I looked at Owen. "You know that Finn will do everything in his power to rob you blind, right?"
"Of course," Owen rumbled. "I also happen to know that he'll do everything in his power to do the same to the tax men on my behalf."
Finn pouted, an exaggerated, wounded look on his face, but I just shook my head and chuckled right along with Owen. The two of them ordered, and Sophia and I worked to dish up their food, along with that for the few other people still lingering in the restaurant during this off hour.
Finn requested a burger, piled high with tomato, lettuce, red onion, and thick slabs of Colby-jack cheese, along with steak-cut fries and a triple chocolate milkshake. Owen opted for a barbecue beef sandwich with coleslaw, baked beans, and a side of creamy macaroni salad.
While the two of them ate, I saw to the other customers, fetching food, refilling drinks, bringing over extra napkins. When I was sure that everyone had everything they needed, I nodded my head at Sophia, telling her that she could take off for a while. The dwarf disappeared through the swinging doors that led into the back of the restaurant to join the waitresses who were already in the break room eating their own lunches.
I assumed my usual spot on the stool behind the cash register. Across from me, Owen and Finn continued munching on their food.
"So," I said in a casual voice, leaning my elbows on the counter. "What's the real reason that the two of you came here? Because I know that it just wasn't for the food, no matter how good it is."
They both froze, sandwiches halfway to their mouths, and exchanged a quick, guilty look that confirmed my suspicions. Finn sighed and lowered his half-eaten cheeseburger to his plate.
"Well," he said in a careful tone, not quite looking at me. "There have been some new developments concerning Mab."
"And what would those be, exactly?"
Finn sighed again. "She's actually going to be leaving her estate tonight."
I frowned. "Why the hell would she do that? She should be tucked away in the deepest, darkest part of her mansion and looking for someplace lower to go, given how close I got to her the other night, how close I came to killing her."
Finn shrugged. "Yes, but Ashland society waits for no woman, not even Mab. There's a big shindig tonight, and apparently the party is being held in Mab's honor. Kind of hard to skip out on it, even if everyone knows that you're being hunted by an assassin. And at this point, not showing her face would hurt Mab more than the chance that you could get to her tonight."
I nodded. Mab might have a stranglehold on the crime in the city, but Ashland had plenty of other underworld sharks who were hungry to knock the Fire elemental off her throne-folks like Phillip Kincaid, who owned the Delta Queen riverboat casino. Kincaid and various others had started circling around Mab and her organization ever since I'd helped Roslyn kill Elliot Slater, the Fire elemental's giant enforcer, and they'd only grown bolder since then. Finn had even heard reports about Kincaid cutting into Mab's extortion racket, something that he wouldn't have dared to do if she hadn't been distracted by the Spider.
"Besides," Finn continued, "the event has been on her schedule for weeks now, even since before Christmas when you took out LaFleur."
"Maybe it's been on her schedule," I said, "but don't you think it's rather convenient that she's sticking her head out of the sand right now? At this exact moment? Especially since her bounty hunters have come up with nothing so far?"
Finn shrugged again. "I thought of all that myself, but you said you wanted to know what Mab was up to. I'm just the messenger."
I looked back and forth between him and Owen. "And you told Owen first, didn't you?"
Finn had the good grace to wince. "Sorry, Gin. But neither one of us wants to see you get killed. So Owen and I made an agreement to save you from yourself."
"Is that so?"
My words were colder and harder than the two-inch-thick icicles hanging off the neon sign outside the Pork Pit, but they had no effect on Owen and Finn. Instead, my lover and my foster brother stared right back at me, determination burning in their eyes just as much as it did in mine.
I didn't know whether to be pissed or touched. As much as I wanted to take on Mab by myself, as much as I needed to in order to keep everyone else safe, it was still nice to know that there were folks looking out for me. Just as Fletcher would have done if the old man had still been alive.
So I sighed and nodded, telling Finn and Owen that their concern was appreciated, even if I didn't think it was warranted. They both nodded back, and the tension among the three of us eased.
"So give me the details," I asked Finn. "Where is this party going to be and how do I crash it?"
Finn finished his last bite of sandwich, pushed his plate aside, and wiped his hands on a napkin. "That's the weird thing. It actually looks fairly doable. Mab and a couple hundred of her fawning sycophants are going to be at the ballroom at the Five Oaks Country Club, celebrating the season with a winter costume ball. The party starts at eight. I'm told that Mab will make her appearance around nine. And you'll love this, Gin. Guess what she's going as? What her costume is?"
"I have no idea. Satan's mistress, perhaps?"
Finn stared at me. "The Spider."
I blinked, wondering if I'd heard him right, or if he was just joking around, but his green gaze stayed steady and level with my gray one.
"You're telling me," I said in a slow voice, "that Mab is going to this costume party dressed like an assassin?"
Finn nodded. "That's the rumor I've heard."
"And what, do tell, will this particular assassin costume look like?"
He shrugged. "From what I hear, Mab's interpretation will involve lots of skin-tight red leather and knives. Of course, we both know that you prefer to wear black to hide the bloodstains, but Mab's putting her own spin on things."
Cold anger filled me at the Fire elemental's audacity; that she had the nerve to openly mock me in such a fashion, especially after I'd killed so many of her men, especially after the other night, when I'd almost killed her. But Mab wasn't doing anything to me that I hadn't already done to her. The Fire elemental was trying to get under my skin just like I'd already wormed my way under hers.
So I put my anger aside, sat there, and thought about things. First, Mab had hired bounty hunters to come to Ashland to flush me out. Then she'd upped the ante and put a bounty on Bria's head. And now, after I'd been a second away from killing her, from ending her miserable existence, she was going to dress up and be seen in public as, well, me.