something that gave the impression of looking into a starry night sky. Nice effect.
“Kaz Brekker,” said the lead Tidemaker. “Where is Kuwei Yul-Bo?”
“Dead and gone. Burnt to ashes on the Reaper’s Barge.”
“Where is the real Kuwei Yul-Bo?”
Kaz shrugged. “A church full of people saw him get shot. A medik pronounced him dead. Beyond that, I can’t help you.”
“You do not want the Council of Tides as an enemy, young man. None of your shipments will ever leave port again. We will flood Fifth Harbor.”
“By all means, do. I don’t own shares in Fifth Harbor anymore. You want to stop my shipments, you’ll have to stop every boat coming in and out of the harbor. I’m not a merch. I don’t charter ships and register trade manifests. I’m a thief and a smuggler. Try to catch hold of me and you’ll find you’re trying to hold air.”
“Do you know how easy it is to drown?” asked the Tidemaker. He lifted a hand. “It can happen anywhere.”
Suddenly Kaz felt his lungs filling with water. He coughed, spat seawater, and bent double, gasping.
“Tell us what we want to know,” said the Tidemaker.
Kaz drew a stuttering breath. “I don’t know where Kuwei Yul-Bo is. You can drown me where I stand and nothing will change that.”
“Then maybe we’ll find your friends and drown them in their beds.”
Kaz coughed and spat again. “And maybe you’ll find the obelisk towers under plague quarantine.” The Tides shifted uneasily, the mists moving with them. “I made those sirens sound. I created this plague, and I control it.”
“A bluff,” said the Tidemaker, his sleeve gliding through the mist.
“Try me. I’ll spread sickness around every one of your towers. They’ll become epicenters of disease. You think the Merchant Council won’t lock you all down? Demand you finally register your identities? They’d probably be happy for the excuse.”
“They wouldn’t dare. This country would sink were it not for us.”
“They won’t have a choice. The public will clamor for action. They’ll burn the towers from the ground up.”
“Monstrous boy.”
“Ketterdam is made of monsters. I just happen to have the longest teeth.”
“The secret of jurda parem can never be revealed to the world. No Grisha would ever be safe again. Not here. Not anywhere.”
“Then it’s lucky for you it died with that poor Shu kid.”
“We won’t forget this, Kaz Brekker. One day you’ll regret your insolence.”
“Tell you what,” said Kaz. “When that day comes, mark it on your calendars. I can think of a lot of people who’ll want to throw a party.”
The figures seemed to blur, and when the mists finally thinned, Kaz saw no trace of the Tides.
He shook his head and set off down the canal. That was the wonderful thing about Ketterdam. It never let you get bored. No doubt the Tides would want something from him in the future, and he’d be obliged to give it to them.
But for now, he had unfinished business.
I nej didn’t think she could make it up the stairs to bed. How had she whiled away so many hours at dinner with Jesper and Wylan?
The cook had been all apologies as the meal was served that night. She still couldn’t get quality fresh produce from the markets, what with people so afraid to come into the city. They’d done their best to reassure her and had stuffed themselves on cheese and leek pie, then eaten honey-soaked cakes while sitting on the music room floor. Wylan’s mother had retired early. She seemed to be coming back to herself in fits and starts, but Inej suspected it would be a long road.
Wylan played the piano and Jesper sang the dirtiest sea shanty Inej had ever heard. She missed Nina painfully. There had been no letters, and she could only hope her friend had made it to Fjerda safely and found some peace on the ice. When Inej finally had her ship, maybe her first trip would be to Ravka. She could journey inland to Os Alta, try to find her family on one of the old routes they’d traveled, see Nina again. Someday.
Inej had chosen to spend her nights at Wylan’s house, returning to the Slat just to fetch her few belongings. With her contract paid and her bank account brimming with funds, she wasn’t entirely sure where she belonged. She’d been researching sailing vessels with heavy cannon, and using her knowledge of the city’s secrets to begin gathering information that she hoped would lead her to the slavers who did business through the ports