The Apple of My Eye -Kaz Brekker (Complete)

Chapter One

NOTE OF AUTHOR: IMPORTANT - I noticed Chapter Six had not been postes, but stayed as a draft. I posted it and put it on its place. I'm sorry for that mistake, readers, I hope it won't happen again.

Six of Crows – CHAPTER 18

Kaz limped over to Inej, who was sitting alone with her legs crossed, sipping a cup of tea calmly.

"I want to show you something," he said, getting her attention.

"I'm well, thank you for asking," she said looking at him as if she had rolled her eyes. "How are you?"

"Splendid," he answered.

His leg had been hurting quite a bit, probably worsened by his state of constant stress and the fact that he couldn't receive letters from Laura, who most likely already knew about someone trying to kill Dirtyhands in the harbour if he knew her well. He knew that she would find a way to keep tabs on him since the moment he told her he had to leave.

He put his cane aside, face twisting in a mixture of physical pain and longing for Laura. He missed Jordan.

"Is your leg bad?"

"It's fine. Here," he said.

He spread Wylan's drawings of the prison sector between them. There were several – from up and from the side, since the prison elevation had a side view and a cross-section showing the building's floors stacked on top of one another.

"I've seen it," Inej said. "Six storeys up a chimney."

"Can you do it?" he asked.

Kaz thought for a moment of Laura in Inej's place. If Jordan hadn't gotten into the play, she would probably still be his spider and would probably the one doing Inej's job, but he knew that Inej was better than Laura in that – Laura had been a great archer and a great assassin, discreet needed, but Inej was agile and the best option for climbing six storeys.

"Is there another option?" she asked, eyebrows raising.

"No," he answered truthfully.

"So if I say I can't make that climb, will you tell Specht to turn the boat around and take us back to Katterdam?"

Don't tempt me, he thought.

"I'll find another option," he said. "I don't know what, but I'm not giving up that haul."

"You know I can do it, Kaz, and you know I'm not going to refuse. So... why ask?"

Because he knew that Inej was someone's daughter and would be someone's lover. If it had been Jordan, he would like someone to at least have asked her if she could, maybe she would be raised to not have to do all of those things.

"I want to make you know what you'll be dealing with and that you're studying the plans," he lied.

"Will there be a test?" she joked.

"Yes. If you fail, we will all end up stuck inside a Fjerdan prison."

She sipped her tea once more, humming in acknowledgment.

"And I'll end up dead," she said closing her eyes and resting her head on the hull behind her. "I'm worried about the escape route to the harbour. I don't like there's only one way out."

Kaz nodded. "Me neither," he answered, putting her bad leg to the side, stretching it a bit. "But that's why the Fjerdans built it that way."

She looked down.