CHAPTER NINE
vol i — bloody fjerdans!

Jesper stared at Wylan, digesting the information. "Of course you're a Councilman's kid." He burst out laughing. "That explains everything." Dinara glanced around at everyone's faces, concealing her amusement. Wylan was red-faced and mortified, Nina looked stunned and irritated, Helvar seemed confused, Kaz looked pleased with himself and Inej, like herself, wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Wylan's mouth opened and closed, his throat working. "You knew?" he asked Kaz miserably.

Kaz leaned back in his chair, one knee bent, his bad leg stretched out in-front of Dinara. "Why do you think I've been keeping you around?"

"I'm good at demo."
"You're passable at demo. You're excellent at hostage."

"Wylan, don't listen to him. You're not a hostage, he's just a bastard." Kaz smirked at Dinara's words, still very pleased with his big secret.

"It doesn't matter," said Jesper. "We should still take Raske and leave this baby merch on lockdown in Ketterdam."

"I don't trust Raske."
"And you trust Wylan Van Eck?"

"Don't even start, Jesper," Dinara snapped. She was not going to be putting up with him starting chaos with Wylan. The boy hadn't done anything wrong.

"Wylan doesn't know enough people to cause us real trouble."
"Don't I have some say in this? I'm sitting right here."
"Ever had your pocket picked?"
"I... not that I know of."
"Been mugged in an alley?"
"No."
"Hung over the side of a bridge with your head in the canal?"
"No, but—"
"Ever been beaten until you can't walk?"
"No."
"Why do you think that is?"
"I—"

"It's been three months since you left your daddy's mansion in the Geldstraat. Why do you suppose your sojourn in the Barrel had been so blessed?"

"Lucky, I guess?" Wylan suggested weakly.

Jesper snorted. "Kaz is your luck, kerch king. He's had you in the Dreg's protection — though you're so useless, up until this minute none of us could figure out why."

"It was perplexing."
"Kaz always has his reasons."
"I was happy to play mother."
"Why did you move out of your father's house?"

"It was time," Wylan said tightly. He had moved his chair closer to Dinara's, seeking her comfort.

"Idealist? Romantic? Revolutionary?"
"Idiot? No one chooses to live in the Barrel if he has another option."
"I'm not useless."
"Raske is the better demo man—"

"I've been to the Ice Court. With my father. We went to an embassy dinner. I can help with the plans," Wylan spluttered out, embarrassed with the amount of tension he was getting.

"See that? Hidden depths." Kaz tapped his gloved fingers over the crow's head of his cane. "And I don't want our only leverage against Van Eck cooling his heels in Ketterdam while we head north. Wylan goes with us. He's good enough at demo, and he's got a fine hand for sketching, thanks to all those pricey tutors."

"Play piano, too?"
"Flute."
"Perfect."

"And since Wylan has seen the Ice Court with his very own eyes, he can help keep you honest, Helvar," Kaz said. The Fjerdan scowled, and Wylan looked a little ill.

"Don't worry," Nina said. "The flower isn't lethal." Wylan seemed to relax a little, still seated at Dinara's side.

Kaz tapped his cane on the polished wood floor. "Take out your pen and proper paper, Wylan. Let's put Helvar to work." Wylan reached into the satchel at his feet and pulled out a slender roll of butcher's paper followed by a metal case that held an expensive-looking pen and ink set.

"How nice. A nib for every occasion."
"Start talking. It's time to pay the rent."

Matthias directed his furious gaze at Kaz. Finally the Fjerdan shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "The Ice Court is in a bluff overlooking the harbor at Djerholm. It's built in concentric circles, like the tings of a tree." The words came slowly, as if speaking each one was causing him pain. "First, the ringwall, then the outer circle. It's divided into three sectors. Beyond that is the ice moat, then at the center of everything, the White Island." Dinara nodded her head along to his words, picturing what it looked like in her mind.

"That doesn't look like a tree, it looks like a cake."
"Well, it is sort of like a cake. The whole thing is built on a rise."

Kaz gestured for Matthias to continue. "The cliffs are unscalable, and the northern road is the only way in or out. You'll have to get through a guarded checkpoint before you even reach the ringwall."

"Two checkpoints. When I was there, there were two," Wylan said, his fingers still tracing what he could vision from Matthias's words.

"There you have it," Kaz said to Jesper. "Marketable skills. Dinara is watching you, Helvar." Matthias looked over at Dinara — she was watching him with a slight glare, flipping a knife in her hands. She looked dangerous.

"Why two checkpoints?" Inej asked.

Matthias stared at the black walnut slats of the floor and said, "It's harder to bribe two sets of guards. The security at the Court is always built with multiple fail-safes. If you make it that far—"

"We, Helvar. If we make it that far," corrected Kaz.

The Fjerdan gave the barest shrug. "If we make it that far, the outer circle is split into three sectors: the prison, the drüskelle facilities, and the embassy, each with its own gate in the ringwall. The prison gate is always functioning, but it's kept under constant armed surveillance. Of the two others, only one is ever operational at any given time."

"What determines which gate is used?"
"The schedule changes each week, and guards are only given their postings the night before."
"Maybe that's a good thing. If we can figure out which gate isn't running, it won't be manned or guarded—"
"There are always at least four guards on duty even when the gate isn't in use."
"Pretty sure we can handle four guards."

Matthias shook his head. "The gates weigh thousands of pounds and can only be operated from within the guardhouses. And even if you could raise one of them, opening a gate that isn't scheduled for use would trigger Black Protocol. The entire Court would go on lockdown, and you'd give away your location."

Dinara almost shivered at the ripple of unease passed through the room, knowing that this break in was going to be a lot harder than she originally imagined. Trying to get into the Ice Court was going to be a suicide mission, and every time Matthias opened his mouth, he gave them even worse information. Dinara glanced around the room, trying to grasp on the emotions of everyone. Kaz was the only one who seemed unfazed about the whole thing, but he was never one to show his emotions — Dinara was the only person who could read him like a book.

She had been around him enough to know exactly what he was feeling. The way his body shifted, his stance, his eyes — his eyes gave away everything. To someone on the outside, they seem cold and calculated, which they were, but they held all of his emotions. Small sparks of emotions flowed through them, showing his true feelings. Dinara peered into them, trying to find some sort of emotion in them. Kaz knew what she was doing, but allowed her to do it anyway, she would figure it out at some point. Finally, she found it. A small flicker of annoyance. That told her all she needed to know.

"Put it all down," Kaz said, tapping the paper. "Helvar, I expect you to describe the mechanics of the alarm system to Wylan later."

"I don't really know how it works. It's some kind of series of cables and bells." Matthias frowned.

"Tell him all you know. Where will they be keeping Bo Yul-Bayur?" Kaz asked.

Slowly, Matthias rose and approached the plans, tracing the shape beneath Wylan's pen. His movements were reluctant, as wary if Kaz had told him to pet a rattler. "Probably here," he said, resting his finger on the paper. "The prison sector. The high-security cells are on the topmost floor. It's where they keep the most dangerous criminals. Assassins, terrorists—"

"Grisha?"
"Exactly."

"You guys are going to make this really run, aren't you?" asked Jesper. "Usually people don't start hating each other until a week into the job, but you two have a head start."

They cast twin glares, and Jesper beamed back at them, but Kaz's attention was focused on the plans. "Bo Yul-Bayur isn't dangerous," he said thoughtfully. "At least not in that way. su don't think they'll keep him locked up without the rabble."

"I think they'll keep him in a grave."
"You're just so positive, aren't you?"

"Operate on the assumption that he isn't dead. He's a valued prisoner, one they don't want falling into the wrong hands before he stands trial. Where would he be?"

Matthias looked at the plans. "The building of the outer circle surrounds the ice moat, and at the moats center is the White Island, where the treasury and the Royal Palace are. It's the most secure place in the Ice Court."

"Then that's where Bo Yul-Bayur will be," said Kaz.

Matthias smiled. Dinara was taken aback, he was the last person — after Kaz — to be smiling. Turns out the big bad abominable snowman is a big softie. "Then your quest is pointless. There is no way a group of foreigners is going to make it to the White Island."

"Don't underestimate us. We've done things that would make your insides shrivel up," Dinara said, eyes trained on the knife she is flipping in her hand.

"Don't look so pleased, Helvar. We don't get inside, you don't get your pardon."

Matthias shrugged. "I can't change what is true. The ice moat is watched from multiple guard towers on the White Island and a lookout atop the Elderclock. It's completely uncrossable except by the way of the glass bridge, and there's no way onto the glass bride without clearance."

"Hringkälla. It's the Day of Listening, where the new drüskelle are initiated on the White Island," Nina informed, ignoring the nasty glare that was sent her way.

Matthias' knuckles flexed white. "You have no right to speak of those things. They're holy."

"They're facts. The Fjerdan royals throw a huge party with guests from all over the world, and plenty of entertainment comes straight from Ketterdam."

"Entertainment?" Dinara and Kaz asked.

"Actors, dancers, a Komedie Brute troupe, and the best talent from the pleasure houses on the West Stave."

"I thought Fjerdans didn't go in for that sort of thing," said Jesper.
"You've never seen Fjerdan soldiers on the Staves?"
"I meant when they're at home."

"It's the one day a year they all stop acting so miserable and actually let themselves have a good time," Nina replied. "Besides, only the drüskelle live like monks."

"A good time needn't involve wine and... and flesh," Matthias spluttered.

Nina batted her glossy lashes at him. "You wouldn't know a good time if it sidled up to you and stuck a lollipop in your mouth." She looked back at the plans. "The embassy gate will have to be open. Maybe we shouldn't worry about breaking into the Ice Court. Maybe we should just walk in with the performers."

"This isn't the Hellshow," said Kaz. "It won't be that easy."

"Visitors are vetted weeks before they arrive at the Ice Court," Matthias said. "Anyone entering the embassy will have their papers checked and checked again. Fjerdans aren't fools."

Nina raised a brow. "Not all of them at least."

couples dispute!