The Apple of My Eye -Kaz Brekker (Complete)

Chapter Sixteen

It was stupid to think they could just guess where those men had taken Laura and Jordan and follow traces of a carriage wasn't the best option, but it was all that they had – with some luck, it was the right option. Kaz was optimistic about his luck more than he probably should, but he hoped Laura's prayers to her saints would lead him to her.

"They took them East," he announced.

"How do you know they took them together?" Matthias asked.

"Laura wouldn't just follow them, leaving her weapons behind," Inej said. "She's not stupid. She would've gone down fighting until she couldn't anymore."

"They used Jordan to make sure she was cooperative," Nina said, nodding. "It makes sense. But how did they know where Jordan was? There was no way anyone could know, we made sure of that."

Kaz's head was hurting almost as much as his leg, but he couldn't stop thinking.

Who was the only person that had been left behind beside the Crows after Jordan was sent away? He couldn't think of a face... until he could.

"The maid," he said.

"Fucking bitch!" Jesper said. "I'm killing her. She's mine!"

"Jesper, not now," Wylan said, scolding his boyfriend with a glare.

"She told those men where to find Jordan, those men are side-of-road. Side-of-Roads this good, they need to be from the East, the West one's suck," Inej guessed. "Do you know anything to the East side of the Katterdam?"

Most people shook their head, but Wylan and Kaz nodded – Kerch by birth and raising, they knew fairly well their country and island.

"It's mostly farms," Wylan said.

Farms. Farms. Farms.

Pekka's farm and orchard.

Nineteen miles East, two or three hours away from Katterdam's docks, under Alby's name and they planted mostly peaches in the orchard. What else did he know? He had found not blue-print of the house, which meant it was old. What do old houses have that the others don't? Basements. New houses in Kerch had insisted in attics, not basements.

"I know where they are," Kaz said. "Matthias, get us a carriage."

"Not all of us are going to fit," Inej said.

"We'll make it fit!" he said, walking towards the stables near the docks to get the fastest horses.

Matthias and Jesper, the biggest ones, were controlling the carriage. Nina and Inej were sitting with their backs to the road, Kaz was sitting towards it with a Wylan that seemed to be becoming smaller and smaller by the second.

The horses were fast, the terrain was shit. Two hours tops, an hour and a half if they were lucky and Kerch decided to keep the rain away from them for a moment more.

"Kaz," Inej called. "You need to calm down and be rational."

"Fuck rational!" Nina said. "Let him be emotional for once, Inej."

"Emotional gets you killed," Inej said. "That's what you taught me, Kaz, when I first got into the Dregs. Remember your own advice now. Don't make yourself open and vulnerable in battle. Think of Jordan, you need to survive for her, no matter what happened before we get there."

What if Jordan didn't survive? What would he do? What if Laura didn't survive? How could he raise a good girl like Laura wanted Jordan to be alone? He wasn't a good person and he couldn't be a good father without Laura to be a good mother beside him. He needed them both. Both, alive and well. Both. Both. Both.