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🎵🎵🎵

Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa
I'm waking up to ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
I raise my flags, don my clothes
It's a revolution, I suppose
We'll paint it red to fit right in
Whoa
I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus
This is it, the apocalypse
Whoa
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
All systems go, the sun hasn't died
Deep in my bones, straight from inside
I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

🎵🎵🎵

Aeolian spent a sleepless night in the dark. Van Eck had seen the fear in her. That would be his leverage now, not Bolin's Shu eyes and attempts at kindness. Van Eck had left the vent unsecured at the first place just to give her hope and then snatch it away.

Eventually, her mind had begun to clear, she'd made a plan. She would talk. There were plenty of safe houses that the Dregs had ceased to use. She'd start there. Then there were the supposedly secure places that belonged to some of the other Barrel gangs. She would stall. She'd lead Van Eck and his men all over Ketterdam looking for Kaz.

When Bolin finally appeared and removed her blindfold, his face looked sallow and he had trouble meeting her eyes. He'd lain awake all night, the weight of the incident heavy on his chest. He tried to reach for her hands again, but Aeolian shot him a dark look.

He cut her ankles free cautiously but replaced the ropes with shackles, he trembled doing it, and she knew that it took something from him. She couldn't blame him, Van Eck owned him—in a way. If she was in his place; she'd do the same. The metal clanked heavily as the guards led her down the hall, to the theater again.

Van Eck was waiting with the blade-nosed guard. Aeolian made a silent promise. Even if her plan failed, even if he smashed her legs to pulp, even if she never walked again, she'd find a way to pay him back in kind.

"Are you prepared to tell me what you know?" Van Eck asked.

She nodded as a yes and asked. "How do I know you won't take the information and hurt me anyway?"

"I am not a brute. I've employed the methods you are most accustomed to...as a spy." He said slowly. "And why would anyone want to hurt a pretty thing like you."

You tried to hurt me didn't you? Aeolian thought furiously, or was that just that to scare me? Whatever it maybe, I'm going to let you pay Van Eck. You've messed with the wrong girl.

"Kaz must never know." She said.

"The deal is the deal." He nodded.

Van Eck had made clear exactly what his word was worth when he'd broken their arrangement on Vellgeluk and tried to have them all killed. She was not as stupid as he thinks she is, and now it was her time to play the game.

She cleared her throat. "The Blue Paradise club. Kaz has used the rooms above it to stow stolen merchandise before."

It was true. And the rooms should still be empty. Kaz had stopped using the place.

"Very good. What else?" Van Eck asked.

"There's a shipping container_" she murmured.

Van Eck stepped closer to her. "I think you intend to send me off chasing my tail...but Brekker is on his way to rescue you this very minute." He gestured to one of the guards. "Raise the curtain."

The curtains rose. The theater was packed with guards lining the aisles, all heavily armed with rifles and cudgels, an overwhelming display of force. Just like the harbour in Djerhlom.

No, she thought, as Van Eck's words sank in. This can't be happening again. Nina had saved them back then, only with the help of parem and she knew; this time Nina won't be able to do the same.

"That's right, pretty," said Van Eck. "Your hero is coming. Brekker likes to believe that he's the smartest person in Ketterdam, so I thought I'd indulge him and let him outsmart himself. I realized that instead of hiding you, I should simply let you be found."

Aeolian frowned. It couldn't be. Had this merch actually outwitted Kaz? Had he used her to do it? She couldn't believe any of this is happening.

"I've been sending Bolin back and forth from Eil Komedie every day. I wasn't sure Brekker would bite, but he did. Earlier this evening, two of his team were spotted on the docks." Van Eck said. "They're coming and your friends won't survive this night."

Aeolian thought of Jesper, Nina and Matthias, sweet Wylan who deserved so much better than this filth for a father. It wasn't just about winning for Van Eck. It was personal.

"You want to destroy us because you hate us," she looked at Van Eck.

"Frankly, I don't hate you, instead I find you very fascinating...you're one of a kind Fen," Van Eck had smiled and at that very moment Aeolian recognised who he truly was and where she had met him. It was at the Carnival of Rust back then, she had met Jan Van Eck in person. Her skin crawled as she recalled what happened, his face was masked but Aeolian saw his eyes and lips, how could she not recognise him?

"You!" That's all Aeolian could say as he nodded, "yes...and I never forgot those emerald eyes."

Aeolian huffed a breath of disgust, she didn't want to remember what Van Eck and his friend Marcos had done to her. She was on a mission, under the name Fen disguised as one of the girls from a pleasure house, in one of the most elite festival of the world. She was after Marcos, but unluckily she'd stumbled upon Van Eck as well. They'd assaulted her, violated and groped her but she was able to get away, along with the key of Marcos. She was always good at suppressing the bad memories but Van Eck had brought them back.

A shout came from outside the theater, as she came back to her senses. She was furious at Van Eck for what he'd done to her at the Carnival of Rust but what she was feeling right now towards him was maddening, he was after her friends. Kaz and the others were about to walk into a trap, and she had no way to warn them.

She heard another shout, then a brief rattle of gunfire. Six guards behind her, shackles at her feet. Helplessness rose up to choke her.

"He'll never tell you where Kuwei is." Aeolian finally spoke. "Never!"

Van Eck grinned. "I only wonder which will prove more effective—torturing Brekker or having him watch as I torture you." He leaned in. "I can tell you the first thing I'm going to do is peel off those gloves and break every one of his thieving fingers."

Aeolian thought of Kaz's pale trickster hands. Van Eck could break every finger and both of Kaz's legs and he'd never say a word, but if his men stripped away Kaz's gloves? Aeolian still didn't understand why he needed them or why he'd fainted in the prison wagon, but she knew Kaz couldn't bear the touch of skin on skin.

How much of this weakness could he hide? How quickly would Van Eck locate his vulnerability, exploit it? How long until Kaz came undone? She couldn't bear it. She was glad she didn't know where Kuwei was. She would break before Kaz did.

And with a sudden pang she realised what that feeling was—feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst kind of foolishness, she always reminded herself. But now she knows, feeling anything for Kaz Brekker, came with a price.

Boots were clattering down the hall, a thunder of footsteps. Aeolian surged forward, Kaz. But a guard's hand clamped down hard over her lips as she struggled in his arms.

The door flew open. The guards raised their rifles and the triggers cocked. The boy in the doorway flinched backward. He swallowed. "Sir, the lake house. They approached from the water. They took her an hour ago."

Van Eck shuddered. "Alys_"

Alys Van Eck. Jan Van Eck's pretty, pregnant wife. Did Kaz and the others kidnap her?

The boy strode down the aisle, and Van Eck snatched the note from his hand. Van Eck crumpled the note in his fist, but not before Aeolian made out the words in Kaz's jagged, unmistakable hand: Noon tomorrow. Goedmedbridge. With her knives.

He didn't only come for her, he'd remembered every single detail about her and how much she needed those knives.

"The note was weighted down with this." The boy drew out a tie pin—a fat ruby surrounded by golden laurel leaves. Kaz had stolen it from Van Eck back when they'd first been hired for the Ice Court job. Kaz had kept it in her safe, along with the Dekappel he stole from Van Eck.

Van Eck snarled. "Brekker thinks we're still playing a game, does he? She is my wife. She carries my heir." He grabbed hold of Aeolian's collar.

Aeolian began to smile, all the horrors of the past week rising from her chest in giddy peals. She was done being frightened of this man. Before Van Eck could take another breath, she slammed her forehead upward, shattering his nose.

He screamed and released her as blood gushed over his suit. Instantly, his guards were on her, pulling her back.

"Go on, lay a finger on me and Kaz Brekker will cut the baby from your pretty wife's stomach and hang its body from a balcony at the Exchange." Ugly words, but Van Eck deserved the images she'd planted in his mind. Though she didn't believe Kaz would do such a thing, she felt grateful for each nasty, vicious thing Dirtyhands had done to earn his reputation: a reputation that would haunt Van Eck every second until his wife was returned.

"When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing." She'd told him once after a fight.

Kaz had shrugged, removed his gloves and began washing his hands. She leaned on the wall and gave him a sour look. But he needed to be a monster, that's what Aeolian realised.

"Vile, ruthless, amoral. Isn't that why you hired Kaz in the first place? Because he does the things that no one else dares? Go on. Lay a finger on me and see what happens. You hurt me, you hurt Brekker right?" She looked at him. "Dare him."

Jan Van Eck just looked at her like a scared little kitten.

Had she really believed a merch could outthink Kaz Brekker? Kaz would get her free and then they'd show this man exactly what they could do together.

"Even better men can be bested." She told Van Eck as Bolin took her away.

Bolin had watched and observed everything that had happened closely. He was in shock that a barrel thug had outsmarted a councilman like Jan Van Eck. But he's no ordinary thug, he was Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, the bastard of the barrel. He'd come for her—he'd come for his spider, but she was more than a spider to him. Whatever affiliations they shared, Bolin knew it was incomparable.

She'd kept his secret, she'd protected him; to the extent that she was willing to be crushed. It was madness, or maybe it was an attachment that Bolin had never known. Whatever it maybe, he was glad that the Shu girl was soon going to leave this horrifying place, and out of the grip of Van Eck. Thinking about it now, Bolin had realised Kaz Brekker was not so horrible after all—instead, he had more heart than the merch. And his attachment towards the Shu girl was unparalleled.

◾️▪️◾️▪️◾️

Matthias would be atoning for the mistakes he'd made in this life long into the next one, but he'd always believed that despite his crimes and failings, there was a core of decency inside him that could never be breached. And yet, he felt sure that if he had to spend another hour with Alys Van Eck, he might murder her just for the sake of a little quiet.

The siege on the lake house had gone off with a precision that Matthias couldn't help but admire. But he didn't say it out loud; he didn't want the demjin to know, about it. Only two days after Aeolian was taken, Raske had alerted Kaz to the lights that had appeared on Eil Komedie, and the fact that boats had been seen coming and going there, often carrying Bolin. A young Shu music teacher indentured to Van Eck.

It had been easy enough to surmise that Aeolian was being kept on Eil Komedie, and Nina had wanted to go after her immediately.

But Kaz had simply gazed into the middle distance with that odd look on his face and said, "Too obvious. Van Eck wants us to think she's on that island. Maybe she is. But he'll have plenty of firepower waiting for us too, maybe even a few Grisha using parem."

"Always hit where the mark isn't looking," Wylan had murmured.

"Sweet Ghezen," said Jesper. "You've been thoroughly corrupted."

"Do you know what Van Eck's problem is?" Kaz had tapped his crow's head cane on the the tomb floor. "Too much to lose. And he gave us a map to what to steal first."

Kaz begun laying out the plans for kidnapping Alys. Instead of trying to rescue Aeolian as Van Eck expected, they would force Van Eck to trade her for his very pregnant wife.

The first trick had been finding her. Van Eck was no fool. Kaz suspected that he'd gotten Alys out of the city as soon as he'd made his false deal with them. It was possible he'd spirited her away across the True Sea, but Kaz doubted he'd put the woman carrying his heir through a grueling sea voyage.

Or he must be keeping property off the books, and uncovering those secret properties had meant gaining access to Cornelis Smeet's office. Thanks to Smeet's files, Kaz had located the lake house, listed under the Hendriks name.

Van Eck had expected a rescue attempt on Aeolian, so that was where he'd concentrated his forces. It had taken everything in Matthias not to argue when Kaz had paired Nina with Jesper in the assault on the lake house, despite the fact that he knew the partnership made sense.

Also, Matthias knew he couldn't be trailing after Nina on missions like some kind of watchdog. Still, he was the only one besides Aeolian and perhaps Kuwei who knew how she'd suffered since they'd returned from the Ice Court.

They'd approached from across the lake and made quick work of the few guards on the perimeter. It almost didn't feel like a break-in; they'd tied up the guards, herded them and the rest of the staff into the pantry, and then swept up the stairs to the second floor wearing the masks of the Komedie Brute.

When they'd entered the music room, poor, pretty, pregnant Alys had asked, "Is this a play?"

"Yes, love," said Jesper gently, "and you're the star."

They'd tucked her into a warm coat, then shepherded her out of the house and into the waiting boat. She'd been so docile that Nina had become concerned. Matthias hadn't been sure how to account for Alys' demeanor. He remembered his mother muddling the simplest things when she was pregnant with his baby sister.

But halfway back to the city, when Nina had bound Alys' hands and tied a blindfold over her eyes, the reality of her situation must have started to sink in. And by the time they'd gotten Alys 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.

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 had moaned.

"Only the kidnapped ones." Matthias replied.

"I can't hear myself think," she muttered.

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

"We're in the middle of a job," Kaz said. "Someone find a way to shut her up, or I will."

"She's a frightened girl..." Wylan protested. "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." Kaz had snapped.

"She's just a pregnant girl_" Wylan pressed on.

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

"Lin wouldn't want_" Wylan said.

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. "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.

Nina looked at the boys, she wasn't surprised they were all losing themselves steadily—Aeolian had been taken and without her, they'll are losing it; Kaz most of all.

Wylan's lips flattened to a thin, stubborn line. Matthias wondered if he'd have to try to intercede on Wylan's behalf, but Kaz had released him. "Someone stick a cork in that girl before I get back," he said, and strode off into the graveyard.

Only Kaz Brekker would take a stroll in a graveyard alone in the darkness of the night, casually.

Matthias rolled his eyes heavenward. These lunatics all needed a solid six months in boot camp and possibly a sound beating. How he missed the Shu girl, in times like these; she always know how to say and do the right things.

"Best not to mention Lin," Jesper said. "You know, if you feel like continuing to live."

Wylan shook his head. "But isn't this all about her?"

Jesper still didn't know the answer to that, their lives were complicated.

They headed back into the tomb. Alys had quieted and was sitting with her hands folded on her belly. Kuwei was scribbling some stuffs on his notebook, in the corner alone.

Nina sat down next to Alys. "Would you like some tea with sugar?"

"I only like tea with honey and lemon." Alys replied.

Nina was about to tell Alys exactly where she could put her honey and lemon, so Matthias said hurriedly. "How would you like a chocolate biscuit?"

Nina's eyes narrowed.

"It's for a good cause doll would understand," Matthias said, retrieving the tin. He'd never called Aeolian, doll before. Like Nina does. But they couldn't use their real names with Alys around, so Matthias just went with it. He'd purchased the biscuits in the hope that when Aeolian returns. It'll bring a smile to her face.

"I thought you brought them for me." Nina said with a sniff. "And you should not cross me when it comes to sweets."

Jesper nodded. "She's like a dessert hoarding dragon."

Nina winked at Jesper. They both knew Matthias brought the cookies for Aeolian, they just wanted to pull his legs because it was so unlike the Fjerdan to do something like that. Matthias was delighted to see Nina back to herself and jealous that Jesper was the one making her smile.

"So," Jesper said, throwing an arm around Alys' shoulder. "Tell us about your stepson, what is he like ?" Jesper asked. "Any secret fears he confided? Bad habits? Ill-conceived infatuations?"

Wylan shoved the tin of biscuits at Alys. "Have another cookie."

"Wylan was always nice to my birds. I miss my birds. I want to go hoooooome." And then she was blubbering again.

Nina had plunked her head down on the table in defeat. "Well done. I thought we might actually get a moment of silence."

"Have none of you people ever encountered a pregnant woman before?" Matthias grumbled. He remembered his mother's discomfort and moods. He tore a strip from one of the ragged blankets in the corner. "Here," he said to Jesper. "Dip this in water so we can make a cool compress." He squatted down and said to Alys, "Your feet are swollen, and it will soothe you to have them rubbed."

"Oh, now this is interesting," Nina said, wiggling her toes at Matthias.

He ignored her and turned to Alys, "By tomorrow afternoon you'll be home...you can't see me, but I'm the biggest person here, and I promise that no one will hurt you." Even as he spoke the words, Matthias knew he might be lying. Alys was currently having her feet rubbed and a cool towel placed on her forehead in a pit full of some of the deadliest vipers slithering the streets of this misbegotten city.

"Now," he said, "it's very important that you stay calm. What helps to cheer you?"

"I like to go for walks by the lake...I like doing my hair." Alys replied.

Matthias gave Nina a meaningful look.

She scowled. "I'm not doll, I don't know how to do hairs."

Aeolian was the one, who always changes her hairstyle. Even back at the Ice Court, they'd all seen her doing her hair, without a care in the world.

"I like singing," said Alys out of the blue.

Wylan shook his head frantically, mouthing, No!

"Sing," Matthias blurted, "by all means, sing."

And then the real nightmare began. It wasn't that Alys was so bad, she just never stopped. She sang between bites of food. She sang while she was walking through the graves. She sang from behind a bush when she needed to relieve herself. When she finally dozed off, she hummed in her sleep .

"Maybe this was Van Eck's plan all along," Kaz said glumly when they'd assembled outside the tomb again.

"To drive us mad?" said Nina. "It's working."

Jesper shut his eyes and groaned. "I so wish I was Lin right now, at least she isn't dealing with Alys." He'd said it without meaning to, and everyone went silent for a while. Matthias didn't want to witness another round of Kaz temperament, so it came as a shock when Kaz consulted his pocket watch. "Nina and Matthias should get going."

Kaz met each of their gazes in turn. "Everyone needs to be in final position before noon. Van Eck will be planning something, and we need to be ready."

"No mourners." Jesper said.

"No funerals," they replied.

Kaz, Jesper and Wylan stepped back into the tomb. Nina and Matthias headed towards the rowboat.

The smartest thing Matthias had done since they'd returned from the Ice Court was to give Kaz the remaining parem. It hadn't been an easy decision. But Aeolian had been taken and Kaz was the only person apart from the Shu girl who could handle Nina. He was never sure how deep the well inside Kaz was, where to locate the limits of what he would or would not do. But Nina had no hold on Kaz, well none of them had a hold on Dirtyhands.

When she'd crept into Matthias' bed the night of the Smeet job, he'd been certain, he'd made the right choice because, Djel knew, Matthias had been ready to give her anything she wanted if she would just keep kissing him.

He thought again of what she'd said to him on the ship. Can you even think for yourself? I'm just another cause for you to follow. First it was Jarl Brum, and now it's me. I don't want your cursed oath. He didn't think she had meant it, but the words haunted him.

As a drüskelle, he'd served a corrupt cause. He could see that now. But he'd had a path, a nation. Now he was sure of nothing but his faith in Djel and the vow he'd made to Nina. I have been made to protect you. Only in death will I be kept from this oath.

Matthias put his mind to rowing. When he sees happy couple together, he feels an ache. He was a soldier. So was Nina. They weren't meant to be together from the first place. But he'd envied those people and their ease.

Nina was dressed as the Lost Bride, she was adjusting her veil. Matthias was dressed as the madman, he asked. "When we went after Smeet, why didn't you tailor yourself?"

She shrugged. "I tried to tailor myself, and it took every bit of my focus."

"What about compelling behaviors?" Matthias asked. "The way you did at the Ice Court?"

"It's not possible anymore, without parem." Nina replied.

"Try it on me." Matthias urged.

Nina pulled him into an alley between two buildings. She placed a hand on either side of his face. Matthias' focus shattered. It felt like she was touching him everywhere.

"I don't feel anything," he said embarrassingly.

She arched a brow. "I'm trying to compel you to kiss me."

"That's foolish." He admitted. "Because I always want to kiss you."

"Then how come you never do?" Nina asked.

"Nina, you just went through a terrible ordeal_" Matthias looked at her.

"That's true. You know what would help? A lot of kissing." She shoved his mask down none too gently, yanked her veil back in place, and strode past him.

They entered the golden badger store.

"How can this place be open at such hours?" Matthias murmured. "Who wants to buy a coat in the dead of the night?"

"We're picking up an order for Judith," Nina said to the clerk, ignoring his question.

"Ah!" the clerk said, consulting a ledger. "Just a moment." He vanished into the back room and emerged a minute later, struggling beneath the weight of two huge parcels. Matthias hefted the packages with little effort. The people of this city needed more fresh air and exercise. Matthias thought annoyingly.

They weren't sure if the clerk had known what was stuffed in the wrapping, or if the Golden Badger was just some kind of drop spot. Kaz had mysterious connections throughout Ketterdam, and only he knew the truth of their workings.

Nina handed Matthias a bag of silver coins. "Let's practice." Then Nina said in a singsong voice. "Mother, Father, pay the rent!"

Matthias looked at her dumbly. Nina glared at him. "Then you say, 'I can't, my dear, the money's spent,' and you toss a handful of coins into the crowd."

"Why?" Matthias was confused.

"It's tradition. Tourists don't always get it, but the Kerch do." Nina explained. "And do it with more enthusiasm. It's supposed to be fun."

"I feel foolish." Matthias muttered, "you can do it because you have no shame."

To his surprise, instead of offering a sharp retort, she said. "We're doing this for doll, call it foolish or shameless...I call it devotion."

Then it was as if someone had flipped a switch in Nina. "Come one, come all to the Crimson Cutlass!" she declared.

Nina lured tourists to them one by one, offering free food and drink and handing out costumes and flyers. When people asked what it was all about, Nina claimed it was a promotion for a new gambling hall called the Crimson Cutlass.

By the time they reached West Stave, the stacks of costumes were gone and the sun was rising. Nina left Matthias and headed towards the third floor of the hotel; that had a perfect view of the wide expanse of Goedmedbridge.

(Goedmaidbridge)

Goedmedbridge also known as Good maiden bridge. Earned its name: when a woman found out her husband had fallen in love with a girl from West Stave and planned to leave her, she came to the bridge and, rather than live without him, hurled herself into the canal.

Matthias made his way up the stairs of the Emporium Komedie. They were all in positions now.

Almost twelve bells. He flashed his mirror once at Nina's balcony and signalled to Jesper. They all knew Kaz had chosen West Stave for its anonymity and its crowds.

As Matthias eyes looked around, The House of the White Rose caught his attention. Nina had worked there. He'd never questioned her about her time there. He had no right to. She had stayed in the city to help him, and she could do as she wished. And yet he'd been unable to keep from imagining her there, the curves of her body laid bare. There were nights when he imagined her beckoning someone else she welcomed in the dark, and he'd lie awake, wondering if it would be jealousy or desire that drove him mad first.

Kaz advance from the west, his dark shape a blot moving through the crowd, his cane keeping time with his uneven gait. The crowd part around him, perhaps sensing the purpose that drove him. It reminded Matthias of villagers making signs in the air to ward off evil spirits. Alys Van Eck waddled along beside him. Her lips moving. Judging from the sour expression on Kaz's face, she was still singing.

Beyond the other side of the bridge, Van Eck approach. Kaz had been clear: Taking out Van Eck was a last resort. They didn't want to kill a member of the Merchant Council, not in broad daylight in front of witnesses.

"He can't suffer if he's dead," Kaz had said, and that had been the end of it. The demjin booked no argument.

They all knew Kaz Brekker wanted Jan Van Eck to suffer like no other. He'd taken them all to hell and back. And in the end conned them and took their treasure, Aeolian. How could any of them let it slide? How could Dirtyhands let it slide? He would never.

Van Eck had come surrounded by guards. And besides him, surrounded by three huge guards, was Aeolian. Matthias was flooded with gratitude. Even though he'd know the pulchritudinous Shu girl for a short while, he'd admired her courage from the first. And even though; she was cunning, she'd saved their lives multiple times, putting herself at risk to do so. He'd questioned many of his choices, but never his commitment to seeing her freed.

He only wished she'd separate herself from Kaz Brekker. If he could only say these words aloud. The girl deserved so much better. Then again, maybe Nina deserved better than Matthias.

Both parties reached the bridge. Kaz and Alys walked forward. Van Eck signalled the guards holding Aeolian.

The streets were dotted with clusters of purple, all of them moving toward the Stave. Stadwatch. Was it just a coincidence or something Van Eck had planned?

Matthias hoped Kaz was ready. He hoped Nina was stronger than she seemed. He hoped the plans they'd laid were enough, that Jesper's aim was true, that Wylan's calculations were correct. Trouble was coming for them all.

He reached for his rifle. "Djel, help us all."