Crooked Kingdom (6 page)

She was worse tonight. Either she'd run into trouble with Smeet or she'd simply overexerted herself. And yet, watching her, Matthias felt something in him ease. At least now she looked like Nina again, her brown hair in damp tangles, her eyes half-shut. Was it normal to be fascinated by the way someone slouched?

“Guess what we saw on our way out of the Lid?” she asked.

Jesper started digging through their food stores. “Two Shu warships sitting in the harbor.”

She threw a hairpin at him. “I was going to make them guess.”

“Shu?” asked Kuwei, returning to where he'd spread his notebooks over the table.

Nina nodded. “Cannons out, red flags flying.”

“I talked to Specht earlier,” said Kaz. “The embassies are full up with diplomats and soldiers. Zemeni, Kaelish, Ravkan.”

“You think they know about Kuwei?” Jesper asked.

“I think they know about
parem
,” said Kaz. “Rumors, at least. And there were plenty of interested parties at the Ice Court to pick up gossip about Kuwei's … liberation.” He turned his gaze on Matthias. “The Fjerdans are here too. They've got a whole contingent of
drüskelle
with them.”

Kuwei sighed mournfully, and Jesper plunked down next to him, giving him a nudge with his shoulder. “Isn't it nice to be wanted?”

Matthias said nothing. He did not like to think about the fact that his old friends, his old commander, might be only a few miles from them. He wasn't sorry for the things he'd done at the Ice Court, but that didn't mean he had made peace with them either.

Wylan reached for one of the crackers Jesper had dumped on the table. It was still disconcerting to see him and Kuwei in the same room. Nina's tailoring had been so successful that Matthias often had trouble telling them apart until they spoke. He wished one of them would do him the courtesy of wearing a hat.

“This is good for us,” said Kaz. “The Shu and the Fjerdans don't know where to start looking for Kuwei, and all those diplos making trouble at the Stadhall are going to create some nice noise to distract Van Eck.”

“What happened at Smeet's office?” Nina asked. “Did you find out where Van Eck is keeping her?”

“I have a pretty good idea. We strike tomorrow at midnight.”

“Is that enough time to prepare?” asked Wylan.

“It's all the time we have. We're not going to wait for an engraved invitation. What's your progress on the weevil?”

Jesper's brows shot up. “The weevil?”

Wylan removed a small vial from his coat and set it down on the table.

Matthias bent to peer at it. It looked like a bunch of pebbles. “That's a weevil?” He thought of weevils as pests that got into grain stores.

“Not a real weevil,” said Wylan. “It's a chemical weevil. It doesn't really have a name yet.”

“You've got to give it a name,” said Jesper. “How else will you call it to dinner?”

“Forget what it's called,” Kaz said. “What matters is that this little vial is going to eat Van Eck's bank accounts and his reputation.”

Wylan cleared his throat. “Possibly. The chemistry is complicated. I was hoping Kuwei would help.”

Nina said something to Kuwei in Shu. He shrugged and looked away, lip jutting out slightly. Whether it was the recent death of his father or the fact that he'd found himself stuck in a cemetery with a band of thieves, the boy had become increasingly sullen.

“Well?” Jesper prodded.

“I have other interests,” Kuwei replied.

Kaz's black gaze pinned Kuwei like the tip of a dagger. “I suggest rethinking your priorities.”

Jesper gave Kuwei another nudge. “That's Kaz's way of saying, ‘Help Wylan or I'll seal you up in one of these tombs and see how that suits your interests.'”

Matthias was no longer sure what the Shu boy understood or didn't, but apparently he'd received the message. Kuwei swallowed and nodded grudgingly.

“The power of negotiation,” Jesper said, and shoved a cracker in his mouth.

“Wylan—and the obliging Kuwei—will get the weevil working,” Kaz continued. “Once we have Inej, we can move on Van Eck's silos.”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Good thing this is all about getting our money and not about saving Inej. Definitely not about that.”

“If you don't care about money, Nina dear, call it by its other names.”

“
Kruge?
Scrub? Kaz's one true love?”

“Freedom, security, retribution.”

“You can't put a price on those things.”

“No? I bet Jesper can. It's the price of the lien on his father's farm.” The sharpshooter looked at the toes of his boots. “What about you, Wylan? Can you put a price on the chance to walk away from Ketterdam and live your own life? And Nina, I suspect you and your Fjerdan may want something more to subsist on than patriotism and longing glances. Inej might have a number in mind too. It's the price of a future, and it's Van Eck's turn to pay.”

Matthias was not fooled. Kaz always spoke logic, but that didn't mean he always told truth. “The Wraith's life is worth more than that,” said Matthias. “To all of us.”

“We get Inej. We get our money. It's as simple as that.”

“Simple as that,” said Nina. “Did you know I'm next in line for the Fjerdan throne? They call me Princess Ilse of Engelsberg.”

“There is no princess of Engelsberg,” said Matthias. “It's a fishing town.”

Nina shrugged. “If we're going to lie to ourselves, we might as well be grand about it.”

Kaz ignored her, spreading a map of the city over the table, and Matthias heard Wylan murmur to Jesper, “Why won't he just say he wants her back?”

“You've met Kaz, right?”

“But she's one of us.”

Jesper's brows rose again. “One of us? Does that mean she knows the secret handshake? Does that mean you're ready to get a tattoo?” He ran a finger up Wylan's forearm, and Wylan flushed a vibrant pink. Matthias couldn't help but sympathize with the boy. He knew what it was to be out of your depth, and he sometimes suspected they could forgo all of Kaz's planning and simply let Jesper and Nina flirt the entirety of Ketterdam into submission.

Wylan pulled his sleeve down self-consciously. “Inej is part of the crew.”

“Just don't push it.”

“Why not?”

“Because the practical thing would be for Kaz to auction Kuwei to the highest bidder and forget about Inej entirely.”

“He wouldn't—” Wylan broke off abruptly, doubt creeping over his features.

None of them really knew what Kaz would or wouldn't do. Sometimes Matthias wondered if even Kaz was sure.

“Okay, Kaz,” said Nina, slipping off her shoes and wiggling her toes. “Since this is about the almighty plan, how about you stop meditating over that map and tell us just what we're in for.”

“I want you focused on what we have to do tomorrow night. After that, you'll get all the information you want.”

“Really?” asked Nina, tugging at her corset. Pollen from one of the irises had scattered over her bare shoulder. Matthias had the overwhelming urge to brush it away with his lips.
It's probably poisonous
, he told himself sternly. Maybe he should take a walk.

“Van Eck promised us thirty million
kruge
,” said Kaz. “That's exactly what we're going to take. With another one million for interest, expenses, and just because we can.”

Wylan broke a cracker in two. “My father doesn't have thirty million
kruge
lying around. Even if you took all his assets together.”

“You should leave, then,” said Jesper. “We only associate with the disgraced heirs of the very
finest
fortunes.”

Kaz stretched his bad leg out, flexing his foot slightly. “If Van Eck had that kind of money on hand, we would have just robbed him instead of breaking into the Ice Court in the first place. He could only offer a reward that big because he claimed the Merchant Council was putting city funds toward it.”

“What about that chest full of bills he brought to Vellgeluk?” asked Jesper.

“Bunk,” said Kaz, disgust in his voice. “Probably quality counterfeits.”

“So then how do we get the money? Rob the city? Rob the Council?” Jesper sat up straighter, hands drumming eagerly on the table. “Hit twelve vaults in one night?”

Wylan shifted in his chair, and Matthias saw the disquiet in his expression. At least someone else in this band of miscreants was reluctant to keep committing crimes.

“No,” said Kaz. “We're going to make like merchers and let the market do the work for us.” He leaned back, gloved hands resting on his crow's head cane. “We're going to take Van Eck's money, and then we're going to take his reputation. We're going to make sure he can never do business in Ketterdam or anywhere in Kerch ever again.”

“And what happens to Kuwei?” asked Nina.

“Once the job is done, Kuwei—and any other convicts, Grisha, and disinherited youths who may or may not have prices on their heads—can lie low in the Southern Colonies.”

Jesper frowned. “Where will you be?”

“Right here. I've still got plenty of business that requires my attention.”

Though Kaz's tone was easy, Matthias heard the dark anticipation in his words. He had often wondered how people survived this city, but it was possible Ketterdam would not survive Kaz Brekker.

“Wait a minute,” said Nina. “I thought Kuwei was going to Ravka.”

“Why would you think that?”

“When you sold your Crow Club shares to Pekka Rollins, you asked him to send a message to the Ravkan capital. We all heard it.”

“I thought it was a request for aid,” said Matthias, “not an invitation to bargain.” They had never discussed giving Kuwei to Ravka.

Kaz considered them with some amusement. “It was neither. Let's just hope Rollins is as gullible as you two.”

“It was a decoy,” Nina moaned. “You were just keeping Rollins busy.”

“I wanted Pekka Rollins preoccupied. Hopefully, he has his people trying to chase down our Ravkan contacts. They should prove difficult to find, given that they don't exist.”

Kuwei cleared his throat. “I would prefer to go to Ravka.”

“I'd prefer a pair of sable-lined swimming trunks,” said Jesper. “But we can't always get what we want.”

A furrow appeared between Kuwei's brows. The limits to his understanding of Kerch had apparently been reached and surpassed.

“I would prefer to go to Ravka,” he repeated more firmly. Kaz's flat black gaze fastened on Kuwei and held. Kuwei squirmed nervously. “Why is he looking at me this way?”

“Kaz is wondering if he should keep you alive,” said Jesper. “Terrible for the nerves. I recommend deep breathing. Maybe a tonic.”

“Jesper, stop,” said Wylan.

“Both of you need to relax.” Jesper patted Kuwei's hand. “We're not going to let him put you in the ground.”

Kaz raised a brow. “Let's not make any promises just yet.”

“Come on, Kaz. We didn't go to all that trouble to save Kuwei just to make him worm food.”

“Why do you want to go to Ravka?” Nina asked, unable to hide her eagerness.

“We never agreed to that,” Matthias said. He did not want to argue about this, especially not with Nina. They were supposed to set Kuwei loose to live an anonymous life in Novyi Zem, not hand him over to Fjerda's greatest enemy.

Nina shrugged. “Maybe we need to rethink our options.”

Kuwei spoke slowly, choosing his words with care. “It's safer there. For Grisha. For me. I don't want to hide. I want to train.” Kuwei touched the notebooks in front of him. “My father's work can help find—” He hesitated, exchanged a few words with Nina. “An antidote for
parem
.”

Nina clasped her hands together, beaming.

Jesper tipped back farther in his chair. “I think Nina may be about to burst into song.”

An antidote.
Was that what Kuwei had been scribbling about in his notebooks? The prospect of something that might neutralize the powers of
parem
was appealing, and yet Matthias couldn't help but be wary. “To put this knowledge in the hands of one nation—” he began.

But Kuwei interrupted. “My father brought this drug into the world. Even without me, what I know, it will be made again.”

“You're saying someone else is going to solve the riddle of
parem
?” Matthias asked. Was there truly no hope this abomination could be contained?

“Sometimes scientific discoveries are like that,” said Wylan. “Once people know something is possible, the pace of new findings increases. After that, it's like trying to get a swarm of hornets back into their nest.”

“Do you really think an antidote is possible?” Nina asked.

“I don't know,” said Kuwei. “My father was a Fabrikator. I am just an Inferni.”

“You're our chemist, Wylan,” said Nina hopefully. “What do you think?”

Wylan shrugged. “Maybe. Not all poisons have an antidote.”

Jesper snorted. “That's why we call him Wylan Van Sunshine.”

“In Ravka, there are more talented Fabrikators,” Kuwei said. “They could help.”

Nina nodded emphatically. “It's true. Genya Safin knows poisons like no one else, and David Kostyk developed all kinds of new weapons for King Nikolai.” She glanced at Matthias. “And other things too! Nice things. Very peaceable.”

Matthias shook his head. “This isn't a decision to be made lightly.”

Kuwei's jaw set. “I would prefer to go to Ravka.”

“See?” said Nina.

“No, I do not,” said Matthias. “We can't just hand such a prize over to Ravka.”

“He's a person, not a prize, and he wants to go.”