sinner saint ━ six of crows

VI

          KAZ BREKKER'S WAY of revealing vital information was growing to be quite amusing to Svetlana.

His revelations of Wylan's identity caused various reactions to sprout across the room; Jesper was laughing, Inej was not surprised, Nina was annoyed, Matthias was confused, Kaz was utterly pleased with himself, and Wylan was beetroot red in the face.

She could see the resemblance now, Wylan shared little features with his father, but the red hair and blue eyes weren't from him. His jaw flexed, his lips stuttered, then he said, "You knew?"

Kaz smirked and leaned back in his chair, "Why do you think I've been keeping you around?"

"I'm good at demo."

"You're passable at demo. You're excellent at hostage."

"He's not really a hostage if he's here by sheer will, now, is it?" Svetlana quipped. She felt bad for the boy, but from what she gathered from Kaz these past few hours, he's been roughly shaped by the Barrel, and the Barrel wasn't merciful. She wouldn't have put it past him to keep a rich man's son on hold until he came of use.

"It doesn't matter," said Jesper. "We should still take Raske and leave this baby merch on lockdown in Ketterdam."

"I don't trust Raske."

Jesper sent him a ridiculed stare, "And you trust Wylan Van Eck?"

"Wylan doesn't know enough people to cause us real trouble."

"You lot are being quite mean," Svetlana muttered but otherwise kept quiet as they continued their spat.

"I agree with her, and don't I have some say in this?" complained Wylan. "I'm sitting right here."

Kaz raised a brow. "Ever had your pocket picked, Wylan?"

"I ... not that I know of."

"Been mugged in an alley?"

"No."

"Hung over the side of a bridge with your head in the canal?"

Wylan blinked. "No, but—"

"Ever been beaten until you can't walk?"

"No."

Svetlana grimaced with every sentence that came out of Kaz's mouth. She realized she had nearly forgotten how harsh the Barrel could be. She hasn't been here in years, the softness of Ravka made her forget the cruelty of Ketterdam.

"Why do you think that is?"

"I—"

"It's been three months since you left your daddy's mansion on the Geldstraat. Why do you suppose your sojourn in the Barrel has been so blessed?"

"Lucky, I guess?" Wylan muttered, his voice low as he pushed himself deeper into his coat, trying to disappear.

Jesper snorted. "Kaz is your luck, merchling. He's had you under Dregs protection – though you're so useless, up until this minute none of us could figure out why."

"It was perplexing," Nina admitted.

"Kaz always has his reasons," murmured Inej.

"Why did you move out of your father 's house?" Jesper asked. Brows furrowed and eyes glaring, wondering why on earth someone who could have lived comfortably rich decided that the dirty streets of Ketterdam were a better fit.

"It was time," Wylan said, lips tight and eyes fixated on the floor of the gambling room.

"Idealist? Romantic? Revolutionary?"