Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)

by Leigh Bardugo

He was grandstanding, Inej saw that, buying her time as she leapt over the slate shingles. “Are you worrying about the second guard? Good old Bert Van Daal?” Kaz asked. “Maybe he’s up there right now, wondering what he should do. Shoot me? Shoot Holst? Or maybe I got to him, too, and he’s getting ready to blow a hole in your chest, Geels.” He leaned in as if he and Geels were sharing a great secret. “Why not give Van Daal the order and find out?” Geels opened and closed his mouth like a carp, then bellowed, “Van Daal!” Just as Van Daal parted his lips to answer, Inej slipped up behind him and placed a blade to his throat. She’d barely had time to pick out his shadow and slide down the roof tiles. Saints, Kaz liked to cut it close. “Shhhh,” she whispered in Van Daal’s ear. She gave him a tiny jab in the side so that he could feel the point of her second dagger pressed against his kidney. “Please,” he moaned. “I—” “I like it when men beg,” she said. “But this isn’t the time for it.”