“You’re very welcome, gorgeous. See, Kaz? That’s how the civilised folk do.”
Matthias was only half listening. The fingers of his left hand had started to tingle as sensation returned. He couldn’t fight all of them, not in this state and not when they were armed. But Kaz and the boy in the boat, Jesper, looked to be the only ones with guns. Unhook the rope, disable Jesper. He’d have a gun and possession of the boat. And Nina can stop your heart before you’ve taken hold of the oars, he reminded himself. So shoot her first. Put a bullet in her heart. Stay long enough to watch her fall and then be done with this place. He could do it. He knew he could. All he needed was a distraction.
The bronze girl was standing just to his right. She barely reached his shoulder. Even injured, he could knock her into the water without losing his footing or doing her any real harm.
Drop the girl. Free the boat. Disable the shooter. Kill Nina. Kill Nina. Kill Nina. He took a deep breath and threw his weight at the bronze girl.
She stepped aside as if she’d known he was coming, languidly hooking her heel behind his ankle.
Matthias let out a loud grunt as he landed hard on the stones.
“Matthias—” Nina said, stepping forward. He scrambled backwards, nearly landing himself in the water. If she laid hands on him again, he’d lose his mind. Nina halted, the hurt on her face unmistakable. She had no right.
“Clumsy, this one,” the bronze girl said impassively.
“Put him under, Nina,” commanded Kaz.
“Don’t,” Matthias protested, panic surging through him.
“You’re dumb enough to capsize the boat.”
“Stay away from me, witch,” Matthias growled at Nina.
Nina gave him a tight nod. “With pleasure.”
She lifted her hands, and Matthias felt his eyelids grow heavy as she dragged him into unconsciousness. “Kill you,” he mumbled.
“Sleep well.” Her voice was a wolf, dogging his steps. It chased him into the dark.
In a windowless room draped in black and crimson, Matthias listened silently to the strange words coming out of the pale, freakish boy’s mouth. Matthias knew monsters, and one glance at Kaz Brekker had told him this was a creature who had spent too long in the dark – he’d brought something back with him when he’d crawled into the light. Matthias could sense it around him. He knew others laughed at Fjerdan superstition, but he trusted his gut. Or he had, until Nina. That had been one of the worst effects of her betrayal, the way he’d been forced to second-guess himself. That doubt had almost been his undoing at Hellgate, where instinct was everything.
He’d heard Brekker ’s name in prison, and the words associated with him – criminal prodigy, ruthless, amoral. They called him Dirtyhands because there was no sin he would not commit for the right price. And now this demon was talking about breaking into the Ice Court, about getting Matthias to commit treason. Again, Matthias corrected himself. I’d be committing treason again.
He kept his eyes on Brekker. He was keenly aware of Nina watching him from the other side of the room. He could still smell her rose perfume in his nose and even in his mouth; the sharp flower scent rested against his tongue, as if he were tasting her.
Matthias had woken bound and tied to a chair in what looked like some kind of gambling parlour.
Nina must have brought him out of the stupor she’d placed him in. She was there, along with the bronze girl. Jesper, the long-limbed boy from the boat, sat in a corner with his bony knees drawn up, and a boy with ruddy gold curls doodled aimlessly on a scrap of paper atop a round table made for playing cards, occasionally gnawing on his thumb. The table was covered with a crimson cloth flocked with a repeating pattern of crows and a wheel similar to the one used in the Hellshow arena but with different markings had been propped against a black lacquered wall. Matthias had the feeling that someone – probably Nina – had tended to more of his injuries while he was unconscious. The thought made him sick. Better clean pain than Grisha corruption.
Then Brekker had started talking – about a drug called jurda parem, about an impossibly high reward, and about the absurd idea of attempting a raid on the Ice Court. Matthias wasn’t sure what might be fact or fiction, but it hardly mattered. When Brekker finally finished, Matthias simply said,
“No.”
“Believe me when I say this, Helvar: I know getting knocked out and waking up in strange surroundings isn’t the friendliest way to start a partnership, but you didn’t give us many options, so try to open your mind to the possibilities.”
“You could have come to me on your knees, and my answer would be the same.”
“You do understand I can have you back at Hellgate in a matter of hours? Once poor Muzzen is in the infirmary, the switch will be easy.”
“Do it. I can’t wait to tell the warden your ridiculous plans.”
“What makes you think you’ll be going back with a tongue?”