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i. the mighty plan!
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Anya stared out at the mismatched group of criminals decorating the dingy parlour before her from the comfort of her seat atop the grand piano. A sufficient number of keys were missing to render the instrument incapable of serving its intended purpose, but she'd spent too much time and energy stealing it to part ways with the old pile of mahogany.
There were only two new faces; Matthias Helvar - the convict they'd managed to fish out from the endless barrel of misery that was Hellgate, and Wylan Van Eck - a scrawny little thing with an affinity for blowing things up.
Inej Ghafa and Jesper Fahey were two faces she'd grown quite used to over the two years she'd spent with the Dregs. Where Inej was quiet and sleek, Jesper was boisterous and flashy - a healthy balance of personalities Anya enjoyed to spend her time with.
Nina Zenik was the only face in the room that had known her before she'd embarked on her new life as the apparent daughter of a Kaelish Corsair queen. The unspoken agreement between the two grisha to keep their lips sealed as to each other's secrets had been in place since Anya had locked eyes with her from across the hall of the gambling parlour the year before.
The man sitting in front of her on the rickety old piano stool was perhaps the one that scared her the most. Not for his gruesome reputation, or the legendary tales about what lay beneath his ever present gloves - Anya wore her own pair of gloves every waking hour and she was almost certain what lay beneath hers was far worse - but of the emotionless display he'd managed to maintain, rain or shine, for the better part of the two years she'd known him. If it wasn't for the occasional crack in his stony expression, Anya would have found Kaz Brekker to be a little too reminiscent of someone she struggled to forget.
"Believe me when I say this, Helvar," Kaz drawled at the Fjerfan's refusal to take part in his frankly outlandish plan. "I know getting knocked out and waking up in strange surroundings isn't the best way to start a partnership, but you didn't give us many options. Try to open your mind to the possibilities."
Of course Anya had had a similar reaction when Kaz had shown her his plan earlier that day - that was until he'd revealed their destination. Sure, the money was a pretty neat incentive given that she was still growing used to living outside of the luxuries she'd been lavished with in the Little Palace - but maybe not quite enough to risk being identified at the heart of the Fjerfan Ice Court. Anastasia Morozova - or the World Ender as they called her now - was a dead woman and her resurrection was the last thing the world needed.
"You can keep your money," she'd told Kaz. "I'll join your crew under one condition. I need to get into the Treasury."
Anya had taken a brief second to enjoy the confusion on Kaz's face - a rare sight indeed. As he revealed his plan to his newfound crew, she caught the occasional glances he sent her way from the corner of her eye.
"You could have come to me on your knees, and my answer would have still been the same," Helvar glowered, glaring at Kaz as if he'd killed his mother.
"And what if I came to you on my knees, Helvar?" Anya batted her lashes dramatically, bursting into laughter as his face flushed red with rage. "I'm only joking. I forgot how frigid you Fjerdans can be."
"It's a camouflaging technique," Jesper gave her a wicked grin. "He blends in with the icebergs quite nicely."
Just as Matthias began to struggle against his chains once more, Kaz stood up from his seat, casting a very unamused expression in Anya's direction. She tuned him out as he began his strategy of persuasion (or rather cohesion) on Matthias Helvar, choosing instead to pick at the loose threads on her gloves.
Soon enough, she wouldn't be needing them anymore if their plan didn't go south, which was highly possible given Helvar's apparent reluctance. Her nose wrinkled as Jesper mentioned julda parem - another motivation as to her participation, though she had yet to voice her concern. Only Nina knew she was grisha and Anya was keen to keep it that way.
When she looked up, Inej was untying Matthias .
"I believe you already know Nina, our very own Heartrender." Kaz's grating voice was tainted with a glimmer of satisfaction. "The lovely girl that is freeing you is Inej, our thief of secrets and the best in the trade. Jesper Fahey is our sharpshooter, Zemeni-born but try not to hold it against him. Anya Varamyr over there on the piano, she knows her way around a ship."
"Anya the jolly sailor," Jesper cackled, only shutting up after a wayward boot hit him in the chest. "You're not getting your shoe back, Anya."
"Wylan is the best demolitions expert in the Barrel," Kaz continued, ignoring their antics.
"Raske is better," Inej muttered.
"He's not better, he's reckless," Wylan defended himself. Anya couldn't help but be reminded of the painted cherubs she'd seen decorating the palaces in Os Alta.
"What's life without a little risk," Anya grinned, enjoying the slight twitch on in Wylan's eye as she slipped off of the piano and leant onto the table in front of him. "How old are you, anyway? 14? 15?"
"He looks about 12," Jesper nudged her in the hip with the toe of her discarded boot.
"I'm 16!" Anya couldn't help but smile at the younger boy.
"Wylan is new to the scene," Kaz used his cane to push Anya back into a spare chair, ignoring her sullen pout.
"I don't like it," Inej stood beside Jesper with her arms crossed. Anya would have agreed with her if she hadn't been in the room when Kaz had dragged him in in the first place.
"I didn't ask," Kaz grunted. "Besides, Wylan isn't just good with the flint and fuss . He's our insurance. I'd like you to meet Wylan Van Eck. Jan Van Eck's son and our guarantee on thirty million kruge."
"I would like to state that out of the countless crimes I've managed to commit over the years, child kidnapping is not one of them," Anya grimaced, ignoring the half-assed "I'm not a child!". "In fact, I'm fairly certain I've never kidnapped anyone."
Jesper raised an incredulous eyebrow before turning on the small blonde boy who'd turned crimson from all the attention. "Of course you're a councilman's son!"
The group shuffled around the table as Wylan began to draw out a map of the Ice Court. Anya pulled on her boot and pushed Jesper to the side to get a better look at the sketch. The boy drew out the outer rings of the fortress, detailing the various sectors and buildings that Matthias begrudgingly described.
"What about the treasury?" Anya ignored Nina's questioning stare and the wrinkle that had formed between Jesper's eyebrows. "What are you looking for the treasury for? Is the 4 million kruge reward not enough for the Princess Anya?"
"Do the maths, Jesper." Kaz raised a brow in amusement. "4 times 7 is 28 and Per Haskell is expecting a 20% deduction. Anya has graciously agreed to join us on our endeavour without a monetary reward-"
"So you're doing this for free?" Jesper squeaked. "Have you gone completely man, Anya?"
"Not quite yet, Jes. Almost, but I reckon I've still got a couple screws in the right places up there," Anya winked. "There's something inside that treasury that is payment enough."
"What could a Ketterdam street rat want from the Fjerdan treasury?" Matthias watched her warily, his fists scrunching up at his sides. "Jewels and Grisha relics - nothing you can't find in any old merchant's vault."
"That's for me to know, and for you to potentially never find out," Anya tapped the side of her nose with a gloved finger. Still, she winced slightly under Kaz's piercing gaze. She hadn't told him and Inej exactly what she was planning to steal. All she'd revealed was that the item was small enough to hide on her person as they escaped.
Matthias Helvar was right about one thing - a Grisha relic was exactly what she was looking for. Anya had a pesky little problem, you see - a problem she shared with a very dear old friend of hers - a problem she could only maybe have a decent chance at solving with the right amount of power.
"You'll get your prize Varamyr," Kaz assured her. Anya almost physically shivered under the intensity of his gaze. "Now, where will they be keeping Yul-Bayur?" He asked Matthias.
Anya winced as she watched the Fjerfan struggle to to get the words out. She'd been in a similar position not too long ago - having to choose between what she'd always known and what, deep down, she knew was right. "Probably here," Matthias grumbled. "The prisoner sector. The high security cells are on the topmost floor. It's where they keep the most dangerous criminals. Assassins, terrorists -"
"Grisha?"
Anya made direct eye contact with Nina as she spat the word out bitterly. The dark haired girl hurried to avert her gaze before Inej or Kaz could take note of her expressing anything other than indifference - Anya Varamyr was a selfish, selfish woman; she had no time for sympathy or morality.
"Exactly," Matthias glowered and Anya couldn't help but roll her eyes. If she wasn't slightly concerned about Helvar burying a butter knife between Nina's brows, she would have been tempted to lock them in a room together to resolve whatever strange enemies to lovers thing they had going on.
It seemed Jesper agreed. "Usually people don't start hating each other until a week into the job, but you two have a head start."
"I'm pretty sure all it took was a hello for me to mark you down as a pain in the ass, Fahey." Jesper gave her an affronted pout and flipped her the finger.
"I know you love me really, Varamyr. How could anyone be so heartless as to hate a face like mine?"
"I don't think that question is worthy of an answer," Kaz gave the sharpshooter a dry sneer before he turned back to the plans with a sharp focus. "Bo Yul-Bayur isn't dangerous - at least not in that way. I don't think they'll keep him locked up with the rabble."
"I reckon they'll be keeping him somewhere comfortable," Anya mused, sitting on her chair backwards, legs draped around the backrest. "Just comfortable enough to keep him working, but secure and impersonal enough to break his spirit." She ignored the inquisitive glance Inej through her way - maybe she'd been a little too introspective with her prediction.
"I think they'll be keeping him in a grave," Matthias stated and Anya laughed loudly.
"Nice to know we're staying optimistic."
As Kaz pressed on, Matthias began to divulge more and more information. No matter how many times he'd requested permission to throttle Nina to death, the Fjerdan was being rather cooperative with the group. He glanced up at Anya in resignation and pointed at the White Island, home to the Royal Palace and the treasury.
Oh, the gods have been good to me today, Anya thought to herself with a wicked grin.
"Your quest is pointless," Matthias said with an ugly grimace. "There is no way a group of foreigners is going to make it to the White Island."
But Anya refused to listen to his pessimistic words. This was the answer to everything - this was the end to sleepless nights, to gut wrenching guilt, to never ending loneliness, maybe even to her self inflicted exile. Just maybe, Anya Varamyr would be nothing but a legend lingering in the gutters of Ketterdam, the World Ender would be a moniker buried deep in the libraries of Os Alta - finally, Anastasia Morozova would be able to thrive.
She closed her eyes for a second, the incessant ache that had found its home between her shoulder blades two years before was barely detectable; the pinch at the tip of each of her fingers was almost forgotten beneath her leather gloves.
"Is she asleep?"
"No," Inej almost laughed at Wylan's question. "Anya sleeps with one eye open."
"I'm afraid that's not quite true," Anya smiled, still not opening her eyes. "I do sleep with a dagger under my pillow though, so don't get any ideas."
"I fear for any man who would brave your bedchamber," Kaz muttered, leaning back in his chair. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?"
"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.
"Gun to the back?" Said Jesper.
"Poison in his cup?" Suggested Nina.
"Take him to bed and steal his boots too?" Anya raised her hand mockingly.
"You're all horrible," said Matthias and Anya let out a hearty laugh. She was no longer gazed when people called her a monster - she hadn't been born a villain, she'd been made one.
"Will we enter disguised as guards?" Wylan asked, and Jesper was quick to point out that only Nina and Matthias spoke Fjerfan.
"I speak Fjerdan," Wylan protested and Anya snorted.
"No you don't. I speak Fjerdan," she grinned proudly. "Very well in fact. I've had a lot of spare time on my hands."
"When?" Jesper snorted. "In between looting ships and killing merchants? You're what - 18, 19?"
"Something like that," Anya smirked, tipping her head back to give Nina a rather fox like grin. To her left, Kaz gave her a sharp glare. "Oh sorry, Lord Brekker. I'll shut up."
Anya listened as Kaz explained his plan to enter the prison as prisoners. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of heavy shackles and cramped cells. Redemption was a difficult task indeed.
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"I don't know what you think you're doing, but I can tell you know that Zoya would never approve!"
"Shut up, Nina!" Anya glanced around frantically. Once upon a time she would have been able to reach out with the wisps of shadow she was free to produce, but now she was forced to rely on only five of her six senses. The shadows under her eyes and the pallor of her skin had become seemingly irreversible after two years of suppressing her Grisha self. "You never know where the Wraith is lurking."
"Inej is on a job for Kaz," Nina waved her hand in the air. "Same as us. You know I still find it so strange when Brekker orders you around like that. Not too long ago you were essentially royalty. I didn't even know your name!"
She still didn't really know her full name.
"Not royal enough," Anya scoffed to herself. "Besides, I would hardly consider being locked in Os Alta for the majority of my life as an indicator of my regal authority."
"That makes two of us," Nina have her a sad smile. "Though I'd wager your definition of the duration of a lifetime differed from mine."
"I cannot deny, nor confirm," Anya winked at her.
"For saints' sake! You're just like Kaz!" Nina laughed, drawing the attention of a couple of rowdy merchants. "All these murky myths and legends you have floating around about yourselves, when really you're both a pair of right old softies deep down."
"Don't let Kaz hear you say that," Anya chuckled. It was a cardinal rule in the world of kings, captains and cutthroats that reputation mattered above all else. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but allow memories of a dashing privateer - who'd fed a man's fingers to a dog to establish himself - to resurface. "He'll chuck you off the roof of the slat."
"I'd like to see him try," Nina scoffed. "One day, I'll manage to sneak a peak at what he hides under those gloves of his - it's like they're glued to his skin, but what makes dirtyhands' hands so dirty?"
The girls entered the dingy building they called home. Their apartment - well, apartment was a strong word - was at the very top, and hiking up the five flights of stairs left them struggling to breathe no matter how many times they climbed them.
When Anya Varamyr had first heard that Kaz Brekker had recruited a heartrender named Nina Zenik, she'd almost jumped out of her skin. When they'd locked eyes in the gambling parlour an hour later, Nina had worn the same shell-shocked expression.
Of course, Anya had changed her appearance from when she'd lived at the Little Palace. Gone was her black kefta - she wore dark leather trousers, strapped tightly to her legs with garters fitted with weapons. She wore a red fur coat to protect her from the bitter air of Ketterdam, but also to hide the scars and tattoos on her back that would have been entirely visible from under the black lace vest she wore underneath. The Darkling had always kept things traditional, forbidding her from cutting her long dark hair - but now it only reached her shoulders, a fringe hid the scar she'd obtained on her right temple two years before.
Nonetheless, Nina had recognized her immediately but had kept her mouth shut.
Less than a week later, the two girls had agreed to share their living quarters, seeing as Anya was tired of sleeping in the Slat's dingy basement, and Nina had no desire to spend her nights in the White Rose. Kaz had shown no sign of questioning their new arrangement, and if Inej had caught on to the fact that the two girls were strangely familiar with each other, she hadn't mentioned it.
"That Matthias of yours is nowhere near as friendly as you made him out to be," Anya called out as she began to sort through the chest at the end of her bed in their shared bedroom. "Looks like he wants to choke you all the time, and not in a good way."
"He had good reason to," Nina muttered, sadly tugging at a loose thread on her faux red kefta. "Whatever you do, don't let on you're grisha, Stasia."
"Don't call me that," Anya said sharply, finally tugging a variety of items out of her trunk. "And I wasn't planning on it. Need I remind you about the majority of Ravka think I'm dead, and those that don't never want to see my face again?"
"Yeah, yeah," Nina groaned, digging into a staling lemon cake as she sprawled onto Anya's bed. "Honestly, though. Why are you doing this? For the julda parem? - I thought you would have been done with saving the world."
"I wasn't lying about the treasury," Anya told her. "They really are hiding something I want in there-"
"A grisha relic?" Nina pressed. "Anya, are you searching for an amplifier - whatever for? You said it yourself - you can't risk using the Small Science anymore."
Anya spared her friend a glance and shook her head. "I can't tell you, Nina - you'll end up seeing it for yourself - but trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Nina gave her an unconvinced smile and stopped questioning her. She watched as Anya stripped off her fur jacket and boots - she didn't need to worry about Nina seeing her decorated skin. She pulled a leather duster on, strapped a harness on, tucking a selection of knives into the slots. Eyeing Nina's bare leg, she tossed her a sheathed knife and told her to tuck it into the top of her boot.
"I can stop a man's pulse in a heartbeat," Nina scoffed. "What do I need this for?"
"You never know," Anya gave her a wicked grin. "A pointy dagger might scare Helvar off more than the invisible threat of mentally knocking him unconscious."
Anya looked down at the bottom of her trunk. An old pirate's hat she kept for the sake of her made up backstory; a cutlass with a bronze handle; a gaudy teal coat with large embellished gold buttons; and a shining ring set with a large emerald. Glancing quickly at Nina, she tied a dark sash around her hair, placed the hat on top of it and tugged the coat on. Sword in hand, she turned to her friend with a grin. "What do you say? Corsair queen's daughter?"
"Aye," Nina giggled, though she raised an eyebrow at the emerald ring hanging around her neck. "You better hope we don't run into any actual pirates. Most of them have already met the mighty Stormhund, you know."
Anya grumbled and stuffed the gaudy coat back into the trunk, exchanging it for the red furs she wore on the streets of Ketterdam. The emerald ring stayed firmly around her neck.
Nina pulled on a blue jacket and shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Well let's get going," she smiled prettily. "We've got a heist to carry out."