Without Armor

Chapter 4

Vernera was fast asleep in her room, not dreaming of anything at all. She used to get nightmares of her time under Pekka's rule, but it wasn't until she met Kaz the that night terrors seemed to fade away slowly. She only craved Rollins's head on a stick now. But to kill him would not be enough, that was one of the few things her and Kaz could agree on. Vernera was only at peace when she was asleep, maybe that's why she liked it so much. And if anyone disturbed her, they were in for a wild ride. One time Jesper went to wake her from her nap, but as soon as he stepped into the room he got a dagger just missing his head and stuck into the wall behind him. Never again. There were quite a few times where Jesper was held at knifepoint by Vernera, and a lot of the time it had to do with when feelings were mentioned. Maybe Jesper is right though....maybe Kaz feels differently towards me. No, no. She hated these thoughts she was getting more and more often. That's when she felt the gentle poke of a cane into her rib. Vernera let out a groaned and turned to her side to face away from him. But the poking continued, until it reached her head.

"You poke me in the head Brekker I swear to the Saints you will not be able to walk." Vernera threatened as she stayed in her position.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Kaz smirked. Vernera snatched the cane from his grip as she sat up.

"Kaz Brekker was that a joke? Did you just make a statement intending it to be comical? And I, Vernera Harther, get to witness this in my lifetime? And there is no one to bare witness?" Vernera spoke sarcastically as she put her hand to her heart.

"If you're done fooling around, I have a job for you." Kaz rolled his eyes, yet didn't even try to get his cane back from Vernera.

"A job that couldn't wait for the sun to rise? Must be very bloody important." Vernera yawned and stretched out her arms.

"It's a very secretive plan. Nina went to visit her drüskelle last night and was stopped by Rollins, saying if she brought me him that he would make sure that Matthias would walk free. Obviously he's lying, so she came to me and we decided that she's going to take me to the Emerald Palace as if she was taking the deal. But at that point all of his establishments will be hit and I will pull out my secret weapon." Kaz explained briefly.

"Secret weapon? And what would that be?" Vernera questioned.

"That is what your job is. I need you to give this note to the carriage driver outside of Rollins's house. Do not read it and do not ask questions." Kaz said pulling the paper out of his pocket.

"What happened to me not going alone places?" She finally stood up and threw him his cane.

"Priestly why I'm having you do it before anyone in Barrel is awake." Kaz stated.

"Wow you really think of everything don't you?" Vernera rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well....get moving. If you are not back by two bells I'll assume something went wrong." Kaz seemed to back off. Vernera noticed the change in his actions and couldn't help but wonder why. What just happened? Why is he suddenly pushing me away? But instead of questioning anymore, she walked by him and grabbed her daggers. It wasn't long before she was on her way to deliver the paper.

Jesper was awake, just shuffling cards and trying to learn a few tricks that Vernera had taught him on the side. Ways to cheat or count the cards. Clearly he hadn't gotten the hang of it quite yet, and if Kaz ever found out that Vernera was teaching him these tricks, the two wouldn't survive. It was beginning to get light out, and Wylan had just entered the club, ready for the plan. He carried two heavy boxes filled with the lucrative powder inside.

"Oh let me help you with those." Jesper said taking one of the heavy boxes.

"Careful, they are super fragile. Break one of those are we are going to be deathly sick...for one to two days." Wylan warned as Jesper put the box on the bar.