Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo Read Free Book Online

you’re showing proper appreciation for what I just went through,” Jesper was saying as he stomped through the cemetery.
    â€œYou spent a night at the tables losing someone else’s money,” Nina shot back. “Isn’t that essentially a holiday for you?”
    Kaz knocked his cane hard against a gravestone and they both went quiet, moving swiftly into fighting stances.
    Nina relaxed as soon as she caught sight of the three of them in the shadows. “Oh, it’s you.”
    â€œYes, it’s us.” Kaz used his cane to herd them both toward the center of the island. “And you would have heard us if you hadn’t been busy shouting at each other. Stop gawking like you’ve never seen a girl in a dress before, Matthias.”
    â€œI wasn’t gawking,” Matthias said with as much dignity as he could muster. But for Djel’s sake, what was he supposed to look at when Nina had irises tucked between … everything.
    â€œBe quiet, Brekker,” Nina said. “I like it when he gawks.”
    â€œHow did the mission go?” Matthias asked, trying to keep his eyes on her face. It was easy when he realized how tired she looked beneath the cosmetics she’d applied. She even took the arm he offered, leaning on him slightly as they made their way over the uneven terrain. The night had taken a toll. She shouldn’t be traipsing around the Barrel in scraps of silk; she should be resting. But the days until Van Eck’s deadline were dwindling, and Matthias knew Nina would allow herself no comfort until Inej was safe.
    â€œIt’s not a mission; it’s a job,” Nina corrected. “And it went splendidly.”
    â€œYeah,” said Jesper. “ Splendidly. Except that my revolvers are currently collecting dust in the Club Cumulus safe. Smeet was afraid to walk home with them, the hopeless podge. Just thinking of my babies in his sweaty hands—”
    â€œNo one told you to wager them,” said Kaz.
    â€œYou dealt me into a corner. How the hell else was I supposed to get Smeet to stay at the tables?”
    Kuwei poked his head out of the huge stone tomb as they approached.
    â€œWhat did I tell you?” Kaz growled, pointing his cane at him.
    â€œMy Kerch isn’t very good,” protested Kuwei.
    â€œDon’t run game on me, kid. It’s good enough. Stay in the tomb.”
    Kuwei hung his head. “Stay in the tomb,” he repeated glumly.
    They followed the Shu boy inside. Matthias loathed this place. Why build such monuments to death? The tomb was constructed to look like an ancient cargo ship, its interior carved into a vast stone hull. It even had stained-glass portholes that cast rainbows on the crypt floor in the late afternoon. According to Nina, the carvings of palm trees and snakes on the walls indicated that the family had been spice traders. But they must have fallen on hard times or simply taken their dead elsewhere, because only one of the vaults had a resident, and the narrow passages on either side of the main hull were equally empty.
    Nina pulled the pins from her hair, shucked off the blonde wig, and tossed it on the table they’d set in the middle of the tomb. She slumped into a chair, rubbing her fingers along her scalp. “So much better,” she said with a happy sigh. But Matthias could not ignore the almost greenish cast to her skin.
    She was worse tonight. Either she’d run into trouble with Smeet or she’d simply overexerted herself. And yet, watching her, Matthias felt something in him ease. At least now she looked like Nina again, her brown hair in damp tangles, her eyes half-shut. Was it normal to be fascinated by the way someone slouched?
    â€œGuess what we saw on our way out of the Lid?” she asked.
    Jesper started digging through their food stores. “Two Shu warships sitting in the harbor.”
    She threw a hairpin at him. “I was going to make them