For a moment, I just lay there on the snowy roof and cursed luck, that fickle, fickle bitch who'd screwed me over again-tonight, when it had mattered the most. Damn and double damn. And then some. All around me, the gray stones of the mansion cackled with insanity, as if they were pleased that their mistress was still alive. Fucking luck. Fucking stones. Fucking everything.
I'd missed. I'd had my shot at Mab, taken it, and I'd missed.
Some assassin I was. My mentor and foster father, Fletcher Lane, would have given me a sad, pointed look with his rheumy green eyes and shaken his head, telling me without a single word that I should have known better. That I should have waited just a few seconds more or at least until the giant had moved away from Mab for good. I was the Spider, after all. My rune was the symbol for patience, one of the defining emotions of my career, of my whole existence. But for once, I'd ignored Fletcher's teachings. No, tonight I'd been stupid, impatient, sloppy even, and it had cost me-maybe everything.
Nothing happened inside the dining room for half a second. Then the giant toppled forward, slammed into Mab, and sent them both crashing to the floor. I cursed again, because now there was no way that I could get to the Fire elemental. Hell, I couldn't even see her, since she was trapped underneath the giant's seven-foot-tall body.
Another second ticked by, and it finally registered in everyone's brain what had happened. That someone had just taken a shot at Mab-in her own mansion.
Instead of screaming like normal businessmen and businesswomen would have, the majority of the people inside dropped to the floor. A few reached for the silverware that they'd been eyeing earlier, their hands curving around the knives, spoons, and forks with surprising familiarity. I also noticed that Ruth Gentry, the woman who'd spoken to Mab, had draped herself over the young girl she was with, protecting her from potential harm. How considerate.
I took all this in on the move. Even though I'd missed Mab, I had something even more important to think about right now-getting out of here. My hands were already slapping another silverstone bolt into the crossbow, even as I scrambled to my feet.
"The window!" someone inside said. "That bolt came in through the window."
"Of course it came in through the window," Mab's muffled voice jumped into the mix. One of her arms flapped at the giant's body on top of her. "Get her, you fools!"
Everyone froze for another moment, looking first at each other, then at the window. A breeze gusted through the hole that I'd cut into the glass, making the black velvet drapes flutter together like a bat's delicate wings.
"Now!" Mab roared.
My cue to leave. With one collective thought, the guests in the dining room scrambled to their feet and raced toward the window. There was a bit of a logjam as they slammed into each other, jockeying for position, knives and forks slashing like daggers across whoever was in range.
The infighting gave me a few more precious seconds to get the hell out of Dodge. The crossbow still in my hands, I sprinted across the snow-covered roof. My boots slipped on the ice, but instead of fighting the wicked slide, I leaned into it, using my weight and momentum to propel myself forward that much more. I needed to leave the dining room area, and I'd take whatever help I could get, even if it was only a few measly inches.
The roof stretched out flat for about thirty feet before it dropped away into the darkness. I paused at the edge, twisted around, and fired my crossbow back up at the mansion. This silverstone bolt, shaped like a grappling hook with two hundred feet of climbing rope attached to the end, punched through a stone balcony two stories above my head before catching on one of the railings.
I dropped the crossbow, unlooped the rest of the rope from its position around my waist, and threw it over the side of the roof. The thin, black ribbon of it drowned in the darkness below. I gave a quick tug on the rope, checking to see if the grappling hook was anchored securely. Didn't much matter though, because I didn't have time for another shot. Already I could hear glass smashing behind me, as the men and women who'd been in the dining room continued their hot pursuit.
So I grabbed hold of the rope, drew in a breath, and stepped off the roof.
The wind screamed in my ears as I fell the hundred feet to the earth below. There was no time to be subtle or cautious, not now, so I let myself free-fall. I reached for my Stone magic, pulling the cool power up through my veins and pouring it out onto my hands, hardening my skin there so that the thin rope wouldn't shred my flesh as I slid down it. Just before I hit the ground, I reached for even more of my Stone magic, pushing the power outward into my arms, legs, chest, and head, making them all as hard and solid as the stones of the mansion around me.
I didn't have time to slow down, and my body punched through the layers of icy snow before slamming into the frozen ground. I grunted at the hard, bruising impact, but thanks to my Stone magic, my swan dive didn't do any real, lasting damage. I was already rolling, rolling, rolling, churning through the snow, before using my momentum to pull myself back up onto my feet.
I'd taken only two steps when a thin scream sounded, growing louder and sharper with each second, like a train's whiny whistle. I looked up just in time to see the body plummeting toward me. I dived out of the way, and a man splattered onto the ground where I'd been standing. Looked like someone had misjudged the ice on the roof in his haste to get to me and had paid the price for it. The blood and brains splashed across the snow reminded me of the pale pink color of the girl's prom dress, but I didn't give the man more than a passing glance as I rolled back up onto my feet once more.
Because now it was time to run-for my life.
It didn't take long for the alarm to be raised. I wasn't even halfway across the wide, white expanse of the lawn before lights snapped on inside the mansion. One by one, they winked on, like dominos tumbling over each other, each bright blaze taking more and more of the precious darkness with it. Footsteps scraped, scratched, and scuffled on the mansion's stairs and balconies above my head, but I was more concerned with the ones that crunched into the snow on the ground behind me. The cracking sounds made me think of bones breaking-my own, if I didn't get out of here.
"Security alert! Security alert!" a mechanized voice boomed.
The alarm sounded five more times before someone shut it off, but hoarse shouts immediately replaced the blaring, distorted voice. The giants who made up the bulk of Mab's security force had been alerted to my presence and were on the hunt. I could hear their startled, angry bellows even above the thump-thump-thump of my quick footsteps in the snow.