Elemental Assassin 04 - Tangled Threads

did the same.
    “Where did you learn how to do that?” Bria asked, curiosity in her voice. “Even I have a hard time doing that sometimes.”
    “Finn,” I said. “The man can pick a lock like you wouldn’t believe. Now hold out your hands, and I’ll help you slip out of yours.”
    She obeyed, and I used my Ice picks on the cuffs. A few seconds later, the lock clinked open, and the silverstone cuffs popped off Bria’s hands. I scooped them up, along with the other pair, and stuck them both in the back pocket of my jeans. I didn’t know what I might do with them, but I’d learned a long time ago how to improvise and turn even the simplest things into deadly weapons.
    Bria stood there, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists. I drew in a breath, my heart starting to squeeze in on itself. Because now it was truth time—whether I was ready for it or not. I couldn’t do what needed to be done, couldn’t make sure that we both lived through the night, without revealing exactly who and what I was to Bria.
    Without telling her I was the Spider.
    “I need you to listen to me, Bria.”
    She looked at up at me, still massaging her wrists. “Okay.”
    I drew in another breath. “Some things are going tohappen tonight, probably in the next few minutes, that you aren’t going to like very much. I know you’re a detective, a cop, that you’ve spent your whole adult life protecting people. But I need you to turn off that part of you tonight. I need you to do exactly what I say when I say it, with no questions asked and no hesitation. Do you think you can do that for me?”
    Bria frowned. “What are you talking about, Gin? You’ve got Ice magic, sure, but what do you think you’re going to do against four giants? Not to mention LaFleur. If I still had my guns, we could probably get past the giants and get away before LaFleur came to see what all the commotion was about. But we don’t have any weapons, other than our magic. I’m pretty strong for an elemental, but I can’t take out four giants with my magic. At least, not all at once.”
    “You don’t have to. I’m going to do it for you.”
    Her brow wrinkled as she tried to puzzle out what I was saying. LaFleur could come back at any second, and we didn’t have any time to waste. So I decided to make it easy for her. I reached down, drew the two silverstone knives out of my boots, and twirled them in my hands. There wasn’t much light in the railcar, but Bria spotted the weapons at once—and realized exactly what they were and whom they belonged to.
    Emotions flickered in her gaze. Shock. Surprise. And slowly, comprehension.
    I gave her a second to stare at the knives before I tucked them up my sleeves. Seconds ticked by, and my sister just looked at me, like she’d never seen me before. Like she wasn’t sure she wanted to right now.
    “Let me see your hands,” Bria finally said, her voice thick with emotion.
    “Bria—”
    “Let me see your fucking
hands
.” She ground out the words through her clenched teeth.
    There was no going back and no hiding anything. Not now. She knew.
    Bria knew who and what I was.
    I drew in a breath and let it out, preparing myself for what I might see in her face. For the horror and disgust that I was almost certain to see there. Then I slowly held out my hands and turned them up toward her, so that she could see my palms—and the two spider rune scars branded into each one of them.
    A small circle surrounded by eight thin rays. The same rune that Bria wore on that ring around her index finger.
    Bria’s blue eyes widened in shock, and all the color drained from her face. “Genevieve?”
    “Hi there, baby sister,” I said.

26
     
    “Genevieve,” Bria whispered again. For a moment, her body swayed side to side, like she might faint. Her blond hair glinted with the motion.
    I shifted on my feet. “Actually, I prefer Gin now.”
    “Genevieve Snow,” she repeated, as though I hadn’t said a word. “You’re Genevieve Snow. You’re my … sister.”
    “In the flesh,” I said in a light tone.
    “And the Spider.” Bria’s voice was flat, hard, cold. Her body quit swaying, and her spine snapped upright once more.
    “And that too.”
    We didn’t say anything. Bria moved over to the opposite side of the car, to the spot where Natasha had been huddled, as though she couldn’t stand being close to me. Maybe she couldn’t, now that she realized who I was and all the bad, bloody things I’d