His instincts said to hold his ground. Not compromise them more but then he was “already turning, already sprinting to get to her as the Grisha attacked”.
“But only a fool would try to take Inej in close combat.”
“Inej fell, plunging toward the sand” (- I was yelling.) “Kaz ran toward her without logic or plan”. 🤭🤭😩
“Vengeance for Jordie, all Kaz had worked for, was slipping away. HE DIDN’T CARE.”
“His greatest vulnerability had been right beside him. And now she was gone.”
“For now there was nothing but the....... And Inej’s absence. Kaz wanted to hit someone. He wanted someone to hit him”
“If Kaz was their leader then Inej had been their lodestone, pulling them together when they seemed most likely to drift apart.”
“Inej had wanted Kaz to become someone else, a better person, a gentler thief. But that boy had no place here. That boy ended up starving in an alley. He ended up dead. That boy couldn’t get her back.”
(actually I’d argue that she wanted you to be you. The you are not the you you had to build yourself to be but I guess it’s currently at this point in the journey the same difference).
“I’m going to get my money and I’m going to get my girl.”
“INEJ COULD NEVER BE HIS, NOT REALLY, BUT HE WOULD FIND A WAY TO GIVE HER THE FREEDOM HE’D PROMISE HER SO LONG AGO”
The fact that his love for her is focused on letting her be free. Free of Ketterdam. Of the Dregs. Of him. That she is her own person and he would never lay claim to that but he promised her freedom and that, that he’ll make sure she gets. He loves her so much that even if it ruins him, he’ll willingly let her go because love is freeing, it’s not control.
Leigh Bardugo this whole chapter is a masterpiece. This book!
