So I just finished Crooked Kingdom, which was a masterpiece, and after just going through the tags for the series I think I may be a severe outlier in saying that I LOVE the fact that Kaz and Inej didn't end up together at the end?????
Like, their ship posts are a bulk of the content I've seen, and as rabid as I am over their dynamic as foils and characters individually, and their scenes of pining made me absolutely insane, I respect the FUCK out of Bardugo for the fact that she did not have them end up together as a romantic couple
The fact that they both love each other and WANT a relationship with the other, but at the end of the line know that (at least where they are as people currently) it couldn't work out. And yet they have so much devotion and respect for one another, and so much growth as people, Inej in following her path of liberation, and Kaz specifically in giving her her freedom and family and laying his soul and skin bare with NO EXPECTATION OF RECIPROCATION OR DEBT, that's so much more impactful for me at the end of the day, of two people yearning for one another but knowing it can't work, and despite that still standing together with respect and love for one another to drive forward working in tandem for a better life
Couldn't be me posting about cutesy ship content between those two, as much as I love them and in theory wanted them to make it work, I am so much more enthralled with the tragedy that is these two broken people sharing a mutual bond that should be more but never will be, and still finding a way to build something from the ashes