Ace of Spades- 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝖔𝖋 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘

6] Guard Secrets like Eggs

Leaving the Inn, Diena wasn't too disappointed that they wouldn't be getting into the Little Palace and getting the Sun Summoner. The Little Palace was somewhere that she never wanted to go to.

Normally she would jump at the chance for a heist, or a job something that she could use to distract herself, something that would get her blood pumping and something that she could use to show just how much force that she had in her.

She could only imagine the amount of information she could get from that place, the people that she could coil around, but being in a place full of Grisha and Grisha Amplifiers just wasn't a risk she was going to take.

Especially not when Jesper was also with her, she was the youngest of the duo but Jesper knew that she will and had done anything for him. No matter how bad it was. Because the one thing that mattered to Diena more than her business and her people was her family.

Jesper seemed to be thinking the same thing as Diena because when the stopped in front of the Inn, Jesper spoke up saying, "This seems like a reasonable juncture to abandon this whole Sun Summoner plan."

Kaz looked at him as if he had just threatened to kill him, "Abandon? We're in this now. And I know what a million Kruge means to me. What does it mean to you?"

"Freedom." Inej quickly said, Diena was aware of Inej's situation in the Menagerie, if she could Diena would have bought out her indenture but Tante Heleen wasn't the type of person that would be threatened with anything that Diena had on her, no matter how bad it was.

And if she went to her with money, she would set a price that Diena couldn't pay so she just had to trust that Kaz had a plan for Inej one that meant she wouldn't have to go back to the hellhole that was the Menagerie.

Jesper smiled, "Fun. Like at least a few months."

Diena smiled at her brothers answer, Jesper had a talent of spending money in a matter of minutes, every gambling house on the East Stave knew of him. Diena's table workers were skilled in manipulating games, as was she. So whenever Jesper was at one of her tables she would manipulate the game but then he would just go and loose the money somewhere else.

As much as she tried, Jesper just wouldn't or couldn't take her help

"Retirement." Arken said and Diena snorted she couldn't imagine Arken of all people wanting to retire from what he does for a living

"My payment." Diena added

Kaz nodded, "Okay. So we press on." He looked at Arken, Kaz wasn't going to let this job go, "Get us across the Fold and I'll figure out the rest on the other side."

Arken paused before he nodded and said, "Fine. To cross, I'll need 20 pounds of alabaster coal. A peck of Majdaloun jurda. Uh, not the kind from Kerch. It's too weak. And uh..." He looked at Jesper, "A goat."

Diena laughed at the look on Jesper's face, he shoved her straight against Inej who caught her arm, "You arse!"

"Menace." Jesper shot back

Kaz cleared his throat, "If you want to speak Zemeni, do so on your own time."

Once the two siblings have stopped, Arken continued, "Now, we meet in the dead of night. There's a wreckage of a skiff northeast on the edge of town. So, who gets what?"

"Inej, jurda. Diena get the goat. And Jesper...just the coal, no detours." Kaz said

Jesper scoffed as he took the money and walked off, when Inej and Arken had left it just left Diena and Kaz, "You know I don't know how I feel about you ordering me around. Normally I'm ordering."

"You're not the Snake here, Snake." Kaz told her, "You're here for your other skill set."

Diena shook her head, "No I'm here to keep Jesper safe and to make sure that you pay me. I know who I am, what I'm good at and what I can and can't do. I am what I am, Kaz. A Barrel Boss, and a damn good one at that. And a bad...you know. Why isn't that enough?"

"In East Ravka you have nothing on no one. I'm simply using your skills. It's going to kill you and I would rather my business partner stay alive." Kaz said

Diena looked up at him, he had never been even remotely kind to her, always his passive aggressive self. She had no idea what was going on here, "Then I will die on my own terms."

"Get the goat." Kaz ordered

"There he is." Diena muttered as she walked off towards the direction of the Novokribirsk markets.

What Kaz had on her wasn't enough to completely destroy her but it was enough to slightly ruin her reputation. There were only five people in the country that knew. Diena, Jesper, Kaz, Vesemir and Colm Fahey, her father. And Diena wanted to keep it that way.

Some would class Diena Fahey as a hypocrite, she knew everyone's secrets and was ready to exploit and tell those secrets if if kept her safe and got her what she needed.

But when it came to her secrets she became increasingly uncomfortable with the fact that people knew. She knew that her father, Jesper and Vesemir would never tell another living soul about it, but Diena was never sure with Kaz.

Catch him in the wrong mood, do something to piss him off or be it that revealing her secret would lead him to what he wanted then Diena wasn't sure if he would tell the whole of Ketterdam what he knows about her.

She never wanted her secret to come to see the light, she would guard her secret like a snake guarding her eggs. But sometimes things slip through the cracks.

She just had to trust Kaz enough to not tell anyone just like she wouldn't tell anyone what she knows about him. Everyone knows that Diena Fahey, the Snake of the Barrel didn't play favourites but they also knew that some were placed higher than others and Kaz Brekker came to her first which meant he gets to play the first hand.

Thank you for reading

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