Is it wrong to kill a 10 year old? This way Kaz never has to know that Virgil betrayed them. She would just go in, do a little 'stab stab', and then she'll be out. But she loved Vigil already. Maybe she didn't have to kill him.

Maybe she could convince him to come back to their side. Nodding to herself she came out of her head to realize that it was now very dark. And that the lights had gone out in the Emerald Palace.

But something caught her eye, there up on the third story of the building a window was opening slowly. Inej kept watching the window, and Virgil's little head popped out and then went back in. Slowly and carefully Virgil stuck his legs out of the window and shimmied his body out until he was on the ledge. Inej started to move quickly getting off the building she was on, and running to the bottom of the Emerald Palace.

She quickly made her way up the building to where Virgil was.

"What the hell are you doing?" Inej whispered to him, as soon as he was in earshot. Virgil's head whipped to where she was crouched and he started to sob in relief.

"I'm going home to the Slat." He whispered back sliding his way over to her on the ledge.

"But you were walking of your own free will."

"It's called lying. I knew they would leave me alone If I gave them some false information and acted like I hated you guys. Can I come home?" Virgil asked, now right beside her. Inej feeling no hint of deception breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded.

Smiling she grabbed his hand and swung his body over her back. Virgil locked his feet around her body at the same time he grabbed her small shoulders in his equally small hands. Making sure he was on tightly, Inej slowly started to make her way down the building. She would have liked to have gone faster but the small boy was heavier than she thought, and she didn't want to make a misstep and risk falling.

Deciding to distract herself from the aching muscles in her arms and back she probed Virgil with a question.

"How did you know that I was here?"

"I didn't." Inej raised her brow in confusion, even though he couldn't see her.

"Then why were you on the ledge?"

"So I could leave. I told you I was going home." Inej was shocked and a tad bit concerned

"But you can't make a climb like this..?"

"I was going home whether it was on my feet or in a body bag." Virgil told her with enough spunk that she almost laughed. And she would have, if it had been a laughing matter.

They were just above the ground at this point so she dropped down the rest of the way, wincing when her knees gave a crack. Helping him off of her back she grabbed his hand and started to jog away from the Palace.

"You were going to CLImb doWN?" She asked him trying to keep her voice from a shout. Virgil nodded, while wincing at the octave of her voice. Inej knowing that he might be afraid of certain sounds, kept her voice more in check. "We will talk about this later." She whispered to him and sped up a bit.

He matched her pace as they made their way to the Slat. Dime lion territory was making her antsy and she kept hearing noises. Inej was scared that they might not make it back. If Pekka got both of them, Kaz was going to tear Ketterdam apart to get them back. And as much fun as that sounded, Inej didn't want to push Kaz too far.

Sometimes Kaz scared her. Not in a way that would make her fear for her life, but Kaz was known for doing monstrous things to people that have wronged him. Pekka already took Kaz's family and If Pekka took the new family that Kaz had created as well...Inej was afraid that Kaz would take Pekka's family. As much as she wanted Pekka to suffer, his son had nothing to do with this pissing contest.

He had seemed pretty sweet the last time she had seen him. She had even given him a gift, a stuffed crow, it had been more for his father but she hoped he still had it. It had taken her awhile to find a crow stuffed animal. As soon as she passed into Dreg territory, Inej slowed down a bit seeing that Virgil was breathing hard. Keeping her eyes peeled, she motioned for them to stop for a minute.

Virgil drug air into his lungs like he had been submerged in water and had finally gotten the opportunity to breathe. While he did that, Inej looked around making sure that they were as safe as they could be. As soon as Virgil caught his breath he nodded at Inej, signaling that they were good to go. Before they could even take a single step, there was a sudden presence in the darkness with them. Inej hadn't heard or seen the signal that was obviously given, but they were surrounded by 8 guys who were smiling very maliciously. Sighing very loudly, Inej pulled two of her knives out and got into a fighting stance.

"Boys, I don't have time for this! I'm tired and cranky. Raincheck?" Inej asked. Laughing loudly they quickly converged on her. Inej threw Sankta Alina at the guy on her right and quickly dodged a blow by a guy holding a cudgel from her left.

She heard a quick thump and knew that her knife had struck her target. Quickly grabbing the arm that held the cudgel she twisted the guy's arm behind his back and jerked upward, snapping the bone. She quickly cut off his scream when she stabbed him in the eye. In the same move she snatched the cudgel before it could hit the ground and threw it to Virgil making sure he was armed.

Jerking her knife out of the guy's head she advanced on the guy closest to her. This guy had a gun and had no hesitation in pulling the trigger. However before he could, Inej launched herself at his legs, making him stumble and ultimately fall over. She heard the sound of his head hitting against the cobblestones, and knowing that he was either knocked out or dead.

Springing to her feet she saw that Vigil had one guy on the ground and was swinging the cudgel with enough precision that made some of the guys start to back up. Laughing quietly to herself, she started to herd the 4 left closer to herself and Virgil. Grabbing her brass knuckles that she kept on her hip, Inej lunged forward, catching a guy in his temple.

Quickly sidestepping his falling body, she twirled and buried her knife into another guy's stomach. 2 left. Inej glanced at Virgil to see him strike one of them so hard in the head that the sound of the cudgel meeting the head, sounded like a gunshot. 1 left, she corrected herself. Inej and Virgil stood shoulder to head and looked at the remaining guy.

Seeing that he was now outnumbered, he quickly bolted heading into dime lion territory. Inej laughed as her knife hit him in the head. Handle first. Jogging up to the body she motioned for Virgil to turn around. Rolling his eyes, he did so, and she quickly killed the man on the ground.

Just because Virgil had seen her take out the others and he had done some himself, she still didn't want to expose him to more violence if she didn't need to. Heading back over to where Virgil was she checked the body's on the ground. Checking for pulses and such and it seemed like they had done a good job the first try. They nodded at each other and headed farther into Dreg territory and finally they made it to the door.

Jostling open the door with her shoulder, Inej escorted Virgil inside. Ignoring the click of the guns being cocked and quickly being set back down, she made her way back to Kaz's office. Without knocking she swung the door open, and led Virgil into the room. Having raised his head when the door had opened, Kaz let out a giant breath and jumped out of his chair, rushing over to them.

Kaz seeing the blood on her, raised a brow. Inej smiled and shrugged. Kaz shot her a quick grin before bodily picking Virgil up and setting him on the desk. He inspected Virgil for a few minutes, asking him questions throughout the whole examination.

The questions were along the lines of, 'did they hurt you?'

"No."

'Are you alright?'

"Yes"

'have you eaten?'

"Not since Breakfast."

With the answer to the last one Inej made her way to the kitchen to fix up a quick dinner for him. After getting a tray that had Water and the night's special, beef stew, she went back into the office to see the cutest sight ever.

Kaz and the boys were what appeared to be in a very tight group hug. Looking up at her entrance, Kaz simply said,"I'm ending this crap tomorrow. I'm done with Pekka's stupid games."

😈✌🏻