Six of Crows (51 page)

“I can see that,” he said. “I like the look of a woman who enjoys herself.”

I’d enjoy choking you slowly
, she thought as she ran her fingers over his arm. Looking at Brum, she knew she didn’t just blame him for the things he’d done to her people; it was what he’d done to Matthias as well. He’d taken a brave, miserable boy and fed him on hate. He’d silenced Matthias’

conscience with prejudice and the promise of a divine calling that was probably nothing more than the wind moving through the branches of an ancient tree.

They reached the far side of the colonnade. With a start, she realised Brum had deliberately led her around the courtyard. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to bring a whore through a sacred space.
Hypocrite.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The treasury.”

“Are you going to woo me with jewels?”

“I didn’t think girls like you needed wooing. Isn’t that the point?”

Nina laughed. “Well, every girl likes a little attention.”

“Then that’s what you shall have. And the thrill you were seeking, too.”

Was it possible Yul-Bayur was in the treasury? Kaz had said he’d be in the most secure place in the Ice Court. That might mean the palace, but it might just as easily mean the treasury. Why not here? It was another circular structure wrought in glowing white stone, but the treasury had no windows, no whimsical decoration or dragon’s scales. It looked like a tomb. Instead of ordinary guards, two
drüskelle
stood watch by the heavy door.

Suddenly, the full weight of what she was doing hit her. She was alone with one of the deadliest men in Fjerda, a man who would gladly torture and murder her if he knew what she truly was. The plan had been to find someone to give her information on Bo Yul-Bayur ’s location, not to get cosy with the highest-ranking
drüskelle
on the White Island. Her eyes scanned the surrounding trees and paths, the hedge maze pushed up against the treasury’s east side, hoping to see some shadow move, to know that someone was there with her and that she wasn’t completely on her own. Kaz had sworn he could get her off this island, but Kaz’s first plan had gone to pieces – maybe this one would, too.

The soldiers didn’t blink as Nina and Brum passed, merely offered a tight salute. Brum pulled a chain from his neck; a strange circular disk hung from it. He slid the disk into a nearly invisible indentation in the door and gave it a turn. Nina eyed the lock warily. This might be beyond even Kaz Brekker ’s skill.

The barrel-vaulted entry was cold and bare, lit by the same harsh light as the Grisha cells in the prison wing. No gaslight, no candles. Nothing for Squallers or Inferni to manipulate.

She squinted. “Where are we?”

“The old treasury. The vault was moved years ago. This was converted into a laboratory.”

Laboratory.
The word formed a cold knot beneath Nina’s ribs. “Why?”

“Such an inquisitive little thing.”

I’m nearly as tall as you
, she thought.

“The treasury was already secure and well-positioned on the White Island, so it was a logical choice for such a facility.”

The words were innocuous, but that knot of fear tightened, a cold fist now, pressing against her chest. She matched Brum’s steps down the vaulted hall, past smooth white doors, each with a small glass window set into it.

“Here we are,” Brum said, stopping in front of a door that seemed identical to the others.

Nina peered through the glass. The cell was just like the ones on the top level of the prison, but the observation panel was on the other side – a large mirror that took up half of the opposite wall. Inside, she saw a young boy in a bedraggled blue
kefta
pacing restlessly, gabbling to himself, scratching at his arms. His eyes were hollows, his hair lank. He looked just like Nestor before he’d died.
Grisha
don’t get sick
, she thought. But this was a different kind of sickness.

“He doesn’t look very menacing.”

Brum moved up behind her. His breath brushed against her ear when he said, “Oh, believe me, he is.”

Nina’s skin crawled, but she made herself lean into him slightly. “What is he here for?”

“The future.”

Nina turned and laid her hands on his chest.

“Are there more?”

He blew out an impatient breath and led her to the next door. A girl lay on her side, her tangled hair covering her face. She was dressed in a dirty shift, and she had bruises all over her arms. Brum gave a sharp rap on the little window, startling Nina.

“Look alive,” Brum taunted, but the girl didn’t move. Brum’s finger hovered over a brass button embedded next to the window. “If you really want a show, I could press this button.”

“What does it do?”

“Beautiful things. Miraculous, really.”

Nina thought she knew; the button would dose the girl with
jurda parem
somehow. For Nina’s entertainment. She tugged Brum away. “It’s all right.”

“I thought you wanted to see a Grisha use her powers.”

“Oh, I do, but she doesn’t look like much fun. Are there more?”

“Close to thirty.”

Nina flinched. The Second Army had been nearly obliterated in Ravka’s civil war. She couldn’t bear to think that there were thirty Grisha here. “And are they all in that state?”

He shrugged and steered her down a corridor. “Some are better. Some are worse. If I find you a lively one, what will be my reward?”

“It would be easier to show you,” she purred.

Nina had had enough of seeing starving, frightened Grisha. She needed Yul-Bayur. Brum must know where he was. The treasury was nearly deserted. They hadn’t seen a single guard inside. If she could get Brum into an empty corridor far enough from the entrance that the guards couldn’t hear them … Could she torture a hardened
drüskelle
? Could she make him talk? She thought she just might be able to. She’d seal his nose, put pressure on his larynx. A few minutes gasping for breath might soften him up.

“Maybe we could find a quiet corner?” Nina suggested.

Brum preened, his chest puffing out. “This way,
dirre
,” he said using the Kaelish word for sweetheart.

He led her down a deserted hall, unlocking the door with his circular key.

“This should do,” he said with a bow. “A bit of privacy and a bit of charm.”

Nina winked and sashayed past him. She’d expected some kind of office or retiring room for the guards. But there was no desk, no cot. The room was completely bare – except for the drain at the centre of the floor.

She whirled in time to see the cell door slam shut.

“No!” she shouted, hands scrabbling over the surface of the door. It had no handle.

Brum’s face appeared in the window. His expression was smug, his eyes cold. “I may have exaggerated the charm, but there is plenty of privacy, Nina.”

She recoiled.

“That is your name, isn’t it?” he said. “Did you really think I wouldn’t recognise you? I remember your stubborn little face from the slaving ship, and we have files on every one of Ravka’s active Grisha. I make it my business to know them all – even the ones I hope have been swallowed by the sea.”

Nina lifted her hands.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Burst my eyes in their sockets. Crush my heart in my chest. That door won’t unlock, and in the time it takes you to tamper with my pulse, I’ll press this button.” She couldn’t see the brass button, but she could imagine his finger hovering over it. “Do you know what it does?

You’ve seen the effects of
jurda parem
. Would you like to feel them, too? It is effective as a powder, but even more so as a gas.”

Nina froze.

“Smart girl.” His grin lifted the hair on her arms.
I will not beg
, she told herself. But she knew she would. Once the drug was in her system, she wouldn’t be able to stop it. She took a breath of clean air.

A futile gesture, even childish, but she was determined to hold it as long as she could.

Then Brum paused. “No. This vengeance is not mine to take. There is someone else who owes you

so much more.” He vanished from the window and a moment later, Matthias’ face filled the glass. He looked back at her, his eyes hard.

“How?” Nina whispered, not even sure if they could hear her through the door.

“Did you really believe I’d turn against my nation?” Matthias’ voice was thick with disgust. “That I’d give up the cause I devoted my life to? I came to warn Brum as soon as I could.”

“But you said—”

“Country before self, Zenik. It’s something you’ve never understood.”

Nina pressed a hand to her mouth.

“I may never be
drüskelle
again,” he said. “I may live always with the charge of ‘slaver ’ around my neck, but I’ll find another way to serve Fjerda. And I’ll get to see you dosed with
jurda parem
. I’ll get to see you mow down your own kind and beg for the next fix. I’ll get to see you betray the people you love as you asked me to betray my own.”

“Matthias—”

He slammed his fist against the window. “Do not speak my name.” Then he smiled, a smile as cold and unforgiving as the northern sea. “Welcome to the Ice Court, Nina Zenik. Now our debt is paid.”

From somewhere outside, the bells of Black Protocol began to ring.

ELEVEN BELLS

“She’s beautiful,” Brum said, “in an exaggerated way. You were strong not to be lured by her.”

I
was
lured, though
, thought Matthias.
And it wasn’t just her beauty.

“The alarm—” Matthias said.

“Her compatriots, no doubt.”

“But—”

“Matthias, my men will take care of it. The Ice Court is secure.” He glanced back at Nina’s cell.

“We could press the button right now.”

“Won’t she be a threat?”

“We’ve combined the
jurda parem
with a sedative that makes them more biddable. We’re still working out the correct ratios, but we’ll get there. Besides¸ by the second dose, the addiction does the work of controlling them.”

“Not the first dose?”

“Depends on the Grisha.”

“How many times have you done this?”

Brum laughed. “I haven’t counted. But trust me, she’ll be so desperate for more
jurda parem
, she won’t dare act against us. It’s a remarkable transformation. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Matthias’ stomach clenched. “You’ve kept the scientist alive then?”

“He’s done his best to replicate the process of creating the drug, but it’s a complicated thing. Some batches work; others are no better than dust. As long as he can be of service, he lives.” Brum placed his hand on Matthias’ shoulder, his harsh gaze softening. “I can scarcely believe you’re really here, alive, standing before me. I thought you were dead.”

“I believed the same of you.”

“When I saw you in that ballroom, I barely recognised you, even in that uniform. You are so changed—”

“I had to let the witch tailor me.”

Brum’s revulsion was obvious. “You allowed her to—”

Somehow, seeing that response in someone else made Matthias ashamed of the way he’d reacted to Nina.

“It had to be done,” he said. “I needed her to believe I was committed to her cause.”

“That’s all over now, Matthias. You are finally safe and among your own kind.” Brum frowned.

“Something is troubling you.”

Matthias looked into the cell next to Nina’s, then another, and another, moving down the hall as Brum followed. Some of the captive Grisha were agitated, pacing. Others had their faces pressed up against the glass. Others simply lay on the floor. “You can’t have known about
parem
for more than a month. How long has this facility been here?”

“I had it built almost fifteen years ago with the blessing of the king and his council.”

Matthias drew up short. “Fifteen years? Why?”

“We needed somewhere to put the Grisha after the trials.”

“After? When Grisha are found guilty, they’re sentenced to death.”

Brum shrugged. “It is still a death sentence, just one a little longer in the making. We discovered long ago that the Grisha could prove a useful resource.”

A resource.
“You told me they were to be eradicated. That they were a blight on the natural world.”

“And they are – when they attempt to masquerade as men. They aren’t capable of right thinking, of human morality. They are meant to be controlled.”

“That’s why you wanted
parem
?” Matthias asked incredulously.

“We have tried our own methods for years with limited success.”

“But you’ve seen what
jurda parem
can do, what Grisha can do when in its grip—”

“A gun is not evil. Nor is a blade.
Jurda parem
ensures obedience. It makes Grisha what they were always meant to be.”