chapter twenty-six,     all of them have a scheming face now

"YOUR EYE LOOKS BETTER,"Aleksej tried to calm her down, but at this point, a peaceful moment wasn't coming to her in any near future. He was changing the bandage once again, inspecting her eye to see how it was healing. She was seeing something through it, but it was blurry. "No more inflammation around it – it's surprisingly healing."

Lavender looked to the side where a small mirror, which belonged to Nina, was standing. He was right, she didn't look like a rotten corpse anymore, but the wound was visible. It will always be visible.

"You still look beautiful if that's what you're worried about," he noted her silence, placing the bandages down. "Not going to put them anymore – we need to see if your vision can still change."

The red-haired just sighed and nodded, "You think Da will kill me when he sees me like this?"

"He will never ever let you go anywhere," he agreed.

She smiled, longing. "You know that you could leave. No one knows about you – get out of this mess."

"And go where?"

"Find another Grisha and just—"

"Get back to the Little Palace?" Aleksej interrupted her. "Never."

Lavender pushed her hair back and tied it with the red ribbon. "It's dangerous here. I mean—everything's just starting..."

"If you're trying to get rid of me, just say so."

She kicked him in the knee, giving him a glare: "I know you, Aleksej. And you're different and I can't blame you because of this. Ketterdam is infested with death, barely better than the Ice Court—I can't see you get hurt."

"I can protect myself," he disagreed.

"You almost cut off your finger when you tried to throw a knife," she reminded him.

His mouth fell open, the memory coming in and he shook his head, his messy curls covering his face: "I was nine! And if you think I'm useless, I'm still a decent medik."

She hummed and shrugged: "But Kaz will never let you do anything, you understand that, right? You'll probably end up babysitting Kuwei in all of this and don't you dare to disagree with him!"

"I don't like Kaz."

"He doesn't exactly have admirers, now does he?" She pointed out that Kaz was famous for all of the wrong reasons. Saints, when you think about it, he should rot in prison for at least twenty lifetimes, but... No one's perfect, right? "You could leave with my Da," she still didn't let go of the thought of putting Aleksej to safety. "It's a beautiful farm. Peaceful."

Some sort of longing flashed through his face—if he was being honest, farm life didn't seem bad. No, it rather seemed lovely. The farm life brought something – the ability to nourish and grow something. The ability to care for something.

Noticing that he was thinking about it, Lavender said: "It's not that I think you are not shaped out of a better mold. I have no idea what you have been through and what you suffered. Why do you need to suffer more? You are the only one of us who can just leave. I'm sure Kaz would help with forging documents."

Aleksej was puzzled, the thought of leaving seemed pleasant. Now he knew why the travelling mediks hated Ketterdam so much. It was infested with rot. With horrible people. With secrets. He just wanted a bit of fresh air so that the scenery of white marble would get out of his head just for a second.

"I'll think about it," he promised. "Once we see your father again."

These words were hopeful and that's all she needed, to feel a little bit more secure about all of this. Lavender shifted in her seat, sitting beside him on the table and she placed her head on his shoulder. Just like when they were kids and the nights were cold.

"I'm so happy that we've found you."

Aleksej smiled, placing his head on top of hers, "I told you we'll see each other again."

Nina watched them both from the corner of her eyes and she couldn't believe how well Aleksej looked, apart from the fact that they were all malnourished. But he gave her hope – if he made it past the cravings of jurda parem, so can she. And these nights have been horrible, she didn't get any more jurda parem even if she knew Kuwei had some more. But he clearly held it not for her, but for Lavender as he really intended to make her one of his science projects.

But she needed more, just a bit more, even if she knew that she couldn't anymore. But the pain in the night was intolerable and she was pushing Matthias away even if he was the only one who could soothe her. Even after what they have been. And yet, Aleksej brought her hope – he didn't wail at nights, he didn't look around with hungry eyes for more of that bright orange powder. She can get well too.

And Nina didn't comprehend how Lavender was related to Pekka Rollins. Yes, they all knew now. After Kaz and Lavender had their secret talk, they both came back and she explained what she knew. It was weird how a monster like him could make Lavender, who was completely different from him. Well, not really that different. She could kill, she could be dangerous, she could lie if needed, but she still had a good heart. Pekka Rollins didn't have a heart.

And they didn't need to hear the whole story of how Lavender's mother died. It was already cruel to know that he was the one who murdered her. Nina didn't understand what it would feel like to have your blood be so cruel, as her family was already dead. And they were good people. They were too good for this world.

None of the Crows blamed Lavender for her heritage, what was there to blame her for? She hasn't been raised by him and as it seemed, she took everything from her mother. Not an ounce of Pekka Rollins was seen in the way she looked, the way she walked, the way she spoke. But yet, just like that she became Pekka Rollins' worst nightmare and he didn't even know she was alive.

Nina looked away from Lavender and Aleksej and looked at Kaz, who was sitting across the room, with some sort of documents on his lap. But he wasn't looking at the pieces of paper. He was looking at them.

The former Heartrender snickered, oh how joyful it was to watch Kaz these days! Never in her life did she think that she'd see him jealous! She cleared her throat: "Interesting documents, are they not?"

She caught his attention and was greeted by the same cold gaze as always, but this time he put his attention to documents. Inej moved, as a ghost beside her, sitting on the floor: "We have to protect Aleksej, don't we?" Inej quietly murmured.

"I believe so," Nina agreed. "That boy is going to leave with a dislocated shoulder."

"Why doesn't Kaz just..." Inej couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Why doesn't he just tell Lavender he loves her? That thought made the Suli girl chuckle. It was Kaz they were talking about and just before the heist they didn't even know he had any feelings at all. "Yeah, he won't," she concluded.

Nina nodded, "He won't."

Jesper suddenly rose from his seat, pacing around anxiously, his hands on his precious revolvers: "Right... Right! I hate to be the one to disturb our peace and quiet, but I'll need to see my father in two days and I still have no idea why Wylan is making those weevils—is he planning to make them infest the whole Ketterdam, because how are we going to do that in two days?"

All of them looked at Jesper, noting the urgency of the situation. Kaz stacked the documents nicely and pushed his cup of coffee closer to the edge of the table: "Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?"

"You took a loan from Pekka Rollins?" Lavender's face was beyond flabbergasted. "Oh..." she closed her eyes and shook her head—it was when they were getting back in Ketterdam. When Kaz didn't tell her about the plan and left her in the schooner. He already knew it back then and didn't want her to see him going to Pekka Rollins.

Kaz didn't answer, but urged his question again: "Where do you think the money went?"

"Guns?" asked Jesper, opening his arms slightly.

"Ships?" suggested Inej.

"Bombs?" Wylan shrugged his shoulders.

"Political bribes?" Nina placed her bet.

Matthias and Lavender looked at each other. Their answers were related to each other, all of them saying the things that they would spend a lot of money on. Nina leaned closer to Matthias: "It's your turn to call us horrible."

The tall Fjerdan remained calm, "They all seem like practical choices."

"The money didn't go to making sure your haircut is even, then where did it go?" Lavender openly pointed out the fact that even after the heist, it was visible that one side of Kaz's haircut was more uneven than the other.

Kaz self-consciously ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back, offering his woman a glare: "Sugar."

Jesper dumbfounded looked at the little pot of sugar that was on the table. The look on Kaz's face questioned Jesper's sanity, but he took a breath and explained: "I put the money in the sugar stock. Under different accounts."

"Why sugar?" Nina asked.

"Most sugar cane comes from the Southern Colonies and Novyi Zem, but there won't be another crop until three months from now. This season's crop has already been harvested, processed, refined, and stored in the Sweet Reef silos," Kaz explained.

"The Sweet Reef... In the Sixth Harbour?" Inej asked.

"There are thirty silos. My father owns ten of them," Wylan told them all.

Jesper's mouth slightly opened, "Your father owns one-third of the world's sugar supply?"

"He owns the silos. Meaning, merchants pay him for the security and the maintenance of the sugar," Kaz clarified. "If anything, per se, would happen to sugar..."

Now everyone started to follow along where this was going.

"The demand for sugar would increase. So would the price," Inej concluded and earned another nod from Kaz.

The mastermind of this plan took a sip of his coffee, remaining, as always, calm about his plan. "The sugar stocks that we have, are not under the Van Eck's roof. Right now, they're worth about what we paid for them. But once we destroy the sugar in Van Eck's silos—"

A glimpse of hope was seen in Jesper's face. He shone like a little sunray and he skipped a step: "Our shares will be worth five or—even ten times what they are now! Oh, that's genius!"

"Try twenty," Kaz smugly said. "We'd be rich."

"The type of millions that were promised to us before the heist?" Inej asked, her good spirits lifted with the news about sugar stocks.

"A few million more. That's where weevils come in."

Wylan got the spotlight and he slightly nudged his head down, he drew a vial from his pocket, showing a tiny weevil inside: "Chemical weevil."

"Wyvil," Jesper offered a name. "A good name, I'd say. Cute. Small. Like our Wylan."

Wylan flushed in deep pink.

Lavender threw a roll of bandages at his brother. He whined in pain that was non-existent, receiving a look from his sister to shut up.

"Tell them how it works," Kaz encouraged the boy.

Wylan cleared his throat. "I got the idea from cane blight—just a little bit of bacteria can ruin a whole crop. Once the weevil is dropped into the silo, it will keep burrowing down, using the refined sugar as fuel until the sugar is nothing but useless mush."

"Right," Lavender nodded – the kid was a genius, nothing to be added. "It will make it look like it's an accident?"

"It will," said Kaz, "until the other merchants learn that Van Eck has been buying up sugar that isn't stored in his silos."

Wylan's eyes widened. "What?"

"I used half of the money for our shares. I used the rest to purchase shares on behalf of Van Eck—well, on behalf of a holding company created under Alys' name. Couldn't make it too obvious. The shares were purchased in cash, untraceable. But the certificates authenticating their purchase will be found stamped and sealed at his attorney's office." Kaz explained.

Lavender couldn't grasp the whole situation. How could he think through everything like that? And so fast?

"Van Eck's reputation will be hit – that'll hurt him the most," Kaz pointed out.

"And they will find the weevils, right?" Lavender asked.

"They aren't self-destructible, they are meant to leave a trace," Wylan nodded.

Inej hummed, thinking about all of this: "Could he go to prison for this?"

"He'll be charged with violating a contract and attempting to interfere with the market," said Kaz. "There is no greater crime according to Kerch law. If he has a good lawyer, he'll sit in a cell."

Jesper was pacing around the room, "There's just a tiny problem—how are we going to get to the silos?"

"Kaz can pick the locks?" Wylan dumbfounded, pointed out.

"No," said Kaz, "I can't."

"I don't think I've ever heard those words leave your lips," said Nina. "Say it again, nice and slow."

Kaz ignored her. "They're quatrefoil locks. Four keys in four locks are turned at the same time or they trigger security doors and an alarm. I can pick any lock, but I can't pick four at once."

"Then teach us how to do it?" Lavender didn't see that this was supposed to be a problem.

"The pickpocketing has to be precise. One wrong move and the alarm will go off. I can't teach you perfection in a day," Kaz turned her down.

It was soon decided that the job of planting a weevil inside all of the silos will be given to Inej. She was the only one who is able to climb on the tall silos and jump to the other ones. She was silent and she knew how to stay unseen. This was dangerous, but they all knew the cost of that. Inej agreed to do this and they all had to put their trust in her. Who else if not Inej?

Meanwhile, Nina will have to distract the guards. Yes, without her powers, it seemed that it would be hard to achieve, but they were talking about Nina. They had no idea how many hearts she had broken with her wit and how many more she would break. She was the definition of desire and wickedness. She could handle it. She had to.

"Once we will destroy the sugar, we'll move on to the next part. We'll wage a war between the gangs," Kaz announced.

Lavender uneasily moved, crossing her hands over her chest. "I think the gangs will appreciate it if they will find out not only all of the fake names Pekka Rollins has, but his real one."

Because at the end of the day, family was the one thing that could ruin everything. And she was ready to ruin everything her father had built.

once again, sorry for the late update, but now I have a few days of holidays and I have more time to write! I wish you all a happy new year! and I hope you can stay in this book until the end of it!

as I said before, this won't be completely true to the plot of CK, I'll be changing many things, but I hope you will like it!

thank you for staying with this book! and I'll see you in next chapter xx