Page 63 of Crooked Kingdom (Dregs 2)
“I’ll give myself up.”
“But Kuwei—” said Nina.
“The stadwatch don’t know about Kuwei. They think they’re looking for Wylan. So I’ll tell them Wylan is dead. I’ll tell them I killed him.”
“Are you out of your mind?” said Jesper.
“Kaz,” said Inej. “They’ll send you to the gallows.”
“They’ll have to give me a trial first.”
“You’ll rot in prison before that happens,” said Matthias. “Van Eck will never give you a chance to speak in a courtroom.”
“You really think they’ve built a cell that can hold me?”
“Van Eck knows just how good you are with locks,” Inej said angrily. “You’ll die before you ever reach the jailhouse.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Jesper. “You’re not taking the fall for us. No one is. We’ll split up. We’ll go in pairs, find a way past the blockades, hide out somewhere in the countryside.”
“This is my city,” said Kaz. “I’m not leaving it with my tail between my legs.”
Jesper released a growl of frustration. “If this is your city, what’s left of it? You gave up your shares in the Crow Club and Fifth Harbor. You don’t have a gang anymore. Even if you did escape, Van Eck and Rollins would sic the stadwatch and half the Barrel on you again. You can’t fight them all.”
“Watch me.”
“Damn it, Kaz. What are you always telling me? Walk away from a losing hand.”
“I’m giving you a way out. Take it.”
“Why are you treating us like a bunch of yellow-bellied skivs?”
Kaz turned on him. “You’re the one getting ready to bolt, Jesper. You just want me to run with you so you don’t have to feel so bad about it. For all your love of a fight, you’re always the first to talk about running for cover.”
“Because I want to stay alive.”
“For what?” Kaz said, his eyes glittering. “So you can play another hand at the tables? So you can find another way to disappoint your father and let down your friends? Have you told your father you’re the reason he’s going to lose his farm? Have you told Inej you’re the reason she almost died at the end of Oomen’s knife? That we all almost died?”
Jesper’s shoulders bunched, but he didn’t back down. “I made a mistake. I let my bad get the best of my good, but for Saints’ sake, Kaz, how long are you going to make me pay for a little forgiveness?”
“What do you think my forgiveness looks like, Jordie?”
“Who the hell is Jordie?”
For the briefest moment, Kaz’s face went slack, a confused, almost frightened look in his dark eyes—there and gone, so fast Wylan wondered if he’d imagined it.
“What do you want from me?” Kaz snarled, his expression just as closed, just as cruel as ever. “My trust? You had it and you shot it to pieces because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.”
“One time. How many times have I had your back in a fight? How many times have I gotten it right? Doesn’t that count for anything?” Jesper threw up his hands. “I can’t win with you. No one can.”
“That’s right. You can’t win. You think you’re a gambler, but you’re just a born loser. Fights. Cards. Boys. Girls. You’ll keep playing until you lose, so for once in your life, just walk away.”
Jesper swung first. Kaz dodged right and then they were grappling. They slammed into the wall, knocked heads, drew apart in a flurry of punches and grabs.
Wylan turned to Inej, expecting her to object, for Matthias to separate them, for someone to do something, but the others just backed up, making room. Only Kuwei showed any kind of distress.
Jesper and Kaz swung around, crashed into the mechanism of the clock, righted themselves. It wasn’t a fight, it was a brawl—graceless, a tangle of elbows and fists.
“Ghezen and his works, someone stop them!” Wylan said desperately.
“Jesper hasn’t shot him,” Nina said.
“Kaz isn’t using his cane,” said Inej.
“You think they can’t kill each other with their bare hands?”
They were both bleeding—Jesper from a cut on his lip and Kaz from somewhere near his brow. Jesper’s shirt was halfway over his head and Kaz’s sleeve was tearing at the seam.
The trapdoor sprang open and Colm Fahey’s head emerged. His ruddy cheeks went even redder.
“Jesper Llewellyn Fahey, that is enough!” he roared.
Jesper and Kaz both startled, and then, to Wylan’s shock, they stepped away from each other, looking guilty.
“Just what is going on here?” Colm said. “I thought you were friends.”
Jesper ran a hand over the back of his neck, looking like he wanted to vanish through the floorboards. “We … uh … we were having a disagreement.”
“I can see that. I have been very patient with all of this, Jesper, but I am at my limit. I want you down here before I count ten or I will tan your hide so you don’t sit for two weeks.”
Colm’s head vanished back down the stairs. The silence stretched.
Then Nina giggled. “You are in so much trouble.”
Jesper scowled. “Matthias, Nina let Cornelis Smeet grope her bottom.”
Nina stopped laughing. “I am going to turn your teeth inside out.”
“That is physically impossible.”
“I just raised the dead. Do you really want to argue with me?”
Inej cocked her head to one side. “Jesper Llewellyn Fahey?”
“Shut up,” said Jesper. “It’s a family name.”
Inej made a solemn bow. “Whatever you say, Llewellyn.”
“Kaz?” Jesper said tentatively.
But Kaz was staring into the middle distance. Wylan thought he knew that look.
“Is that—?” asked Wylan.
“Scheming face?” said Jesper.
Matthias nodded. “Definitely.”
“I know how to do it,” Kaz said slowly. “How to get Kuwei out, get the Grisha out, get our money, beat Van Eck, and give that son of a bitch Pekka Rollins everything he has coming to him.”
Nina raised a brow. “Is that all?”
“How?” asked Inej.
“This whole time, we’ve been playing Van Eck’s game. We’ve been hiding. We’re done with that. We’re going
to stage a little auction. Right out in the open.” He turned to face them, and his eyes gleamed flat and black as a shark’s. “And since Kuwei is so eager to sacrifice himself, he’s going to be the prize.”
PART FIVE
KINGS & QUEENS
24
JESPER
At the base of the iron staircase, Jesper tried to straighten his shirt and dabbed the blood from his lip, though at this point he figured it wouldn’t matter if he showed up in nothing but his skivvies. His father was no fool, and that ridiculous story Wylan had concocted to cover for Jesper’s mistakes had worn faster than a cheap suit. His father had seen their wounds, he’d heard about their botched plans. He knew they weren’t students or victims of a swindle. So what now?
Close your eyes and hope the firing squad has good aim, he thought bleakly.
“Jesper.”
He whirled. Inej was right behind him. He hadn’t heard her approach, but that was no surprise. Have you told Inej you’re the reason she almost died at the end of Oomen’s knife? Well, Jesper figured he’d be doing a lot of apologizing this morning. Best get to it.
“Inej, I’m sorry—”
“I didn’t come looking for an apology, Jesper. You have a weak spot. We all have weak spots.”
“What’s yours?”
“The company I keep,” she said with a slight smile.
“You don’t even know what I did.”
“Then tell me.”
Jesper looked down at his shoes. They were miserably scuffed. “I was in deep with Pekka Rollins for a lot of kruge. His goons were putting the pressure on, so I … I told them I was leaving town, but that I was about to come into a big score. I didn’t say anything about the Ice Court, I swear.”
“But it was enough for Rollins to put the puzzle together and prepare an ambush.” She sighed. “And Kaz has been punishing you for it ever since.”
Jesper shrugged. “Maybe I deserve it.”
“Do you know the Suli have no words to say ‘I’m sorry’?”
“What do you say when you step on someone’s foot?”
“I don’t step on people’s feet.”
“You know what I mean.”
“We say nothing. We know the slight was not deliberate. We live in tight quarters, traveling together. There’s no time to constantly be apologizing for existing. But when someone does wrong, when we make mistakes, we don’t say we’re sorry. We promise to make amends.”
