INIQUITY- kaz brekker

Two

Zusak was a name with a meaning.

It meant intelligence, hunger, zeal and unbreakable. Unbreakable. Pekka Rollins had taken one look at the child left on his doorstep and decided she who she was before she could even talk to object to it.

It meant she had an unbreakable spirit but Pekka didn't want that to be an advantage, he wanted it to be a warning. He wanted to warn Iris that he would break that spirit day by day because there was no place for a hoper in Ketterdam.

~~~~

Kaz was brooding.

He regretted speaking to Inej so harshly, she was a powerful investment and he didn't like the thought of loosing her. She was his investment after all. A scuffling was heard from the depths of his room and he turned, hoping to make amends. "Inej! Listen, I..."

Heavy footsteps approached and Voront and another of Pekka's men, Dreykov entered, seething with vengeance.

Kaz gritted his teeth. How could he have been so idiotic? Jabbing his cane harshly as Dreykov's gut, he pushed the man backwards before swinging the incredulous thing towards Voront who quickly caught it, slamming it down to the ground. From behind the curtain Iris marvelled at how it stayed intact, must have been Fabrikator made she thought.

Voront swiped the cane from Kaz's grasp and slammed his head down on the table before wrangling his hands behind his back and holding the boy down.

"Showtime", Iris whispered with a grin.

"Evening", Pekka drawled as Iris followed him, arms folded over her chest.

"Mr. Brekker, is it?"

"You're a long way from home", Kaz growled before glancing his eyes up to a familiar face. Iris winked at the boy and Kaz wrenched himself failingly from Voront's harsh grip. He felt a repulsion at the contact, his insides churning and his vision clouding as he held his breath praying to whatever Saint there could be that this would be over soon.

"Am I? Like you were earlier? When you took a Grisha from the Orchid"

"The Orchid isn't Dime Lions turf", Kaz growled again, casting the darkest glare Iris had even seen. She thought the boys eyes were about to pop out with anger.

"Well, it's a new acquisition. Hmm. You heard it here first"

"Now", Pekka spoke dangerously, picking up the cane and weighing it in his hands,

Kaz grunted and struggled in the grip of Voront. Iris noticed the discomfort the boy felt, it was a look she'd felt before. The trauma, that night, the flashing lights that swarmed her brain like bees out for vengeance, crying and screaming that she was a traitor, a murderer, keeling over at the contact, retching from the blows she'd been dealt.

"Hands off Voront don't get too excited", she spoke dangerously. The man glared at her but moved his grip to Kaz's shirt instead of his chest. A little tension was eased.

"Now, I know you saw Dreesen. You got the jump on whatever job he has. I don't know the details, obviously, just that you have a little travel hazard ahead of you"

Iris scoffed. The Fold? A little travel hazard? It was a thing of torment, eternal suffering for those who braved it and life cut short for those who didn't survive it. Yet like mosquitoes to the light, people were attracted to it, attracted to the curse, the bañe, the burden, believing that they were the one who could survive it when no one else could. The bravest of men, or the stupidest, believed they could be the one to tear it down. Facing volcra with brandished swords, wielding idiocy as their weapon, they found themselves another victim to its murky abyss. The Fold was something Iris resolved, she would not enter into. That thing was not meant for human to enter.