Inej Quotes

“The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“She smiled then, her eyes red, her cheeks scattered with some kind of dust. It was a smile he thought he might die to earn again.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?"
"Guns?" asked Jesper.
"Ships?" queried Inej.
"Bombs?" suggested Wylan.
"Political bribes?" offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are," she whispered.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he'll keep to any deal you strike with him.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“She felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping on Kaz, but he was the one who had turned her into a spy. You couldn’t train a falcon, then expect it not to hunt.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“He looked down at his boots. "That berth belongs to you too. It will always be there when―if you want to come back."

Inej could not speak. Her heart felt too full, a dry creek bed ill-prepared for such rain. "I don't know what to say.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Wylan summoned every bit of bravado he'd learned from Nina, the will he'd learned from Matthias, the focus he'd studied in Kaz, the courage he'd learned from Inej, and the wild, reckless hope he'd learned from Jesper, the belief that no matter the odds, somehow they would win.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“A great many people are looking for you."
The gleam in the tiny girl's eye was wicked. "They'd best pray they don't find me”
― Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

“She was going to leave a trail of blood over the skyline.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Isn't that how things are done around here?" asked Wylan. "We all tell Kaz we're fine and then do something stupid?"

"Are we that predictable?" said Inej.

Wylan and Matthias said in unison, "Yes.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“If you ever cared about me at all, don't follow.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Kaz snagged her wrist. "Inej." His gloved thumb moved over her pulse, traced the top of the feather tattoo. "If we don't make it out, I want you to know..."
She waited. She felt hope rustling its wings inside her, ready to take flight at the right words from Kaz. She willed that hope in to stillness. Those words would never come. The heart is an arrow.
She reached up and touched his cheek. She thought he might flinch again, even knock her hand away. In nearly two years of battling side by side with Kaz, of late-night scheming, impossible heists, clandestine errands, and harried meals of fried potatoes and hutspot gobbled down as they rushed from one place to another, this was the first time she had touched him skin to skin, without the barrier of gloves or coat or shirtsleeve. She let her hand cup his cheek. His skin was cool and damp from the rain. He stayed still, but she saw a tremor pass through him, as if he were waging a war with himself.
"If we don't die this night, I will die unafraid, Kaz. Can you say the same?"
His eyes were nearly black, the pupils dilated. She could see it took every last bit of his terrible will for him to remain still beneath her touch. And yet, he did not pull away. She knew it was the best he could offer. It was not enough.
She dropped her hand. He took a deep breath.
Kaz had said he didn't want her prayers and she wouldn't speak them, but she wished him safe nonetheless. She had her aim now, her heart had direction, and though it hurt to know that path led away from him, she could endure it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Had she really thought the world didn't change? She was a fool. The world was made of miracles, unexpected earthquakes, storms that came from nowhere and might reshape a continent.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“I would come for you," he said, and when he saw the wary look she shot him, he said it again. "I would come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“The Suli believe that when we do wrong, we give life to our shadows. Every sin makes the shadow stronger, until eventually the shadow is stronger than you."
"If that were true, my shadow would have put Ketterdam in permanent night."
"Maybe," Inej said, turning her dark gaze to his. "Or maybe you're someone else's shadow.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Cautiously, she let her knuckles brush against his, a slight weight, a bird's feather. He stiffened, but he didn't pull away.

"I'm not ready to give up on this city, Kaz. I think it's worth saving." I think you're worth saving.

Once they stood on the deck of a ship and she'd waited just like this. He had no spoken then and he did not speak now. Inej felt him slipping away, dragging under, caught in an undertow that would take him farther and farther from shore. She understood suffering and she knew it was a place she could not follow, not unless she wanted to drown, too.

Back on Black Veil, he'd told her that they would fight their way out. Knives drawn, guns blazing. Because that's what we do. She would fight for him, but she could not heal him. She would not waste her life trying.

She felt his knuckles slide against hers. Then his hand was in her hand, his palm was pressed against her own. A tremor moved through him. Slowly, he let their fingers entwine.

For a long while, they stood there, hands clasped, looking out at the gray expanse of sea.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“What is this?" she asked, her eyes scanning the page. "It's not..." She ran her fingertips over the words as if expecting them to vanish. "My contract." She whispered.
"I don't want you beholden to Per Haskell. Or me." Another half-truth. His mind had concocted a hundred schemes to bind her to him, to keep her in this city. But she'd spent enough of her life caged by debts and obligations, and it would be better for them both when she was gone.
"How?" she said. "The money-"
"It's done." He'd liquidated every asset he had, used the last of the savings he'd accrued, every ill-gotten cent.
She pressed the envelope to her chest, above her heart. "I have no words to thank you for this."
"Surely the Suli have a thousand words for such an occasion?"
"Words have not been invented for such an occasion."
"If I end up on the gallows, you can say something nice over the corpse," he said.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“All Kaz knew was he'd invested a lot of time and money in getting his Warith back. He sure as hell wasn't going to lose her again.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“The shadow of something dark moved across Kaz's face. "If it were a trick, I'd promise you safety. I'd offer you happiness. I don't know if that exists in the Barrel, but you'll find none of it with me."
For some reason, those words had comforted her. Better terrible truths than kind lies.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“He thought of Inej's hand on his cheek. His mind had gone jagged at the sensation, a riot of confusion. It had been terror and disgust and- in all of that clamour- desire, a wish that lingered still, the hope that she would touch him again.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Stop treating your pain like it's something you imagined. If you see the wound is real, then you can heal it.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“I'm already a ghost, she thought. I died in the hold of a slaver ship.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Cautiously, she let her knuckles brush against his, a slight weight, a bird's feather. He stiffened, but he didn't pull away.

"I'm not ready to give up on this city, Kaz. I think it's worth saving." I think you're worth saving.

Once they stood on the deck of a ship and she'd waited just like this. He had not spoken then and he did not speak now. Inej felt him slipping away, dragging under, caught in an undertow that would take him farther and farther from shore. She understood suffering and she knew it was a place she could not follow, not unless she wanted to drown, too.

Back on Black Veil, he'd told her that they would fight their way out. Knives drawn, guns blazing. Because that's what we do. She would fight for him, but she could not heal him. She would not waste her life trying.

She felt his knuckles slide against hers. Then his hand was in her hand, his palm was pressed against her own. A tremor moved through him. Slowly, he let their fingers entwine.

For a long while, they stood there, hands clasped, looking out at the gray expanse of sea.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“I don't want your prayers', he said.
'What do you want then?'
The old answers came easily to mind. Money. Vengeance. Jordie's voice in my head silenced forever. But a different reply roared to life inside him, loud, insistent, and unwelcome. You, Inej. You.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“Zoja sagte, dass Angst ein Phönix ist. Man kann ihm zusehen, wie er tausendmal verbrennt, und doch wird er zurückkehren.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Nice to be back, Kaz.

Good to have you back, Wraith.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Even the idea of being this near someone should have set his skin crawling. Instead he thought, "What happens if I move closer?”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“She imagined them checking the ropes at her wrists, rubbing life into her hands. She did not tell herself she wasn't afraid. Long ago, after a bad fall, her father had explained that only fools were fearless. We meet fear, he'd said. We greet the unexpected visitor and listen to what he has to tell us. When fear arrives, something is about to happen.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Had she really thought the world didn't change? She was a fool. The world was made of miracles”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Inej would find her own way in. The rules of fair play among the gangs were from Per Haskell's time. Besides, she was the Wraith--the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows