Bitter Shards

2: Kaz

He strolled the dark alleys of The Barrel, lurking in the shadows. For this job, he had to keep quiet and stay off the radar. "Kaz! I'm picking up waffles for the party. What do you want?" Ethrek Ranel looked behind his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Kaz Brekker, then scurried away. He silently smacked his forehead as he turned to Nina peering at him from over the ledge of a roof nearby with a lantern in hand, illuminating the blood-stained wall behind him. Her hair, usually a crimson color, was now a flaming red tone in the lantern light. Her clover green eyes sparkled in the dancing luminescence of the flickering glow. Ever since Matthias' death, she had been disruptive, obsessive, clingy, oblivious, and extremely hungry. If her issues didn't reside soon, he would lose his mind. And there was a lot to lose, so far it was all intact, but he didn't know for how much longer. "Nina!"

"Jeez, if you didn't want waffles you could've just said so. I'm planning Inej's 'welcome back' party, and it needs to be perfect. Waffles are perfect. Also, I'm thinking it should have a theme. Themes are cool, right? Would Inej even want-"

That was when Kaz interrupted her. "Enough! Inej isn't coming back for another four months. Why are you planning now? Your utter loneliness and longing for attention and human interaction is getting old. Its only been two months and I'm already sick and tired of you! I have no idea how I'm gonna put up with you for another four months. I hate to break it to you Nina, but you are a pain. Ever since your stupid convict boyfriend died, you've been an obnoxious nuisance. Matthias died ages ago, get over it!"

After a couple more minutes of yelling, he noticed Nina's eyes filling up with tears tainted salty. Crying was a sign of weakness in The Barrel. He couldn't be seen associating with her. It could ruin his reputation or even get him killed. Nina was Grisha, she could kill on demand. Either way, he couldn't care less. She was a partner on a job. That job was done. He rolled his eyes and walked away. He sauntered back to The Crow Club and was surprised to find Jesper sitting there. That wasn't, however, the surprising thing. The surprising thing was the fact the Jesper was just sitting there. Not gambling, not even moving. Something was definitely wrong. Maybe this was the time to call Wylan. "Should I call for Wylan? Because I'm not dealing with whatever this is," he gestured toward Jesper, "late at night"

"No!" He practically jumped out of his chair. Kaz raised an eyebrow. "Please don't," he tried again. Kaz made a disgusted face. "You two work it out. I'm not getting involved."

"But Kaz, I-"

"No."