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“I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.”
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.
Inej narrates this passage in Chapter 42 as she and Kaz discuss their future after the heist. When Inej tells Kaz that she plans on leaving Ketterdam to hunt slavers, Kaz responds by asking Inej to stay with him. This is the closest Kaz has come to expressing affection for Inej. But when Kaz still only touches her through his gloves, Inej realizes that he will continue to keep his distance, shielding his true self from her. Although she badly wants to stay with Kaz, Inej refuses to give up her own dreams to settle for Kaz’s closely guarded affections. Throughout the novel, Inej has fought to make Kaz acknowledge her, admit her worth, and confess his feelings for her. But in the end, he remains unwilling to remove the metaphorical armor that comes between them.
