Crooked Kingdom

by Leigh Bardugo

  But once the job was done, when the information they needed was secured, and everyone had fallen asleep, she’d dug through Matthias’ few belongings, through the pockets of his clothes, her frustration growing with every passing second. She hated him. She hated Kuwei. She hated this stupid city.

  Disgusted with herself, she’d slipped beneath his blankets. Matthias always slept with his back to a wall, a habit from his days in Hellgate. She’d let her hands wander, seeking his pockets, trying to feel along the linings of his trousers.

  “Nina?” he’d asked sleepily.

  “I’m cold,” she said, her hands continuing their search. She pressed a kiss to his neck, then below his ear. She’d never let herself kiss him this way before. She’d never had the chance. They’d been too busy untangling the skein of suspicion and lust and loyalty that bound them together, and once she’d taken the parem … It was all she could think of, even now. The desire she felt was for the drug, not for the body she felt shift beneath her hands. She didn’t kiss his lips, though. She wouldn’t let parem take that from her too.

  He’d groaned slightly. “The others—”

  “Everyone is asleep.”

  Then he’d seized her hands. “Stop.”

  “Matthias—”

  “I don’t have it.”

  She yanked herself free, shame crawling over her skin like fire over a forest floor. “Then who does?” she hissed.

  “Kaz.” She stilled. “Are you going to creep into his bed?”

  Nina released a huff of disbelief. “He’d slit my throat.” She wanted to scream her helplessness. There would be no bargaining with Kaz. She couldn’t bully him the way she might have bullied Wylan or plead with him the way she might have managed Jesper.

  Fatigue came on suddenly, a yoke at her neck, the exhaustion at least tempering her frantic need. She rested her forehead against Matthias’ chest. “I hate this,” she said. “I hate you a little, drüskelle.”

  “I’m used to it. Come here.” He’d wrapped his arms around her and gotten her talking about Ravka, about Inej. He’d distracted her with stories, named the winds that blew across Fjerda, told her of his first meal in the drüskelle hall. At some point, she must have drifted off, because the next thing she knew, she was burrowing her way out of a heavy, dreamless sleep, woken by the sound of the tomb door slamming open.

  Matthias and Kaz had returned from the university, holes burned into their clothing from some kind of bomb Wylan had made, Jesper and Wylan close on their heels, wild-eyed and soaked from the spring rain that had begun to fall—with a beefy Kaelish-looking farmer in tow. Nina felt like she’d been given some kind of lovely gift from the Saints, a situation mad and baffling enough to actually distract her.

  Though the hunger for parem had dulled since last night’s frenzy, it was still there, and she had no idea how she was going to get through the mission tonight. Seducing Smeet had only been the first part of their plan. Kaz was counting on her, Inej was counting on her. They needed her to be a Corporalnik, not an addict with the shakes who wore herself out with the barest bit of tailoring. But Nina couldn’t think about any of that with Colm Fahey standing there mangling his hat, and Jesper looking like he’d rather be eating a stack of waffles topped with ground glass than facing him, and Kaz … She had no idea what to expect from Kaz. Anger, maybe worse. Kaz didn’t like surprises or potential vulnerabilities, and Jesper’s father was one very stocky, wind-chafed vulnerability.

  But after hearing Jesper’s breathless—and, Nina suspected, abbreviated—description of how they’d escaped the university, Kaz simply leaned on his cane and said, “Were you followed?”

  “No,” Jesper replied with a decisive shake of his head.

  “Wylan?”

  Colm bristled. “You doubt my son’s word?”

  “It isn’t personal, Da,” said Jesper. “He doubts everyone’s word.”

  Kaz’s expression had been unruffled, his rough stone voice so easy and pleasant that Nina felt the hair rise on her arms. “Apologies, Mister Fahey. A habit one develops in the Barrel. Trust but verify.”

  “Or don’t trust at all,” muttered Matthias.

  “Wylan?” Kaz repeated.

  Wylan set his satchel down on the table. “If they’d known about the passage, they would have followed us or had people waiting in the printmaker’s shop. We lost them.”

  “I counted about ten on the roof,” said Kaz, and Matthias nodded confirmation.

  “Sounds right,” said Jesper. “But I can’t be sure. They had the sun at their backs.”

  Kaz sat down, his black eyes focused on Jesper’s father. “You were the bait.”

  “Pardon, lad?”

  “The bank called in your loan?”

  Colm blinked, surprised. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact, they sent me a rather sternly worded letter that I’d become an unstable credit risk. They said that if I didn’t pay in full, they would be forced to take legal action.” He turned to his son. “I wrote to you, Jes.” His voice was confused, not accusing.

  “I … I haven’t been able to collect mail.” After Jesper had stopped attending university, had he still managed to receive letters there? Nina wondered how he’d maintained this ruse for so long. It would have been made easier by the fact that Colm was an ocean away—and by his desire to believe in his son. An easy mark, Nina thought sadly. No matter his reasons, Jesper had been conning his own father.

  “Jesper—” said Colm.

  “I was trying to get the money, Da.”

  “They’re threatening to take the farm.”

  Jesper’s eyes were firmly fixed on the tomb floor. “I was close. I am close.”

  “To the money?” Now Nina heard Colm’s frustration. “We’re sitting in a tomb. We were just shot at.”

  “What got you on a ship to Ketterdam?” Kaz asked.

  “The bank moved up the collection date!” Colm said indignantly. “Simply said I’d run out of time. I tried to reach Jesper, but when there was no reply, I thought—”

  “You thought you’d see what your brilliant boy was up to here on the dark streets of Ketterdam.”

  “I feared the worst. The city does have a reputation.”

  “Well deserved, I promise you,” said Kaz. “And when you arrived?”

  “I made inquiries at the university. They said he wasn’t enrolled, so I went to the constabulary.”

  Jesper winced. “Oh, Da. The stadwatch?”

  Colm crushed his hat with fresh vigor. “And where was I supposed to go, Jes? You know how dangerous it is for … for someone like you.”

  “Da,” Jesper said, looking his father in the eye at last. “You didn’t tell them I’m—”

  “Of course not!”

  Grisha. Why won’t either of them say it?

  Colm threw down the lump of felt that had been his hat. “I don’t understand any of this. Why would you bring me to this horrible place? Why were we shot at? What has become of your studies? What has become of you?”

  Jesper opened his mouth, closed it. “Da, I … I—”

  “It was my fault,” Wylan blurted. Every eye turned to him. “He uh … he was concerned about the bank loan, so he put his studies on hold to work with a…”

  “Local gunsmith,” Nina offered.

  “Nina,” Matthias rumbled warningly.

  “He needs our help,” she whispered.

  “To lie to his father?”

  “It’s a fib. Totally different.” She had no idea where Wylan was going with this, but he was clearly in need of assistance.

  “Yes!” said Wylan eagerly. “A gunsmith! And then I … I told him about a deal—”

  “They were swindled,” Kaz said. His voice was as cold and steady as ever, but he held himself stiffly, as if walking over uncertain ground. “They were offered a business opportunity that seemed too good to be true.”

  Colm slumped into a chair. “If it seems that way, then—”

  “It probably is,” said Kaz. N
ina had the strangest sense that for once he was being sincere.

  “Did you and your brother lose everything?” Colm asked Wylan.

  “My brother?” Wylan asked blankly.

  “Your twin brother,” Kaz said with a glance at Kuwei, who sat quietly observing the proceedings. “Yes. They lost everything. Wylan’s brother hasn’t spoken a word since.”

  “Does seem the quiet type,” Colm said. “And you are all … students?”

  “Of a sort,” said Kaz.

  “Who spend your free hours in a graveyard. Can we not go to the authorities? Tell them what happened? These swindlers may have other victims.”

  “Well—” Wylan began, but Kaz silenced him with a look. A strange hush fell in the tomb. Kaz took a seat at the table.

  “The authorities can’t help you,” he said. “Not in this city.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the law here is profit. Jesper and Wylan tried to take a shortcut. The stadwatch won’t so much as wipe their tears. Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself.”

  “And that’s where you come in.”

  Kaz nodded. “We’re going to get your money. You won’t lose your farm.”

  “But you’re going to step outside the law to do it,” Colm said. He shook his head wearily. “You barely look old enough to graduate.”

  “Ketterdam was my education. And I can tell you this: Jesper never would have turned to me for help if he’d had anywhere else to go.”

  “You can’t be so bad, boy,” said Colm gruffly. “You haven’t been alive long enough to rack up your share of sin.”

  “I’m a quick study.”

  “Can I trust you?”

  “No.”

  Colm took up his crumpled hat again. “Can I trust you to help Jesper through this?”

  “Yes.”

  Colm sighed. He looked around at all of them. Nina found herself standing up straighter. “You lot make me feel very old.”

  “Spend a little more time in Ketterdam,” said Kaz. “You’ll feel ancient.” Then he tilted his head to one side and Nina saw that distant, considering look cross his features. “You have an honest face, Mister Fahey.”

  Colm shot Jesper a puzzled glance. “Well. I should hope so, and thank you for marking it.”

  “It’s not a compliment,” said Jesper. “And I know that look, Kaz. Don’t you dare start those wheels spinning.”

  Kaz’s only response was a slow blink. Whatever scheme had been set in motion in his diabolical brain, it was too late to stop it now. “Where are you staying?”

  “The Ostrich.”

  “It isn’t safe to go back there. We’re moving you to the Geldrenner Hotel. We’ll register you under a different name.”

  “But why?” Colm sputtered.

  “Because some people want Jesper dead, and they already used you to lure him out of hiding once. I have no doubt they’d be willing to take you hostage, and there’s too much of that going around already.” Kaz scribbled a few instructions to Rotty and handed him a very thick stack of kruge. “Feel free to take your meals in the dining room, Mister Fahey, but I’d ask that you forgo the sights and stay inside the hotel until we contact you. If anyone asks your business, you’re here for a bit of rest and relaxation.”

  Colm considered Rotty and then Kaz. He expelled a decisive breath. “No. I thank you, but this is a mistake.” He turned to Jesper. “We’ll find another way to pay the debt. Or we’ll start over somewhere else.”

  “You’re not giving up the farm,” Jesper said. He lowered his voice. “She’s there. We can’t leave her.”

  “Jes—”

  “Please, Da. Please let me make this right. I know—” He swallowed, his bony shoulders bunching. “I know I let you down. Just give me one more chance.” Nina suspected he wasn’t only speaking to his father.

  “We don’t belong here, Jes. This place is too loud, too lawless. Nothing makes sense.”

  “Mister Fahey,” Kaz said quietly. “You know what they say about walking in a cow pasture?”

  Jesper’s brows shot up, and Nina had to stifle a nervous laugh. What did the bastard of the Barrel know about cow pastures?

  “Keep your head down and watch your step,” Colm replied.

  Kaz nodded. “Just think of Ketterdam as a really big cow pasture.” The barest smile tugged at the furrow of Colm’s mouth. “Give us three days to get your money and get you and your son out of Kerch safely.”

  “Is that really possible?”

  “Anything can happen in this city.”

  “That thought doesn’t fill me with confidence.” He rose, and Jesper shot to his feet.

  “Da?”

  “Three days, Jesper. Then we go home. With or without the money.” He rested a hand on Jesper’s shoulder. “And for Saints’ sake, be careful. All of you.”

  Nina felt a sudden lump in her throat. Matthias had lost his family to war. Nina had been taken from her family to train when she was just a little girl. Wylan had been as good as evicted from his father’s house. Kuwei had lost his father and his country. And Kaz? She didn’t want to know what dark alley Kaz had crawled out of. But Jesper had somewhere to go, someone to take care of him, somebody to say, It’s going to be all right. She had a vision of golden fields beneath a cloudless sky, a clapboard house protected from the wind by a line of red oaks. Someplace safe. Nina wished Colm Fahey could march over to Jan Van Eck’s office and tell him to give Inej back or get a mouth full of knuckles. She wished someone in this city would help them, that they weren’t so alone. She wished Jesper’s father could take them all with him. She’d never been to Novyi Zem, but the longing for those golden fields felt just like homesickness. Silly, she told herself, childish. Kaz was right—if they wanted justice, they would have to take it for themselves. That didn’t ease the starved-heart pang in her chest.

  But then Colm was saying his goodbyes to Jesper and disappearing through the stone graves with Rotty and Specht. He turned to wave and was gone.

  “I should go with him,” Jesper said, hovering in the doorway.

  “You already almost got him killed once,” said Kaz.

  “Do we know who set up the ambush at the university?” Wylan asked.

  “Jesper’s father went to the stadwatch,” said Matthias. “I’m sure many of the officers are susceptible to bribes.”

  “True,” said Nina. “But it can’t be coincidence that the bank called in his loan when they did.”

  Wylan sat down at the table. “If the banks are involved, my father may be behind it.”

  “Pekka Rollins has influence at the banks too,” Kaz said, and Nina saw his gloved hand flex over the crow’s head of his cane.

  “Could they be working together?” she asked.

  Jesper rubbed his hands over his face. “All the Saints and your Aunt Eva, let’s hope not.”

  “I’m not ruling anything out,” said Kaz. “But none of this changes what has to happen tonight. Here.” He reached inside one of the niches in the wall.

  “My revolvers!” Jesper exclaimed, clutching them to his chest. “Oh, hello, you gorgeous things.” His grin was dazzling. “You got them back!”

  “The safe at the Cumulus is an easy crack.”

  “Thank you, Kaz. Thank you.”

  Any hint of the warmth Kaz had shown Jesper’s father was gone, as fleeting as the dream of those golden fields. “What good is a shooter without his guns?” Kaz asked, seemingly oblivious to the way Jesper’s smile collapsed. “You’ve been in the red too long. We all have. This is the night we start paying our debts.”

  * * *

  Now night had fallen and they were on their way to do just that, a waxing moon glaring down at them like a white and watchful eye. Nina shook out her sleeves. The cold snap had broken, and they were in the middle of a proper late spring. Or what passed for that in Kerch—the moist, claustrophobic warmth of an animal’s mouth relieved only by brief, unpredictable storms. Matthias and Jesper
had left for the docks early to make sure the gondel was in place. Then they’d all headed to the launch point, leaving Kuwei on Black Veil with Rotty and Specht.

  The boat cut silently through the water. Ahead, Nina could see the gleam of lights guiding them onward.

  Jesper’s revolvers were back at his hips, and both he and Matthias had rifles slung across their shoulders. Kaz had a pistol in his coat and that demonic cane, and Nina saw Wylan rest a hand on his satchel. It was packed with explosives, flash bombs, and who knew what else.

  “We better be right about all this,” Wylan said on a sigh. “My father is going to be ready.”

  “I’m counting on it,” Kaz replied.

  Nina let her fingers brush against the grip of the pistol tucked into the pocket of her light spring coat. She had never needed a gun before, never wanted to carry one. Because I was the weapon. But she didn’t trust herself now. Her control over her power felt flimsy, like she kept reaching for something that was just a bit farther away than she’d thought. She needed to know it would be there tonight. She couldn’t make a mistake, not when Inej’s life depended on it. Nina knew that if she’d been on Vellgeluk, the battle would have gone differently. Inej never would have been taken if Nina had been strong enough to face Van Eck’s henchmen.

  And if she’d had parem? No one could have stood against her.

  Nina gave her head a firm shake. If you’d had parem, you’d be completely addicted and well on your way to the Reaper’s Barge.

  No one spoke as they reached shore and disembarked as quickly and quietly as possible. Kaz gestured for them to get to their positions. He would approach from the north, Matthias and Wylan from the east. Nina and Jesper would be responsible for the guards on the western edge of the perimeter.

  Nina flexed her fingers. Silence four guards. That should be easy. A few weeks ago it would have been. Slow their pulses. Send them quietly into unconsciousness without ever letting an alarm sound. But now she wondered if it was the damp or her own nervous perspiration that made her clothes cling so uncomfortably to her skin.

  Too soon, she saw the shapes of the first two guards at their post. They leaned against the low stone wall, rifles propped beside them, their conversation rising and falling in a lazy hum. Easy.