Inej was perched on the windowsill of the top floor room in the Slat, Kaz's top floor room in the Slat. Gazing out onto the street, she counted the second until he would return to find her there. She didn't know where he'd gone or when he would come back.
It could be hours, really. Inej was patient though, and she could wait.
She had waited three days for The Wraith to arrive in Ketterdam, and then however long it took to dock and get all of her crew situated back on land.
We shouldn't even be in this town, Kaz. Neither of us can be happy here.
I'd sail away before I have to watch you die here. So give me reason to stay and don't say no.
Kaz always wore the chain around his throat now, the piece of paper where she'd wrote 'I'll wait for you'. There was a key on the chain to the drawer in his desk where he kept a picture of them in a frame. He'd asked her to take it with her, but she insisted he keep it. Just please still be here when I come back, she prayed.
The last day they had spent together had been so nice. He'd laughed like a child, and she had sung like no one cared. And no one did, really. It was just the two of them, alone in each other. There was no one to be and no one to tell.
Inej could have seen that view a hundred times. Kaz's eyes weren't cold, but reflective of the warmth she felt when they could just be together like this. He kept the note from the locket in his pocket sometimes, and brought it everywhere with him since she gave it to him. Kaz never told her this of course, but Inej was the Wraith and she knew. There was a heart on his sleeve and she took it with her when she left. She held it for him and he always got it back when he saw her again.
Inej's head snapped to the door as she heard his uneven steps coming up the stairs. The rhythmic thunk of his cane told her it had been a bad night.
The door swung open and though Kaz didn't show it, she could tell he was surprised to see her. Not a good kind of surprise. What had happened?
"Inej, you need to run."
"Why, what's wrong?" Kaz handed her an envelope that had been opened previously. She took it, careful not to touch him even though he was wearing his gloves. Inej's eyes scanned the letter her heart sinking with every word.
"Tante Heleen is trying to have you arrested on charges of slaving, theft of an indenture, and rape? What in Saints name has been happening while I've been gone? It hasn't even been a whole month!"
"There was one for you, too." Kaz pulled another envelope out of his desk drawer and handed it to her. The blue peacock feather seal was broken on this one as well.
Heleen Van Houden claimed that Inej had not finished her contract when she had left the Menagerie to slum it with Kaz Brekker, and that the payment Kaz had made to free her was false. Inej owed Heleen five million kruge to make up for the missed five years of work and Kaz had to pay over ten million in compensation. If they didn't pay up or show up by the end of the month, the stadwatch and whole Merchant Council would get involved.
The letter Heleen had sent to Kaz was a warning, saying that if he did not return Inej by the end of the month, she would have him tried for keeping Inej as a slave, stealing Inej in the first place, and rape, as Heleen could see no other reason for why he would have stolen a girl from a brothel.
Inej stood up, anger coursing through her. It had been five years, and now that Heleen couldn't find another Suli girl, she wanted Inej back. She wanted a lynx and she wanted revenge for when Inej had stolen her six million kruge diamond necklace at the Ice Court.
