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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The next time Kaz saw Zhen, she was stomping towards him in a beeline with a clouded expression he hadn't seen in quite a while. Her eyes were practically ablaze as she fixed her eyes on him, a positively murderous glimmer on her face as she reached him.
He opened his mouth to say something when her fingers snaked around the lapel of his jacket and she didn't give him a chance. She tugged him along to follow her.
"Good news - I've found your fucking goat."
"Why isn't it with you?" He asked immediately.
She flashed him a very fake, very sarcastic smile over her shoulder. "Ask me what the bad news is."
He gave her a blank look. "I'm not going to entertain whatever this is."
She stopped in place, turning to face him but still not removing her grip on his coat. "Have a heart and humour me; I'm not in the mood for anything less."
Kaz shook his head ever so slightly but relented. (Perhaps he just didn't want to risk her setting him on fire.)
"Fine, Zhen. What's the bad news?"
She opened her mouth to tell him when the sudden movement of his hand distracted her. He caught a glimmer of light reflecting off of something when her hair shifted. She loosened her hold a fraction when his gloved hand reached up to push some of her hair back from one side, revealing to him a pair of onyx earrings he had never seen before.
She didn't realise she was holding her breath in the moment.
His eyes narrowed. "Where did you get these?"
After all that, he had asked her about the earrings she had stolen.
After all of that.
It was typical that his mind first went to the concern of where their money was going.
She rolled her eyes up at the greying sky, considering taking a leaf out of Inej's book and asking the saints for patience.
"Tell me you didn't waste our money on-"
"-i didn't pay for them!" She retorted as though it was blindingly obvious. Her scowl deepened at the thought, genuinely offended that he had suggested such a thing of her. "What kind of criminal do you take me for?"
It seemed through all of her frustrations the Snake had come out to play; Zhen was biting back the urge to burn the entire market to the ground the more time they spent there.
She was tired, her head hurt, she was dealing with bigoted, racist and sexist morons who's words affected her more than she would have liked to admit - they were running short on time trying at an impossible job, Kaz was getting on her nerves and -
- To top it all off, she had been tasked with finding a stupid goat!
She knew better than to let her anger get the better of her but she was run down after the last few days.
