It's Only a Matter of Time

Chapter 5

Speaking of Nina, Inej couldn't seem to be able to find her. But maybe that was for the better. At least one of them was fitting in.

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Surprisingly, it didn't take long for Inej to start fitting in. Usually, she would have trouble working in new spots, mostly because of her constant worries about getting fired and losing her only income, which she depended upon for renting out a small room in a hotel nearby to the school.

In this instance, however, both her problems - both monetary and living - were solved in one go by none other than Kaz Brekker. He became a guardian angel of sorts to Inej (if guardian angels could be strict and cold and barely ever talk to the people under their protection), providing her both with a well-paying waitressing job and offering a room on the upper floors of the Crow Club.

He also made sure to assure Inej that she'd be safe here and could live without fear of any 'men with shady intentions'. Well, Inej assumed he had said something like that, since the message itself was delivered by Jesper, and was given with much more colorful words than anyone Inej knew could think to use, let alone Kaz.

So she'd settled in well. The room itself was small, but was furnished cozily and was overall much better than the previous room Inej had occupied. There was no smell of fish from the seafood shop downstairs, since there wasn't one here, and there were more blankets in the wardrobe in case Inej got cold.The other workers of the Crow Club didn't disappoint as well. They were all young, like the visitors, and therefore quite and very chatty. In her first day, Inej got introduced to so many people she could barely keep all their names in her head, let alone all the gossip they told her a few hours later.

Inej learned why Jesper looked so longingly at the card table, and who the cook thought might be his soulmate, as well as a dozen versions of why Kaz wore gloves and never took them off. The rumors about the owner of the building were very sparse, and whispered quietly. Nobody wanted to offend him, but plenty wanted to just know more.

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After a few weeks of working, Inej had learned that it was mostly Jesper who supplied the rumor mills about Kaz, and that Kaz either didn't know (which was unlikely, as he seemed to know everything that happened in the Crow Club minutes after it did) or knew but cared little enough to do nothing about it.

She had also heard hundreds of theories on the soulmate status of everyone who worked in the Crow Club. Most of the workers wore their timers uncovered, and some had even found their loves. 

Matty, the cook, was often visited by her wife Violet, who was a baker and brought exquisite pastries each time she came over. This was mostly the reason why everybody loved her and around her, the rules about visitors during working hours seemed to bend.

Soulmates generally seemed to be an adored topic here, as every day, Inej would hear about somebody else whose soulmate timer had run out. 

Each time this came up, her hand would involuntarily reach up to tug at the scarf tied around her wrist.

Each time, it would remind her of her own mysteriously-run out soulmate timer, and of the fact that she had had it say 00:00 for years, and still hadn't found her one and only. 

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Inej adjusted to this new life quickly, attending school on weekdays and working when she got out. It became a familiar routine, and she found herself liking it much more than her old job at the library cafe.

Tante Heleen had raised a few waves about Inej being an irresponsible worker and slacking off after she'd left, but Kaz (being Inej's current employer) had ignored all those claims outright. He hadn't even bothered fighting with Tante Heleen on the topic, instead listening to all she had to say and then leaving without a word. 

She had tried to catch him alone after that, to thank him for all he'd done, but each time she came close, he muttered something about being busy and slipped away. She had let him go each time, but with every time it happened, her curiosity had grown. There HAD to be a reason why Kaz Brekker, a person respected if not feared by everyone in this establishment, avoided little Inej Ghafa like the plague.

And there was one person other than Kaz who knew this reason: his right hand and seemingly best friend, the ever-smiling Jesper Fahey.