Tangled Threads Quotes
"Because that’s what assassins did. That’s what I did. Me. Gin Blanco. The assassin known as the Spider, one of the best around."
"A fantastic sequel in every respect. … This second installment is even more steamy, suspenseful, and full of mystery and adventure."
"The action is off the charts, the passion is hot, and her cast of secondary characters is stellar."
"I love rooting for the bad guy—especially when she’s also the heroine."
"Electrifying! Jennifer Estep really knows how to weave a fantasy tale that will keep you reading way past your bedtime."
"Sometimes, even assassins had qualms about dying."
"That Owen saw how dark and twisted I really was deep down and that it finally, ultimately, disgusted him, the way that it had Donovan Caine, the man I’d been involved with before Owen came along."
"As always, I looked deep into his violet gaze, losing myself in the pale, amethyst color, searching for a sign, a hint, a flash of feeling that would tell me that he’d finally wised up and decided to end things with me."
"Why bother with bed? I see a perfectly serviceable couch right there."
"But the strangest thing was that he really seemed to care about me, Gin Blanco."
"I wasn’t sure if I wanted that kind of relationship with him."
"I didn’t want Owen to hate me like Donovan had."
"A dodged, determined, creeping sort of softness that I was struggling more and more to squash."
"I’d discussed everything from my ongoing war with Mab to my weird relationship with Bria to the new Mercedes that he’d decided to give Eva for Christmas."
"Despite the blood, bruises, and sand covering his features, Vinnie’s face paled a little more at the mention of the two women."
"A cold smile curved my lips as I stepped into the waiting darkness."
"A cold blast of magic surged through the night air."
"But the metal was stronger than it looked, and the chains held firm."
"I felt the blade scuttle off of his breast-bone before sinking deeper into his hard muscle."
"Blood spewed out onto my hands and arced through the cold air, painting me with its steaming, coppery warmth."
"I used the opportunity to bury my knife in his chest all the way up to the hilt."
"The gravel was just as dense as the sand in the box, which made it hard for me to scramble to my feet."
"Not enough damage to kill him, but enough to make him think about how much he was hurting."
"Sure enough, the giant howled with pain and rage, baying like a wolf at the moon."
"Red-hot pins of pain exploded in my hip joint."
"My eyes cut to Xavier. 'Nice driving. The vamp never knew what hit him.'"
"All I could do now was keep going until either Mab or I was dead."
"I leaned forward and put my hand on Vinnie's shaking shoulder."
"Hope. The one thing that always seemed to get me into more trouble than just killing people for money ever had."
"I palmed another knife, gritted my teeth against the pain pounding through my hip, and started after him."
"The entire structure started to slide sideways."
"I always felt uncomfortable when I sensed so much of an opposing element being used, even if I knew that Jo-Jo was healing Vinnie instead of hurting him."
"Because impatience made you sloppy, and sloppy got you dead."
"But her body was already shutting down from the trauma, and she didn’t even try to move."
"The relentless throbbing in my hip slowed me."
"I’m talking about rescuing your daughter from whatever hellhole Mab has got her stashed in."
"Not the kind of person that I wanted coming inside the house and catching me unawares."
"Finn could be a badass when he had to, just like me."
"Despite the late hour, Jo-Jo Deveraux looked like she’d just finished getting ready to go out courting on Saturday night."
"I got to my feet, grabbed a knife out of my boot, and hobbled over to him."
"I stared at him, letting him see just how cold, flat, and hard my gray eyes really were."
"Even assassins could be swayed from time to time."
"When success was guaranteed, you could charge whatever you wanted to for it."
"She wouldn’t have been much of an assassin if she couldn’t kill people six ways from Sunday—and then some."
"Why waste all that money signing your kills when you could just draw something on the nearest wall in your victim’s blood?"
"I’d never known that I’d had this much magic before. Never dreamed that I was this strong. Never even imagined, hoped, or wished for it."
"You just never know what might happen in these uncertain times."
"A spider rune. My rune. The symbol for patience."
"My magic, I thought in a daze. I must have used my Ice and Stone magic to harden my skin, even though I didn’t remember consciously doing it."
"But Christmas is family time. I thought that you’d want to spend that with just Eva. I don’t want to intrude."
"You’re not intruding, Gin. You are never an intrusion."
"I wondered about the orchid, though. Lots of assassins left things behind to mark their kills. Names and runes, mostly. But even among assassins, an orchid was a strange thing to use."
"No kids, no pets, no bystanders. It was a code that Fletcher had taught me, one that I’d lived by for years."
"I’d gotten a few small things for Finn and the Deveraux sisters, but it had never occurred to me that Owen might expect something too."
"I knew that the Fire elemental was going to kill her, just like she had the rest of my family. So I’d let out my own scream of rage in response—one filled with all the Ice and Stone magic that I could muster."
"The truth was that I didn’t want to give up either. Not when Bria was finally back in my life after so many years."
"I’m cooking, so I can assure you that the food will be excellent."
"You won’t be intruding. You’re practically family now, Bria."
"Now was not the time to be sloppy and sentimental. Not when I had an assassin to stalk and kill tonight, and hopefully, a little girl to rescue."
"Dead is dead, remember? That’s what Fletcher always told us. I don’t care how LaFleur gets there, as long as we’re still breathing in the end and she’s not."
"I’d promised Vinnie that I’d find his daughter and bring her back to him, no matter what kind of terrible shape she might be in."
"I might be a cold-blooded assassin, but even I still had a heart, what little, black, patchwork bits there were left of it."
"But there was one person that I couldn’t outrun—Elektra LaFleur."
"But that didn’t mean it still didn’t fucking hurt."
"I wondered what would happen if the assassin threw her lightning at the river itself, if the whole length of it would light up with her electrical magic."
"I don’t know how long I huddled there before I managed to summon up the strength to roll over onto my back and fumble with one of the zippers on the front of my vest."
"But the really weird thing was that the spider rune scars on my hands were glowing."
"And now someone was out here looking for me in the dark—but was it friend or foe?"
"But even more than that, I thought that Fletcher Lane, my murdered mentor, would have been proud of me for doing it."
"Oh, I don’t think I have to worry about getting into Mab’s estate. Sooner or later, LaFleur’s going to come to me."
"My plan is simple really. Kill the bitch before she kills me."
"You can let go of your Ice magic now. You’re safe, Gin. Relax. Just relax."
"Don’t be afraid of it, Gin. Don’t be afraid of yourself."
"But this? Now? I had no idea what was going on."
"Well, maybe that’s one of the things we can talk about in greater detail—at my house this evening."
"Always be ready, willing, and able to do what I have to do, no matter how violent or bloody it is or who I have to hurt in the process."
"I’m no choirboy, Gin. And I don’t expect you to be one either. I’m a lot of things, but a hypocrite isn’t one of them."
"Because if I can’t be there, then at least they can. And they’re the best damn pieces I’ve ever made because I made them for you."
"All the soft things that I was feeling, all the tender emotions in my heart, didn’t scare me. Not now. Not with Owen."
"I can protect Bria better if she knows the truth."
"I want you to come back to me, Gin—in one piece. Always."
"I’d learned a long time ago how to improvise and turn even the simplest things into deadly weapons."
"You sound like you have some experience in these sorts of things."
"You’re the woman who’s been going around town killing Mab Monroe’s men," Bria said in a dull tone. "All those men the last few weeks. And Elliot Slater and all those giants up at his mountain mansion before that. How many has it been since you started? Or even since I’ve been in town? A dozen? Two?"
"Look," I said. "I know we have a lot of … things to discuss, but there’s no time right now. We need to get out of this car and out of the train yard before LaFleur comes back. At least, you do."
"All right. If things go according to plan, you won’t have to use it anyway," I said. "But it’s better to have a weapon than not, so take it."
"Run," I ground out the word. "You fucking run like your life depends on it because it does. If she gets past me, and you’re still here, you’re dead. Dead. Do you hear me Bria? Now run, and don’t you dare look back. Don’t make all this—don’t make everything that I’ve ever done for you—count for nothing. Or I’ll kill you myself, baby sister. Do you understand me? Do you?"
"You certainly are confident, Spider. Then again, so was my brother. Right before you killed him."
"Well, she’s an elemental to boot," Elektra muttered. "Another surprise. But it won’t save you, Spider. Nothing will. Not from me."
"Here’s another thing I’ve noticed," I snarled in her face. "I don’t have to live to win. I just have to make sure you die."
"You know what, Elektra?" I rasped through my cold, numb, dead lips. "You should have killed me the second you had the chance. Instead, you talked yourself to death, you arrogant bitch. Just like your brother Brutus did."
"I’m still breathing," I rasped. "That’s good enough for now. Help me up, please."
"You’re … It’s just … I can’t …" She sighed. "I don’t know, Gene—Gin. I just don’t know. I need some time to think about things. You’re not exactly what I expected to find when I came back to Ashland. None of this has turned out the way I thought it would."
"I thought I’d charge Mab Monroe with the murder of my mother and older sister and see her dragged away in chains, for starters. But that’s not going to happen now. Neither is the picture-perfect reunion I’d imagined having with my big sister, Genevieve."
"I don’t know how much you know about me, Spider, Gin, whatever you want to call yourself," LaFleur said, still circling around me. "But unlike you, I don’t use weapons to kill. It’s so … ordinary. So common. Don’t you think? Instead, I like to use my electrical magic to finish people off. It’s so much more visceral that way. Not to mention that I enjoy the light show as well. But I bet you’ve already guessed that little fact about me, given the way you’re writhing around on the ground."
"I wasn’t particularly brave or crazy, but I was determined to kill Mab."
"I could have tapped into my power and made my skin hard as marble so that the rocklike wads of snow would bounce off my body like bullets off Superman’s chest."
"Runes were how elementals and other magic types in Ashland identified themselves, their families, their power, their alliances, and even their businesses to others."
"I was here to do one thing—kill Mab. Everything else could wait."
"Curiosity was often an emotion that got the best of me, but for once, I forced it aside."