Shadows: A Six of Crows Fan fic

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Inej pt. 2

"Keep trying, Jesper."

He looked at her with bunched eyebrows, unsure of what she meant.

She sighed and squeezed his hand. "Keep trying to heal that wound. Keep pushing to be able to say mati en sheva yelu one day and really mean it. Keep fighting to be a better person. And most importantly, help me get the justice Thalia and Jackson so rightly deserve."

Inej's lip quirked up at that last one and Jesper gave a weak smile in return. He nodded, squeezing her hand back. "I will."

A fuller smile came to her face as she put a hand on his shoulder to help her stand up. Inej reached a hand out to him. "You should also try to avoid looking to Kaz as an example of how to deal with those who hurt people you care for."

Jesper furrowed his brow, wiping his eyes as he stood. "What?"

"You're becoming Kaz."

Jesper's jaw dropped and he put a hand to his chest. "I bare my soul to you and you insult me like that?"

Inej snorted. "Think about it," she started ticking things off on her fingers. "Angry all the time, moody, quick to violence, hiding information from people-"

"Dear saints, I am becoming him." Jesper's eyes widened and he looked genuinely horrified. Inej let out a genuine laugh at his expression.

"Just try talking to someone, to me, before you make rash decisions next time, okay?"

"Okay," Jesper smiled down at her. "Thank you. For understanding. For... everything"

Inej opened her mouth to reply, but before the words could come out a knock sounded at the door. She moved to open it but Anika removed the need as she pushed her way in with Pim and Kaz in tow.

"Apologies, Captain," she said, batting her yellow lashes. "But I was getting tired of being in a room alone with these two." Pim seemed offended at the comment but Kaz kept his eyes on Inej. Of course, he had instantly spotted the redness in both Jesper and Inej's eyes and his own tried to ask a question. But Inej shrugged it off.

"How are your rooms?" Inej asked, trying to clear any remnants of tears from her own voice and trying to take the attention off of Jesper as he composed himself.

"Room. Singular." Anika surveyed the room. "Clearly we were not the honored guest here."

Inej grimaced. "I can try speaking to them if you'd like, try to get you separate rooms."

"It's fine," Kaz said in his graveled voice, closing and locking the door behind him. When he faced them again, he rested his gloved hands on the head of his cane. "Do we know if anyone is listening?"

Inej shook her head. She moved to place a thick blanket under the crack in the door. "I've covered the vents already and sealed the windows. I also checked for any other places they might listen from but it's hard to tell. We should be safe to speak so long as we keep our voices down." Inej had scoured the place the moment she was left alone there by Dawa's men. She figured there would be places to peer through the walls or guards standing outside, but the freedom Dawa was affording her was unnerving. Still, she figured there was some way they were being watched, they'd been warned that they would be, so she'd tried to take what precautions she could.

"Have they been watching you?" Inej asked, her voice quiet.

"Not visibly, but I've sensed people watching us as we looked around the place."