𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ━━ Kaz Brekker

𝐗𝐕.

CHAPTER XV.
devils hide behind redemption

"There you are."

It was just shy of noon and the weather was already sinister. Leia had rudely awoken to some abhorrent creature who found it their life's purpose to hurl loud enough for the entire Slat to hear. Three times, three, in the past hour alone. Rubbing her sleep-deprived face, she plopped in the seat opposite Kaz and propped her feet up high on his desk.

"Be careful of my darling," he grumbled, deciding she was worth no greetings and snatched his fine vase out of her range. Carefully placing his darling treasure elsewhere she cannot reach. The clock handle had just struck eleven and Kaz's standoffish mood was already too much of a chore to deal with.

She groggily took in his wrinkled dress shirt, following the line of opened buttons that revealed the pale skin of his chest. His dark hair was uncharacteristically a mess. All signs of another all-nighter.

"You need to rest."

Kaz sulked. "And I need someone to not mess up the clearance paperwork for the berth. But we can't have what our hearts contend, can we?"

She was talking to a wall. Even if nobody messed up the Fifth Harbour, he'd still find something to nitpick. Kaz Brekker would never rest in this economy.

"Hm. Remember that consulting firm we passed by, the one that was hiring?" Kaz hummed dismissively, thoroughly engrossed with his documents. "There were so many people that they started smashing in the windows of the stalls around them because it was taking too long."

Kaz didn't miss a beat whilst tearing a document into two. "That's Pekka's area."

"He was useless in defusing the situation. Someone slapped him."

That certainly earned Kaz's attention, a tiny glint in his eyes now visible. His dark eye circles looked worse under the natural light, and the aftereffects of two days without sleep were starting to show as he dangerously waved an ink pen in her face. "Amazing, I think you made my day."

"I bet," she returned sarcastically.

Kaz grinned, giving his full attention to all things Pekka. Sometimes she wondered who hated Pekka more between the two of them. "That's bound to lessen people's trust in the Dime Lions. What good is it to pay protection fees to someone who can't even protect themselves?"

Outside, another wave of dry heaving followed. Leia shuddered at the sheer intensity of it. It sounded like someone's chest was caving in from how hard they choked.

"Times are tough, people are antsy. Public opinion is fragile in times like these. It's a good time to strike," she tried.

Kaz rejected without so much as an explanation. Irritation overtook the last of the sleepiness left in her. His walls were getting harder and harder to climb. She didn't even know a thing about what he did in Wandering Isle yesterday.