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Owen’s arhtened around me thatin his chest, keeping perfect time with mine

"I know, Gin," Owen rumbled in a soft voice "I know And I love you too And now that I’ve got o"

"Good," I said "Because I don’t ever want you to"

Chapter 31

I went back to sleep, safe and warain, he was still there, still holding me And I knew that he alould be

It turned out that I’d given everyone more than just a little scare-I’d been unconscious for the better part of three weeks I slept through h to endure round after round of healing froauze was unwrapped from my body and replaced by new layers of shiny pink skin My voice lost its harsh, grating rasp and went back to its normal tone once more I could have left my voice the way it was, like Sophia had done after Harley Grimes had tortured her But I had my spider rune scars to re else

And that wasn’t all that Jo-Jo did I also got longer, thicker eyelashes and a new set of perfectly sculpted eyebrows, since rew out my hair an extra inch so she could layer it into a stylish shag

"No reason not to do a little maintenance while we’re at it," Jo-Jo chirped before letting loose with her Air ain

Once the dwarf had fixed thevisitors Of course, my friends and family had all been in and out of Jo-Jo’s house ever since the night that they’d first brought me here Still, I hadn’t wanted theured They’d seen the horror show the night I’d killed Mab I iined that one time would have been plenty for them to stomach-forever

To my relief, everyone had survived the battle in the courtyard Xavier had broken several bones in his hands, pounding on the other giants and bounty hunters, while Finn had taken a bullet in the shoulder fro the ed up, with two black eyes, several sprains, and a dislocated shoulder fro his haing back, out of range of the courtyard, so they’d been out of the frenzied fray Sophia had coh without a scratch, and Jo-Jo had eventually healed everyone else

Bria, well, Bria had been burned, of course Although her wounds hadn’t been as bad as mine, Mab had still horribly tortured my sister with her elee How e there was on the inside, only tiht that Bria would be okay We’d survived the death of ourelse We’d get through this too-together It would just take ti that everyone else was okay was another burden off my shoulders I didn’t think that I could have lived with the guilt if one of my friends had been killed But all ell that had ended well, I supposed For once, luck had smiled on me and h for me

One sunny afternoon, Owen carried me downstairs, since I was still too weak to stand on my own Jo-Jo, Finn, and Bria waited for us in the kitchen Sophia would have been here too, but the Goth das busy keeping an eye on the Pork Pit until I could get back on my feet

Since I was still under the weather, Jo-Jo cooked, whipping up ho with ooey, gooey grilled cheese sandwiches on soh bread It was one of th pick back up with every warm, cheesy bite

While I stuffed my face, the others filled ht in the courtyard I’d heard bits and pieces of it before, but Finn launched into a blow-by-blow account My foster brother tolddetail how Xavier, Sophia, and Owen had iants and bounty hunters and make it to Bria’s side, while Finn and Warren had laid down cover fire for them

"I, of course, never had any doubt that we’d rescue fair Bria, but I thought we’d have to go through Gentry to do it," Finn said "But she handed Bria off to Xavier without a word, then vanished into the snow She didn’t put up any fight at all I was still going to put a couple of bullets through her head, though, just for all the trouble she’d caused, but that’s when I got winged in the shoulder by soh Jo-Jo had healed his injury too, Finn rotated his arinary pain He looked at Bria to see if she’d noticed, but she hadn’t Instead, my baby sister stared down into her half-eaten soup, a distant look in her eyes

"I i the old wo, but that girl knohat she’s doing when it couns"

"Why do you think Gentry helped us, Gin?" Owen asked "Why do you think that she killed Mab’s giant and turned on the Fire eleht of what the bounty hunter had said to ht in the woods outside Fletcher’s house How she’d promised to take care of Bria for me until I could rescue my sister And then how Gentry had nodded to me when I’d stepped into the courtyard For whatever reason, the bounty hunter had felt she’d owed irl some cookies," Bria said in a soft voice "That’s why she helped me, not just in the courtyard, but with Mab too"

I stared atAfter aMab had done to her that long, long night Once again,that she’d endured because of my failure to keep her safe But there was no blary accusation directed at me, which made it hurt all the worse

"Mab tortured me, you know," Bria said "She tied ic on me-used her elemental Fire to burn my skin She said she wanted to practice and make sure that she was ready to take on the Spider And, of course, she enjoyed every second of it"

Bria stopped and stared down into her soup for several seconds Finally, she continued with her story "But Gentry was there too, the whole ti ht that I couldn’t take any et the Fire elemental to back off, even if it was just for a few minutes Mab left the room once, and I was able to ask her why she was still here After all, Mab had paid her the bounty on me by that point Gentry just looked at me And then she said that she owed you for soiven to her apprentice, Sydney I didn’t really understand what she ht that had filled Sydney’s eyes when I’d handed her the cookies-and the sadness that had etched Gentry’s face at my small act of kindness Whatever had happened to Sydney or maybe even to Gentry herself, I’d helped alleviate it, just for that brief h to the bounty hunter for her to return the favor

"Yeah," I said "I know exactly what Gentry meant"

We were all silent for a randiose story, which focused on watching the end of the ele to Finn, several of the bounty hunters and giants hadn’t been so sht up in the elemental crossfire and had been killed instantly Finn wrapped up his tale by telling how he and the others had retrieved my burned, melted body froer on that part Couldn’t blame him for that I didn’t want to think too le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>