CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
vol i — bloody fjerdans!

THE PAREM SHOOTING THROUGH THE Squallers blood allowed them to circle above the ground, manipulating the air around them. Dinara instinctively pulled out two of her knives, getting ready to launch them at any moment. Her nerves were spiking, her body leaning closer to Kaz, waiting for him to give her a single to attack. She glanced at the boy beside her, wanting him to nod his head, yet he didn't, his eyes trained on Van Eck. She let out a huff, not pleased with his action, but allowed it. "The deal is the deal," Kaz said. His voice was barely heard, the growing storm drowning out most of it. "If the Merchant Council fails to honor its end of the bargain, no one from the Barrel will ever traffic with any of you again. Your word will be meaningless."

A smirk grew on Van Eck's face, happy to drop the bomb he had. "That would be a problem, Mister Brekker, if they Council knew anything about his deal."

The realization struck Kaz across the face, a dark look growing in his eyes. "They were never involved." Those four words caused Dinara to do a double take, striking deep into her bones. They were double crossed. "You wanted Yul-Bayur. You wanted the formula for parem."

Van Eck nodded at those words, silently agreeing with the statement. "Neutrality is a luxury Kerch has too long enjoyed. The members of the Council think that their wealth protects them, that they can sit back and count their money while the world squabbles."

"And you know better?" Kaz had his doubts about this whole thing, mind running a mile a minute. He was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation without losing anyone.

"Indeed, I do. Jurda parem is not a secret that can be kept or quashed or stashed in a cabin in the Zemeni frontier. As I predicted, the markets and trade lines will collapse with time, Mister Brekker. As soon as the Council received Bo Yul-Bayur's message, I began buying up jurda fields in Novyi Zem. When parem is unleashed on the world, every country, every government will be clamoring for a ready supply to use it on their Grisha." Van Eck was thirsting for chaos, wishing it upon everyone he knew and even those he didn't know. He wanted to be it's master and gain wealth off of it — it was the perfect plan, in his eyes at least. He had created the perfect heir for his legacy, only having to wait for the baby to arrive, casting Wylan off to the side, never to be seen again. He had it all and now switching the hand with Brekker was the tip of the iceberg, happy to watch the Dreg's empire fall apart.

"You will be ensuring slavery and death for Grisha everywhere," Dinara snarked. Kaz discreetly poked her with his cane, not happy with her comment, but she couldn't help herself. She wasn't going to put up with this bastard, the only bastard she liked was Kaz and nothing was going to change that.

Van Eck's eyes drifted to her figure, tracing it. "How old are you girl? Sixteen? Seventeen?"

Dinara let out a cold laugh, one that Kaz would have bottled and gotten drunk on if he could have. "Old enough to kick your ass."

"I doubt that," Van Eck said. Dinara went to speak, but he cut her off before she could get another word out. "As pretty as you are, I'm going to have to stop you there." It took every bone in Kaz's body to not attack the man right then. "The council will never hear of this. Why do you think I chose scum from the Barrel as my champions? Oh, you are resourceful and far more clever than any mercenaries, I give you that. But more importantly, you will not be missed." Van Eck lifted a hand, making the Tidemakers spin their arms. Dinara heard Rotty yell, looking over at him, seeing a wave looming over his body, ready to crash at any moment. Van Eck had no intention of letting them leave alive and with the money. He raised his hand again, letting the Tidemakers roll a wave towards the Ferolind. Dinara watched with anticipation, hoping someone would take this as the start of the plan and say something.

"No!"
"Van Eck! Your son is on that ship!"

Now that caught his attention. He snapped his head towards Kaz, blowing his whistle to call off his Tidemakers. They froze waiting for their next instruction, only to see Van Eck reluctantly drop his hand. "My son?"

"Wylan Van Eck."
"Mister Brekker, surely you must know that I sent my son packing months ago."

"I know you've written to Wylan every week since he left your household, begging him to return. Those are not the actions of a man who doesn't care for his only son and heir."

Van Eck let out a laugh — a cold and chilling one. "Let me tell you about my son. He was meant to be the heir of one of the greatest fortunes in all of Kerch, an empire with shipping lines that reach all over the globe, one built by my father, and my father's father. But my son, the boy meant to file this grand empire, cannot do what a child of seven years can't. He can solve an equation. He can paint and play the flute most prettily. What my son cannot do, Mister Brekker, is read. He cannot write. I have hired the best tutors from every corner of the world. I've tried specialists, tonics, beatings, hypnotism. But he refused to be taught. I finally had to accept that Ghezen saw fit to curse me with a moron for a child. Wylan is a boy who will never grow to be a man. He is a disgrace to my house."

"The letters..." said Jesper, the anger present on his face. "You weren't pleading with him to come back. You were mocking him."

"You are so lucky I have half a mind to not kill you where you stand," Dinara said, her voice trembling. She hated that a father thought of his own son like that, wanting and wishing him dead every living and breathing moment. It was a curse to do that to a child, if you were going to treat them like the scum of the earth, you shouldn't have had one.

"He is a mistake. One soon to be corrected. My lovely young wife is carrying a child, and be it boy or girl or creature with horns, that child will be my heir, not some soft-pared idiot who cannot read a hymnal, let alone a ledger, not some fool who would make the Van Eck name a laughingstock." With those words, Van Eck blew his whistle twice to signal to the tidemakers. Two looming, rushing waves went towards the Ferolind. The two waves went crashing into the ship, smooshing it between them with a resonant boom, sending debris flying across the water, landing with a large splash. Jesper — who wasn't in on the plan — screamed in rage, throwing his hands into his holster, pulling out his pistols and aiming them at Van Eck.

"Jesper, be still."
"I don't understand."

"You will in a minute." Van Eck contributed to riling Kaz up, wanting to get a reaction out of him. Taunting his crew, making eyes at the girl who was seemingly attached to Kaz, wanting him to make a mistake. His taunts got more vicious with each strike, hammering its way into the wall Kaz had built up, coming so close to crumbling before he revealed his grand plan. "There is just one problem, Van Eck. You'll need Kuwei Yul-Bo to do it," Kaz informed, a small, almost invisible smirk on his face.

"And will you take him from me? You are outgunned and surrounded." Van Eck was obviously proud with the situation he had gotten himself in, the shimmer in his eyes proved it.

"I don't need to take him from you. You never had him. That's not Kuwei Yul-Bo."
"A sorry bluff at best."
"I'm not big on bluffing, am I, Dinara?"

"Not as a rule, love," Dinara said. Her eyes scanned between the two men standing in front of her, Kaz's body radiating power. It was entrancing.

"And why is that?" Van Eck asked. He was clearly curious as to why this Barrel street rat would rather not bluff.

"Because he'd rather cheat," said the boy who was not Kuwei Yul-Bo, in perfect, unaccented Kerch.