Chapter Text
Kaz carefully rolled up the painting, before passing it to Inej, who was perched on the windowsill. His gloved fingertips grazed hers’ as he handed her the DeKappel, and she silently slithered away over the walls of the house. He limped back through the doorway and met her outside the mansion-like building, finding her slumped beside the wall. She looked up at him as she heard his cane tapping across the brick road.
“So, remind me again why we came to steal this picture?” she asked, waving around the rolled up parchment.
“It’s a DeKappel, Wraith. Worth hundreds of thousands of kruge, you might want to treat it with a little more respect,” he responded.
“Yes, yes, but if I remember correctly, did you not say once that you prefer not to have to deal with middlemen and all since paintings can be more easily traced? Why bother stealing this when you could have just taken cash?”
She remembered what I said, Kaz couldn’t help but think. He was unsure why, but the fact that she took care to remember an offhand remark of his to her once made him feel… pleased. He shoved the feeling aside, and sighed.
“I don’t need to explain everything to you, Inej. Have you considered it might be for sentimental reasons?”
Inej snorted. “Yes, yes. The Bastard of the Barrel, stealing a painting to decorate his office.”
Kaz smirked back at her. “Why not? Maybe next, I could go for Radmakker’s carpets. Nice pop of colour.” He held his hand out. “Painting.”
“Say please.”
Kaz’s eyebrow rose. “Think again, Wraith. I am Dirtyhands. I do not need to say pl-”
“You’re not getting it till you say please,” Inej sing-songed. “Remember, I can climb and run away. Come on now, Kaz, just ask nicely.”
Kaz sighed. “Oh darling Wraith, won’t you please give me the DeKappel?”
Inej grinned. “Good job. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” She placed the roll in his leather clad grasp, patting his hand. They made their way back to the Slat, Inej jibing at Kaz, and Kaz snarking back. After they separated at the door, Inej made her way to her quarters, and Kaz to his study. He sank into his chair and slipped his gloves off, running his hands through his hair and massaging his forehead. Through the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a mark on his finger, and he drew it close to his eyes to inspect.
There, on the very pads of his fingers, lay thin, deep purple lines- almost like small cuts. He stared at them, confused, for a moment, before remembering his gloves had cleverly concealed slits in the fingertips- right where the marks lay. Which meant-
Oh.
Inej had left a soulmark on him.
Kaz pulled his gloves back on, though he was alone. No one could know.
---
In her own quarters, Inej was cleaning up, when she noticed thin marks along her palm, one or two on top of Jesper’s lime green soulmark. They were almost like delicate strokes of glittering gold paint, and for a moment she thought that was it. She tried to wipe them off, but they didn’t wash. Confused, she rubbed harder, before realising it must be a soulmark.
But how could I not know who my soulmate is? she wondered. And why were the marks so thin? She wondered if Jesper had a multicoloured soulmark- though rare, they were not unheard of- before dismissing the thought. She would have noticed it before. Puzzled, she lay in her bed, going over every interaction from the day, wondering who her new soulmate was.
---
Inej pulled Kaz’s gloves on, flexing her fingers. There were thin slashes in the fingertips, she realised, to allow for better sleight of hand, or mobility when lockpicking. Touch without touch.
She was hit with the memory of their little DeKappel heist, which, she suddenly realised, wasn’t all that long ago- barely a few months- but with the events of the previous few days, it felt like a lifetime. She’d puzzled over her mysterious soulmate with Nina and Jesper many times, but they’d never come up with a solution.
But Inej had always had an inkling- or rather, a hope- that it would be Kaz. Who else was she so close to, to be able to call them a soulmate?
She couldn’t afford to think about that, though. Maybe later, when they were all safe, she would confront Kaz. Right now, though?
She had a climb to make.