Ace of Spades- 𝕾𝖎𝖝 𝖔𝖋 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘

24] The Aftermath

"Is there a famous Nina Zenik that I don't know of?" Was the first thing Diena heard when she waltzed into the workshop.

When the group heard the door shut behind Diena they span around, "And you are?" Nina asked

"Late." Kaz snapped

Diena rolled her eyes before spotting Wylan, "Long time no see, Wylan."

Wylan smiled but coughed when Kaz glared at him, "Diena...can I get anyone some tea?"

Kaz rolled his eyes at his people as he looked over at Nina, "You worked with Arken."

"It was more of a limited partnership."

"Did you trust him?" Kaz asked

Nina scoffed, clearly no was the answer to that question, "That turncoat? Not on your life. He was shadier than an oak tree at three bells."

"What's your price?" Kaz asked

Diena walked over to Jesper and he put his arm around her rubbing her arm, he didn't need to say anything, he just knew that he needed to be there, "I've expended the legal avenues on my problem. Every clerk in the city says the same thing. The judge will see you in six months."

"And so you're looking for the not so legal route. On what, exactly?" Diena asked

Nina paused before she said, "I'm told you could free someone from Hellgate."

Kaz looked over at Inej with a raised eyebrow as Diena let out a laugh, she could do a lot of things but freeing someone from Hellgate was near to impossible, "Who's someone?" Inej asked

Nina gave her a small smile, "Someone. I say as if he's anyone, and in the truth...he's the love of my life."

"A love story." Diena sighed, "Now we have to help her."

Kaz looked over at Diena, "Can Klara get us in at all?"

"Who's Klara?" Nina asked

Jesper and Diena looked at each other and Jesper shook his head, he hadn't told anyone what he knew, he was going to wait for Diena to do that, "Uh...no. Rollins...he jumped me when I went home."

"Hence the bruises." Jesper added motioning around Diena's face, "Want me to?" Diena nodded, "Rollins doesn't just have the Crow Club, he has the Hide and to get the Hide he had to...he had to kill all the Sea Snakes. They weren't going to make it easy on him."

Inej sighed as she put her hand on Diena's shoulder, "All of them?" Kaz asked and Diena nodded, Kaz seemed to falter for a second before he turned back to Nina, "I can't get you a release from Hellgate. But I can get you a visit...in exchange for your services."

Nina nodded, she was happy with that compromise, "What do you need me for?"

"The aftermath." Kaz replied, "Follow me."

Diena followed behind Kaz as he headed for the roof, "Tell me you weren't late because you were at the Crow Club."

"I wasn't late because I was at the Crow Club." Diena told him

Kaz didn't buy it, he could tell Diena was lying just by looking at her, "Then why were you late?"

"I was at the Kaelish Prince." Diena replied, "Rollins had my office, hasn't even been in yours, figured I'd see if there was anything useful in there...they look like different clubs, Kaz."

Kaz let out a breath as he stepped off the stairs onto the roof, going to edge of the building. The rest of the group followed him, Diena could make out immediately where her club was.

"Brick by brick." Kaz muttered

Diena raised an eyebrow, she knew Kaz's history with Pekka, Kaz was going to want to destroy him. An explosion in the middle of the city took her focus. She saw the flames erupt into the sky and her lips parted

"What was that?" Jesper asked

"The Crow Club." Diena answered, no matter what had happened, Diena wouldn't have blown up her club, not even if Rollins was inside. That club held too many memories, too many things that belonged to her people. Ivan's saint cards, Eva's dresses the majority of their belongings were in the Den, but still Diena still wouldn't have blown up her home.

But it would seem that Kaz had no issues with it, since knowing that Rollins had taken over the Barrel, Diena noticed something shift in Kaz. He was a different person, she knew exactly why but she didn't expect him to shift so quickly

Jesper groaned, "I had some really nice hats in there."

Diena rolled her eyes as she reached into her bag and dusted off a hat she had taken from the club, handing it to Jesper. Jesper smiled as he took it, "I love you." He turned to Wylan, "Was that yours?"

The boy remained silent.

"Kaz...Kaz I was just there." Diena said quietly, if she had taken too long, decided to take more things than she did, she would have been burnt to a crisp, "At least tell me Rollins was in there?"

"I take it we're now in the aftermath?" Nina concluded from the explosion

Inej looked at Kaz, no one could work out why he had blown up the club, "This doesn't help us clear our name, Kaz. This is was. With Pekka Rollins, the King of the Barrel."

"The Barrel doesn't belong to kings." Kaz replied as he began to walk off, "It belongs to bastards."

Diena smirked at the name, she had been calling him Bastard for as long as she had been in Ketterdam. It seemed now he had finally accepted it, "And this Snake wants a war." Diena said

They may only be six people, but they were six angry people each of them wanted something. Diena and Kaz wanted revenge. Inej wanted her freedom from Pekka, Jesper wanted revenge for his sister, Nina wanted Matthias from Hellgate and Diena really had no idea what Wylan wanted.

Rollins didn't know it but he had messed with the wrong people

Thank you for reading

Diena and Nina are going to be such a good duo let me tell you

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