My Dearest Inej

Chapter Sixteen: My Dearest Jailbird

Good morning, Sunshine!

If you are reading this, you are probably waking up alone and wondering where you are and how you got there. And your assumptions are correct – Wylan and I are indeed criminal masterminds who've drugged you and kidnapped you and sold you to the Shu. Now all of your suits are mine!

Yes, I'm joking. Don't kill me. In all of this mess, the one thing I've found amusing is thinking of how this must all be playing out from your perspective. You take a dog for a walk, you fall asleep on my couch, you wake up surrounded by Shu. Sorry about that. The real truth is you were poisoned, pretty badly. Inej says the Shu have the best hospitals and mediks – you're in Bhez Ju. And before you start complaining, we paid a lot of money to convince them to take you, so keep the whining to a minimum.

I know your Shu's a little rusty, but Wylan is with you. His Shu is also rusty, but between the two of you, hopefully you'll manage all right. As soon as you've got a clean bill of health (just physically speaking – no one's assessing your laundry list of mental problems, don't worry), Specht is prepared to bring you home.

That's the where of it all with a bit of the why. I imagine you have a lot more questions. Why were you poisoned, for example? Great question, Kaz. I think it's because you stabbed a twelve-year-old. Can you not do that again, please? It really pissed him off, and some old enemies happened to catch wind of it and then we had to fight them. Which enemies, you ask? Yes, with you, this statement does require some clarification; there are so many. The Haskells, Kaz. I know, your favorites.

They tried to seize control of the Dregs, but they had kind of banked on you dying. Thank the Saints you're stubborn in that department. Inej came back and handled it. Oh, you want to know how? I'll tell you how, but if you're going to be gross about how amazing she was, do it in private, all right?

Right. Let me set the scene. It was early morning in the warehouse district, sun coming up over the harbor. We hadn't slept in days. We'd whisked you to the coast to meet Specht just the morning prior, before sunrise. We'd pressured Wylan to go, too – it was unpleasant. There may have been tears. (Not mine, let's get that on the record right now.) And then Inej was orchestrating a massive takedown. Anika was delivering missives while pretending to look loyal to Haskell. (Whatever you're paying her, it's not enough.) The crew of the Wraith was assembling. Pistols, knives, explosives. We were all ready for the showdown of the decade.

(For you, Brekker. I hope you're picking up on this. You may be a bastard, but you're our bastard. No one else is allowed to poison you but us.)

Inej had brokered terms with Haskell, and they had agreed to meet in the warehouse district. Haskell wanted a gentlemen's duel – pistols at dawn – which was downright laughable given the cheating tactics he'd already shown willing to employ. But Inej was eager to make a show of his humiliation for any remaining holdouts.

I was nervous, I'll admit. Guns and bullets are my thing. I was not happy that she was acquiescing to Haskell's wishes – she's meant for knives. I'm learning, though, as I'm sure you are, that second-guessing Inej is a waste of energy.

And she assured me it wouldn't matter whether she won or lost, not with the attack she was strategizing with her crew. She and Anika were working out how to use them to take out every one of Haskell's snipers without word getting back to him. You know, the sneaky things Inej does best.

So, the morning of the duel arrives. Haskell and five of his associates stride in to the warehouse district, armed to the teeth in pistols and grenades. It feels very much my last morning in the world, and if Inej feels the same way, she doesn't look it. She's sharpened all of her knives all night until they're practically mirrors, hidden away in all of her limbs, and I loaned her one of my pistols (I think I cried over that).