Dirtyhands {Kaz Brekker X OC}

XVII

Yeah, I know you care
I see it in the way you stare
As if there was trouble ahead
And you knew it
I'll be saving myself from
The ruin
And I know you care
-Ellie Goulding-

-Jae-

We started to depart that same morning with the troop. Like Kaz had said, he didn't want to travel with us, so before we left, he called in a meeting to review what our plan would be once inside the Little Palace.

"I'll walk the route our target will take from the ballroom to the dinner event and look for an ambush point." He began.

"You should have one of us with you." I added knowing that he couldn't take his cane with him during this whole plan.

"I'll manage." His eyes locked on mine. "You can't blow your cover this early, and Jesper needs to plot our escape route." His eyes went back onto the map. "There is a gap in the schedule between events, so they may place her in a room here, away from the crowd, somewhere safe. This would be where they feel she's most protected and therefore, the best place to grab her. We just need to find a way in." He started wrapping up the map. "And have someone ready with a distraction to give us cover on our way out." He finished.

Somewhere along the line when we were boarding the large carriage, Kaz disappeared. He didn't tell any of us where he was going or how he was going to get in, but by now, I knew just to follow along.

After travelling for almost the entire day, towards the evening the carriage slowed to a stop, and I popped my head out the window. The troupe started stepping outside so Jesper, Inej, and I followed. Once out, we realized we were already at the Little Palace. There was a line of carriages outside the gates. We walked slowly alongside our carriage until it was our turn.

Marko passed the papers to the guard standing outside. "That one is our invitation to perform, signed by the Queen." He pointed at the papers proudly. The guard looked at him, then us who stood behind him.

"This writ allows you access to the grounds, the main ballroom and nowhere else. You are being employed by the Queen. You are not her guests." The guard announced. "You are to stay together as a group, at all times. No guns, no knives, no weapons of any kind." He reminded. I looked towards Jesper with a smirk. Yeah sure. "Punishment for violation of these rules ranges from being fired to being fired upon. Now, do we all understand these rules-"

"No!" A man grunted behind us. I turned to see guards pull him out from under a carriage.

"Oh, for Saints' sake." The guard that was talking to us walked towards the scuffle.

"The Sun Summoner! I just want to see her!" The man screamed struggling in the grip of the other guards.

"All right, that's enough." The main guard said. "Do we really need the entire corps for one man? Come on. The rest of you, post up now." He walked back and handed the papers back to Marko, letting us in. We didn't go back into the carriage instead just walked along with it inside.

We ended up being parked near the gardens outside the palace. I was going to head off with Inej to look around the Little Palace when Marko stopped us.

"You need to get changed into your outfits before you run off." He reminded. He immediately went inside and pulled out fabric, handing them to us. "And you..." He pointed at Inej. "I need you to work a bit on your routine, so after you change, come find me." Marko then walked off.

Inej turned to me. "Sorry, you can see the palace yourself perhaps and I'll join you later?" She suggested, walking off. I sighed, looking down at the outfit. I went into one of the changing stalls. I took off my comfortable clothes and pulled on the outfit. It was navy blue, with silver rhinestones glittering the edges. It was pretty tight, hugging closely to my body. The back was backless but had some straps as a design that connected to the front. Although there were pants, there was also a flowing fabric on the back. It was beautiful... a bit revealing... and really cold. I put my coat back on shivering. I stepped out and Marko gave me a little ticket to show that I was allowed in the Palace... at least the ballroom.