Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

Two of the deadliest people the Barrel had to offer and they could barely touch each other without both of them keeling over.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ll get Colm to order us something decadent.” “That’s your answer for everything.” “You’re complaining?” Inej asked. “I’m stating one of the reasons I adore you.”

“Don’t get philosophical on me, merchling.” “Jes, I’ve thought about this—” “Thought of me? Late at night? What was I wearing?”

“The merchers are perfect marks,” said Kaz. “They’re rich and they’re smart. That makes them easy to dupe.” “Why?” asked Wylan. “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.” “So who’s the hardest mark to swindle?” asked Nina. “The toughest mark is an honest one,” said Kaz. “Thankfully, they’re always in short supply.”

And that was what destroyed you in the end: the longing for something you could never have.

“And are you sure they were Pekka’s men? If you’re not from the Barrel, you might find it hard to tell lions from crows.

She was the Queen of Mourning, and in its depths, she would never drown.

Innocence. Innocence was a luxury,

Inej almost felt sorry for her. Dunyasha really believed she was the Lantsov heir, and maybe she was. But wasn’t that what every girl dreamed? That she’d wake and find herself a princess? Or blessed with magical powers and a grand destiny? Maybe there were people who lived those lives. Maybe this girl was one of them. But what about the rest of us? What about the nobodies and the nothings, the invisible girls? We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns. We learn to wring magic from the ordinary. That was how you survived when you weren’t chosen, when there was no royal blood in your veins. When the world owed you nothing, you demanded something of it anyway.

“There is no shame in meeting a worthy opponent. It means there is more to learn, a welcome reminder to pursue humility.”

I am not sorry, she realized. She had chosen to live freely as a killer rather than die quietly as a slave, and she could not regret that.

thought you and Nina chose four outbreak sites on the Staves.” Kaz straightened his cuffs. “I also had her stop at the Menagerie.” She smiled then, her eyes red, her cheeks scattered with some kind of dust. It was a smile he thought he might die to earn again.

“You showed mercy, Kaz. You were the better man.” There she went again, seeking decency when there was none to be had. “Inej, I could only kill Pekka’s son once.” He pushed the door open with his cane. “He can imagine his death a thousand times.”

“Is anyone going to thank me—or Genya, for that matter—for this little miracle?” “Thank you for nearly killing and then reviving the most valuable hostage in the world so you could use him for your own gain,” Kaz said.

“Show your face in Ravka, Brekker. We’ll teach you some manners.”

“You will meet him again in the next life,” said Inej. “But only if you suffer this now.”

“You’ll destroy everything I’ve built, everything my father and his father built. You—” Jesper leaned in and said, quietly enough that no one else could hear, “I can read to him.” “He has a very soothing baritone,” added Wylan,

“You won’t get away with this!” Van Eck screamed. “I know your game now, Brekker. My wits are sharper—” “You can only sharpen a blade so far,” Kaz said as he joined them at the front of the church. “In the end, it comes down to the quality of the metal.”

“It’s your duty, really,” said Kaz. “After all, shouldn’t your priority be the baby?” Jesper nodded sagely. “Good country air, lots of fields for … gamboling about. I grew up on a farm. It’s why I’m so tall.” Alys frowned. “You’re a little too tall.” “It was a really big farm.”

“We were all supposed to make it,” said Wylan softly. Maybe that was naive, the protest of a rich merchant’s son who’d only had a taste of Barrel life. But Jesper realized he’d been thinking the same thing. After all their mad escapes and close calls, he’d started to believe the six of them were somehow charmed, that his guns, Kaz’s brains, Nina’s wit, Inej’s talent, Wylan’s ingenuity, and Matthias’ strength had made them somehow untouchable. They might suffer. They might take their knocks, but Wylan was right, in the end they were all supposed to stay standing. “No mourners,” said Jesper, surprised by the ache of tears in his throat. “No funerals,” they all replied softly.

“I thought being rich would make everything better,” he said. Wylan glanced back at his father’s mansion. “I could have told you it doesn’t work that way.”

“We’ll see each other again.” “Of course we will. You’ve saved my life. I’ve saved yours.” “I think you’re ahead on that count.” “No, I don’t mean in the big ways.” Nina’s eyes took them all in. “I mean the little rescues. Laughing at my jokes. Forgiving me when I was foolish. Never trying to make me feel small.

Kuwei turned to Jesper. “You should visit me in Ravka. We could learn to use our powers together.” “How about I push you in the canal and we see if you know how to swim?” Wylan said with a very passable imitation of Kaz’s glare. Jesper shrugged. “I’ve heard he’s one of the richest men in Ketterdam. I wouldn’t cross him.”

It was the only way to get a group of refugee Grisha, a farmer who’d helped con the entire Merchant Council, and the body of a boy who had—until a few hours ago—been the most wanted hostage in the world, out of the city. “You’ll have to be still,” Inej murmured. “Still as the grave,” Nina replied.

“Monstrous boy.” “Ketterdam is made of monsters. I just happen to have the longest teeth.”

That was the wonderful thing about Ketterdam. It never let you get bored.

“I’m not ready to give up on this city, Kaz. I think it’s worth saving.” I think you’re worth saving.

“Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too.” “Really?” He nodded slowly. “They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.

She drew in a sharp breath. Everything in her focused like the lens of the long glass. Her mind refused the image before her. This could not be real. It was an illusion, a false reflection, a lie made in rainbow-hued glass. She would breathe again and it would shatter. She reached for Kaz’s sleeve. She was going to fall. He had his arm around her, holding her up. Her mind split. Half of her was aware of his bare fingers on her sleeve, his dilated pupils, the brace of his body around hers.

“Come with me,” she said. “Come meet them.” Kaz nodded as if steeling himself, flexed his fingers once more. “Wait,” he said. The burn of his voice was rougher than usual. “Is my tie straight?” Inej laughed, her hood falling back from her hair. “That’s the laugh,” he murmured, but she was already setting off down the quay, her feet barely touching the ground.

The problem was that the creatures who had managed to survive the city he’d made were a new kind of misery entirely—Brekker, his Wraith queen, his rotten little court of thugs. A fearless breed, hard-eyed and feral, hungrier for vengeance than for gold.