Love can find you |~ Kaz Brekker ~|

|2| sturmond

Four officers shoved them in a fancy room where three chairs were sitting. "Watch the coat!" Jesper yelled to the officer pushing him. Kaz and Danielle were calm and collected as they were pushed into chairs. "What's all this then?"

"Somebody paid good kruge to spend some time with you three."

Oak doors slammed open and Dreesen walked out. "Criminals." He sneered.

"Dreesen." Kaz greeted. In return, he just hummed.

"Ten minutes alone. Out you go." Dreesen handed Sem a stack of Kruge. "So, you are going to tell me what happened."

"We've been framed for murder?" Jesper sassily replied. He wasn't lying.

"I'm not asking about that. Where is Alina Starkov?"

"We don't have her." Kaz stated.

"Obviously." Jesper added. Kaz and Danielle looked to him with a 'shut the hell up' expression. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"You left with an advance on my million Kruge." Dreesen said. "With passage on my ship." Kaz listened to him, but he was looking around and watching the guards behind the man. "And tou dare to return empty handed. The deal was meant to include one Sun Summoner in exchange for the advance. And you step off the ship with no such person in your possession. Clearly you must-"

He kept talking and yapping. Blah blah blah Danny thought with boredom. She too started to look around. She noticed a blond standing next to Dreesen. She eyes him a bit longer.

"It wasn't your money, Dreesen." Kaz snapped her out of the train or thought he had going on. "You were brought in as an intermediary. Someone to hire the likes of us. But this operation wasn't yours." Kaz fiddled with his cuffs as he broke free from them silently and carefully. His eyes landed on the blond man Danny herself had been eyeing earlier. "It was his."

"Outrageous-" Dreesen tried.

"Yes, yes. Totally convincing." The blond "guard" silenced. "Thank you Dreesen, but I'll take it from here." Nobody moved. "That was me politely telling you to get out. So go on."

The old man glared at Kaz before walking out.

"Well this is much easier." The handsome man said as he took off his hat. "Tell me, what gave it away?"

Kaz was about to answer but Ellie beat him to it. "You dress to well for a body guard. And you were hanging on every word like it was your money on the table. Which it seems now it was. You wanted to hear our story but we don't know you. Makes it hard to believe you were just there to keep that sorry man safe. So you kept up your little charade until now. And I think we'd all like to know, who are you?"

"You are quite the woman. Smart and beautiful." He said with a smirk. Kaz was pissed. "But maybe you'll recognize me in profile?" He turned to the side and posed. The three looked at each other. "What, no? Very well, my name is Sturmond."

"Ohh, I've heard of you." Jesper realized.

"Yeah, I should hope so. He's a very rich pirate- a privateer, actually. It's an important distinction." Sturmond said with his hand in his hip. Danny giggled slightly and he winked at her, causing her to blush.

Kaz wouldn't admit it, but he was jealous. "My question still remains," he cut in. "Why is the Sun Summoner so important to a privateer?"

"You may not be aware, but half the world is looking for her. Or even confirmation of her death. And the reward has gone up. Twenty million to hand her over to Fjerda. Turns out they weren't particularly pleased with Kirigan and the Sun Summoner's plan to weaponize the fold."

"It was his idea. Not hers." Danielle informed.

"Yeah, Alina never had such-" Jesper cleared his throat after Kaz sent him a glare. . "Uh. You were saying?"

"You're on first name terms? Where is she now?"

Jesper groaned. "We don't know where Alina is! She's gone."

"Escaped? I know you've already gotten out of those cuffs. If I had time I'd insist you tell me how." Kaz glared up at him. He handed him the cuffs. "Thank you. My intel informs me the Sun Summoner was wearing this when she entered the fold."

Sturmond pulled out the jewelry Alina had given them to keep quiet from the satchel Danny was carrying. "It part of the Queen's collection. A well known piece. The fabled garnets of Ivets. So either she used this to pay you off to keep quiet about where she was going, or, you found her bloody corpse and stole it off her neck like vultures."

"How dare you?" Asked Jesper. "How even- we are not vultures. We are crows. And that makes more sense with context. But my point is, we're not grave robbers."

"Just shut up Jesper." Elle silenced.

"Which means it was a pay off. So you you knew where she went. Now I'd you tell me, I'll give you twenty seconds alone here before the Stadwatch comes back in."

Jesper chuckled. "You can't bribe us."

"Leave the necklace, give us twenty seconds and I'll tell you." Kaz offered quickly.

"Kaz?" Danielle looked to him disappointedly. He ignored her as he was afraid to see the disappointment on her face.

"The bride she paid you to keep quiet about her next move in exchange for her next move. I like it." Sturmond stood in front of the three, still holding the necklace. "Still, there is the mess of having to fence Royal jewels." He pulled out a large stack of kruge from his pocket.

"Kaz." Jesper looked to his boss.

"You lot stepped off the Edam tonight. Was she with you then?" Sturmond asked. "Is sue in town somewhere?"

Kaz looked down, beginning to feel ashamed. "She stayed on the ship to Novyi Zem." Sturmond nodded happily.

"Good luck. Gentlemen. Fine lady." He then left. Kaz stood up immediately and stalked over to the table where their things were sitting.

"Any help with these?" Jesper asked a bit angrily, holding up his wrists to show the handcuffs. Kaz flipped a coin to his direction. "What am I sitting do with this?" Kaz slowly turned around then back. "You knew."

"About you being a Durast? Your gun misfired in Arken's train. You fixed it without moving. You repaired my cane with no tools. And when you shoot... you never miss." Kaz smirked. "Of course I knew."

"Did you?" Jesper questioned Elle. She shook her head. He sighed and stood up. He opened his hand and the coin had transformed into a key. "Let's leave it at that, yeah?"

"We have no interest in letting others in on your secret." Danny placed her hand on his shoulder. "Mind helping me?" She shook her hands to rattle the cuffs.

Kaz grabbed the bag and placed it in the chair Danny had been sitting in. He then grabbed a heavy chair and placed it under one of the doors' handles to prevent the stadwatch to come in. The handles rattled. "Shouldn't you be concentrating?" Kaz asked, motioning to the two's handcuffs.

Hurriedly, Jesper unlocked his cuffs. He struggled a bit but he did it. Then he took Ellie's off. Kaz opened the window and they all jumped out.