The Slat story

A deal you can't refuse

"I have a proposition" Inej told Kaz shifting where she was snuggled into his arms. He hummed, not bothering to move or even open his eyes. His leg was still aching aggressively from that nights fighting and running. Inej similarly didn't try to lean back from him in order to see his face, she knew he was listening anyways.

"What if you went with me, on this next trip." Kaz squeezed the hand that he held in hers, rubbing circles onto the back of her hand.

"I'm not one for the sea, Inej."
"You managed alright on the Ferolind. Besides, I think you'd make a very handsome pirate." Kaz burst out laughing, mostly out of shock and embarrassment. Inej grinned, listening to the sound and feeling the laughter rumble through Kaz's chest.

"I disagree. But you are a beautiful liar," He at last managed to bite out between the slowly dwindling laugh. She smiled all the same, turning to face him. He loosened his hold on her so she could.

"Kaz... come with me, sail the seas with me." He huffed, tilting his head. Inej pushed on, hoping to convince him. "We can dock, we can actually... be a couple. Able to be together outside of a locked door late at night." He smiled, reached out slowly and moved some hair that had been displaced back to where it belonged.

"My darling dearest, Inej, Treasure of my heart..."
"Now I know how Per Haskell felt when you called him sir."
"How's that feel?" Kaz asked with a quirked brow, Inej rolled her eyes at him.
"Concerned and disappointed." Kaz smirked at that, shaking his head and returning to what he was saying previously.
"I would go anywhere with you, even if you were insane enough to want to spend the rest of your life climbing mountains in Fjerda, I would follow you. But I can't right now. "

Inej rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not going to Fjerda" she told him, running her hand through his hair, letting him see what she was going to do before she did it. Kaz closed his eyes.
"No, you're not."
"So... what's stopping you from leaving this place?"

He shrugged "Being a barrel boss is hard."
"All the more reason to leave it behind Kaz," he huffed, growing stiff. She continued, "They don't care about you. You risk too much for them, for this small piece of pride."

"I'm not ready to leave it..." the words were sharp, defensive and raw. Inej stopped pushing the topic and they both lay there in regretful silence.

"Sorry," she murmured.
"You're right, Inej." He sighed, pulling her closer and burying his face into her shoulder. Sorry. Forgive me. He voiced it in his own way, Inej's heart melted at the action, at his warm touch. He rasped softly by her ear "Don't apologize, we both know it's true. But I just. . . I grew up here. This is the only home I've had for a while, it's who I've grown to become... I'm not willing to let go of the power I struggled for so long to obtain. Who am I, that part of me, if I'm no longer the Bastard of the barrel?"

Silence answered his question as he loosened his hold and returned to where he was resting before. Staring up at the ceiling, expression distant and thoughtful. Pained. Inej felt a need to rectify that. To take that pain away. He had suffered in silence for too long. She would not allow him to do so when they laid so close to one another.

"You were still the deadliest boy in Ketterdam when you broke into the Ice Court. You are still the treasure of my heart when you're leagues away from me. You are still Dirtyhands even if you leave Ketterdam behind. I am not asking you to change who you are. You would never ask me to drop what makes me dangerous, nor will I do that to you. It's how we protect ourselves Kaz, we wouldn't be who we are without our dark sides. But those sides, they aren't beholden to location."

Kaz's arms tightened, pulling her to him. Holding her. She buried her face in the crook of his neck.
"Run away with me," she whispered against him.

"Soon." He replied, softly running his hand through her hair.
She lifted her head to look into his eyes, light glimmering playfully in them. "Tomorrow?"
"Not that soon." He huffed a laugh. Inej kissed his lips briefly.

"You sure?"
"Don't tease me." Kaz growled, but all malice had been taken from his tone. Inej smirked and kissed him again for good measure. Kaz kissed her back, a soft, slow kiss. Unhurried, unbothered, full of love.

"When, Kaz?" She asked against his lips, he sighed and drew back.

"I want to burn this down first." Inej furrowed her brows and Kaz waved his hand at the area. "The Dregs. Anika has no real ambition to run the Dregs, and I couldn't bare to leave my kingdom to be overrun. That leaves me one choice."

"What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure yet." Inej rested her head on his chest and hummed. Thinking.

"Soon." Inej repeated. Kaz nodded.
"What about... the next time I return? Think you could be ready to leave by then?"
"Hmm... I could be."
"Anyway I could help?"
"You could kiss me again." Inej laughed, and Kaz grinned at her like he had just won thirty thousand Kruge.

Maybe he won something more than that.

It started to rain outside their window. Inej found she didn't particularly care about the weather as she snuggled against Kaz's side. The demons were away tonight, their grip had been weakening for years now. They both bared the scars of that death grip fear held.

But that was okay. They were never perfect, or normal. They wouldn't ever be. And as Inej Kissed Kaz, wishing him goodnight for the last night she would spend in his arms that month, she found her heart was light and content. Despite the scars. Maybe even because of them, she had found her equal.

She thanked the saints to have ever met the Bastard of the Barrel, and that they had struck the most perfect deal.

That she could help him, and that he could help her. One heart in exchange for the other.