Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

“A card game is like a duel. It’s the little cuts and slashes that set the stage for the final killing stroke.” He glanced across the table to Jesper. “That lad is bleeding all over the table.”

No mourners, no funerals? Why not just say good luck or be safe?” “We like to keep our expectations low.”

“A proper thief is like a proper poison, merchling. He leaves no trace.”

The really bad monsters never look like monsters.”

He had often wondered how people survived this city, but it was possible Ketterdam would not survive Kaz Brekker.

“Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?” “So?” said Kaz. “Well, usually it’s just half the city.”

Long ago, after a bad fall, her father had explained that only fools were fearless. We meet fear, he’d said. We greet the unexpected visitor and listen to what he has to tell us. When fear arrives, something is about to happen.

Better terrible truths than kind lies.

“Don’t worry, Da. People point guns at each other all the time in Ketterdam. It’s basically a handshake.”

That’s the problem with Ketterdam, Jesper thought as they stumbled uncertainly through the dark. Trusting the wrong person can get you killed.

Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself.”

“The more complicated a plan is, the more people he has to involve, the more people talk, the more ways it can go wrong.” “It’s a law of systems,” Wylan murmured. “You build in safeguards for failures, but something in the safeguards ends up causing an unforeseen failure.”

Never underestimate the public’s desire to get something for nothing.

“Where do you think the money went?” he repeated. “Guns?” asked Jesper. “Ships?” queried Inej. “Bombs?” suggested Wylan. “Political bribes?” offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. “This is where you tell us how awful we are,” she whispered. He shrugged. “They all seem like practical choices.”

“Kaz can pick the locks,” said Wylan. “No,” said Kaz, “I can’t.” “I don’t think I’ve ever heard those words leave your lips,” said Nina. “Say it again, nice and slow.”

“Isn’t that how things are done around here?” asked Wylan. “We all tell Kaz we’re fine and then do something stupid?”

Waiting was the part of the criminal life so many people got wrong. They wanted to act instead of hold fast and gather information. They wanted to know instantly without having to learn. Sometimes the trick to getting the best of a situation was just to wait.

“I would come for you,” he said, and when he saw the wary look she shot him, he said it again. “I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together—knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

Kazzzzzzz!!!!!!

“Zoya used to say that fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.”

“Anyone can shoot,” she’d told him. “But not everybody can aim.”

No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.

“No matter the height of the mountain, the climbing is the same.” “That’s not technically true. You need ropes, picks—” “Don’t be a Matthias.” Nina covered her mouth in horror. “I’m going to eat twice as much cake to make up for it.” Inej nodded wisely. “Sound policy.”

Sure, a lock was like a woman. It was also like a man and anyone or anything else—if you wanted to understand it, you had to take it apart and see how it worked. If you wanted to master it, you had to learn it so well you could put it back together.

Yes, thought Kaz without hesitation. There’s one person I would trust. One person I know would never use my weaknesses against me.

We all know who he’s referring to

You’re weak because you’re afraid of people seeing your weakness. You’re letting shame decide who you are.

We can endure all kinds of pain. It’s shame that eats men whole.”

You cannot fear death and be its true emissary.”

If you couldn’t beat the odds, you changed the game.

To hell with revenge, to hell with his schemes. If Rollins had done something to Inej, Kaz would paint East Stave with his entrails.

Nina glanced from Inej to Kaz and saw they both wore the same expression. Nina knew that look. It came after the shipwreck, when the tide moved against you and the sky had gone dark. It was the first sight of land, the hope of shelter and even salvation that might await you on a distant shore.

“I’ve taken knives, bullets, and too many punches to count, all for a little piece of this town,” said Kaz. “This is the city I bled for. And if Ketterdam has taught me anything, it’s that you can always bleed a little more.”

His mind had concocted a hundred schemes to bind her to him, to keep her in this city.

“Life isn’t ever what we deserve, Inej.

The sickness was there, the need to run, the need for something else too. Kaz thought he knew the language of pain intimately, but this ache was new. It hurt to stand here like this, so close to the circle of her arms.

These things don’t wash away with prayer, Wraith. There is no peace waiting for me, no forgiveness, not in this life, not in the next.”

“You don’t ask for forgiveness, Kaz. You earn it.”

“A fighter always has a tell, a sign of an old injury, a dropped shoulder when they’re about to throw a punch.”

“Do I have a tell?” “You square your shoulders before you start a move as if you’re about to perform, like you’re waiting for the audience’s attention.” She looked slightly affronted at that. “And what’s yours?” Kaz thought of the moment on Vellgeluk that had nearly cost him everything. “I’m a cripple. That’s my tell. No one’s ever smart enough to look for the others.”

Two of the deadliest people the Barrel had to offer and they could barely touch each other without both of them keeling over. But they’d tried. He’d tried. Maybe they could try again.

Inej was moving before she thought of it. She couldn’t just watch him die, she wouldn’t. They had him down now, heavy boots kicking and stomping at his body. Her knives were in her hands. She’d kill them all. She’d pile the bodies to the rafters for the stadwatch to find.

His gaze found hers. He’d known she was there all along. Of course he had. He always knew how to find her.

“There’s only strength and weakness. You don’t ask for respect. You earn it.” You don’t ask for forgiveness. You earn it.

“I may not walk straight,” said Kaz. “But at least I don’t run from a fight.”

This city’s price is blood,” said Kaz, “and I’m happy to pay with yours.”

“What is wrong with him?” Nina grumbled as they went back to the sitting room to drill Colm on his cover story. “Same thing that’s always wrong with him,” said Jesper. “He’s Kaz Brekker.”

He wanted to tell Nina that you could love something and still see its flaws.

“It’s easier when you’re younger, but so is everything. Children learn languages more easily. They learn mathematics more easily.” “And they’re unafraid,” said Wylan quietly. “It’s other people who teach them their limits.”

And every time I tell someone new, I feel freer.”

I’ve spent my whole life hiding the things I can’t do. Why run from the amazing things you can do?”

“Rich men want to believe they deserve every penny they’ve got, so they forget what they owe to chance. Smart men are always looking for loopholes. They want an opportunity to game the system.”