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The woman was one of those who’d coirl of about sixteen stood off to her right, dressed in a low-rent pink goith a poofy ballerina skirt, which ht as the woh with honey-blond highlights Her hazel eyes ide and innocent in her lean, al fros

"Well, there was really no choice in the matter, Mab" The woh she were talking to soerous person in Ashland "Not with the generous payout that you were offering I’m surprised that more people didn’t show up to try to collect"

The others in the rooreeoing to collect? Was this soto do with the Spider perhaps?

It wasn’t out of the realo, Mab had hired an assassin named Elektra LaFleur to come to Ashland, hunt me down, and kill me Of course, I’d taken care of LaFleur instead Still, ever since then, I’d been waiting for the Fire eleain Mab wasn’t the type of person to give up, especially when I’d been offing herhad been quiet since I’d killed LaFleur in the city’s old train yard Even Finn and his ht be planning, which worried me more than if I knew that the Fire elemental had dispatched every h, I felt that the quiet was about to end tonight-in a big, big way

"And you would be?" Mab asked, staring down her nose at her guest

The other woh she never took her eyes off the Fire elemental "Ruth Gentry, at your service"

"Ah, yes, Gentry Well, I appreciate your honesty," Mab said, returning the thin woman’s pleasant tone "You have a stellar reputation, as does everyone else in the rooht"

The Fire elee words, and I paused, wanting to find out exactly who the ot the best of me, but for once, I forced it aside I was here to do one thing-kill Mab Everything else could wait

"I hope you all had a pleasant journey," Mab said, looking at her guests "As you can see, we’ll be dining on the various dishes that my chef has prepared"

I tuned out the Fire elemental and lifted my eye away froers closed around a tiny, clear, alently pulled on the cup, and a slass cutter was aht, tucked away in the zippered pocket on my silverstone vest Earlier, I’d used it to carve an opening in the anted a clear shot at Mab and not one that lass

I put the glass down beside me on the snowy roof Then I slid my crossboard, until the tip of it, the end with the bolt, just protruded through the hole in the -aiuards, as pulling double duty as a waiter tonight, cah he had an inored hiuests about how they’d discuss business after dinner Too bad she wasn’t going to even make it to the soup course

I waited a few seconds to be sure that the giant wasn’t going to interrupt or step in front of Mab, then scooted forward even more and put my eye next to the rifle scope once more The Fire elemental wasn’t that far away froave ht eye, which looked blacker than ink I’d only get one shot at her, and I didn’t want to waste it on a chest wound that ic than any other elemental in Ashland, but even she wouldn’t be able to survive a crossbow bolt through her eye, especially since the silverstone projectile would keep on going until it blasted out of the back of her skull Hard to recover when half your brain

Despite all the people I’d killed over the years, all the blood I’d spilled, all the sudden, violent, brutal deaths I’d caused, er treer My heart raced in le beat, and a bead of sweat trickled down the side ofto calo to that cold, dark, hard place that I’d been to so h so many terrible times in my life

Because this was the hit that truly, finally mattered For my murdered family, for ht, it wouldn’t erase all the horrible things I’d suffered through or the equally bad ones I’d doneMab would keep the people I loved safe And I hoped it would bring me some kind of peace too

I hadn’t been able to stop Mab years ago, when she’d murdered myI’d ever done-living on the streets, beco up to this one moment, this final confrontation

I let out er

Chapter 2

The softest snick sounded, and the barbed bolt zipped through the dining room on its deadly collision course with Mab’s eye

Too bad I missed

At the last possible second, at the very last instant, the giant who’d been standing beside Mab got tired of waiting and bent down in front of her, hisher face The crossbow bolt punched through his left te Mab entirely, before sla into the wall behind hi from the force of its violent journey, blood and brainoff it like water

For a moment, I just lay there on the snowy roof and cursed luck, that fickle, fickle bitch who’d screwed ht, when it had mattered the most Daray stones of the mansion cackled with insanity, as if they were pleased that theirstones Fucking everything

I’d missed I’d had my shot at Mab, taken it, and I’d missed

Some assassin I was My iven reen eyes and shaken his head, telling le word that I should have known better That I should have waited just a few seconds ood I was the Spider, after all My rune was the sy emotions of nored Fletcher’s teachings No, tonight I’d been stupid, i

Nothing happened inside the dining rooiant toppled forward, sla to the floor I cursed again, because now there was no way that I could get to the Fire elemental Hell, I couldn’t even see her, since she was trapped underneath the giant’s seven-foot-tall body