A Coin Has Two Sides (Season One) || Kaz Brekker x OC

6. The Goat

"She's all yours to lose", Tante Heleen added in a whisper.

Kaz let go of her hand and spun on his heels to leave.

Winnie remained frozen, still in shock at the notion of Kaz's proposal.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to step into my establishment", Tante Heleen addressed her presence.

Winnie simply glared at her with the hopes she would burn into flames.

"She's a true beauty, Mr Brekker. And so rare. A shadow summoner if I'm not mistaken?" the witch added.

Kaz had stopped at the door, his back turned to Tante Heleen.

"I would consider a trade. This one for Inej. If everything goes sideways with your buyout plan", Tante Heleen said in her menacing tone.

Kaz glanced over his shoulder to Winnie, fury raging in his eyes.

"Never. Not whilst I live and breathe", Kaz spat.

Tante Heleen smirked upon seeing the attachment the boy had to the girl.

"Well, those arrangements can be made. You can't prevent the inevitable, Mr Brekker."

Kaz turned to face Tante Heleen. His cane was firmly clutched in his left hand and his other was curled into a fist.

Winnie believed for a second that he was going to brutally attack her. Not that she'd stop him. Tante Heleen deserved every hit, and then some.

"I'll tell you what's inevitable. You go after her, you bring on a war. One I guarantee you will lose", he sneered.

Tante Heleen shut her mouth and sat back down in her chair slowly.

Kaz turned and nodded to Winnie to follow him.

As she was leaving, she heard Tante Heleens mocking tone behind her.

"Tick tock, Miss Marth. Tik tock."

As the girl walked out of the Menagerie, she thought long and hard about Tante Heleen's offer. 

Her for Inej. 

It was a way to get her out. To finally end Inej's suffering inflicted by that place. All Winnie had to do was take her place.

She could handle pain. She had a special ability to remove herself from any situation where she might get hurt as she had been placed in them so many times for so long. 

And she knew that if it wasn't Inej taking on the awful desires of the tortured men but her instead, she would be able to take it. 

"I'll trade myself", Winnie said to Kaz as they walked back to the Crow Club. 

"What did you just say?" Kaz stopped in his tracks and turned to face the shadow summoner. 

"Me for Inej. It's what she wants. It makes sense. You won't have to give up the Crow Club or one of your most valuable employees. Inej will be free and I -", Winnie started to explain. 

"You listen to me, Marth. You will never set foot in that hell hole again, do you understand me?" Kaz commanded. 

"You can't stop me. I will pay any price to give Inej her freedom. And now I have one."

"The price is your own suffering at the hands of tormented men", Kaz said, his tone bitter and cold. 

"And so it must be. I'm no stranger to men laying their hands on me to inflict pain. What's a few years more?"

Kaz clenched his jaw at the thought of Winnie being held against her will. He knew the minds of the men in Ketterdam. The things they would want to do to her. How much they would hurt her.