CHAPTER I.

Jan Van Eck

     Brynn woke up with a start, her head pounding. She was in the dark and her hands were bound behind her back. Then the events at Vellgeluk came back to her in a flash.

A Squaller on jurda parem picking her up, burning the Grisha in the face, falling through the air, then the second Squaller grabbing her, and a sharp pain in her skull before everything went black. Kaz running towards her.

She couldn't see anything in the blackness of wherever she was being held prisoner, a blindfold over her eyes. Brynn tried to wiggle her hands, but they were bound together too tightly. Her rings were gone, too.

When I find Van Eck, I'm going to kill him, Brynn thought.

How long had it been since the skirmish at Vellgeluk? A few hours? A few days? How long until Kaz came for her? Would Van Eck torture her before he did?

Brynn heard keys jingling nearby, turning in a series of locks. The creaking of a door opening came suddenly in the silence of the room. She could see light out of the bottom of her blindfold. How long had she been awake already?

Someone gently took her blindfold off. Brynn blinked, taking in her unfamiliar surroundings from the light of a lantern. There wasn't much in the small, barren room. A concrete floor underneath her, a pile of blankets that she'd been set on top of, walls lined with empty shelves, and a small table and chair a few feet away from her. There were no windows, and the only hint that they might still be near Ketterdam was the damp trace of salt in the air.

A Suli man stood in front of Brynn. He seemed to only be a few years older than Brynn herself, with thick black hair that curled around his collar and black gem eyes framed by lashes long enough to swat flies. He smiled at Brynn, one she did not return.

"Where am I?" she demanded.

He merely chuckled. "My name is Bajan," he told her in heavily-accented Kerch. "Are you hungry? I brought you food."

"Is Van Eck sending his goons to do his dirty work, now?" Brynn scoffed. "I didn't expect any less of the coward."

"It is not smart to speak of Mister Van Eck in such a way," Bajan said.

"Why do you care so much?"

Bajan reached forward, gently grabbing onto her arms to haul her up. He set her down on the chair. "I am a music teacher, indentured to Mister Van Eck. I must care so much."

Bajan untied her carefully, then brought her hands forward to tie them in front of her instead. Brynn decided not to make a move because of the two heavily-armed guards near the doorway that looked like they wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet in her head.

Brynn eyed Bajan as he waved one of the guards over, a tray of porridge and soft sausages set down on the table in front of her. Bajan leaned against a wall, his arms crossed, to watch her eat.

There were no utensils for Brynn to use. Whether it was as a precaution made by Van Eck or Bajan, she couldn't have cared less. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten, and while the porridge was dreadful and the sausages were too salty, Brynn ate it all messily with her fingers.

"How long have you been with the Dregs?"

Brynn glanced up at Bajan and narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering. How long?"

Brynn didn't reply. When she was finished eating, she pushed the tray away and leaned back in her chair, studying the Suli man. He wore tapered silk trousers and an elegantly cut coat. Pinned to his lapel, a golden lyre crowned with laurel leaves and a small ruby indicated both his profession and the house of his indenture.

"What instruments do you teach?" she asked.

"Harp, pianoforte, flute, and voice for ladies."

Brynn hummed, watching him. "I'm guessing you are not permitted to tell me where I am."

Bajan shook his head. "I'm afraid not." He paused, then asked, "You are from the Wandering Isle, are you not?"

"I am."

"How did you end up in Ketterdam?"

"I choked three babies to death and had to run away," lied Brynn in a completely calm manner. Bajan's eyes widened and Brynn chuckled softly. "I may be a monster, but I'm not a psychopath. No, you needn't know why I came to Ketterdam."

"Are you indentured to Per Haskell, or perhaps Kaz Brekker?"

Brynn's breath caught at Kaz's name. She played it off as she shifted in her seat to find a more comfortable position to sit in. "How long have I been here?"

The door opened again. Brynn snapped her head to the creaking noise. Van Eck stepped into the room, the glow of the dim lamplight on his gaunt but handsome face. The door slammed behind him and Van Eck stared amusingly at her.

"Not long," he answered simply, brushing off his cuffs. As always, he was in mercher's black, his hair slicked back and showing off his receding hairline.

"You should be glad my hands are tied, because you'd be dead," hissed Brynn.

Van Eck hummed in response. "I'm sure I would be. If you were untied, of course."

"You don't sound convinced, Van Eck," she said. "How about you untie me and I'm sure I can convince you quite well."

He chuckled. "Tell me, Miss Adala, do you think your friends will come for you? Your sister?"

Brynn scowled, narrowing her eyes at the mercher. "If you so much as touch her, I will burn you from the inside out."

"Threats from a girl who has no power are not very threatening, Miss Adala." Van Eck raised his eyebrows. "So? Will they come for you? Will Kaz Brekker come for you?"

"You shouldn't be worried about if they will come for me, you should be worried about what will happen to you when they do."

He still didn't seem very threatened, even though Bajan had scurried away from her the moment she spoke of violence. Van Eck stepped closer to her, his footsteps sounding through the small room. When he got in front of her, he kneeled down to be at her eye level. His hand reached to the inside of his perfectly cut frock coat, reaching around for something.

"I'm not very worried about that, though," he murmured, finally pulling something out of his coat. It was a leather pouch, its edges stained with a familiar rust-colored powder. Brynn sucked in a breath and Van Eck smiled, but it was devoid of any kindness.

Parem. Van Eck had parem. Maybe she was going to get her wish that she had given to Nina not too long ago, to take the drug instead of her Heartrender friend.

"I suggest you begin talking," Van Eck said, holding the pouch out in front of Brynn's face. "Or the parem will have already killed you by the time they find this place."

a/n— I had a lot of free time, which is the only reason why I was able to publish this first chapter and the stuff before it, because of school and soccer and whatnot. This book is going to be a little different from the first one, in the sense that entire chapters will be in other people's perspectives (mainly Sasha's and Kaz's), not just Brynn. Let me know what you think, hope for, and predict!