Drowning (Kaz Brekker)

vi - Four Million Kruge

Asra went wild. All at once she was a girl, scared and alone and confused. She could smell the dank of the cell, taste the rot. Her throat was raw from screaming.

Her elbow connected with their ribs. The moment the metal brushed against her pulse Asra was moving. The nameless stumbled away, and Asra spun, kick flying high and aimed for their head.

Only no one was there. Asra's foot hit the wall and she fell. It was awkward, jarring. She wasn't thinking straight. No one was there, yet still they plunged the syringe into her neck.

Mother. Her last thought. She wanted to beg, she'd like that. Maybe they'd spare her the worst of it. But it was too late. The clearance was in her system and Asra was going under. Asra, she had a name. Something wasn't right.

She'd woken up with a start. She was tied to a chair. Wrong, she should've been in a cell. There was a man before her. Wrong, she should've been alone. He was waving wuftsalts under her nose. Wrong, they should never purposely wake a beast such as her.

She took a moment to gain herself fully. Then Asra snapped her head up and collided with her forehead with his nose. He stumbled back with a yell, and Asra watched him with wild eyes. Wrong, she shouldn't have known her name. She shouldn't have one.

He was a university medik, and old. His nose was broken and he held it closely, blood dribbling between his fingers onto his old robes. Wrong.

The room was rich, decked out with the defined luxury of a merchant. A man sat on the fine mahogany desk, gaunt and handsome, somewhere in his forties with a quickly receding hairline. He wore merch black, and held far too much importance to be nameless. Wrong.

"Miss Behandelar, is it?" He laughed slightly over her name. Correct. He knew. Asra went wild all over again.

She spat at him across the room. The merchant watched dully, then stood from his desk. He ushed the medik away, but Asra hadn't listened. His tie pin was a ruby, circled in gold leaves. Van Eck.

"Quiet, aren't you?" He said.

"You're not with them." She shouldn't have to say who they were. He should've known. If not, she was safe. Well, safe as she could be handcuffed to a chair. If he did... Asra willed herself not to shudder.

"Your boss? No. I'm here to hire you."

Fuck. She could do this. She could don the old skin of someone who was no one and talk her way out of these cuffs. Then she'd kill him. Then she'd run. It was what she did best.

She drew herself up. "I already have a job. Barmaid at the Crow Club, bouncer when boss is short-staffed. It's a nice place, you know. You should check it out, bring your friends."

His smile was knowing, smug. Asra nearly faltered. She kicked herself internally.

"I know who you are, Miss Behandelar. I know what you are."

"If you want a nameless for your dirty work, hire one. Don't kidnap a runaway and demand her help." She leaned close as she could, kept her voice low. "I should kill you, Jan Van Eck. Maybe I will."

He'd smiled again. "You know me then?"

"I don't do small talk. Let me out now or I swear, you will never see outside this room again. They'll be piecing your body together for weeks."

"You're going to do a job for me -" 

"You want me so bad, speak to my boss. Brekker, you must've heard of him. Better yet, speak to my mother. She'll send someone your way, and you won't have to bother with kidnapping."

"I've reached out to your mother. She didn't reply."

Or I killed the messanger. Asra had been taking precaution after precaution with her secrecy. It was costing her a small fortune, but the occasional corpse here and there kept prices for her hiding managble. She may not deal in secrets like Kaz, but fear was lucrative as anything. Terror was her sevant, and it served her well.

"So I suppose I'll have to settle for you, Butcher." Her old title made her sick. From the look on his face, Van Eck felt the same.

"My condolences. But all the same, I work for Kaz Brekker. You want me? Go through him."

And so she'd ratted Kaz out. Van Eck had tried to drug her, Asra had nearly taken the medik's finger off between her teeth. They'd settled for a bag over her head till she was dumped under a bridge in the Lid. Asra had trudged, miserable and tense, down through the Barrel, till she finally reached the Slat.

"I was just kidnapped by a merch. I told him to go fuck himself and speak to you. So, expect that sooner or later." She'd said to Kaz, then headed to bed and avoided him for almost two days.

Asra sighed. Kaz was watching her. She knew if she looked he'd have that analytical look he always did. She kept her eyes on her shoes. "He wanted me to do this for him."

"Why? Why you? Why didn't he come to me first?" So many questions. He always had so many damn questions. Why did she almost want to answer them?

She drew herself up with a sigh, tilting her head back so her mousey hair fell from her face. "I wasn't always this, Kaz. I wasn't always yours. Once, I would've been halfway through this job by now, loving every moment."

"And now?"

She wanted to leave. Why wouldn't he let her leave?

"Like I said, now I'm yours. Dregs. Asra Behandelar. I like this better, but you are slower than my old boss. I'll see you at dawn." 

She left without another word. She'd said too much as is.

She told Inej to find Wylan as she left the Slat. Jesper and Muzzen were in the Crow Club, gambling away every coin and note on them. Asra told them Kaz's orders and took her place behind the bar. She wasn't meant to be working that day, but the man who was didn't exactly complain when she told him to head home.

Jesper and Muzzen left just before dawn. Asra called last orders and a little under an hour later the Crow Club was empty. She didn't want to go back to the Slat, so took her time cleaning up. Each cup was deprived of whatever grime that hadn't fused to the glass, the tables were swept clear and wiped down, chairs tucked away neatly and booze longingly stared at. Asra was just pulling on her coat when Kaz came in, Jesper, Inej, Nina, Wylan in tow. Behind them came a half conscious man, big and blonde and stumbling over his own feet. Asra knew a Heartrender's work when she saw it, and Nina's face was glowing ever so slightly. The man - he looked Fjerdan - was tied to a chair in the centre of the room while Asra watched on.

"This looks fun." She smiled, a wicked thing, looking over everyone's equally grim faces.

Kaz hummed. "Asra, I don't believe you've been introduced. Meet Matthias Helvar. Take a seat, we have business to discuss."
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Author's note:

Some backstory, some secrets, some pining. I like this chapter
:)