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“When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”
“Please, my darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won’t you do me the honor of acquiring me a new hat?”
Beyond slappable.
The boy who looked back at the crowd with fury in his eyes was a stranger.
His beauty had seemed unfair to her. In another life, she might have believed he was coming to rescue her, a shining savior with golden hair and eyes the pale blue of northern glaciers.
“About your mother and whether the rumors are true.”
and he felt that if he could just hold her a little longer, every wound, every hurt, every bad thing would melt away.
after everything she’d done—some sick part of him still hungered after her
Matthias knew monsters, and one glance at Kaz Brekker had told him this was a creature who had spent too long in the dark
Jesper tried to ignore the pang of jealousy he felt at that.
Kaz leaned back. “What’s the easiest way to steal a man’s wallet?” “Knife to the throat?” asked Inej. “Gun to the back?” said Jesper. “Poison in his cup?” suggested Nina. “You’re all horrible,” said Matthias.
Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you’ll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won’t matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.
Sankta Alina
“Did we win?” “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Don’t slip away from me.”
Kaz replied with a time-saving gesture that relied heavily on his middle finger and disappeared belowdecks.
He was the same Kaz—cold, rude, impossible—but beneath all that anger, she thought she’d seen something else, too.
She wouldn’t wish love on anyone. It was the guest you welcomed and then couldn’t be rid of.
You kissed me, whispered stories in my ear. You sang to me and held me as I slept. Your laugh chased me into waking.” “You always hated my laugh.” “I loved your laugh, Nina. And your fierce warrior’s heart. I might have loved you, too.”
Kaz sat up straighter. “Who’s watching Inej?”
“Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I’m going to get Wylan’s ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost.” Brekker’s lips quirked. “I’ll just hire Matthias’ ghost to kick your ghost’s ass.” “My ghost won’t associate with your ghost,” Matthias said primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain.
“He was afraid for you.”
Feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst kind of foolishness. She knew that. But he’d been the one to rescue her, to see her potential. He’d bet on her, and that meant something—even if he’d done it for his own selfish reasons.
My enemies? Our enemies.
they sang together, fumbling through the verses, hopelessly out of key,
Kaz had cast him an almost pitying look. “No, you’re a flautist who fell in with bad company.”
That first day when you were hurt … he went a little crazy.” It cost Jesper something to admit that. Would Kaz have gone off on that kind of a mad-dog tear if it had been Jesper with a knife stuck in his side?
She looped her arm in his. “That makes you a rotten gambler, Jesper. But an excellent friend.”
Because I’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to you for two days.
He needed to know she believed in him.
Had he wanted her sympathy? Was that why he’d told her?
They were sitting close together, their shoulders nearly touching. Her eyes were so brown they were almost black, and for once her hair was down. She always wore it tied back in a ruthlessly tight coil. Even the idea of being this near someone should have set his skin crawling. Instead he thought, What happens if I move closer?
You, Inej. You.
He was used to having his Wraith around—feeding the crows outside his window, sharpening her knives while he worked at his desk, chastising him with her Suli proverbs.
No, she smelled sweet, perfect
“Everyone shut up,” Matthias growled. Jesper shrugged. “Fjerdans.” “I don’t like any of this,” said Nina. Kaz raised a brow. “Well, at least you and Helvar found something to agree on.”
They’d even made him imitate the different patterns of the bells. A necessity, but he’d felt like a fool chanting, “Bing bong bing bing bong. No, wait, bing bing bong bing bing.”
He’d tell himself to ignore her, and the next thing he knew his eyes would be seeking her out.
Nina had blown into his life with the wind and rain and set his world spinning.
He’d lied. He did like the way she talked.
“Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are.”
There’s always more to lose.”
Why did one smile from Matthias Helvar feel like fifty from someone else?
She’d thought about kissing him. She’d wanted to kiss him, and she was pretty sure he’d been thinking the same thing. Or maybe he was thinking about strangling me again.
If they didn’t have wood or kindling, they curled against one another, barely touching, but by morning, they’d be pressed together, breathing in tandem, cocooned in muzzy sleep, a single crescent moon.
“What’s the first thing you’re going to do?” “Eat.”
For the drüskelle, Zoya was a little like Jarl Brum—cruel, inhuman, the thing that waited in the dark with death in her hands. Zoya was this boy’s monster.
“Do you never doubt yourself?” “All the time,” she’d said as she slid into sleep. “I just don’t show it.”
“I can feel just how much you hate sleeping next to me. I feel it every morning.” Matthias flushed bright scarlet. “Why do you have to say things like that?” “Because I like it when you turn red.”
