Our Fractured Souls | Kaz Brekker

[11]

11

Viktorya

Viktorya crossed her arms in front of her and watched the room closely. She still didn't trust Matthias for a lick of salt. Not after what he'd pulled in Hellgate, attacking Nina, and repeatedly trying, and failing, to escape. She kept a hawk's watch on the Fjerdan lump of muscle.

"We're done here." Kaz told them. "I'll send word for each of you after I find us a ship, but be ready to sail by tomorrow night."

"So soon?" Inej asked.

Her sister chimed in agreement. "Yes, why so soon?" a stark brow raising against her caramel skin.

"We don't know what weather we'll hit, and there's a long journey ahead of us. Hringkalla is our best shot at Bo Yul-Bayur and I'm not going to risk losing it." There was that determination that was so fundamentally Kaz that Viktorya couldn't help the grin that spread across her lips.

She also knew their infallible leader needed time to think through the mess of plans forming each second in that head of his. Vik knew he could see the basics -- where they would enter, how they would leave. But it was what happened between those points that really mattered, and perhaps the plan he was cooking up would mean they couldn't bring very much with them. If that was the case, then they'd be operating without their usual resources. That would mean more variables and alot more chances for things to go wrong.

Viktorya could nearly see the cogs turning in his skull.

What were they going to do?

They were eight- well seven excluding the Fjerdan, criminal prodigies.

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter unable to walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

Two sister spies who were nearly living ghosts.

A former soldier turned assassin and seductress.

And a thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Eight dangerous outcasts. With one impossible mission.

Kaz Brekker's crew was the only thing that might possibly stand in between the world and destruction -- if none of them killed each other first.

Would they make it? Or would they ultimately kill each other before they even set foot on Fjerdan soil? Viktorya was almost a hundred-percent sure Nina and her druskelle would be dead before they left the city.

But truly, only the saints knew.

Keeping Wylan around meant Kaz could at least make sure they got their reward. But the road there was definitely not going to be easy. Vik was beginning to understand why Kaz had given her the option to deny this job. It seemed like it was impossible, with death or danger lurking at every corner.

But Viktorya wasn't one to back away from a challenge so easily. And neither was he.

Unfortunately, they weren't even out of Ketterdam yet, and Wylan already seemed completely out of his depth. He wasn't much younger than any of them, but somehow he looked like a child, smooth-skinned, wide eyed and baby-faced. Like a silk-eared puppy in a room full of fighting dogs.

"Keep Wylan out of trouble." Viktorya took it upon herself to order Jesper.

The lanky gunslinger gaped at her and sputtered. "What- why me?"