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Summary: Chapter 24
Jesper tries to apologize to Inej for putting her in harm’s way, but she stops him, urging him to show his contrition by acting differently in the future. She also encourages Jesper to be honest with his father about how he lost the family’s money, advice he takes. Jesper’s conversation with Colm is difficult, but he manages to explain to his father that suppressing his Grisha powers feels like dying slowly. At chapter’s end, Jesper wants desperately to escape and, when he runs into Wylan, Jesper kisses him. There is no spark, however, and Jesper realizes he has kissed Kuwei instead. Wylan, however, sees them together and dashes off.
Summary: Chapter 25
The gang gathers to discuss their intricate plan to take down Van Eck. Kaz suggests that Colm pose as a jurda farmer named Johannus Rietveld. In this guise, he will set up a jurda consortium to lure the Merchant Council to invest in the commodity which, because it is necessary to make parem, will be in great demand after Kuwei’s auction. The price will rise and there will be much money to be made, an irresistible lure for Ketterdam merchants. Jasper objects, noting the danger to his father, but Colm says he’s in. The gang will rig the outcome by funneling the money they raise from the merchers’ investments in the consortium to the Ravkan embassy, guaranteeing that Ravka will win the bidding at the auction. After everything is done, Kuwei will go to Ravka. During the auction, Matthias and Nina will protect Kuwei but they do not have to worry about protecting the auction itself because the city will take care of that—auctions are sacred in Ketterdam. Kaz says he will also go to The Slat for reinforcements. Everyone objects, but he ignores them.
Summary: Chapter 26
Years earlier, Kaz had created a false identity as a jurda farmer named Johannus Rietveld, a name formed from his brother’s middle name and surname. He briefly wonders if this imaginary persona is similar to the identity Rollins used to swindle him and his brother when they first arrived in Ketterdam, or if it is instead a way to hold onto the family he lost.
Because of the extensive forces united against them, Kaz needs Inej’s help to plan his route to the Slat. He gives her a piece of paper—her contract, purchased from Haskell—and informs her that she is completely free. She’s deeply moved. Inej tries to get Kaz to discuss what will happen after the auction, but he refuses.
Inej notices that she is bleeding through her bandages. She says she needs to go to Nina to have the dressing changed, but Kaz offers to help instead. Silently, she gathers the necessary supplies and sits on the counter, facing Kaz. Slowly, he undoes her dressings. When his hand grazes her skin, he feels himself carried back to the Reaper’s Barge, surrounded by corpses, where he endured a traumatic night after his brother died. Seeing his internal struggle, Inej gently tells him that it is hard for her to endure physical contact given her time at the Menagerie. Kaz completes the task, despite the difficulty created by abrupt shifts between the warm contact of the living Inej and the memory of cold corpses on the Reaper’s Barge. Finally, he kisses her neck and steps away. As a further expression of his trust and love, Kaz then tells her about the horrible things he did out of revenge, killing people who were involved in his brother’s death.
Inej looks at him with kindness. He thinks that she is the stronger of the two because she retains a fundamental goodness, despite the bad things she has endured. He puts his gloves and clothes back on. He offers Inej some crucial advice for her next encounter with Dunyasha: look for tells, small signs that betray who a person is and what they are about to do. Inej asks about her own tell, and Kaz shares that she squares her shoulders before she moves, as if she’s about to perform. Finally answering Inej’s earlier question about what he wants after the auction, Kaz says that damage is the only thing he wants to leave behind him.
Analysis
This section explores those aspects of identity that shine through masks and performances, no matter how hard a person tries to appear to be someone else. When Jesper kisses the person he believes to be Wylan, he is immediately disappointed by the kiss. The lack of chemistry reveals instantly that something isn’t right. Kuwei’s shameless grin when he’s caught in the ruse indicates that this was no mere error. Even if Kuwei wanted the kiss, there’s a tell in it that lets Jesper know of his mistake right away. Similarly, when Kaz and Inej discuss tells, they tease out that there’s something essential that people in combat cannot hide, no matter how thorough their training. Kaz shares Inej’s tell with her: that she prepares herself for the attention of an invisible audience before she makes a move. Inej is displeased because she feels called out, embarrassed that Kaz can see something about her that she’s tried to hide.
Like his first plan to manipulate sugar prices, Kaz’s second plan to take down Van Eck also involves using Kerch’s values as weapons. This time, however, he will do so in plain sight. Rather than hiding or relying on disguises, Kaz plans to reveal himself to the strongest authorities in Kerch: the Merchant Council. Keenly aware that commerce is the country’s most sacred value, Kaz uses reverence for the market and for profit to bring Van Eck and the authority he represents to its knees. What’s more, he uses the sanctity of the auction as a means to protect himself, Matthias, and Kuwei, three of the most wanted criminals in Ketterdam. To openly enter the city’s holy place, the Church of Barter, without a costume or disguise and demand to be treated with respect is to thumb his nose at Van Eck, the council, as well as other nations, like the Fjerdans and the Shu. By forming the fake jurda consortium represented by Colm, Kaz exposes the corruption at the core of the Council’s authority. Because they value profit above all, they are willing to sell their integrity if it pads their coffers.
Kaz and Inej’s powerful yet complicated connection is built on a shared understanding of each other’s pain and trauma. In the bathroom, Kaz attempts to touch her, even though the touch of human skin has been repulsive to him since his traumatic experience on the Reaper’s Barge. Because of the close work of bandaging her wounds, he removes his gloves in a rare moment of vulnerability. Here, Kaz is not only caring for Inej’s physical wounds, but also attempting to prove to her that he has the strength to overcome his aversion to touch and to make himself vulnerable to her. Doing so will prove to her that they can be together. Inej likewise suffers from wounds that are not merely physical. She keeps Kaz in the present moment by sharing her own experiences of trauma. She describes how touch is broken for her as well because she is haunted by how the clients in the pleasure house and Tante Heleen’s erratic kindnesses made her afraid of touching other people. Inej encourages Kaz to keep moving through his pain and fear by repeatedly letting him know that she is with him. Not only does she understand his struggle, but she is also willing to be physically present with him to offer support.
