Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason. Those were the words whispered on the streets of Ketterdam - but that didn't mean that he never had one.
The Shu Serpent rears her head and slithers from the shadows when a high paying job catches her prying eyes a...
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When Jesper saw Zhen decend the stairs not twenty minutes after Kaz had stolen his drink, crow sealed envelope in one hand and cane in the other, and told him sternly to make sure she was resting, it was safe to say he felt a prickle of fear.
Her hair half covered her bruised forehead and even in her tired state she kept her head up. It was odd seeing her with her hair down - it fell below her waist; she appeared less sophisticated and more rugged. Her golden eyes, dimmer than usual, were fiery as they scanned the bar for one of her friends, pausing when she caught eyes with the boy who gave her a hesitant wave over.
The closer she got, the more alarm bells rang in his mind. Kaz would kill him if he saw her up and about instead of back upstairs lying down, but Zhen did as she pleased and didn't seem to care much for resting. Not when they still had a job to do.
He could see the blueish tint of bruised skin on the side of her forehead along with the nasty gash that ran through her hairline, crusted with dried blood and darkening the strands of hair it stemmed from.
He went to say something to her but was worried she'd bite his head off if he did.
Her dark eyes fell upon the bar where she stole his drink and downed it in one go, savouring the burn spreading across her chest. She had hoped it would wake her up a bit.
Jesper, poor Jesper watched her do this and put his hands on his cheeks, staring at the empty shot glass she slammed down in grief. A groan left his lips.
"Three times," he said sadly. "Three bloody times!"
When Zhen had awoken in the silent room, lying on the bed instead of the hardwood floor and with a killer headache, it was safe to say she wasn't in the best of moods (certainly not with the day she'd had.)
Her body ached all over, Kaz was no where to be seen and snippets of threats and vile words rang through her skull like a bad memory - she had to work out for herself if they were real or something she had imagined in her state of semi-consciousness.
The rain still pattered on the window, telling her that at least not much time had passed, and the damp cloth resting over her forehead was still cool to the touch. Her wound had practically been cleaned for her, but removing said cloth had pulled at the dried crystals of blood and reopened parts of it. The sting was nowhere near as bad as the initial impact she had taken, this being her only solace.
When she checked, the deed to the club was gone from the top drawer, her only answer to where Kaz had disappeared off to.
As she looked down at her clean hands on the bar, she recalled what they had looked like just moments ago. They too had been cleaned, but her fingernails were dirty with someone else's blood - a sight that didn't phase her - her only thoughts being that Kaz had cleaned her up the best he could before leaving to do whatever it was he had to.
