Ghafa,” said Van Eck. “Your hero is coming. Mister Brekker likes to believe that he’s the smartest person in Ketterdam, so I thought I’d indulge him and let him outsmart himself. I realized that instead of hiding you, I should simply let you be found.”
Inej frowned. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be. Had this merch actually outwitted Kaz? Had he used her to do it?
“I’ve been sending Bajan back and forth from Eil Komedie every day. I thought a Suli boy would be most conspicuous and any traffic to a supposedly deserted island was bound to be remarked upon. Until tonight, I wasn’t sure Brekker would bite; I was growing most anxious. But he did. Earlier this evening, two of his team were spotted on the docks preparing a gondel to launch—that big Fjerdan and the Zemeni boy. I did not have them intercepted. Much like you, they are mere pawns. Kuwei is the prize, and your Mister Brekker is finally going to give me what I am owed.”
“If you’d treated fairly with us, you’d have Kuwei already,” she said. “We risked our lives to get him out of the Ice Court. We risked everything. You should have honored your word.”
“A patriot would have offered to free Kuwei without the promise of reward.”
“A patriot? Your scheme for jurda parem will bring chaos to Kerch.”
“Markets are resilient. Kerch will endure. It may even be strengthened by the changes to come. But you and your ilk may not fare so well. How do you think the parasites of the Barrel will manage when we are at war? When honest men have no coin to squander and put their minds to toil instead of vice?”
Inej felt her lip curl. “Canal rats have a way of surviving, no matter how hard you try to stamp us out.”
He smiled. “Most of your friends won’t survive this night.”
She thought of Jesper, Nina and Matthias, sweet Wylan who deserved so much better than this filth for a father. It wasn’t just about winning for Van Eck. It was personal. “You hate us.”
“Frankly, you are of little interest to me—an acrobat or dancer or whatever you were before you became a blight on this city. But I confess Kaz Brekker does offend me. Vile, ruthless, amoral. He feeds corruption with corruption. Such a remarkable mind might have been put to great use. He might have ruled this city, built something, created profit that would have benefited all. Instead he leeches off the work of better men.”
“Better men? Like you?”
“It pains you to hear it, but it is true. When I leave this world, the greatest shipping empire ever known will remain, an engine of wealth, a tribute to Ghezen and a sign of his favor. Who will remember a girl like you, Miss Ghafa? What will you and Kaz Brekker leave behind but corpses to be burned on the Reaper’s Barge?”
A shout came from outside the theater, and a sudden hush fell as the guards turned toward the entrance doors.
Van Eck consulted his watch. “Midnight on the dot. Brekker has a flair for the dramatic.”
She heard another shout, then a brief rattle of gunfire. Six guards behind her, shackles at her feet. Helplessness rose up to choke her. Kaz and the others were about to walk into a trap, and she had no way to warn them.
“I thought it best not to leave the perimeter completely unguarded,” said Van Eck. “We wouldn’t want to make it too easy and give away the game.”
“He’ll never tell you where Kuwei is.”
Van Eck’s smile was indulgent. “I only wonder which will prove more effective—torturing Mister Brekker or having him watch as I torture you.” He leaned in, his voice conspiratorial. “I can tell you the first thing I’m going to do is peel off those gloves and break every one of his thieving fingers.”
Inej thought of Kaz’s pale trickster hands, the shiny rope of scar tissue that ran atop his right knuckle. Van Eck could break every finger and both of Kaz’s legs and he’d never say a word, but if his men stripped away Kaz’s gloves? Inej still didn’t understand why he needed them or why he’d fainted in the prison wagon on the way into the Ice Court, but she knew Kaz couldn’t bear the touch of skin on skin. How much of this weakness could he hide? How quickly would Van Eck locate his vulnerability, exploit it? How long until Kaz came undone? She couldn’t bear it. She