Widow's Web (Elemental Assassin) (36 page)

I also spotted Kincaid, standing by himself next to an Ice bar. His blond ponytail glimmered in the sunset. Looked like he’d used the right conditioner after all. I wasn’t surprised he’d shown up, even though Salina had tried to murder him. If everyone cut themselves off from all the folks who’d tried to kill them over the years, no one in the entire underworld would be able to do business.

The food, the guests, the lawn—the scene was disturbingly similar to the one I remembered from all those years ago when Mab had murdered Benedict Dubois, right down to the blue-green tablecloths gently flapping in the breeze. Everyone was a little older and grayer, but they still could have stepped out of one of the snapshots in Fletcher’s file. Back then, everyone had laughed and talked and drunk themselves stupid right up until Mab had started barbecuing Dubois on the very spot they were standing on once again. I wondered if any of the guests were thinking back to that night. I wondered if any of them would appreciate the cruel irony of what Salina wanted to do to them.

As I looked at the crowd, I thought about walking away from the original plan—about finding Owen, grabbing Kincaid, getting them away from the mansion and lawn, and then just going on our way and leaving the sharks to
Salina to feast on. Her killing them all would make my life so much easier. More than a few of the people here had sent their goons after me these past few months, and they’d keep right on doing it as long as they thought they had a ghost of chance of taking me out. But if all the power players were dead, there would be a lot fewer folks interested in coming after me, at least in the near future, and my family and friends would be safer too. Yes, letting Salina have her revenge on them was a very, very tempting idea.

But in the end, I couldn’t do it. Sure, I was an assassin. I’d killed people for money, but I couldn’t condone mass murder, and that was what Salina had planned. She wouldn’t limit herself to just the folks who’d stood by and done nothing while Mab had tortured and killed her father. Salina would eliminate everyone there, from the gangsters to their husbands and wives to the waiters serving them all. As the Spider, I’d always tried to avoid collateral damage, but it seemed like Salina delighted in causing as much of it as possible, given what she’d done to Katarina and Antonio.

Assassins chose to kill specific people for specific reasons. I didn’t know if that made me better than her, but it at least made me different—at least I had a smidge of soul and a scrap of conscience left.

But first, I had to find Owen. I turned away from the crowd and slipped into the mansion. Lights blazed inside, banishing the shadows I would have hidden in, so I tightened my grip on the staff and hurried forward, determined to find Owen and get him out of here.

I eased down first one hallway, then another. I’d expected to see empty rooms or dusty, sheet-draped furniture, but everything from the end tables to the light fixtures gleamed, as though they had all just been polished. According to Finn, the Dubois estate had fallen into severe disrepair after Benedict’s death and Salina’s forced defection, but the place before me was immaculate, as if it had just been cleaned from top to bottom.

This wasn’t the work of someone who’d come back to town a few days ago. Salina must have been planning her return for months, to get her massive house in such pristine shape. I wondered if she’d decided to come back to Ashland before or after I’d killed Mab. Didn’t much matter. All that did was making sure I put a stop to her.

Every once in a while, footsteps would sound, signaling that a waiter or guard was coming my way, and I’d have to duck into one of the rooms, slide behind the curtains, or crouch behind a piece of furniture. But everyone was preoccupied with making sure the dinner went smoothly, so no one noticed me. No one realized the Spider was in their midst.

I moved deeper and deeper into the mansion, checking every room and every hallway I came to. Finally, I reached the center of the structure, which featured an open-air courtyard surrounded by balconies on all four sides. Another fountain, this one also shaped like a mermaid, gurgled in the middle of the area, and a variety of pink, blue, and green roses clustered together in urn-shaped, white stone planters that had been arranged around the fountain.

I’d just started forward to check the rooms that were attached to the courtyard, when I heard voices murmuring, one soft and sweet, one deep and masculine. It took me a moment to realize the sounds were coming from above my head. I craned my neck up and spotted Salina and Owen standing on a balcony on the second floor.

Kissing.

29

For a moment, everything stopped, and my heart clenched.

Salina looked as beautiful as ever, in a long, slinky dress made of aquamarine crystals sewn together in a scalloped, scale-like pattern. Her mermaid cuff bracelet flashed on her right wrist, and large diamond studs twinkled in her ears. She had her arms wrapped around Owen’s neck, and her lips and body plastered to his. She let out a soft little moan in the back of her throat and pressed herself that much closer to him. Owen didn’t seem to be returning her kiss, and his arms weren’t even touching her, but still, it hurt all the same. I pushed the feeling aside and made myself stay cold, hard, and calm. That was what I needed to be right then to save Owen and everyone else there—whether they actually deserved to be rescued or not.

I’d just started forward to find a way up to the balcony when Owen pulled Salina’s arms from around his neck and stepped away from her.

“Stop, Salina,” he said. “Stop.”

She sidled right back up to him, a pleased smile on her face. “I knew you’d come. I knew you couldn’t stay away from me, any more than I could stay away from you.”

Owen sighed, grabbed her hands from where they had crept back up to his shoulders, and stepped away from her. “That’s not why I’m here tonight, and you know it. I came because you threatened to kill Gin. You need help, Salina. You’re not well, and I think even you know it.”

The smile never left the water elemental’s beautiful face, but her eyes narrowed a little at his blunt tone. “I need help? Why? Because I want revenge for what everyone did to my father? For the horrible way I was treated? For the horrible way you let your so-called friends treat me? I don’t see anything wrong with that. Besides, your friends are all still alive.”

She didn’t add
for now
. She didn’t have to.

Owen shook his head. “And what about Antonio? Or Katarina? They had nothing to do with your father’s murder or anything else, other than that they were Phillip’s friends—but you still used your water magic to kill them. That was a horrible thing to do. It seems like I’m always talking about the horrible things you do, instead of the good ones.”

Salina twined her arms around Owen’s neck and raised her mouth to his, kissing him for all she was worth. He froze, apparently surprised by the fact that she just kept coming at him no matter what he said. I bit back a curse and scanned the courtyard, looking for the stairs that led up to where they were standing. Every few seconds, though, my eyes flicked up to Owen. I hated being indecisive,
but I just couldn’t stop myself from eavesdropping.

“Come on,” Salina murmured against his mouth. “You remember how good it was between us? How alive we always made each other feel? I certainly do. No man I’ve been with has ever held a candle to you. I’ve spent too many nights to count dreaming about you, Owen. Dreaming about coming back to Ashland and being with you again. Can you tell me you haven’t thought the same thing? Haven’t dreamed the same thing? Haven’t wanted the same thing?”

Once again, Owen pried off Salina’s hands and mouth. This time, he pushed her away. “I’ll admit I’ve thought about you over the years. Even dreamed about you and how things might have been.”

Every word he said was like a dagger in my heart. This—
this
was how he really felt about Salina. This was how much he loved her, how much he’d always loved her.

“But that was before I knew why you really left Ashland all those years ago,” he continued. “That was before I knew you tortured Eva with your water magic. That was before you tried to kill Phillip and then Cooper and Gin. I can’t forget that, any of that—ever. Not even for you.”

Owen took another step away from her.

Anger flashed in Salina’s eyes, and her face tightened. “It’s because of that assassin bitch, isn’t it? That’s why you’re pulling away from me. Because of
her
.”

“Yes, I met her, and I finally decided to quit thinking about the past, about you, and get on with my life.” He stiffened. “Her name is Gin, and I love her, Salina.”

“Love her? You couldn’t possibly love
her,
” she snarled.
“Not like you loved me. Not like you still love me. I know you still love me. Just give me a chance to remind you what it was like, what we were like—together.”

She reached for Owen again, but he shook his head and stepped even farther away from her.

“No, Salina,” he said. “Whatever we had was over the second you hurt Eva. I’m just sorry I didn’t know what you were really like back then so I could have protected my sister from you and tried to get you the help you need. But know this: our history together is the only reason I’m not killing you myself for what you did back then and everything you’ve done since you came back to town. You can either get yourself some help, or you can leave Ashland and never return. There is no other option.”

Let Salina leave Ashland? That wasn’t what we’d talked about—not at all. Looked like I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been completely honest about my intentions toward the water elemental.

If it comes down to Owen and Salina in the end, he won’t be able to kill her—and then she’ll murder him.

Eva’s voice whispered in my mind. She’d said those words to me the night she’d told me what Salina had done to her. I hadn’t wanted to believe they were true, but it looked like Eva had been right all along.

I stood there in the courtyard, torn between stepping back out into the hallway to find the stairs that led up to the second floor and staying put. Part of me wanted to continue eavesdropping on their conversation, but I also didn’t want to leave Owen alone with the water elemental. Not now, when he’d just rejected her. If worse came to worst, and she made a move against him, I could blast
her with my Ice magic from down here. It wouldn’t be as good as ramming one of my knives into her heart, but it would probably buy me enough time to find the stairs, sprint up them, and get Owen to safety.

Salina looked stunned that Owen was rejecting her, that he didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. The anger that had been simmering in her eyes boiled up into full-on fury, until her gaze was burning as bright as the bulbs in the crystal chandelier over her head.

“I can’t believe you’re taking her side over mine!” she hissed. “Do you know what a hypocrite that makes you? Your whore of an assassin’s hands aren’t any cleaner than mine. In fact, I’d be doing the world a favor by taking her out of it. How many people do you think she’s killed over the years, Owen? And for what—money? How
cheap
.”

Owen squared his shoulders. “Maybe that’s true, but Gin has a good heart, something you lost a long time ago, Salina. She might have killed people, yes, but she would never hurt a child, and she would never hurt anyone I cared about. I’m sorry, but it’s over. I love Gin, and she’s who I plan on building my future with. Not you.”

My heart lifted at his words, even as Salina’s crashed and burned. She stared at him in shock, still not quite believing that things hadn’t gone exactly how she’d wanted them to, how she’d imagined they would in her head. Then, all of the prettiness suddenly drained out of her face, replaced by something cold, ugly, and slightly unhinged.

“Very well,” she said in a stiff voice. “You’ve made your choice.”

Owen nodded his head, and some of the tension eased
out of his shoulders. He didn’t notice the devious smile that curved Salina’s lips—but I did.

“Guards!” she called out.

Heavy footsteps sounded, and a few seconds later, two giants stepped out onto the balcony. They must have been stationed right outside the door, waiting for Salina to summon them. Even though she’d expected the best, expected that Owen would come back to her, she’d still planned for the worst too. There was definitely a method to her madness.