Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
THE ROOM KAZ TOOK THEM INTO WAS DAMP AND SMELLED OF DECAY. Lianna began wondering if that was a common trait for anything in the Barrel. Uptown, it smelled of rosariums and marble, everything was hard and cold and polished to perfection, sophisticated, overflowing with luxury. The Barrel was cold, but in a different way – nothing rich or desirable accopmanied its freezing air. In merchants' houses, the cold was a choice, it was distance and affluence. Down here, nothing was anybody's choice.
There were no windows in the room, and it was enitrely consumed by crimson veined with ebony, which only made the darkness stronger. Lianna was seated on a chair cross-legged, Jesper on the ground near her, his knees drawn up, Inej by his side. Wylan, a boy she was introduced to minutes ago, was scribbling something in his notes on the other side of the round table. His curls were strawberry blonde, face chubby and childish. Matthias of Fjerda was bounded to a chair in the corner of the room, Nina leaning against the wall next to him. Kaz stood in front of Matthias, one hand resting on the crow's head on the top of his cane as he proceeded to explain the details of their plan to the reluctant listener – the details Lianna had been just introduced to herself.
Jurda parem, Bo Yul-Bayur imprisoned in Fjerda, Grisha people abused by those who yearned for power; Kaz had told her about all those things with such nonchalance, she barely believed him. Judging by the bored looks the others' faces, they had heard the plan at least a few times already.
Everything was prompted by Jan Van Eck. Lianna heard that name rather frequently; the man was Thomas Ford's bussiness partner, and one of his greatest inspirations. Ford repeated the words Jan Van Eck's empire more often than he said good morning. Lianna was not a Ketterdam, its merchants or their obsession with money and gain enthusiast, but Jan Van Eck seemed a decent man. She didn't need his heart to be made of gold; she needed his four million kruge.
"Why couldn't you have told me this right away?" she had asked.
Kaz had only sized her up once, eyes as cold as ever. "Because you can't back out now."
After Nina woke Helvar up, Brekker had started talking again. Lianna sat silently, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her sleeve, impatience growing within her with each passing second. This story had gotten boring after the very first time she heard it. Matthias had never listened to the plan before, but paid little attention to the words leaving Kaz's mouth.
When Brekker finally finished, Matthias simply said, "No."
"Believe me when I say this, Helvar: I know getting knocked out and waking up in strange surroundings isn't the friendliest way to start a partnership, but you didn't give us many options, so try to open your mind to the possibilities."
"You could have come to me on your knees, and my answer would be the same."
"You do understand I can have you back at Hellgate in a matter of hours? Once poor Muzzen is in the infirmary, the switch will be easy."
