I barreled into the first giant. My blades sliced one way, then the other, and he went down screaming. But the other bastard stepped up to take his place. Behind me, Bria and Finn had both stopped to reload their guns and take aim at another group of hunters closing in on our left flank.
And that's when Ruth Gentry made her move.
The old, spry bounty hunter darted out of the trees to our right, like a ghost appearing out of thin air. Gentry timed her attack perfectly, popping out of the forest from less than ten feet away. How the hell had she gotten that close to us without my seeing her?
Before I knew what was happening, before I could even think about stopping her, before I could even scream out a f**king warning, the old woman was on us. She snuck up on Bria's blind side, grabbing my baby sister by her shag of blond hair. Bria shrieked in surprise and stumbled back but she brought up her elbow, ready to drive it into the stomach of whoever was behind her-
Click.
Gentry's revolver pressed against Bria's temple, and my sister did the only thing that she could-she froze. Finn whirled around, cursed, and raised his own gun, determined to put a bullet through one of Gentry's eyes-
Crack!
A bullet whined out of the trees, kicking up the snow at Finn's feet. This time, everyone froze, even the giant who'd been about to swing at me. I knew who it was, of course. Sydney, Gentry's girl, apprentice, or whoever the hell she was, hidden farther back in the trees with that rifle of hers.
"The next one will go in your head," Gentry said.
She spoke to Finn, but the old woman's gaze never left my face. She recognized me from the Pork Pit. I could tell by the way that her pale eyes narrowed and her lips puckered with thought. Something like sympathy flashed in her face, and she nodded her head at me. Being respectful, the way that you would to an enemy you admired, to someone who maybe wasn't all that different but was on the opposite side from you.
"I'll take care of her as best I can until you come for her," Gentry said, still staring at me. "I owe you that much for sparing Sydney the other night. Now, come on, little lady. We need to get going."
Take care of Bria? What did she mean by that?
Keeping Bria between us and her gun against my sister's temple, Gentry eased my baby sister back into the woods. All around me, the other bounty hunters closed in, their delighted, excited shouts making them sound like a flock of crows cawing in triumph.
But I only had eyes for Bria, and she for me. Across the snowy landscape, our gazes met and held. Desperate gray on agonizing blue.
"Go, Gin!" Bria screamed the words at me. "Leave me!"
Never.
The word burned into my heart like an icy brand, hurting me worse than anything ever had before, including Mab melting my spider rune medallion into my palms. I started forward, thinking to hell with Sydney, her rifle, and the fact that she might put a bullet in my brain, but the giant blocked my path once more. Automatically, I dodged his blows, then brought my knives up, then down, just as I'd done a thousand times before. But even as I cut into him, I knew that it wouldn't be enough-that I just wouldn't be fast enough.
The giant had just started to fall when Gentry and Bria disappeared from sight.
"Bria!" I screamed, trying to get past the dying giant. "Bria!"
I wasn't quick enough. Even as I reached for my baby sister, more bounty hunters appeared, half a dozen of them running toward Finn and me.
"Come on, Gin!" Finn said, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. "It's too late! Bria's gone!"
It might have been my imagination, but, for a second, I saw a glimmer of silver through the trees, as the moonlight illuminated the rune necklace Bria always wore. A delicate primrose. Bria's rune. The symbol for beauty.
"Bria!" I screamed again.
Then the falling snow swirled and fell like a curtain between us, and she vanished.
Chapter 22
I don't really remember much of what happened after that.
Somehow, I got myself under control long enough to stop screaming and start running. Finn covered our backs, exchanging enough shots with the pursuing bounty hunters to keep them from overwhelming us, while I took care of any who were unlucky enough to step into our path. Cut, cut, cut. I went through the motions automatically, my limbs heavy and my mind disconnected from the rest of my body. Nothing could penetrate the fear that cloaked my heart like an icy shroud.
Bria-Bria was gone, and it was all my fault. For being so arrogant, for assuming that I could kill Mab. Right now, at this very moment, my sister was being delivered into the Fire elemental's cruel clutches. I'd lost my baby sister to that bitch for the second time in my life. I wanted to curl into a ball and weep at my miserable, miserable failure.
But there was no time for that. There was no time to do anything but cut and run, and cut and run some more.
Somehow, though, Finn and I made it down the steep, snow-covered ridge and back to the sedan that I'd boosted earlier. I was just-out of it, so Finn took charge. He tucked his gun in his waistband alongside his other gun, opened the door, and shoved me into the passenger's seat. At this point, my hands shook so badly from adrenaline, fear, and fatigue that it was all I could do to pull the door shut. My bloody knives slipped from my numb fingers and clattered to the floorboard. I just stared dully at them.
Finn ran around to the other side of the car, slid into the driver's seat, and reached underneath the dash. "Come on, baby," he muttered, bringing the loose wires together. "Start for me."
A second later, the engine roared to life. Finn threw the car in gear, put his foot all the way down on the gas, and swerved back out onto the road.
Not a moment too soon.
In the side mirror, I saw several figures run out into the road behind us.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullets slammed into the car, one of them blowing out the back windshield and spraying us with sharp splinters of glass. Finn hunched down over the wheel, making himself a smaller target, but I didn't even have the energy to do that. Didn't much matter anyway, since Finn rounded a curve, putting us out of sight and out of range of the bounty hunters and their guns.
Finn took the first side road he came to, then another, then another. When he was sure that none of the bounty hunters was on our tail, he made a final turn, one that would take us to the safe house where the others should be waiting. We rode in silence, with me slumped against the window.
Bria-Bria was gone. I'd vowed to keep my sister safe, and I'd been stupid and sloppy enough to let her be captured by a bounty hunter, by Ruth Gentry-a woman who was sure to be taking Bria to Mab this very second, with Sydney and her rifle along for backup. And when Mab got her hands on Bria...