"It's got to be a trap," I murmured. "There's just no other explanation for it."
Owen frowned. "What do you mean?"
I looked at him. "I mean that there's no other reason for Mab to leave the safety of her estate right now, not with her bounty hunters doing her dirty work. And why would she ever want to dress up like me? There's just no reason for it, unless she specifically wants me to know she'll be out in the open. The costume is just her way of mocking me that much more, of making sure I put in an appearance at the ball. She probably put the word out about that herself."
Worry tightened Finn's face. "That's what I'm afraid of too-that it's all just an elaborate trap. But you said you wanted to know what Mab was doing, so there it is."
The three of us fell silent. Owen pushed away his plate as though he'd lost his appetite, even though he hadn't finished his sandwich. Couldn't blame him for that. This whole thing made me sick too, but in a different sort of way.
"Well," I finally said. "If Mab's going to mock me with her little costume, then I should be there in person to see it, don't you think?"
Finn sighed. "Don't even think about it, Gin. The country club will be crawling with Mab's giants and probably some of the bounty hunters too. Slipping onto her estate was bad enough. They didn't know you were coming then. But the country club? They know you'll be tempted to make another run at Mab there tonight."
I shrugged. "So you'll find me a way. You always do."
"I'm going with you," Owen cut in.
This time, I sighed. "Owen-"
"No," he said, staring at me with his violet eyes-eyes that were just as hard, cold, and determined as mine had been a moment ago. "I'm not letting you do this alone, Gin. You promised me that you'd take some backup along the next time you went after Mab. Well, I'm volunteering to be it, no matter how dangerous it is."
I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off again.
"Besides, it'll look better anyway, the two of us at the ball. We're a couple, remember? That's the kind of thing couples do. You're going to need some excuse to be at the ball. You just being Gin Blanco isn't going to cut it. Not this time. Call me crazy, but I don't think your name is on the guest list."
I wanted to argue with his logic-but I couldn't. I just couldn't. He was right. Alone, I'd be spotted sooner rather than later. With Owen, I would at least have a chance to get close to Mab, even if the whole thing was a trap.
So I tried another tactic. "You don't have to do this, Owen," I said in a soft voice. "You don't have to put yourself out there on the hook with me. Think of Eva. Think of how devastated she'd be to lose you."
Owen's face darkened, filling up with stormy emotion. "I'm also thinking of my parents, and how Mab killed them, how she burned them to death in their own house with her Fire magic, just as she did your family, Gin. I'm thinking about all the nights that Eva and I were cold and hungry living on the streets. I've already talked things over with Eva, and she agrees with me. I'm going with you to the country club, and I'm watching your back whether you like it or not."
In that moment, without a doubt, I knew that I loved Owen-loved him with every bent piece and warped shard of my heart, black, brittle, and broken though they might be. The knowledge left me dizzy and breathless, and I had to grip the counter to keep from falling off my stool.
Owen's mouth crooked up into a grin. "Besides," he rumbled, not noticing my reaction to his words, "it'll give you an excuse to wear some sexy little costume, which I will be all too happy to help you slip out of later."
The hot promise in his eyes took away what little breath I had left, and heat exploded in my stomach like fireworks streaking up into the night sky. Mmm. Sounded like a plan to me. Provided, of course, that I managed to slip through the swarm of giants sure to be at the country club. That I could corner Mab in the first place. That I could somehow survive the Fire elemental's incendiary magic. And the dozen or so other things that could go wrong.
But Owen's absolute, unwavering trust in me made me trust in myself. I could do this. I had to do this. I had to kill Mab. For me, for Bria, for Owen, for everyone else that I cared about.
"All right," I said, giving in. "You can be my date for the evening. But if things go bad, you are getting the hell out of there-immediately, no matter what I'm doing or how much trouble I'm in. Understand?"
After a moment, Owen nodded.
"As for you," I said, stabbing my finger at Finn. "You will go to Fletcher's house and stay with Bria tonight. Just in case any of our bounty hunters decide to show up there for whatever reason."
Owen going with me to the party would be bad enough. I didn't want Finn in the line of fire too. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to either one of them, but I'd already failed to save Fletcher from being brutally tortured and murdered in this very restaurant. I didn't want Finn to meet the same bad fate that his father had.
Finn grinned at me. "It will be my pleasure to keep tabs on sweet, sweet Bria."
His lecherous tone made me sigh once more. "I do hope that the two of you can keep your hands off each other, at least until after I kill Mab."
"It will be tough," Finn admitted. "Given how crazy your sister is about me."
I snorted. "You mean given how much she'd like to slap that smug smile off your face."
"Every woman I meet wants to do that at one point or another, but most of them get over it pretty quick," Finn said, dismissing my concern with an airy, arrogant wave of his hand.
I shook my head. Owen laughed, but there was a hollow note in his chuckle, just the way there was in mine. All three of us knew that we were about to undertake the Spider's most dangerous mission yet-to kill Mab Monroe in a room full of people and get away with it. I didn't know if I could do it, if I could kill Mab, but I was sure as hell going to try.
And probably die later on tonight for my trouble.
Chapter 15
Finn and Owen finished their food and left to start getting things ready, but I stayed at the Pork Pit with Sophia. I kept right on working-cooking, dishing up food, waiting tables, wiping them down after customers left. But my mind was already focused on tonight and the things that I would need to do to get close enough to Mab to kill her-and then get away clean afterward. Assuming, of course, that the Fire elemental didn't just blast me straight to hell with her magic. But at this point, I was determined to at least try to think positive.
I recognized what I was doing, of course. The mindset that I was getting into. It was something Fletcher had taught me-how to leave myself, Gin Blanco, completely behind and morph into the cold, hard entity known as the Spider, whose only desire was getting to her target and whose aim was always deadly and true. Tonight, I knew that I'd need that separation, that mental toughness, more than I ever had before. Especially if I wanted to live to see the dawn.