Six of Crows Reread🪶
Chapter 45: Kaz
The deal is the deal
Unfortunately everyone is a bloody liar
Why had he believed Van Eck had the blessing of the Merchant Council? Because he was a rich, upstanding mercher? Because he’d dressed his own servants and soldiers in the purple uniforms of the stadwatch? Kaz had met with Van Eck in a quarantined mercher’s house, not a government building, but he’d been taken in by a little set dressing. It was Hertzoon and his coffeehouse all over again, only now Kaz was old enough to know better.
Ouch
“Chaos will come, and I will be its master. Its very wealthy master.”
Could’ve been a banger of a line if it wasn’t from Van Eck
The little freak
Oh look we finally get to learn just how horrible a father he is
Van Eck began to laugh – a warm, almost jovial chuckle, but its edges were jagged and bitter.
“Let me tell you about my son.” He spat the word as if it were poison on his lips. “He was meant to be heir to one of the greatest fortunes in all of Kerch, an empire with shipping lines that reach all over the globe, one built by my father, and my father’s father. But my son, the boy meant to rule this grand empire, cannot do what a child of seven years can. He can solve an equation. He can paint and play the flute most prettily. What my son cannot do, Mister Brekker, is read. He cannot write. I have hired the best tutors from every corner of the world. I’ve tried specialists, tonics, beatings, hypnotism. But he refused to be taught. I finally had to accept that Ghezen saw fit to curse me with a moron for a child. Wylan is a boy who will never grow to be a man. He is a disgrace to my house.”
“The letters …” said Jesper, and Kaz could see the anger in his face. “You weren’t pleading with him to come back. You were mocking him.”
I volunteer to punch Jan Van Eck in the face!!
After Jesper and Wylan get the first swings in of course
Leverage number one doesn’t work out quite like Kaz had imagined
But of course he has a backup plan
If you’re reading this, then you know how much I wish to have you home. Every letter had been a slap in the face to Wylan, a kind of cruel joke.
“He’s your son,” Jesper said.
“No, he is a mistake. One soon to be corrected.”
So so cruel
Doesn’t he have any love inside of him?
“You’re the fool,” Jesper snarled. “He’s smarter than most of us put together, and he deserves a better father than you.”
YEAH YOU TELL HIM JESPER!!
The Tidemakers didn’t hesitate. Before anyone could draw breath to protest, two huge walls of water rose and shot towards the Ferolind. They crushed the ship between them with a resonant boom, sending debris flying.
Jesper screamed in rage and raised his guns.
“Jesper!” Kaz commanded. “Stand down!”
“He killed them,” Jesper said, face contorted. “He killed Wylan and Nina!”
Poor Jesper…
This scene will be so intense in the spin-off
Please
I need it—
Jesper looked back at the rocking waves, at the broken bits of mast and torn sail where a ship had been only seconds before. “I don’t … I don’t understand.”
“I confess to being a bit shocked, too, Mister Brekker,” said Van Eck. “No tears? No righteous protests for your lost crew? They raise you cold in the Barrel.”
“Cold and cautious,” said Kaz.
Even more cautious than you realize
I can’t remember my initial reaction to this part exactly but I’m pretty sure I figured Kaz would have tricks up his sleeve
Like there was no way Nina and “Wylan” were killed off after everything and with only a chapter to go
Plus I knew there was a second book
“I don’t need to take him from you. You never had him. That’s not Kuwei Yul-Bo.”
“A sorry bluff at best.”
“I’m not big on bluffing, am I, Inej?”
“Not as a rule.”
Van Eck’s lip curled. “And why is that?”
“Because he’d rather cheat,” said the boy who was not Kuwei Yul-Bo in perfect, unaccented Kerch.
Van Eck startled at the sound of his voice, and Jesper flinched.
The Shu boy held out a hand. “Pay up, Kaz.”
Kaz sighed. “I do hate to lose a wager. You see, Van Eck, Wylan bet me that you would have no qualms about ending his life. Call me sentimental, but I didn’t believe a father could be so callous.”
Please I forget they literally bet on this 😂😭😭
Also the fact that Kaz asked Inej and the fact that she knows he actually is big on bluffing
He trusts her so much!
She knows all his secrets
And she’ll never betray him
I mean he uses this trick at least three times in this series
Bluffing/lying/cheating to scare someone is Kaz’s favorite tactic
Oh… oh but this makes Jesper flinching at the reveal super painful
Kaz trusted Inej to know about Wylan and Kuwei swapping places, but he didn’t trust Jesper….
He probably did it to get a genuine reaction from Jesper as well but the trust issue thing is definitely there too
Kaz could see the fear and hurt in his golden eyes – Wylan’s surprising courage, too.
After the battle in the Djerholm harbour, the merchling had come to Kaz to warn him that he couldn’t be used as leverage against his father. Wylan had been red-faced, barely able to speak the words of his supposed ‘affliction’. Kaz had only shrugged. Some men were poets. Some were farmers. Some were rich merchers. Wylan could draw a perfect elevation. He’d made a drill that could cut through Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewellery. So what if he couldn’t read?”
It’s been said before but I’ll say it again
It’s really beautiful how Kaz doesn’t judge others on their flaws
“There could be no judgment from a boy known as Dirtyhands” -chapter 20
He looks for the best part of every individual and makes that part of them shine
Or he finds some way for them to be useful at least
Kaz shrugged. “Kill us, and you’ll never find Kuwei.”
Van Eck appeared to consider this. Then he stepped back. “Guards to me!” he shouted. “Kill everyone but Brekker!”
Kaz knew the instant he made his mistake. They’d all known it might come to this. He should have trusted his crew. His eyes should have stayed trained on Van Eck. Instead, in that moment of threat, when he should have thought only of the fight, he looked at Inej.
This line oh my gosh—
KaNej—
And Van Eck saw it. He blew on his whistle. “Leave the others! Get the money and the girl.”
Do you hear that?
No?
Well it’s me screaming
He tries to run to protect her!!
Please I am SOBBING 😭
“The Tidemakers reached her first, vanishing into mist, then reappearing at her side. But only a fool would to try to take Inej in close combat. The Tidemakers were fast – vanishing and reappearing, grabbing at her. But she was the Wraith, and her knives found heart, throat, spleen. Blood spilled over the sand as the Tidemakers collapsed in two very solid heaps.
She’s so cool
Oh my gosh
they had to face the sun to shoot and not even Jesper could aim blind.
Hmm.. this is interesting
I don’t think the show follows this statement
Jesper has literally shot without looking several times
The Squaller barrelled into Inej and sped upwards with her into the sky.
Stay still, Kaz urged her silently, his pistol drawn.
Something about Kaz with a gun just make me so…
So…. Hnnnnnnngh
It’s hot, okay?
AND THEN SHE’S FALLING
AND HE TRIES TO RUN TO HER AGAIN!!
Ashjfssfhjvsadh—
A third Squaller swooped down, snatching her up seconds before impact and dealing her a vicious blow to the skull. Kaz saw Inej’s body go limp.
“Bring him down!” roared Matthias.
“No!” shouted Kaz. “Shoot him and she falls, too!”
He can’t watch her fall…
It terrifies him
…. “Why the net, Kaz?”
Some hints for later I see??
But now she’s gone-
There was nothing they could do but stand there like fools and watch her shape get smaller in the sky – a distant moon, a fading star, then gone.
There and then gone…
Just like the magic trick
Just like Jordie..
But he can get her back!
Vengeance for Jordie, all Kaz had worked for, was slipping away. He didn’t care…
…“Kaz, I can make the shot,” said Jesper, rifle to his shoulder. “Van Eck is still in range.”
And all would be lost – Inej, the money, everything.
“No,” Kaz said. “Let them go.”
Inej is his first thought
He values her more than his revenge
He felt as he had looking into the darkened windows of the house on Zelverstraat. Helpless once more. He’d prayed to the wrong god.
It hurts 😭
Kaz marvelled at his own stupidity. Dumber than a pigeon fresh off the boat and looking to make a fortune on East Stave. His greatest vulnerability had been right beside him. And now she was gone.
Poor Kaz
He’s so hard on himself
Love isn’t a weakness!!
😭😭😭
The idea of “there and then gone” keeps coming up though and I love and hate it!
“That’s why you disappeared during the journey,” said Jesper. “You weren’t helping Matthias care for Nina. You were hiding.”
“I didn’t hide.”
“You … how many times was it you standing beside me on the deck at night when I thought it was Kuwei?”
“Every time.”
“Nina might not be able to put you back, you know. Not without another dose of parem. You could be stuck like this.”
“Why does it matter?”
“I don’t know!” Jesper said angrily. “Maybe I liked your stupid face.”
See I told you it was Wylan
I say this like I haven’t read these books like five times already
I’m actually here for angry Jesper??
I want more strong emotions from him in the show
He turned to Matthias. “You knew. Wylan knew. Inej knew. Everyone but me.”
“Ask me why, Jesper,” Kaz said, his patience at an end.
Here comes pain
It hurts because it was an accident
Jesper would never willfully betray the other crows
This echos the opening scene of the book with Big Bolliger a little
Just this time the betrayal wasn’t on purpose
“You told one of the Dime Lions you were leaving Kerch, but that you’d be coming into big money, didn’t you?”
Jesper swallowed. “I had to. They were leaning on me hard. My father’s farm—”
“I told you not to tell anyone you were leaving the country. I warned you to keep your mouth shut.”
“I didn’t have a choice! You had me locked up in the Crow Club before we left. If you’d let me—”
Kaz turned on him. “Let you what? Play a few hands of Three Man Bramble? Dig yourself deeper in with every boss in the Barrel stupid enough to extend you credit? You told a member of Pekka’s gang you were about to be flush.”
“I didn’t know he’d go to Pekka. Or that Pekka knew about parem. I was just trying to buy myself some time.”
“Saints, Jesper, you really haven’t learned anything in the Dregs, have you? You’re still the same dumb farm boy who stepped off the boat.”
Is he talking about Jesper here or himself…
Hmmmmmmmm…?
“Kaz would always remember that moment, when he’d seen greed take hold of his brother, an invisible hand guiding him onward, the lever at work.”
Remember that quote from chapter 18?
Yeah.
Kaz is definitely thinking about Jordie when he looks at Jesper and his gambling problem
Jesper lunged for him, and Kaz felt a surge of giddy violence. Finally, a fight he could win. But Matthias stepped between them, holding them each back with a massive hand. “Stop. Stop this.”Kaz didn’t want to stop. He wanted to beat them all bloody and then brawl his way through the Barrel.
This man does have a tendency to get into fights a lot
He’s always coming back bloody during their heists and schemes
Anyways-
They’re so brothers
Kaz wants to see Jesper as his big brother but he keeps letting him down…
Just like Jordie did—
For now, there was nothing but the flat grey of the sky and the dead rock of this miserable excuse for an island. And Inej’s absence. Kaz wanted to hit someone. He wanted someone to hit him.
I’m sure Jesper would happily deck you if you let him
If Kaz was their leader, then Inej had been their lodestone, pulling them together when they seemed most likely to drift apart.
I love this comparison
Inej holds them all together!!
According to that deleted scene we got today she’s their heart!! 💕
Nina had disguised Kaz’s crow-and-cup tattoo before they’d entered the Ice Court, but he hadn’t let her near the R on his bicep. Now he touched his gloved fingers to where the sleeve of his coat covered that mark. Without meaning to, he’d let Kaz Rietveld return.
He didn’t know if it had begun with Inej’s injury or that hideous ride in the prison wagon, but somehow he’d let it happen and it had cost him dearly.
I think he started coming back even sooner than that…
I want him to let Rietveld free but at least he’s making a plan
Also give us Kaz’s tattoos netflix!!!!
“Scheming face,” murmured Jesper.
“Definitely,” agreed Wylan.
Matthias folded his arms. “Digging in your bag of tricks, demjin?”
I love it
Kaz wants to go after Inej alone!
But he knows he’ll need help
“I’ll need the right crew.”
“Wylan got to his feet. “For the Wraith.”
Jesper followed, still not meeting Kaz’s eyes. “For Inej,” he said quietly.
Matthias gave a single sharp nod.
They all love Inej so much 🥹
Inej had wanted Kaz to become someone else, a better person, a gentler thief. But that boy had no place here. That boy ended up starving in an alley. He ended up dead. That boy couldn’t get her back.
No!
He can survive now!!
He has friends! A family!!!
Though… I guess he does need Dirtyhands Brekker for what comes next..
I’m going to get my money, Kaz vowed. And I’m going to get my girl.
YEAH YOU ARE
THAT’S MY MAN!!!
WRECK HIS PLANS—
Inej could never be his, not really, but he would find a way to give her the freedom he’d promised her so long ago.
He really loves her
Enough to let her go 🥹
It’s heartbreaking
Dirtyhands had come to see the rough work done.
Aaaannnd that wraps it for the Crows! Just Pekka’s chapter left!!
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