Drowning (Kaz Brekker)

xviii - Accusations

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVEN'T SLEPT WITH HIM TOO?"

"What, Isamu? Ew! No. No, he's just a friend."

Kaz raised a brow. "You have friends in the Shu government?"

"I have friends everywhere."

They headed into the Church of Barter. The ambassadors of every country and left for their Embassies, likely awaiting clearance to head home. The Merchant Council had gathered on the auction stage to argue amongst themselves. Wylan, Jesper, Alys Van Eck and someone Asra guessed to be a maid were sat on the front pew, surrounded by stadwatch. Asra and Kaz arrived just in time to watch Van Eck be forced into a pair of handcuffs. He'd been frantic before, but now he was damn wild. He reminded Asra of a fish on a line as he thrashed and pulled against the flimsy metal.

Wylan stood to watch, muttering with Jesper. Alys reached for her son-in-law's hand - the son-in-law who was young enough to be her brother, easily - and the looked up at him with something akin to fear. Wylan started muttering something to her. His face was too bloodied for Asra to read his expression but she thought it was reasonable to assume it was something reassuring. Van Eck saw, then exploded.

"Get away from her." He spat as stadwatch dragged him down the steps of the stage. "Alys, don't listen to him. You're going to need to get Smeet to put up the funds for bail. Go to -"

"I don't think Alys will be able to help with that." Kaz said. All eyes turned to him, stood in the aisle, Asra at his side.

Van Eck's face twisted in a scowl, sweat gleaming on his face as he forced his spine to straighten in some semblance of dignity. "Brekker, you wretched little thug. Do you really think this is over? By this time tomorrow, I'll be out on bail and setting my reputation to rights. There's a way to connect you to the Rietveld fund and I will find it. I swear."

"By all means," Kaz said. "Swear. Make a solemn vow. I think we all know what your word is worth. But you may find your resources somewhat constrained. The custodian of your estate will be in charge of your funds. I'm not sure how much money Wylan plans to devote to your defense, or your bail for that matter."

Van Eck laughed, the sound jagged and  manic. "I wrote him out of my will as soon as Alys conceived. Wylan will never see a penny of my money."

A murmur rose within the Council. Van Eck may have been sane - an absolute bastard yes, but not insane - but fear and indignity made men foolish. Proud men especially. Asra doubted Kaz would have to lead Van Eck into any more of his traps. He'd throw himself down to hell just to prove Kaz wrong.

"Are you certain?" He asked all the same. "I'm sure Wylan told me you two had reconciled. Of course, that was before all this ugly business."

"My will is perfectly clear. There's a copy of it in -" and then he stopped dead, mid sentence, face going slack with horror as he whispered - "the safe."

The safe Kaz and Wylan had broken into themselves. Who knew what they'd taken and replaced it with? Who could prove it?

"There's another copy." Van Eck said. "My attorney -"

"Cornelis Smeet?" Kaz said. "Do you know if he breeds those watch dogs of his? Funny thing, when you train an animal to obey. Sometimes they get too easy to command. Better to keep them a little wild."

"No." Van Eck shook his head slowly, then shook himself free of the stadwatch holding him. He was shaking all over as he shouted to the church, guesturing wildly at Wylan. "You can't give this cretin control of my funds. Even if I'd wanted him to inherit, he's incompetent to do so. He can't read, can barely string a basic sentence together on a page. He's an idiot. A soft minded child."