Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

together? I assume that you’ve been going hot and heavy ever since that night at Fletcher’s house when the bounty hunters interrupted you. Am I right?”
    Finn and Bria didn’t look at me or each other.
    “Right,” Bria mumbled. “Although if it makes you uncomfortable—”
    “Then Gin’s just going to have to deal with it,” Finn cut her off.
    Bria stared at him in surprise.
    “What?” Finn said. “I worked too hard and too long to get you into my bed to just cut you loose now, cupcake.”
    Bria’s eyes narrowed. “Cupcake?”
    “Cupcake.” Finn grinned at her. “Or would you prefer snuggle bunny?”
    Bria’s hand drifted down to the gun on her leather belt, as though she wanted to pull it out and shoot Finn with it. Well, it was good to know I wasn’t the only one who occasionally had that reaction to him.
    I looked back and forth between the two of them, surprised and more than a little pleased by the emotions I saw sparking in their gazes. Annoyance. Desire. Heat. And something a little softer and more promising as well. I thought they might have a chance of making it together—forever. Bria was serious enough to keep Finn grounded, while my foster brother was carefree enough to get my sister to lighten up. Something that she needed now more than ever to help her get over the horrors of what Mab had done to her.
    “I’m going to have to agree with Finn on this one,” I said in a mild tone. “Especially since I’ve had to listen to him tell me how fantastic you are ever since Christmas.”
    Bria stared at my foster brother with a little more warmth. “You think that I’m fantastic? I’m not just another conquest to you?”
    Finn’s shoulders sagged, and he gave me a defeated look. “Geez, Gin. Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down. Now you’ve gone and done it.”
    I arched an eyebrow. “What? I’ve let the world know that there really is a heart underneath that slick suit and shiny tie? We’ve all known that for a while now, Finn. No matter how much you try to hide it.”
    “Curses,” Finn muttered. “Foiled again.”
    I leaned over and rumpled his walnut-colored locks. “As for me, the two of you have my blessing—and then some. So go, get out of here and have some fun—together. You’ve been cooped up in this house long enough, worrying about me.”
    Bria stared at me. “But what about before? That night at Fletcher’s house? Finn and I being, um, distracted waswhat led to this whole mess. My getting captured by Gentry, your almost being killed by Mab. How can you just forget about that? You were so angry about it before.”
    I thought of what Fletcher had told me when I’d seen the old man in the Pork Pit. “You’re right. I was angry before. But we all make mistakes, even the best of us. I like to think that it all evens out in the end.”
    Finn gave me a strange look. “That sounds like something that Dad would say.”
    I just smiled at him. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”
    Then I fixed them both with a hard stare. “Just don’t ask me to take sides when the two of you go at each other. Okay?”
    They nodded, then looked at each other. Finn waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, and Bria snorted. But she couldn’t stop a grin from curving her lips. Two minutes later, they both made excuses to leave. I only hoped they managed to make it to Finn’s apartment before their clothes came off.
    At that point, Jo-Jo strolled back into the kitchen and announced that it was time for me to go back to bed—whether I wanted to or not.
    “I didn’t spend the better part of a month putting you back together again for you to wear yourself out the first day that you’re up,” the dwarf announced.
    Owen was still busy with his phone call, so I let Jo-Jo help me back upstairs. The dwarf stayed with me, even going so far as to tuck me in herself—something she hadn’t done since I was a girl. She smoothed the covers down and stepped back. Jo-Jo stared at me with her clear, almost colorless eyes, and a soft smile creased her middle-aged face.
    “I’m proud of you, Gin,” she said. “So very, very proud.”
    “Why? Because I finally killed Mab?”
    Jo-Jo shook her head. “No, not because of that. I’m proud because you finally believed in yourself, Gin. Because you finally fully embraced your magic. The way that the purest, the strongest elementals always do in the end.”
    For once, Jo-Jo’s words didn’t make me shiver with unease. Instead, I sat