Brekker Quotes

#1. Kaz didn't look remotely entertained. "The Ravkan king lets you negotiate for him in matters of state?" he asked skeptically.
"Occasionally," said Sturmhond. "Especially if less than savory personages are involved. You have a reputation, Mister Brekker."
"So do you.

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#2. No one knew who he was. No one knew where he came from. He'd become Kaz Brekker, cripple and confidence man, bastard of the Barrel. The

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#3. Pekka Rollins couldn't count the threats he'd heard, the men he'd killed, or the men he'd seen die, but the look in Brekker's eye still sent a chill slithering up his spine. Some wrathful thing in this boy was beginning to get loose, and Rollin's didn't want to be around when it slipped its leash.

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#4. Go on, Van Eck, threaten me. Tell me all the little things I am. You lay a finger on me and Kaz Brekker will cut the baby from your pretty wife's stomach and hang its body from a balcony at the Exchange.

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#5. I hope he didn't cross Kaz Brekker," Nina said with a shudder.
"Wylan wouldn't--"
"Of course not," said Nina as she shook out the cuffs of her kefta and prepared to exit the dining room." Only a fool would.

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#6. In the end, Kaz Brekker was a just a boy, and she'd let him lead her to this fate.

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#7. It was because she was listening so closely that she knew the exact moment when Kaz Brekker, Dirtyhands, the bastard of the Barrel and deadliest boy in Ketterdam, fainted.

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#8. Everything is a negotiation with you, Brekker. You probably bartered your way out of the womb.

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#9. You'll get what's coming to you some day, Brekker."
"I will," said Kaz, "if there's any justice in the world. And we all know how likely that is.

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#10. Matthias suspected that Brekker would drag the girl back from hell himself if he had to. Jesper

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#11. Though Kaz's tone was easy, Matthias heard the dark anticipation in his words. He had often wondered how people survived this city, but it was possible Ketterdam would not survive Kaz Brekker.

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#12. Feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst follishness.

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#13. Saints, Kaz, you actually look happy."
"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped. But there was no mistaking it. Kaz Brekker was grinning like an idiot.

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#14. I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.

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#15. Well, Brekker, it's obvious you only deal in half-truths and outright lies, so you're clearly the man for the job.

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#16. One of his hands balanced on his cane. The other rested at his side next to her. She'd need only move the smallest amount and they would be touching. He was that close. He was that far from reach.

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#17. Has anyone noticed this whole city is looking for us, mad at us, or wants to kill us?"
"So?" said Kaz.
"Well, usually it's just half the city.

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#18. A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he'll keep to any deal you strike with him.

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#19. He'd told her they would fight their way out. Knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. She would fight for him, but she could not heal him. She would not waste her life trying.

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#20. That boy had betrayed his weakness in a single glance, had ceded the war for the sake of a single battle, and put Inej--all of them--in danger.

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#21. Jesper: "If Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."
Kaz: "I'll just hire Matthias' ghost to kick your ghost's ass."
Matthias: "My ghost won't associate with your ghost.

Leigh Bardugo

#22. Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don't forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.

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#23. I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.

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#24. You must find a way to make peace," said Inej. "At least for a while."
"This is not your concern," Matthias growled.
Kaz stepped forward, his expression dangerous. "It is very much our concern. And watch your tone.

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#25. Sometimes, the only way to get justice is to take it for yourself.

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#26. She smiled then, her cheeks red, her cheeks scattered with some kind of dust. It was a smile he thought he might die to earn again.

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#27. I need to see Jakob Hertzoon."
"Who?"
Kaz felt like he was about to climb out of his skin. He pointed through the window. "Jakob fucking Hertzoon. I want to talk to him.

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#28. Brick by brick.

Brick by brick, I will destroy you.

"It was the promise that let him sleep at night, that drove him every day, that kept Jordie's ghost at bay. Because a quick death was too good for Pekka Rollins.

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#29. You can't spend his money if you're dead."
"I'll acquire expensive habits in the afterlife.

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#30. I need someone who can be invisible, who can become a ghost. Do you think you can do that?"
I'm already a ghost, she thought. I died in the hold of a slaver ship.
"i think so.

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#31. Just this minute, I'll settle for an apology, she decided. And I wont' board the boat without one. Even if Kaz isn't sorry, he can pretend. He at least owes me his best imitation of a human being.

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#32. He didn't mean to say it. He meant to let her go. "I can help you.

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#33. That, Kuwei, is the sound that death makes when she comes calling.

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#34. And what god do you serve, then?"
"Whichever will grant me good fortune."
"I don't think gods work that way."
"I don't think I care.

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#35. Pick up the pace," Kaz said, eyeing his watch.
"If I spill a single drop of this, it will burn straight through the floor onto my father's dinner guests."
"Take your time.

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#36. You came back for me."
"I protect my investments." Investments.
"I'm glad I'm bleeding all over your shirt.

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#37. He was a collection of hard lines and tailored edges

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#38. She'd often wished to chip away a bit of his arrogance, but she couldn't bear the idea of seeing Kaz stripped of his pride.

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#39. Greed is your god, Kaz."
He almost laughed at that. "No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.

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#40. Wylan didn't think he imagined the tension in the rasp of Kaz's voice. Kaz never yelled the way Wylan's father did, but Wylan had learned to listen for that low note, that bit of black harmony that crept into Kaz's tone when things were about to get dangerous.

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#41. He knew exactly what he intended to leave behind when he was gone.

Damage.

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#42. At some point, Jesper realized Kaz was gone.
"Not one for goodbyes, is he?" he muttered.
"He doesn't say goodbye," Inej said. She kept her eyes on the lights of the canal. Somewhere in the garden, a night bird began to sing. "He just lets go.

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#43. No one got the better of Kaz. He was the toughest, scariest thing walking the alleys of the Barrel.

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#44. He saw that Jesper was staring at his hands. "What were you expecting?" Kaz growled.
"Claws, at least,"Jesper said, shifting his gaze to his own bony feet. "Possibly a spiny thumb.

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#45. We'll be Kings and Queens, Inej. Kings and Queens.

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#46. I trade in information, Geels, the things men do when they think no one is looking. Shame holds more value than coin ever can.

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#47. Has she at least done it before?" said Kaz. "For this purpose?" asked Sturmhond. "I've seen her do it twice. It worked splendidly. Once".

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#48. Compromise," Kaz said. " 'I'm sorry' does the trick and uses fewer bullets.

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#49. He's horrible."
"But effective. Being angry at Kaz for being ruthless is like being angry at a stove for being hot.

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#50. Before you finish that sentence, I want you to think about what a promise from me costs and what you're willing to pay for it.

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#51. Then tailor him," Kaz said coldly. The challenge in Kaz's eyes was clear. So he knew she'd been struggling. Of course he did. Dirtyhands never missed a trick.

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#52. If you don't care about money, Nina dear, call it by its other names."
"Kruge? Scrub? Kaz's one true love?"
"Freedom, security, retribution.

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#53. He'd known even then, though: He'd start as a grunt, but the Dregs would become his army.

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#54. One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder.

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#55. If you ever cared about me at all, don't follow.

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#56. Speak, she begged silently. Give me a reason to stay. For all his selfishness and cruelty, Kaz was still the boy who had saved her. She wanted to believe he was worth saving, too.

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#57. She would have her ship and he would have his city.

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#58. Kaz had always kept himself at a remove from everyone. They'd wanted camaraderie, friendship, but he had never agreed to play their game, only his own.

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#59. I'm pragmatic. If I were cruel, I'd give him an eulogy instead of a conversation.

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#60. You can only sharpen a blade so far", Kaz said as he joined them at the front of the church. "In the end, it comes down to the quality of the metal.

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#61. Haskell whisked the pistol from his pocket and flipped open the barrel. It was empty. "You little--" Then Haskell barked a laugh and plucked the bullets from Kaz's hand, shaking his head. "You've got the devil's own blood in you, boy. Go get my money.

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#62. Nina glanced from Inej to Kaz and saw they both wore the same expression. Nina knew that look. It came after the shipwreck, when the tide moved against you and the sky had gone dark. It was the first sight of land, the hope of shelter and even salvation that might await you on a distant shore.

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#63. There are no good men in Ketterdam, Kaz said. And then he'd simply let go.

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