Tseren commits a crime a day for Kaz Brekker. Even talking to him could get her a stint in jail. Her Dreg tattoo, hidden by her servant uniform, could get her sent to Hellgate, with the wrong judge.
And yet, it's worth it. She knows it is. Brekker'...
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𝗧𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡 𝗟𝗘𝗙𝗧 the Slat before the sun could even begin to rise. She had to return to the Achterberg's before Maud woke, which always happened at sunrise. She liked to boast about being favored by Ghezen, who would rouse her with gentle rays of sunlight so that she may serve him all day.
All of the Achterberg's staff knew that Ghezen had no part in it.
Nonetheless, if Tseren wanted any sleep, she needed to hurry. She'd collected on the commissions she had managed to finish, and then left her fellow Dregs behind.
To get it back on to the Achterberg estate, Tseren needed to first make the trek across the city, to the Geldstraat, a street full of the wealthiest merchants and politicians in Ketterdam. Never a good sign for the atmosphere of a place.
Once she made it there, she would flip her hood up, and place her purple sculpted mask back onto her face. It was a good enough disguise—she looked like every other servant, if not a bit more pious—but she'd prefer not to be caught at all. She'd stick to the shadows, until she got the Achterberg's gate: tall and gold-plated, with a rectangle in the middle, just large enough for Tseren to fit through. It was supposed to be their symbol, the mirror that Tseren had tattooed on the back of her neck—turned into a means of escape. The symbolism was low-hanging fruit;Tseren didn't even deign to scoff.
Her room with Solongo, Einya, Aoife, and the Achterberg's female Heartrender, Eva, was on the very edge of the main house, first floor. Their female Etherialki would be wandering the grounds, on guard duty. Besides, they got separate dorms, behind the mansion, where it was harder to get access to the Achterberg's sleeping chambers.
It was simple enough to sneak past them. Tseren just had to focus until she could sense the motion of their particles and time her movements accordingly.
Once she'd done that, all she had to do was clamber up onto the first branch of a Ravkan Olive tree, hold aside its many leaves, and gently slide open the window into the Grisha room.
As she stepped softly onto the countertop underneath the window, she knew immediately she'd walked into an argument. Aoife and Solongo were both awake, resting on the edges of their beds. Einya was asleep in her bed near the door. At first glance, Eva was too, but upon closer inspection, Tseren could see the dim gleam of her eyes in the dark.
Aoife did not make her wait. "The Squaller dropped by an hour ago," she said, voice a furious whisper. "This is too dangerous. Solongo had the foresight to put pillows under your blanket, but next time you might not be so lucky!"
