Drowning (Kaz Brekker)

xv - Flirt

ASRA WASN'T USED TO WORRYING ABOUT PEOPLE. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. But it kept coming back. Inej had steeled herself, back straight and voice steady, but even so. Asra knew the torture she'd endured at the Menagerie, and as she spoke, Asra had the oddest urge to reach out and comfort her. Horrible.

"You know those costumes. Heavy cloaks, hoods, that's all the Fjerdans will see. A Zemeni fawn. A Kaelish mare. A Ravkan fox." She swallowed. "A Suli lynx."

"It's a risk." Kaz said.

"What job isn't?"

And that was that. Nina and Inej would enter with the Menagerie. Matthias had some mysterious secret entrance to the White Island. Jesper and Wylan and Asra would head to the gate to break it.

"No," Kaz said to her. "You'll be with Inej and Nina. I want as many people as possible looking for Yul-Bayur."

Asra nodded. The thought of it didn't really bother her. West Stave had always been her Plan B. She'd been owned and used all her life, and sex was never something she particularly despised.

Asra, Inej, Nina and Wylan sat down on the roof together. Wylan sketched the feather tattoo of Menagerie indentures onto their wrists and Nina Tailored the ink into their skin.

She moved over Inej's wrist. "You're sure?"

Inej's took a breath. "It's war paint. My mark to take."

"It's also temporary." Nina promised. "I'll remove it as soon as we're in the harbour."

Inej nodded. Nina moved on to do Asra's.

"You should probably do a few of my scars too." Asra said as Nina worked on her wrist.

Nina nodded. "Can I ask why you have so many? It's almost like you get them on purpose."

Asra shrugged. "I did. They remind me, I don't know, the fights I've won, the fact I'm still here. They're kinda my thing." The Scarred One, that's what they used to call her. She'd come to love the name.

"One day, Asra Behandelar, I'm going to understand what comes out of your mouth."

Asra laughed. "Nina my dear, I'd rather die."

Nina rolled her eyes. She finished up Asra's wrist and got to work on a few of her scars. She was stalling, Asra knew it. They all were. This wasn't like any other job they'd done. This might not work. Even Asra knew it, deep down. They knew they might not survive the night. And they knew if they didn't, no one would care.

"No mourners," Jesper said, grinning.

"No funerals." They finished.

Jesper slung the ropes over his shoulders. "If any of you survive, make sure I have an open casket. The world deserves a few more moments with this face."

Jesper and Wylan headed across the roof. Nina and Matthias slipped away for a private word. Inej uttered a soft prayer. Asra found herself picking up Kaz's gloves and walking over to him.

"Here." She held them out to him. "We found them in a clothes bin. Inej used them in her climb."

Kaz took them without thanks or word. He held them a moment, bare hands closed around leather.

"Your scars are gone." He muttered.

Asra looked away. "I had Nina do it. I get the feeling battle scars aren't what Fjerdans look for in whores. It's temporary."

Nina had taken care of the scar along Asra's lower lip, the one running through her brow. Kaz was still without his gloves. Small things, temporary, but they still somehow felt wrong without them. Exposed, naked. Scars, gloves, it was armour all the same. What were they without it? Scared, vulnerable children? They had no right to such titles, not after everything.