the time he got to Fifth Harbor, the sun was starting to rise in the night sky, the clouds in the sky overshadowed by the smoke coming from the island.

He could see the island from the alley where he stood, he could see the smoke, he could feel his rage growing, he could feel his wrath become tenfold. A fire was the perfect way to say it was an accident, that Van Eck didn't mean to kill Ace, he wouldn't be blamed for it by the Merchant Council.

And Kaz was too late to save her.

He'd tried logic and reason when he should've used spite and wrath and whatever was in his grasp so he could slaughter anyone who hurt her and save her, have her in his arms again.

He should've burned the fucking world to ashes without letting a single flame touch her. He should've done anything to save her.

Only he hadn't and now it was too late, and she was... No. He refused to think like that. She was Bela Miseria, daughter of Lavern, she wouldn't die so easily—she couldn't. If Kaz allowed himself to think she died, whatever heart he had left would've died with her.

His eyes snapped up to the brick wall in front of her, the one at the end of the harbor where he used to put notes for her, the one he'd put the note for her to join his crew to Fjerda. He found the brick with the spade carved onto it and loosened it from the wall—it was empty.

Taking off his mask, jaw clenched, Kaz let his head fall against the wall, his breaths shaky and forced, as he reminded himself to breathe—only the possibility that she was dead was making it really hard for him to remember why he kept breathing in the first place.

He didn't know when she'd slithered her way into his twisted and jaded soul, carving her spot without his consent—perhaps it had been with the very first note that after trying to survive in Ketferdam had made him smile for the first time like a breath of fresh air; perhaps it was the first he'd seen her and nearly lost his brains on the street because of the gun she had pointed at him. He didn't know when it happened but it had and now he couldn't imagine a worthy life without a semblance of Bela in it.

Why was he still breathing? How was his heart still beating if he was pretty sure it had burst into flames along with her?

He shook his head. "She can't be dead," he croaked into the night, his voice hoarse. "Get a fucking grip, Brekker," he told himself. She couldn't be dead, he refused to believe that.

Better yet—he knew she wasn't. Ace was a survivor, she wouldn't die in a fucking fire.

Alive.

Alive.

Alive.

ALIVE!

He closed his eyes tightly, feeling an unfamiliar pressure in his throat, feeling pathetic tears threatening to surface. He would cry over his dead body—or hers, but she wasn't dead so there was no use. She wasn't. She couldn't be.

"Excuse me, Mister?"

Kaz's head snapped to the side, his grip on the brick tightening, ready to fight, when his eyes fell, and he found himself staring at a child, no older than six years old, with huge green eyes and brown matted hair. He was looking up at him with squinted eyes as he pulled on the strings of the frayed sweater he was wearing.

"Are you the Bastard?" asked the kid and Kaz frowned.

"Who's asking?"

The kid's face reddened at his brisk tone. "I need your help, Mister, my friend was hurt and she asked for you."

"For me?"

"Ciara is with her. She was trembling—we found her by the water and I think she was bleeding but my sister didn't let me see—"

"Ace?" Kaz interrupted, barely recognizing his voice with the relief he felt.

The kid made a confused face and shook his head. "I dunno who Ace is, Mister. But Bela was mumbling for the Bastard of the Barrel. She needs help."

♠

author's note:

sorry for the delay but I'm not really sorry. I'm on summer vacation and I've been pleasantly busy. but I've finally managed to finish up this chapter.

tbh idk if kaz is a little too ooc and obsessed with ace in this chapter but i don't really care so you have this whipped emo boy.

also what did you think of the chapter? I'd love some constructive feedback!