Crooked Kingdom (The Six of Crows Duology #2) - Leigh Bardugo Page 0,54

anyway.

He had to keep still a little while longer. If the bombs Wylan had planted in the canal didn’t go off when they were supposed to, Kaz and Inej were going to need a lot more cover to get off the flower seller’s boat.

A series of glittering booms exploded across the sky. Matthias had released the second batch of fireworks. These weren’t a signal; they were camouflage.

Far below, Jesper saw two huge gouts of water spurt up from the canal as Wylan detonated his water mines. Right on time, merchling.

Now he stowed his rifle beneath his Mister Crimson cloak and descended the stairs, stopping only to join Nina as they raced out of the hotel. They’d marked each of their red-and-white masks with a large black tear to make sure they’d be able to tell one another apart from the other revelers, but in the midst of the melee, Jesper wondered if they should have chosen something more conspicuous.

As they sped across the bridge, Jesper thought he spotted Matthias and Wylan in their red capes, tossing coins as they steadily made their way off the Stave. If they started running, it might draw stadwatch attention. Jesper struggled not to laugh. That was definitely Matthias and Wylan. Matthias was hurling the money with way too much force and Wylan with way too much enthusiasm. The kid’s throwing arm needed serious work. He looked like he was actively trying to dislocate his shoulder.

From here, they’d go separate directions, each through a different alley or canal that led off the Stave, discarding their Mister Crimson costumes for other Komedie Brute characters and disguises. They were to wait for sunset before they returned to Black Veil.

Plenty of time to get into trouble.

Jesper could feel the pull of East Stave. He could wend his way there, find a card game, spend a few hours at Three Man Bramble. Kaz wouldn’t like it. Jesper was too well known. It was one thing to play at the Cumulus in a private parlor as part of a job. This would be something different. Kaz had vanished with promises of a huge haul and several valued members of the Dregs. People were speculating wildly about where he’d gone and Rotty had said Per Haskell was looking for all of them. Stadwatch officers would probably be visiting the Slat tonight to ask a lot of uncomfortable questions, and there was Pekka Rollins to worry about too. Just a couple of hands , Jesper promised himself, enough to scratch the itch. Then I’ll go visit Da .

Jesper’s stomach turned at that. He wasn’t ready to face his father alone just yet, to tell him the truth of all this madness. Suddenly the need to be at the tables was overwhelming. To hell with not running. Since Kaz hadn’t obliged him with something to shoot at, Jesper needed a pair of dice and long odds to clear his mind.

That was when the world went white.

The sound was something between a thunderbolt and a lightning crack. It lifted Jesper off his feet, sent him sprawling as a roaring whoosh filled his ears. He was suddenly lost in a storm of white smoke and dust that clogged his lungs. He coughed, and whatever he’d inhaled grated against the lining of his throat as if the air had turned to finely powdered glass. His eyelids were coated in grit and he fought not to rub at them, blinking rapidly, trying to dislodge bits of debris.

He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, gasping for air, head ringing. Another Mister Crimson lay on the ground beside him, a black tear painted onto his red lacquer cheek. Jesper dislodged the mask. Nina’s eyes were closed and blood ran from her temple. He shook her shoulder.

“Nina!” he shouted above the screams and wailing around him.

Her eyelids fluttered and she drew a sharp breath, then started coughing as she sat up.

“What was that? What happened?”

“I don’t know,” said Jesper. “But someone other than Wylan is setting off bombs. Look.”

A huge black hole gaped in the front of the House of the White Rose. A bed hung precariously from the second floor, ready to collapse into the lobby. The rose vines that climbed the front of the house had caught fire, and a heavy perfume had risen in the air. From somewhere inside, they could hear shouting.

“Oh, Saints, I have to help them,” Nina said, and Jesper’s addled mind remembered that she’d worked at the White Rose for the