Free Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

reward Kuwei might garner? Nina would never let Kaz abandon her. She’d fight with everything she had to free Inej even if she was still in the grips of parem . Matthias would stand by her with that great heart full of honor. And Jesper … well, Jesper would never do Inej harm, but he needed money badly if he didn’t want his father to lose his livelihood. He would do his best, but that might not necessarily mean what was best for her. Besides, without Kaz, were any of them a match for Van Eck’s ruthlessness and resources? I am , Inej told herself. I may not have Kaz’s devious mind, but I am a dangerous girl.
    Van Eck had sent Bajan to her every day, and he’d been nothing but amiable and pleasant even as he’d prodded her for the locations of Kaz’s safe houses. She suspected that Van Eck didn’t come himself because he knew Kaz would be keeping a close eye on his movements. Or maybe he thought she’d be more vulnerable to a Suli boy than a wily merch. But tonight something had changed.
    Bajan usually left when Inej had made it clear she would eat no more—a parting smile, a small bow, and away he went, duty dispatched until the following morning. Tonight he had lingered.
    Instead of taking his cue to vanish when she used her bound hands to nudge away her dish, he’d said, “When did you see your family last?”
    A new approach. “Has Van Eck offered you some reward if you can extract information from me?”
    â€œIt was just a question.”
    â€œAnd I am just a captive. Did he threaten you with punishment?”
    Bajan glanced at the guards and said quietly, “Van Eck could bring you back to your family. He could pay off your contract with Per Haskell. It is well within his means.”
    â€œWas this your idea or your master’s?”
    â€œWhy does it matter?” Bajan asked. There was an urgency in his voice that pricked at Inej’s defenses. When fear arrives, something is about to happen. But was he afraid of Van Eck or afraid for her? “You can walk away from the Dregs and Per Haskell and that horrid Kaz Brekker free and clear. Van Eck could give you transport to Ravka, money to travel.”
    An offer or a threat? Could Van Eck have found her mother and father? The Suli were not easy to track, and they would be wary of strangers asking questions. But what if Van Eck had sent men claiming to have knowledge of a lost girl? A girl who had vanished one chilly dawn as if the tide had reached up to the shore to claim her?
    â€œWhat does Van Eck know about my family?” she asked, anger rising.
    â€œHe knows you’re far from home. He knows the terms of your indenture with the Menagerie.”
    â€œThen he knows I was a slave. Will he have Tante Heleen arrested?”
    â€œI … don’t think—”
    â€œOf course not. Van Eck doesn’t care that I was bought and sold like a bolt of cotton. He’s just looking for leverage.”
    But what Bajan asked next took Inej by surprise. “Did your mother make skillet bread?”
    She frowned. “Of course.” It was a Suli staple. Inej could have made skillet bread in her sleep.
    â€œWith rosemary?”
    â€œDill, when we had it.” She knew what Bajan was doing, trying to make her think of home. But she was so hungry and the memory was so strong that her stomach growled anyway. She could see her mother damping the fire, see her flipping the bread with quick pinches of her fingers, smell the dough cooking over the ashes.
    â€œYour friends are not coming,” said Bajan. “It is time to think of your own survival. You could be home with your family by summer’s end. Van Eck can help you if you let him.”
    Every alarm inside Inej had sounded danger. The play was too obvious. Beneath Bajan’s charm, his dark eyes, his easy promises, there was fear. And yet amid the clamor of suspicion, she could hear the soft chiming of