INIQUITY- kaz brekker

One

Dirt. That was Iris' first thought when she stepped foot onto Ketterdam soil again. It was dirty, dim, bleak, everything that she called home. The riches and rubies of Ravka had tainted her perception of reality for a little while but it was good to be back in Barrel, no matter how much fear consumed her when she thought of what was awaiting her.

She strode alongside three people who in a short time had become almost like family, who would have thought that on a death mission from Pekka she'd end up almost liking the man her guardian despised most.

Jesper on her left, seemed to think the same thing about Ketterdam. 

"Home sweet home. Straight off the boat from Ravka and no one was waiting to kill us as soon as we arrived. Yay! That's a good sign. I think I might celebrate with a little dice and debauchery," he smirked at the Crows as Inej softly laughed and Iris rolled her eyes.

"We've been back 5 minutes Jesper," she spoke with another roll of the eye.

"No debauchery," Kaz muttered as he strode onwards.

"Dice then," Jesper nodded to himself.

"No dice. We have stops to make," came the reply from Kaz

"What's first? Tante Heleen?" Inej asked, wondering about her own fate.

"Man I can't wait to have a word with that woman," Iris grinned wickedly.

"A word?" asked Inej with a furrowed brow.

"Maybe more than a word," Iris winked at the small girl.

"We get to the Crow Club," Kaz cleared his throat as if he had stated the most obvious thing in the world.

The Crow Club, a place where perhaps Iris could get a little solace from the pounding headache in her head, caused by the drumbeat of Pekka's impending footsteps echoing inside. The Crow Club where she'd first come across Jesper at the card table and Kaz's watching eye as she slipped away into the darkness with a heavy pocket and a lighter heart. Perhaps, like the trio beside her, it could one day become her home too.

"Where's our sign?" Jesper rose an eyebrow as they rounded the corner to what once was the Crow Club and now bore a different name. A green sign hung above the door, an eye enslaved in a crown that was surrounded by looping ovals. It was a sign, a symbol that Iris knew all too well.

"The Kaelish Prince?" asked Inej, confusion painted across her face.

"What sort of name is that?" Jesper scoffed.

"Dime Lions," gritted Kaz.

"Pekka," spat Iris. "Getting his dirty fingers into everything."

"Pekka Rollins owns the Crow Club?" Inej spoke, her voice rising steadily upwards.

"Where does that leave us? Are you saying we have no home?" Jesper became increasingly worried.

"Kaz... what do we do?" asked Iris steadily. She turned to face the boy but he had frozen in his place, a gaze crossed his face that seemed as if he were frozen in time, frozen in a memory. It was a glassy look, his eyes clouded over as if he were drowning in a pool of his own past. The glance shifted, he turned to Iris and cleared his throat as if nothing had happened.

"My suits. All my hats," Jesper groaned.

"You've really got your priorities straight hey?" Iris scoffed.

"Fashion is a lifestyle okay Iris, I can't be living in just this outfit for the rest of my days," Jesper grumbled.

"Split up. It's not safe," Kaz muttered as if he could hear an invisible warning siren that no one else could.