Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)

by Leigh Bardugo

Kayte—

cute nameee

Joost had two problems: the moon and his mustache.

“I’m a businessman,” he’d told her. “No more, no less.” “You’re a thief, Kaz.” “Isn’t that what I just said?”

“Please, my darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won’t you do me the honor of acquiring me a new hat?”

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.

“I worry about everything, merchling. That’s why I’m still alive.

Nina had blown into his life with the wind and rain and set his world spinning. He’d been off balance ever since.

“It’s not natural for women to fight.” “It’s not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand.

“You’re welcome, you big idiot.”

“Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?”

Every morning he complained that she was impossible to wake. “It’s like trying to raise a corpse.” “The dead request five more minutes,”

“What do drüskelle eat?” she asked, picking up her pace. “Other than Grisha babies?” “We don’t eat babies!”

“You’re not giving up Fjerdan government secrets. I just want to know why you don’t like cake.”

“I do like cake, but we’re not permitted sweets.” “Anyone? Or just drüskelle?” “Drüskelle. It’s considered an indulgence. Like alcohol or—” “Girls?” His cheeks reddened, and he trudged forward. It was just so easy to make him uncomfortable.

“I enjoy your arrogance, drüsje.” Now she laughed. “That may be the worst compliment I’ve received.”

“Do you never doubt yourself?” “All the time,” she’d said as she slid into sleep. “I just don’t show it.”

“Oh, I see. I’m the wicked Grisha seductress. I have beguiled you with my Grisha wiles!” She poked him in the chest. “Stop that.” “No. I’m beguiling you.”

“How about I crack your skull open like a robin’s egg?” “You don’t want a look at what’s inside my head, Nina dear.”

“Any other impossible feats you’d like us to accomplish?” The barest smile flickered over Kaz’s lips. “I’ll make you a list.”

Kaz Brekker flinched

It was because she was listening so closely that she knew the exact moment when Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, the bastard of the Barrel and the deadliest boy in Ketterdam, fainted.

Kaz felt himself drawn toward her voice like water rolling downhill.

“Well, we’ve managed to get ourselves locked into the most secure prison in the world. We’re either geniuses or the dumbest sons of bitches to ever breathe air.”

Kaz knew the word for cripple in plenty of languages.

that was the stupid part, the hopeful farm boy who picked the worst possible person to care about,

“Sure, I’m skinny,” he said as they hurried back through the stables, “but I stay drier in the rain.” “How?” “Less falls on me.”

Better terrible truths than kind lies.

How long have you been holding on to nothing?

The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.

A gambler, a convict, a wayward son, a lost Grisha, a Suli girl who had become a killer, a boy from the Barrel who had become something worse.

“If any of you survive, make sure I have an open casket,” Jesper said as he hefted two slender coils of rope over his shoulder and signaled for Wylan to follow him across the roof. “The world deserves a few more moments with this face.”

“Matthias the tulip.” “The big, brooding, yellow tulip.”

But if Jarl Brum was dead, he made a very lively corpse.

“What do you like?” “Music. Numbers. Equations. They’re not like words. They … they don’t get mixed up.” “If only you could talk to girls in equations.”

She smiled and looped her hand over his forearm. He patted it gently. “Good girl.”

ew

“The life you live, the hate you feel—it’s poison. I can drink it no longer.”

I have been made to protect you. Only in death will I be kept from this oath.

She’d laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and gotten drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

“Saints, Kaz, you actually look happy.” “Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped. But there was no mistaking it. Kaz Brekker was grinning like an idiot.

“He’ll live?” Matthias asked. “Yes,” she said as she stepped onto the schooner. “He’ll just be very bald.”

I can hear the change in Kaz’s breathing when he looks at you.” “You … you can?” “It catches every time, like he’s never seen you before.”

His greatest vulnerability had been right beside him. And now she was gone.

I’m going to get my money, Kaz vowed. And I’m going to get my girl.