Crooked Kingdom (The Six of Crows Duology #2) - Leigh Bardugo Page 0,95

bandaged his arm with the bottom of his shirt, and then he and his wolf, both covered in blood, walked back to where the others were playing in a pile of wolf pups and gray uniforms.

“This one’s mine,” he said as they all turned to stare, and the old woman shook her head. Then Matthias passed out.

That night, on the ship, Matthias had told Nina about Trassel, his fierce nature, his ragged scar. Eventually, she had dozed and Matthias had let himself shut his eyes. The ice was waiting. The killing wind came with white teeth, the wolves howled in the distance, and Nina cried out, but Matthias could not go to her.

The dream had come every night since. It was hard not to see it as some kind of omen, and when Nina had casually dropped that yellow pill into her pocket, it had been like watching the storm come on: the roar of the wind filling his ears, the cold burrowing into his bones, the certainty that he was going to lose her.

“Parem might not work on you anymore,” he said now. They’d finally reached the deserted canal where they’d moored the gondel .

“What?”

“Your power has changed, hasn’t it?”

Nina’s footsteps faltered. “Yes.”

“Because of the parem ?”

Now Nina stopped. “Why are you asking me this?”

He didn’t want to ask her. He wanted to kiss her again. But he said, “If you were captured, the Shu might not be able to use the drug to enslave you.”

“Or it could be just as bad as before.”

“That pill, the poison Tamar gave you—”

Nina laid a hand on his arm. “I’m not going to be captured, Matthias.”

“But if you were—”

“I don’t know what the parem did to me. I have to believe the effects will wear off in time.”

“And if they don’t?”

“They have to,” she said, brow furrowed. “I can’t live like this. It’s like … being only half of myself. Although …”

“Although?” he urged.

“The craving isn’t quite so bad right now,” she said as if realizing it herself. “In fact, I’ve barely thought of parem since the fight at the tavern.”

“Using this new power helped?”

“Maybe,” she said cautiously. “And—” She frowned. Matthias heard a low, curling growl.

“Was that your stomach ?”

“It was.” Nina’s face split in a dazzling grin. “Matthias, I’m famished.”

Could she truly be healing at last? Or had what she’d done at the tavern returned her appetite to her? He didn’t care. He was just glad she was smiling that way. He picked her up and spun her in the air.

“You’re going to strain something if you keep doing that,” she said with another radiant smile.

“You’re light as a feather.”

“I do not want to see that bird. Now let’s go get me a stack of waffles twice as tall as you. I—”

She broke off, the color draining from her face. “Oh, Saints.”

Matthias followed her gaze over his shoulder and found himself looking into his own eyes. A poster had been plastered to the wall, emblazoned with a scarily accurate sketch of his face. Above and beside the illustration, written in several different languages, was a single word: WANTED .

Nina snatched the poster from the wall. “You were supposed to be dead.”

“Someone must have asked to see Muzzen’s body before it was burned.” Maybe the Fjerdans. Maybe just someone at the prison. There were more words printed at the bottom in Kerch that Matthias couldn’t read, but he understood his own name and the number well enough. “Fifty thousand kruge . They’re offering a reward for my capture.”

“No,” Nina said. She pointed to the text beneath the large number and translated, “Wanted: Matthias Helvar. Dead or alive. They’ve put a price on your head.”

W hen Nina and Matthias came charging into the tomb, Jesper wanted to leap up from the table and waltz with them both. He’d spent the last hour trying to explain to Kuwei how they would reach the embassy, and he was starting to get the distinct impression the kid was playing dumb—possibly because he was enjoying the ridiculous gestures Jesper was making.

“Could you repeat the last part?” Kuwei said now, leaning in a little too close.

“Nina,” Jesper said. “Can you help facilitate this exchange?”

“Thank the Saints,” said Inej, leaving off her work at the table with Wylan and Kaz. They were assembling the mass of wires and gear Kaz had stolen from the Cirkus Zirkoa. Wylan had spent the last two hours making modifications to ensure Inej’s safety at the silos, attaching magnetized clamps that would grip