Leigh Bardugo

She would fight for him, but she could not heal him. She would not waste her life trying.

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Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Copyright © 2013 by Leigh Bardugo

Map © 2013 by Keith Thompson

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

You have to know where you want to go before you get there.

She already took care of me.” Dimly Kaz registered the dried blood on Jesper’s thigh. “Wylan got dinged during the fight. Let me help you—”
“Get out of my way,” Kaz said, and plunged past him down the ramp that led belowdecks.

“You chose to work there?”
“Chose is a bit of a stretch, but yes.”
“Why? Why would you remain in Kerch?”
She rubbed her eyes. “I couldn’t leave you in Hellgate.”
“You put me in Hellgate.”
“It was a mistake, Matthias.”
Rage ignited in his eyes, the calm veneer dropping away. “A mistake? I saved your life, and you accused me of being a slaver.”
“Yes,” Nina said. “And I’ve spent most of this last year trying to find a way to set things right.”

different reply roared to life inside him, loud, insistent, and unwelcome. You, Inej. You.

After their father died, crushed beneath a plough with his insides strewn across a field like a trail of damp red blossoms, Jordie had sold the farm. Not for much. The debts and liens had seen to that. But it was enough to see them safe to Ketterdam and to keep them in modest comfort for a good while.

Kaz had been nine, still missing Da and frightened of travelling from the only home he’d ever known.

Kaz turned away and began chatting with Jesper. He seemed to do that whenever she mentioned going back to Ravka. Of course, Inej couldn’t be certain she’d find her parents there. Suli were travellers. For them, ‘home’ really just meant family.

he could tell Kaz was moving too slowly, his gloved fingers clumsier than she’d ever seen them. What was wrong with him? And why had he frozen at the wagon door? Something had made him hesitate, but what?