CHAPTER THIRY-FOUR
vol ii — home turf

A SOFT SCRAPING noise sounded from outside, making the Crows reach for their weapons, getting ready to make sure that their hideout stayed a secret. A moment later, Rotty and Specht stepped through the door of the tomb, making everyone relax and place their weapons back to their rightful places. Dinara was thankful that it was only them, but she realized that she needed to make a secret knock for them to know who was who was there and not some weird person who had stumbled upon them.

"What business?"
"The Shu have set up their embassy."
"Everyone on the Lid is talking about it."
"Numbers?"

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

"We do," Jesper said, realizing that there were there for Kuwei and they weren't going to be leaving without him.

"I didn't get too near the Slat, but Per Haskell's antsy, and he's not being quiet about it. Without you around, work 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."

Kaz's expression darkened a little, which meant that he was extremely pissed off by the information that had been brought before him and he needed to know more about what was going on within his club. "All right. But no one's connected us to the raid at the Ice Court or parem."

"Not that I heard."
"Nope."
"That means Pekka Rollins hasn't talked."

"Give him time," Kaz breathed out. "He knows we have Kuwei stashed somewhere. The letting to Ravka will only keep him chasing his tail for so long."

"As long as it takes enough time for us to get everything we need to get done, done," Dinara said, her mind racing with all of the things that could happen once Pekka decided it was time to start talking. "'Till then, we do nothing but stick to the plan and hope everything works out."

"Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?" Jesper asked. He was anxiously tapping his fingers against his thighs, too busy thinking about all the ways he could end up getting busted by doing something without thinking first.

"So?"
"Well, usually it's just have the city."
"Fair point."
"There's more. Matthias, you're dead."
"Pardon?"
"You were shanked in the Hellgate infirmary."
"Muzzen?"
"He took your place in Hellgate."
"So you could go to the Ice Court."
"I thought you said you had a contact there?"
"To keep him sick, not safe. This was a hit."
"The Fjerdan's."
"That's not possible."

"Why not? We know there are drüskelle here. If they came to town looking for you and made noise at the Stadhall, they would have been told you were in Hellgate.

"No. They wouldn't resort to such an underhanded tactic. Hiring a killer? Murdering someone in his sickbed?"

"Big, blonde, and blind. The Fjerdan way."
"Did Muzzen have family."
"Just the Dregs."
"No mourners."
"No funerals."
"How does it feel to be dead?"
"What will they do to his body?"
"It's probably already ashes on the Reaper's barge."

"There's something else. Someone's kicking up dust looking for Jesper," Rotty said. That caught the attention of everyone, wondering who wouldn't want to see their sharpshooter so desperately.

"His creditors can wait," Kaz snapped, causing the boy to flinch. It was clear to Dinara that Kaz was not going to let Jesper's betrayal go, and was going to ride it until the very end.

"No. A man showed up at the university. Jesper, he claims he's your father," Rotty said, a shake of his head having all of them doing a double take.

( ...⛓... )

DINARA HAD SOMEHOW managed to convince Kaz to let her, Jesper, and Wylan go down to the university and collect the man claiming to be his father. She mostly went because she was able to keep them all protected, despite Jesper having his guns, she was able to deal with a threat in a quieter manner. Kaz had agreed, but he was reluctant to allow the girl out of his sight, especially what had happened the last time they were in Ketterdam and the fact that Inej had been taken from right out under them. They headed out immediately, wanting to grab the man before he caused more of a ruckus and managed to get him to a safer place.

Dinara had never been on this side of the city ( she had no reason after all ) but she was slightly ashamed that she never had even noticed it. The buildings were all made out of brick and cleaner than the rest of the city, it was like she had brought herself to a new universe. Everything was perfectly in place and no one seemed to be causing any trouble, which was an unusual sight. Kids were walking around with all sorts of bag, stuffed to the brim with stuff from their classes, books being held in their hands as they walked about, chatting with each other. It was a light hearted sense of comfort that was brought instantly to Dinara, it made her feel safe, but she made sure that it wouldn't let her become unknowing of her surroundings.

"What?"
"It smells so much better here."
"You can say that again."

The air, of course, was much cleaner than the hustle and bustle of the city that they belonged to. Factories and all sorts of clubs lining the streets, puke on the sides and cigarettes being lit at every corner. It was a smell that Dinara had grown to love, seeing as it was part of her everyday life, that alone, managed to make her feel like she had found the place where she wanted to be her whole life. But she knew that if she ever wanted to bring her DNA down to another line, she would want them to be far away from the city, far away from the terrors that lined the streets.

"Are you stalling?"
"No."
"Yes."
"Okay, maybe a little. I always liked this part."
"Never been. I miss our side."
"My father likes it too. Places a high value on learning."
"Higher than money."
"Knowledge isn't a divine favor. Prosperity is."

Jesper and Dinara glanced down at the boy that was no longer the redhead they had come to love. They realized that his father had done a fake of him, seeing as he never managed to become the center of his father's attention. "Is your papa really that religious, or is that just an excuse for being a mean son of a bitch when it comes to business?"

"When it comes to anything, really?" Wylan replied. He tried to avoid looking at them, not wanting them to understand the fact that he had failed his father, the fact that he was the heir to everything and he was a disgrace to the Van Eck line.

"Particularly things and canal rats from the Barrel?" Dinara asked, a teasing tone in her voice as she stared down at the boy next to her. She wanted him to loosen up a bit and notice that they all had shit childhoods ( except Jesper and for the most part Kaz ) and that they all dealt with fucked up pasts.

"He thinks the Barrel distracts men from work and industry and leads to degeneracy," Wylan explained, making eye contact with the brunette who had thrown her arm around his shoulder as a sign of comfort.

"He may have a point," Jesper said. He was thinking about all the people that swarmed the streets of the Barrel, how some of them barely made enough money to put food on their plates, while the others were drunks who had more than enough money. "The Barrel eats people."

"Maybe. But business is business. The gambling parlors and brothels meet demand. They offer employment. They pay taxes."

"What a good little Barrel boy you've become. That's practically a page out of the bosses' books," Jesper said, surprised with the knowledge that came out of the boy in front of him. He didn't know why he was so surprised, he knew Wylan was smart, but sometimes he didn't know how smart.

"I don't think it's much different from wagering your fortune on a shipment of silk or jurda. Your odds are just a lot better when you're playing the market," Wylan said, playing with the satchel strap, a trait Dinara knew he did when he was getting antsy.

"You have my attention, merchling," Jesper said, his eyebrow cocked in intrigue. "What's the most your fathers ever lost on a trade?"

"I don't really know," Wylan said, racking his brain for the answer, an answer he didn't know if he had. "He stopped talking about those things with me a long time ago."

"I wonder if the proximity to the Barrel makes merchers more uptight. All that black clothing and restraint, neat only twice a week, lager instead of brandy. Maybe they're making up for all the fun we're having."

"Keeping the scales balanced?"
"Basically, mon amour."

"Sure. I mean, just think of the heights of debauchery we could reach if not one kept this city in check. Champagne for breakfast. Naked orgies on the foot of the Exchange."

Wylan flushed a bright red at the last part, while Dinara let out a snicker, reaching over to slap Jesper on the arm. "Oh, shut up. Let's just go find your father before the man gets himself killed."

daddy dearest is in town