𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒅 || 𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐗 𝐎𝐂

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒀𝒐𝒖

Emris POV

My eyes fly open in fear. I bolt upright and I groan in pain as my side aches. Pain rips through my side as I look down. A bandage has been tied around my waist. I peel away the wrapping and see my stab wound has been stitched closed. I look behind me and see Inej.

"Careful you'll rip your stitches," Inej says calmly. Her hand directs me to lay back down with my head in her lap.

"Where am I?" I ask Inej.

"You're at the Slat. You came after being stabbed, do you remember?" I rack my brain and the memories come back.

"Rollins!" I exclaim.

"What about Rollins, Blade?" Kaz asks, coming from his room. I remember my hallucination. Rollins must have poisoned the blade.

"He knows about the heist." I slap my hands over my face. "I told him everything." Nina kneels beside me and gently strokes my arms and I feel my heart rate slow.

"What happened, Emris," Inej asks me calmly.

"I had an Anonymous meeting in my office. Rollins came in asking about the Ice Court heist. When I refused he had someone stab me from behind. I think he poisoned the blade, I had hallucinations." I grind my teeth in hatred. "I told him you were leaving for the Ice Court in three weeks. He knows I'm working with you." I look at Kaz as he bunches his brow and scowls.

"Scheming face?" Inej asks.

"Definitely," Jesper says, entering the room with Matthias and Wylan. "My favorite blades awake," Jesper exclaims.

"I'm the only Blade you know."

"Nah I know all Inej's blades too." Jesper begins listing the names of all inej's knives.

"Kaz I think he knows about what's going in with Parem." Everyone silences and Kaz looks up from his thoughts.

"How do you know?" Kaz questions me.

"He didn't ask any more details. Which he easily could have, with that poison in my blood he probably could have coaxed anything he wanted from me." I shiver at the thought of how many angry clients I would have. Kaz hums in agreement

"But how would he know?" Kaz seems to ask himself.

"He got hired too," I conclude. "So VanEk's running a double game."

"Probably trying to get us to kill each other off for the merchant council," Wylan says.

"He's your dad. You would know." I say. Everyone looks at me in shock but Kaz. "Oops. Though that was common knowledge."

"That's your dad?" Jesper yells. "That explains a lot." I laugh and Wylan glares at Jesper. I wince as my laughs tug at my stitches.

"We need to leave sooner rather than later," Kaz says, going over to his stacks of paper on his desk. "Emris, how fast can you get us a ship?"

"Give me two days."

"You have one and a half," Kaz says. "We're wasting daylight," Kaz says as he looks at the rising sun.

"Kaz, Emris is in no condition to walk. Let alone go on a heist." Inej argues.

"I'm not staying here," I state.

"Oh, now you want to come?" Kaz interrupts.

"Yes."

"Then get my ship and we'll see about having you on that manifest."

"There won't be any manifest if I don't get you a ship, Brekker." I bite back a wince as I sit up and stand. "How about a day and I'm on that ship." I put my hand out.

He looks at my hand and firmly shakes it, again fighting tremors. I grin and strut from the room. The stairs aren't the best idea with a literal stitch in your side. I bite my lip down as I keep back the pain.

I make it back home and change the now bleeding bandages. I phone a friend. After a few rings, she picks up.

"Hello?" Holly asks.

"Hey Holly, it's Emris."

"Oh, how are you," Holly says excitedly.

"I'm good how are you." Enough of the pleasantries already.

"Good, good. What is it you need?"

"I was wondering if you had a ship I could rent for a few months."

"Yes of course. Let me see we have the gentia, tapi, ferolind, and Greta." Holly says.

"How big is their ferolind?" I ask.

"Big enough for a few month trip around the world."

"Good I'll take that one. I need it in the fifth harbor waiting tonight."

"Ooh. That's tight but for you, Emris, anything is possible."

"Thank you, Holly." I smile and leave a note for the next guard change. I exit my room and see that the body has been removed and any blood has been cleaned. "Saints bless my crew." I smile and bound downstairs.

My joy quickly vanishes when I realize I'll be on another ship. Great. I sigh and continue down the stairs. I get a shot from the bartender and relish in the burning liquid. I order a few bottles and I find a crate and put the bottles between thin blankets. I carry the crate to the Slat. I climb the stairs with my elbow in my side. Kaz leans over his desk. I set the crate down next to him and smile.

"Stocking up?" He asks, absentmindedly.

"Yep," I lean on the desk with my back to it. "I've got good news." I offer.

"Yes?"

"I got the ship. It's waiting in the harbor." I smile and bite my lip.

"Good." He replies.

"Where are the others?" I ask.

"Gathering supplies."

"What are you doing?" I inquire.

"Readying more supplies to load on the ship tonight."

"Shouldn't you have done that earlier?"

"Yesterday we still had about a month. Now we have hours."

"Sounds like an excuse," I smirk. Kaz only glares at me.

"Yeah, it's the truth."

"Sometimes the truth is an excuse, right?" I tease. Kaz hummus in response. A minute of silence passes with Kaz reading and me watching his facial features.

"Thank you," I mutter. Kaz looks up and his coffee-brown eyes bore into mine.

"For what?"

"Keeping me alive."

"Nina did that."

"Not just last night. My whole life here." I swallow hard, allowing the words to fall out. "You've kept me from death. You were my first paying customer. And you're my age." I laugh but Kaz only stares at me. "Thank you." When Kaz only looks at me I sigh and decide to head down to the harbor. "Don't be late, Brekker."

Word Count: 1075