I glared at the cuffs around my hands. Such a small thing, but they were keeping me contained, just as LaFleur had wanted them to-and she hadn't even realized I had elemental magic to begin with.
I had a shitload of silverstone melted into my hands when I was a kid, and I'd overcome that block, blasted my way right through it when I'd needed to the most. I could get through this one too. These measly handcuffs were nothing compared to the silverstone that Mab had seared into my palms the night she'd murdered my family. Nothing. I wasn't going to die because I was chained, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let the same thing happen to Bria.
But that didn't mean I couldn't make things a little easier on myself. I grabbed the handcuffs and slid them down my arms as far as they would go. Not far, but it gave me another two inches between the magical metal and my palms, where I would release my magic.
Once again, I reached for my Ice magic, and a cold silver light flickered in my palm, centered on the spider rune scar there. I immediately felt the handcuffs come to life, as the silverstone metal hungered to absorb my magic. I gritted my teeth against the constant power drain, focused, and forced my Ice magic away from my palm, trying to move it up into the very tips of my fingers, which was as far away from the silverstone cuffs as I could get it.
It worked.
Slowly, snowflake-shaped crystals spread up my fingers, and the cold, silver light began sparking there on the tips of my fingers instead of farther down in my palm. A small thing, but it took all the control I had to do it with the silverstone cuffs on my wrists continuously soaking up my magic. Quickly, before I lost the thin grasp I had on it, I forced the magic into the particular shapes I wanted-two slender Ice picks.
When they were finished, I let go of my Ice magic, let out a long, tense breath, and wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. Such small, simple shapes, but those had been the two hardest things I'd made with my elemental power. Ever.
"You're an elemental?" Bria asked, her blue eyes narrowing. "With Ice magic?"
"Yeah," I said, grabbing the Ice picks and working on my handcuffs with them. "Just like you are."
Bria frowned. "Just like me? How do you know that I have Ice magic, Gin? I've never done any magic in front of you."
"Yes, you have," I said in a gentle voice.
For a moment, I flashed back to our childhood. Bria had loved using her magic when we were kids, making all kinds of Ice sculptures and flowers and other shapes just because she could. Just because she found it fun and entertaining. I wondered if she still did that. I wondered a lot of things about my sister-including how horrified she was going to be with me before the night was through. Hell, before we even got out of this metal car.
The picks did the trick, and the handcuffs popped open. Although I wanted nothing more than to sling them away, I forced myself to set them down quietly on the floor. I stood up, and Bria 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 to happen 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 f**king 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.
Chapter 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.