The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

20. Kaz

The next few days went by in a blur. Work was streaming in left, right and centre, and Kaz barely had time to sleep before he got word of a rogue Barrel boss, or a band of stadwatch officers hunting Barrel rats. The chaos of the Exchange had shifted something in the Barrel; most gangs stayed low, skulking in the shadows, taking down empires in the blink of an eye, but Scales had a whole new way of things. They could sneak into enemy gangs, recruit the most trusted members and tear down a gang from the inside. The Dregs, and everyone else, would have to change their ways to keep up.

Rumours were spreading like wildfire, just to add to Kaz's problems. There were stories of the great Scales and how he had nearly obliterated the Dregs in one night, but there was an opposing story; one about a certain Crow that has managed to diffuse a Grisha bomb.

Even though Kaz couldn't help feeling a smidge of pride that Wylan was that talented, the rumour would never bode well in the long run. If Scales thought Wylan was a true threat (which he most certainly was!) they probably wouldn't hesitate to steal him as well, or, better yet, kill him. And other gangs would also be following as well, including the Dime Lions.

And what if Van Eck heard about this? The Merchant Council had definitely heard about the scrape at the Exchange, but had chosen not to act against it. And Kaz knew why. It was obvious why when Inej had returned to the Exchange the next day to find all remains of the Grisha bomb missing.

Kaz highly doubted Van Eck would be able to recognise his disgraced son just by a diffused bomb, but he was still on edge about the whole affair. How far was he willing to go to have Wylan killed? How deep did Wylan's endless years of pain and torture go?

That was another thing that had annoyingly been playing on his mind. Kaz still hadn't been to visit Wylan.

"What are you so afraid of? That you'll actually appreciate that he saved our lives?" Inej had pushed. Kaz had merely not said anything. Inej and Nina had been doing what Kaz could only call spoiling Wylan; visiting him everyday, bringing him food and some of his work to fiddle around with, making each other roar with laughter which tortured Kaz as he stood outside the doorway.

Kaz didn't know why he found it so difficult to visit him. Was it the fact that, for once in his life, he owed someone his life without them asking for anything in return? Was it that Wylan's sudden bravery had shocked him to his core? Was it that he couldn't face him after seeing his scars? No. That definitely wasn't it. Was it? Even Matthias had been to visit. Kaz was the only one left. Apart from Jesper.

As hard as he tried Kaz couldn't explain Jesper's reluctance. The boy had seemed head over heels with Wylan, and was willing to be hanged just to defend him. So what was with his absence?

It clearly annoyed Nina and Inej as well, since they spent half their day with Wylan and the other half looking for Jesper. But Jesper disappeared most of the day, and where to, Kaz didn't know. He had been worried for a while that Jesper was plotting against Van Eck, but Inej seemed to trust him, and that was enough.

"That's it, Brekker," Nina announced one afternoon when she saw Kaz upright at his desk, shuffling through files. Kaz sighed. Who had let her into his room? Inej appeared beside her. Oh. Great.

"And how may I help you, Zenik?" He mocked, not bothering to look up.

"You are going to go in there and you are going to thank Wylan for saving your ass, whether you like it or not!"

Kaz finally looked up to deliver a withering glare to Nina. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"You have been 'busy' for the last four days, whilst Wylan has been in pain as he tries to heal. Are you really so heartless that you can't spend a moment of your 'precious time' to visit him?" She countered.