A/N The Bastard of the Barrel and the Wraith take the first step towards Inej's dream: they start to hunt a slaver. But during the way, more emotions are revealed and Kaz knows he wants to try. Hell, he even buys Inej waffles.

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Inej Ghafa

It had been a peaceful two weeks since her parents had arrived. Inej, for the first time in what felt like years, had a comfortable mattress, got hot food whenever she wanted all courtesy of Wylan and his incredible fortunes.

Once her parents had rested, she knew she had to talk to them, and she did. It had been a conversation where Inej held herself together, told them about Heleen, told them how Kaz had given her a different contract to work off. She reassured her parents that Kaz's contract was very different, a lot fairer and that Kaz had given her her own room that was not invaded by men throwing themselves at her. She had left out the details about how she and Kaz were two of the deadliest criminals in Ketterdam. Not information one's parents needed to know.

She'd finished and she'd been crying silent tears. Her mother had cried, clutched at her tightly and her father had glowed with rage. He'd said, "Where is that Heleen? I'm going to strangle her."

Inej had given a choked laugh and said, "Kaz took care of her."

And he had. He'd spread that "plague" to the menagerie and took away Heleen's source of income. He was only meant to spread it to Pekka Rollins' businesses, but he'd thought of Inej and had made Heleen suffer. He'd thought of her vengeance as well as his. His vengeance that he'd given his life to.

And then her mother had stumbled over her words, "It's been a while, sweet, and you don't have to say if you don't want to, but are you... are you and Kaz more than friends?"

Inej had burst out laughing, so hard that she was crying. Is that how they looked like to anyone outside of Ketterdam? Like they were together? They spoke of each other a lot, Kaz had, more often than not, reffered to her as 'his Wraith'. Never 'his Inej', but 'his Wraith'. Her first kill, going against all her saints, was to save Kaz's life. He'd looked past his vengeance and revenge and had put his money towards her freedom. They made an odd pair in any case.

"No, mama," she'd said once she'd calmed down, "We're just friends."

And if you asked Kaz that, they weren't even that. She was simply an investment.

But did you hold hands with your investments, trust them with the secret you've guarded all your life, show them your vulnerabilities and then offer to try? Did you hold your investments up when they were about to collapse, did you hold their hand, and saints, did you kiss their neck? She'd shaken her head vigorously and determinedly changed the topic, "Hot tea, mamma?"

They'd seen what she was doing and had not pushed, so for the next two weeks, they'd stuffed themselves full, talked, and Wylan had bought them some simple acrobatics equipment and Inej and her father had trained together like they had before.

It was like to good days before her world changed and Kaz had brought her the good world back. He'd done it for her.

And after the two weeks, they'd decided they needed to get back to performing and the rest of the family. They'd wanted Inej to come along. But she'd said with her head held high of her dreams, so they'd departed with a soft, "Be careful. We love you wherever we are."

Inej hadn't cried then, not until after she was scaling Ketterdam's rooftops, finding perch on the Slat's roof. She did cry then, and it must've been fairly loud because a familiar rasp sounded from the floor below. "Inej, what's wrong? Are you injured?"

She cursed. Why did Kaz have to have the room closest to the roof? Why was his window open and why could he hear her and feel her presence when no one else could?

"I'm fine," she choked out.

Kaz was gone and she rolled her eyes. But once the majority of the tears passed, she slid herself into Kaz's room.

Kaz Brekker

He knew Inej had pulled herself through the window and was sitting on his windowsill. "Hello, Inej."

He took his gloves off by the basin near the far end of his room and steeled himself. He wanted to try. Curse all the saints Inej prayed, she'd unlocked something in him, a desire he'd always had no problems shutting down. It was possibly because she'd take a bullet for him, possibly because they'd spent so much time together, perhaps because he knew she wasn't desperate for his attention or to undercover his mysteries. She simply wanted only what Kaz would willingly give her, but she'd be there when he tried to give her more.

He faced Inej, and her eyes were puffy. He wished Jesper was here. Or Nina. They would hug her, tell her everything would be okay, but he didn't know how to do any of that. So, he suggested something they were both good at, "Up to spying on someone?"

She rolled her eyes and he thought she'd refuse, that she wanted someone to hold her close, but she said, "Sure. Who and why?"

"Hans Robinson," Kaz said and then hesitated. Decisions regarding Inej always put doubt in his heart. He'd never doubted anything before, but from the time he'd bought the Wraith to the time Inej had seen it, he was filled with doubt on whether the design was the right choice. When Inej nearly collapsed against him after seeing her parents, he doubted himself.

And now he doubted this. "The past two weeks, I've been doing some digging. Hans here has a pleasure house outside of Ketterdam but on an island that's still owned by this city. He operates from here, has crew to find slaves, but holds them in the island so that if a moral raid ever happened, his pleasure house won't get caught. I thought we could start your first journey here. I'll get him from inside the city and you free those poor girls from the island."

"Kaz..." Inej trailed off and the stupid sense of doubt was back. She said, "You didn't have to. You probably have much more stuff to do and-"

"I've taken Rollins apart, Van Eck's in jail, and I thought about what you've said. What I want to do for myself. I want to do this. I want to help you. Jordie's greed took him away, but there was always good inside him. He would've wanted this. And you may have missed the part where I said if there was a moral raid, all these men may be in jail. But this is Ketterdam. There are no morals. There is only barrel scum, and we happen to be the worst of it."

"Speak for yourself," Inej countered, "I have morals."

"Fine. You're a barrel scum with morals. Doesn't change my point. If anyone's going to do this, it's going to be you."

"Thank you, Kaz," Inej said, and she looked to the floor, something close to softness and unsurety in her voice.

He remembered how she'd looked embarrassed when her parents had said something to her in Suli when they'd got off the boat and looked elatedly at Inej and had taken Kaz in. "What did your mother say that day?"

"Huh?"

"When they came to Ketterdam and you ran to say hi to them. They said something in Suli, and you were embarrassed. I don't think I've ever seen you embarrassed."

"Oh," Inej said and as she remembered, she flushed once again and hell, if Kaz could imprint that vision to his mind he would. "It doesn't matter. Let's go stalk Hans."

She was out of the window before he could press the topic and he cursed. Out of everyone he'd faced, why was Inej the one that could outsmart him and run away?

He knew where she'd be, so he put on his gloves and strolled to the back alley of the Slat and there she stood, moonlight glimmering of her dark hair. She was beautiful. He'd felt desire before but had pushed it down, but when Inej looked like that, it was quite tricky.

"Let's go," Inej said, and they walked, footsteps aligning. She kept his pace even though she could probably be dangling off Hans' window by now.

As they walked through Ketterdam city, Inej stopped by a waffle shop. "Jesper bought us waffles from here. They were the best waffles I've had."

And Kaz thought he must've lost his mind. He entered the shop, a confused Inej in tow, and he ordered two plates of waffles and overpaid. Even the waiter looked gobsmacked and Kaz had to tap his cane on the wooden floor. "Stop gawking and go make those damn waffles."

Inej sat opposite him. "Kaz-"

"I'm hungry," he lied.

"You do know I know when you're lying."

"You always do and it's infuriating," Kaz growled. He wasn't as annoyed as he looked when she gave him a smug smirk.

Their waffles arrived; they ate in silence though Kaz knew she was looking at him through her dark lashes. All Saints above, he wished he was normal. He wished he could brush her hair back, hold her hand, lead her back to the Slat and maybe even kiss her. Hell, he would do anything to erase his horrible memories of skin and replace it with Inej's warm, caramel, feather-light kisses. And when that desire spread, he knew he'd have to try for Inej.

"I want to try," he blurted out, "I want to try for you."

Inej seemed to know what he meant, and she nodded, "I know. We'll figure it out together."

But today, eating waffles together had been challenge enough. So, they did what they did best. They became the Bastard of the Barrel and the Wraith, gathered enough information to know when and where the next shipment of slavers was to arrive and got out before anyone knew they were near the Robinson mansion.

They went back to the Slat and Inej lingered by Kaz's window. "You could stay in the Van Eck mansion."

He'd considered it before but for whatever ridiculous reason, the Slat and the Crow Club felt like home. "And endure Jesper and Wylan coddling each other for every minute of the day. I'm okay at the Slat."

"They're not too bad."

"Wait until Van Eck's ribs are healed," Kaz said, surprising himself, as Inej gave a gasp of laughter.

"Why were you crying?" Kaz asked, "Tonight?"

"Saying goodbye to my parents. I've just found them and they're going again," Inej said.

"They'll be proud of what you'll do," Kaz said, the best he could offer. He knew, though would never say, that he'd be proud too,

"I hope so," Inej smiled a little sadly and the beautiful blush came on again, "They said you were handsome by the way. The night they came here and saw you. That's what they told me."

And Kaz quirked an eyebrow but before he could contemplate asking her what she thought of that statement, wondering whether that's too much of a step towards understanding his feelings (did he want her to find him handsome?), she had disappeared, as quick as the wind, as quick as the spider he'd trained her to be.

He found himself grinning and wanted to slap himself. But the grin remained with him until he fell asleep.

And two days later, Kaz and Inej, Bastard of the Barrel and the Wraith, bought down Hans Robinson's fortunes and offered the most precious thing they could to the slaves: freedom.

And a small corner of him, a piece of his heart was happy knowing he was the one who'd given Inej her freedom. Not through cons and tricks, but through his own money.

They'd try and fail, but they'd try and fail together.

Just like how, in a fight, despite being broken, they'd fight their way out together.

Knives drawn and pistols blazing.  

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A/N Hope you enjoyed! Please comment, vote and share!

Love, IC x