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

10. Stay Safe

"I miss Milo", Jesper said sadly and took a sip from another one of the glasses of beer.

"Who's Milo?" Winnie asked.

"The goat", Jesper replied in a shocked voice.

"I named him Mace", Winnie remarked.

"And I named him Milo. Since I'm the one who had him in my care last night and on the train, I think I take precedence on the name."

Winnie was far too exhausted to argue with Jesper again over something stupid, so she simply rolled her eyes and took another sip of her beer.

"Friends", Arken said as he came up behind them.

At the sound of his voice, Winnie downed what was left in her glass.

"What are you so cheery about?" Kaz asked, noticing the large smile on Arkens face.

"This is Marko", Arken started and pulled forward a short man with long black hair and a beard who had tears scattered across his face.

"Marko is the leader of the traveling troupe known as the Pomdrakon Players. They had been invited to perform in this year's Winter Fete."

"A life-long dream", Marko said sadly.

Winnie and Inej shared a look across the bar.

"Yes, yes. A chance to get inside the Little Palace. But they lost their star performer due to an unfortunate freak accident. They are in desperate need of someone with the skills to replace their star performer and as Ketterdam's premier talent manager, I had an idea", Arken said.

Winnie remembered the girl from last night who fell from the silks behind them.

Arken, you sneaky bastard.

If she didn't loathe him so much, she would dare say she was impressed. Being around the four of them had clearly rubbed off on him.

At the mention of needing someone who can do silks, Winnie stood up and walked around to Inej.

Kaz and Jesper both turned to face the small Suli girl with expectant looks on their faces.

"Inej, you don't have to-" Winnie whispered to her friend.

She knew that being around silks only bought up memories of Inej's past, and with it her family.

"As a friend once said, if I can't crack this none of us are going anywhere", Inej cut Winnie off.

Winnie gave her an understanding and appreciative glance.

Inej began taking off her knives and handed them to the shadow summoner and with a small smile walked past her towards the silks.

Winnie closed her hands around Inej's most prized possessions before turning around and coming face to face with Kaz, making eye contact with him for the first time that day.

She spoke with her eyes as if to say I don't approve of this.

But after being met with Kaz's familiar blank expression, she walked past him to take her place at the front of the audience to watch Inej.

Jesper, Kaz, Arken and Marko followed her and watched as Inej gracefully wrapped herself around the silks and put on an astonishing performance which garnered gasps of entertainment and cheers from the audience.

Winnie and Kaz both kept averting their gaze to Marko, watching for his tells if he was impressed enough to let them join him.

When Inej had finished, the audience erupted into cheers and Winnie and Jesper happily joined in.