I screamed, and this time, he finally let me go. I staggered back, clutching my broken right wrist to my chest, my knife dropping from my suddenly nerveless fingers. Wave after wave of pain shot through my body, and I could feel the pieces of my shattered bones scraping against each other and then my skin on top of them, threatening to break through the surface. Nausea filled me, along with the pulsing waves of pain, and I had to focus on choking down the hot, bitter bile that rose in my throat.
But Sebastian didn’t give me a chance to regroup. No, this time, he went on the attack. He stepped forward and backhanded me across the face. He was still holding on to his magic, so his hand was as hard and heavy as a cement block cracking against my cheek.
More pain exploded in my jaw. I fell onto a table. Since it was made of marble, Sebastian used his magic to shatter it, making me stumble forward and slam all the way over into one of the glass walls. I’d thought that by coming in here, we’d be on more equal footing, but he was right. There was still enough stone in here for him to kill me with.
Something he was probably going to do in another minute, two tops. Just as soon as he got done playing with me.
Sebastian stepped forward, dug his fingers into my hair, and pulled me away from the glass. Before I could even think about fighting back, he threw me down onto the ground. I landed on my broken wrist, and black spots flashed on and off in my vision in a dire warning. They tried to come together to blot out the pain, but I ruthlessly pushed them back. If I lost consciousness, then I was dead, and Sebastian could kill me at his leisure.
Or worse, go through with his original plan for me.
Somehow I managed to stagger back up onto my feet. I turned around, but Sebastian was waiting. I raised my left, unbroken arm and attempted to hit him with my fist, but he easily sidestepped the clumsy blow. He wrapped his hand around my throat, lifted me up, and then slammed me down, so that my back and shoulders were on one of the tables. Beside me, a cluster of dark blue roses shook in their stone planter, as if they were shocked by the violence that was taking place right in front of them.
Sebastian kept his tight grip on my throat and held up the index finger of his free hand. “Among all the other little fantasies that I’ve had about you these past several days, Gin, the one that I’ve had the most fun with was how I was ultimately going to kill you. I hadn’t really decided, but you’ve given me a grand idea. You seem to be so fond of knives. Let me show you the sort of knife that I like to use.”
Sebastian reached out and put his hand on the side of the marble planter. I watched in horror as the stone began to chip and flake and peel away from itself. The planter crumbled, spilling dirt and roses everywhere, and a pleased, maniacal grin lit up Sebastian’s face.
A moment later, he held up his weapon so I could see it. Truth be told, it was a crude knife, sort of like the Ice daggers that I sometimes made. But Sebastian had used his Stone magic to fashion the end into a razor-sharp point, one that was more than capable of slitting my throat.
Sebastian still had one hand wrapped around my neck, holding me down, and he leaned forward and slowly drew the stone blade down my cheek. Not hard enough to draw blood. Not yet.
But I could hear the marble muttering with all of Sebastian’s dark, gleeful malice, whispering exactly how he planned to carve me up with the knife he’d created out of his own element—my element. Something else that made me sick to my stomach. I could hear all of the stone in the greenhouse muttering now, as it soaked up Sebastian’s murderous intentions.
He pulled the knife away from my face and gave it an appraising look. No doubt, he could hear its whispers too, as it murmured with all of his secrets—
And no matter what, you should never, ever tell someone all of your secrets. Finn’s voice suddenly popped into my mind.
Sebastian had said that I was good at keeping secrets, and I realized that I still had one card left to play, one secret that I hadn’t told him, one thing that he hadn’t guessed about me like he had everything else. I just hoped that it would be enough to end him, once and for all.
“Tell me, sugar,” Sebastian purred, focusing his gaze on me again. “Any last words before I cut open that pretty throat of yours?”
“You f**ked with the wrong assassin,” I growled. “You f**ked with the Spider.”
He laughed. “The Spider? Is that the pathetic little moniker you’ve chosen for yourself?”
“You bet it is.”
“And why is that?”
I grinned. “Because you never see spiders coming—until they bite you.”
Sebastian snorted. “I never see spiders until I crush them under my boot. Even then, they don’t attract any notice.”
This time, I laughed. “You know what, Sebastian?” I sneered into his face. “You’re all talk and no action. Just like you were in bed. If you’re going to kill me, then just do it, already. Because I’m sick and tired of listening to you brag.”
He stared at me and raised the knife high, but instead of ramming it into my heart, he slammed it into my right shoulder, adding to the agony on that side of my body. I screamed again. Sebastian chuckled and twisted the knife in even deeper. Oh, yes. He wanted to make me suffer before he killed me, which just might give me a chance to end him instead.
“How does it feels to have a knife in your shoulder, bitch?” he hissed.
I swallowed down another scream. Then I laughed.
He frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“You,” I said. “Because you’re forgetting one small thing.”
“Really? What’s that?”
“You’re not the only elemental here.”
He snorted. “You mean that pitiful Ice power that you have? Please. You couldn’t make an Ice cube with that right now, much less do any damage to me.”
“True. But Ice isn’t the only magic that I have.”
He frowned, wondering at my words. I sent out a small burst of magic, just enough to get everyone’s attention. All of the stone in the greenhouse, including the piece stuck in my shoulder, began to murmur again. But not with Sebastian’s ill intentions. No, now the stone whispered with mine.
Sebastian cocked his head to the side, surprised by the sudden surge of violence in the stone. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open.
“You have Stone magic too,” he muttered. “You sly little bitch.”
“You’re damn right I do,” I countered. “And I know exactly what to do with it, you bastard—”