Pekka Rollins survey the raggedy crew Doughty had brought to his office. Rollins lived above the Emerald Palace in a grand suite of rooms.

The kids standing before him wore the costumes of the Komedie Brute, but the masks had come off. He recognised some of them. The Heartrender Nina Zenik, but she looked different now as if she might not last out the month. She leaned against a giant Fjerdan. He was huge, probably former military.

The boy next to them was Shu, but he looked far too young to be the scientist they'd all been so desperate to get their hands on. And then, Rollins knew Jesper Fahey. The sharpshooter had run up an astonishing amount of debt at nearly every gambling den.

His loose talk had put Rollins to the knowledge that Brekker was sending a team to Fjerda. A little digging and a lot of bribes had yielded the where and when of their departure—intelligence that had proved faulty. Brekker had been one step ahead of him and the Dime Lions. The little canal rat had managed to make it to the Ice Court after all.

It was a good thing, too. If not for Kaz Brekker, Rollins would still be sitting in a cell in that damned Fjerdan prison or maybe looking down from a pike atop the ringwall.

When Brekker had picked the lock on his prison cell door, Rollins hadn't known if he was about to be rescued or assassinated.

"Hello, Brekker," Rollins had said. "Come to gloat?"

"Not exactly." He replied.

The look that passed over the boy's face then had taken Rollins aback. It was hatred—pure, black, long simmering.

The boy had stood there, something bleak and mad in his gaze. "I want to do you a favour. I'm going to leave this door unlocked. Wait for your moment and get out."

"Why the hell would you help me?" Rollins asked.

"You weren't meant to die here." He said. Somehow it sounded like a curse.

"I owe you, Brekker," Rollins had said as the boy exited his cell.

Brekker had glanced back at him. "Don't worry, Rollins. You'll pay."

And apparently the boy had come to collect. Rollins wasn't surprised to see him. Word had it that the exchange between Brekker and Jan Van Eck had gone sour and that Van Eck had eyes on the Slat and the rest of Kaz Brekker's haunts.

When Brekker finished explaining the bare bones of the situation, Rollins shrugged and said, "give Kuwei to Van Eck and be done with it. The merchers like the taxes we pay. They let the occasional bank heist or housebreak slide, but they expect us to stay here in the Barrel and leave them to their business. You go to war with Van Eck, and all that changes."

"Van Eck's gone rogue. If the Merchant Council knew_" Kaz said.

"And who's going to tell them? A canal rat from the worst slum in the Barrel? Don't kid yourself, Brekker." Rollins explained. "No one will ally with you. Not against a merch. You'll have the stadwatch, the Kerch army and its navy arrayed against you."

"I don't expect you to fight beside me," Kaz looked at him. "I need to get a message to the Ravkan capital. Fast."

Rollins shrugged. "Easy enough."

"And I need money." He told Rollins. "Two hundred thousand kruge."

Rollins nearly choked on his laughter.

Kaz's jaw set. "My shares in the Crow Club and Fifth Harbour."

Rollins sat up straighter. "You'd sell your stake?"

"Yes. And for another ten thousand I'll throw in an original DeKappel." He said.

Rollins leaned back. "It's not enough, you know. Not to go to war with the Merchant Council. And I understand. You want your money; you want your pretty Shu back; you want a bit of Van Eck's hide_"

"No," said Brekker. "When I come for Van Eck, I won't just take what's mine. I'll carve his life hollow. I'll burn his name from the ledger. There will be nothing left."

Pekka Rollins couldn't count the threats he'd heard, the men he'd killed, or the men he'd seen die, but the look in Brekker's eye still sent a chill slithering up his spine. Some wrathful thing in this boy was begging to get loose, and Rollins didn't want to be around when it slipped its leash.

Rollins doled out the cash to Brekker, then had him write out a transfer order for his shares in the Crow Club and Fifth Harbour. When he held out his hand to shake on the deal, Brekker's grip was knuckle-crushing.

"You don't remember me at all, do you?" that black thing flickered behind Brekker's eyes.

Pekka Rollins looked at him in confusion and finally said. "The deal is the deal," eager to be done with this strange lot.

"The deal is the deal." Kaz shook his hand.

Rollins watched Brekker and his crew moving through the crowded gambling hall. Brekker was a wily thief and tough enough, inventive, too. But unlike those poor stooges at the Ice Court, Van Eck would be ready for Brekker. The boy was going into a real battle. He didn't stand a chance.

Rollins reached for his watch. "Son of a bitch," he exclaimed. He held up his watch chain. A turnip was hanging from the fob where his diamond-studded timepiece should have been. Then a thought came to him. He reached for his wallet. It was gone. So was his tie pin, the Kaelish coin pendant he wore for luck, and the gold buckles on his shoes. Rollins wondered if he should check the fillings in his teeth.

No one got one over on Pekka Rollins. No one dared. But Brekker had, and Rollins wondered if that was just the beginning.

"Doughty," he said, "I think we'd best say a prayer for Jan Van Eck." Then he sighed. "We better hope Van Eck kills that boy, otherwise I'll have to."

➖➖➖➖➖

When Rotty showed up with the note from Kaz Brekker, Anika didn't know how to react. Kaz had never send a note before, until now. It was for her and Raske. Was it for another job? Another command from Dirtyhands? She really didn't care. But none of them could've anticipated the intensity of the message.

The chemical factory. 12 bells.

The scrawl was rough and even through the writings, Anika could tell, the pressure Kaz was in.

Raske leaned on an old pillar, adjusting his hat. He's never seen without his hat, like Kaz without his gloves. While Anika sat down on a crate, waiting for Kaz to show up at 12 bells. Her mind wandered.

Anika joined the Dregs just two and half months, after Inej. She was Kerch in origin, born and brought up in the Barrel. Her friend Pim was the one who introduced her to the Dregs, Pim was loyal to Kaz as Brekker was the one who took him in. But when Pim brought Anika in, assuring her loyalty, Kaz didn't just give in. He took his own time, and with a little push from Inej, Anika was finally initiated as a member of the Dregs. She took the crow-and-cup tattoo of the Dregs with pride and honour.

From the start she had a thing for Dirtyhands, he was ruthless, cold and distant. Always in his black suits, gloves and cane. He was a gang leader and a murderer, but he would not tolerate misogyny or disrespect to women of any kind. And that's what Anika like about him.

Even though Anika knew what kind of a person Dirtyhands was, there was a stupid part of her, who searched for signs in things that she knew deep down meant nothing—when Kaz chose her for a job, when Kaz played along with one of her jokes.

And then Aeolian came along, the mysterious Shu girl, blessed with everything that a girl could only dream of. The first time Anika saw her at the Slat, she walked in behind Kaz as he introduced her to the Dregs as their new spider. There was a moment of silence as all eyes were on her. Everyone was watching her but in that brief moment, Anika saw Aeolian glance at Kaz and Anika knew a storm had swayed into her life.

Aeolian was a prized assets to the Dregs, the best spider out there. But Anika was unfooled. She could clearly see that the Shu girl meant more than just a prized asset to Kaz Brekker, Anika had seen Kaz in many versions but the version she saw of him when Aeolian was around, was the best version of him. The version that only Aeolian is lucky enough to experience.

Anika wanted to hate Aeolian but she knew, she couldn't hate the Shu girl just like that. She'd done no wrong against her, the only thing she had done without meaning to is catch the attention of the one guy, Anika had eyes on. Anika felt more stupid then ever—from their late nights schemes to playful jokes thrown in and around, she'd seen it all. How these two were together and the hit on the harbour where Aeolian nearly lost her life and Kaz went mad with vengeance and grief.

And that night abroad the Ferolind, when everyone was anxious about what happened at Djerholm harbour. Anika saw Kaz and Aeolian at the rails, she was locked out of their conversation but she saw it from her own eyes—when the Shu girl decided to walk away, Kaz seized her hands keeping it on the railing and whatever words they exchanged made Aeolian bitter as she left him in a blur.

Anika had thought about that night over and over again, what did Kaz say to Aeolian? That pissed the Shu girl off, that they weren't on speaking terms yet again. Did he decide to keep her in the Dregs forever by forging some false documents. Because she's the best spider out there and also cos he couldn't watch her leave. Or did he tell her something she didn't want to hear? But he did clutch her hands, which was a sight. Because he wouldn't have done that, if he didn't feel for the Shu girl.

The sound of the cane stick hitting the cold ground brought Anika back to her senses. Raske was alerted and Anika stood up as Kaz appeared. He looked like himself, suited with his gloves and cane. His sharp features radiated under the moonlight. Anika always considered him as the handsome deadly person walking at the Barrel. But tonight something was different, he seemed on the edge.

"We've been duped and Lin has been taken." His jaws ticked.

Anika and Raske looked at Kaz Brekker in silence and disbelief. None of them saw this coming. And why Aeolian? Anika thought, she knew the answer by now. Why not Aeolian?

✨ THE END ✨

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

✨✨✨

She had a face straight out a magazine
God only knows but you'll never leave her
Her balaclava is starting to chafe
When she gets his gun he's begging, babe stay, stay
Stay, stay, stay
I'll give you one more time
We'll give you one more fight
Said one more line
Will I know you?
Now if you never shoot, you'll never know
And if you never eat, you'll never grow
You've got a pretty kind of dirty face
And when she's leaving your home
She's begging you to stay, stay
Stay, stay, stay
I'll give you one more time
We'll give you one more fight
Said one more line
There'll be a riot, cause I know you
Well now that you've got your gun
It's much harder now the police have come
And I'll shoot him if it's what you ask
But if you just take off your mask
You'd find out everything's gone wrong
Now everybody's dead
And they're driving past my old school
And he's got his gun, he's got his suit on
She says, babe, you look so cool
You look so cool
You look so cool
You look so cool
You look so cool
You look so cool

✨✨✨