Free Kiss of Venom by Jennifer Estep

Maybe Gin would reject me outright. Maybe she’d say that too much had happened and we could never get back what I’d made us lose.
    If so, I wouldn’t like it, but I’d live with it. Just like I’d live with the memories of what Salina had done and how I’d failed to stop her. Jillian’s death. And all the other things that haunted me these days. But penance was about atoning for your sins and trying to make things right. That was all that I could do.
    I just hoped that it would be enough for everyone—Phillip, Cooper, Eva, and especially Gin.
    I reached up and grabbed the horseshoe that I’d hung over the entrance for luck when I’d first built the forge years ago. I replaced the horseshoe with the piece that I’d made tonight, stepped back, and admired it. A small circle surrounded by eight thin rays. Such a simple shape but so powerful at the same time. It looked good hanging there, just like I’d known it would.
    Satisfied, for tonight at least, I made sure that the fire was cold, turned out the lights, and left the forge. I reached the back door of the house and glanced over my shoulder.
    In the distance, moonlight bathed the forge in a soft, silvery light, making Gin’s spider rune wink at me from its new perch. I grinned, winked back, then headed inside to bed.
    My penance had started.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
    Once again, my heartfelt thanks go out to all of the folks who help turn my words into a book.
    Thanks go to my agent, Annelise Robey, and editors, Adam Wilson and Lauren McKenna, for all their helpful advice, support, and encouragement. Thanks also to Julia Fincher.
    Thanks to Tony Mauro for designing another terrific cover, and thanks to Louise Burke, Lisa Litwack, and everyone else at Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster for their work on the cover, the book, and the series.
    And finally, a big thanks to all of the readers. Knowing that folks read and enjoy my books is truly humbling, and I’m glad that you are all enjoying Gin and her adventures. I hope that everyone enjoys reading things from Owen’s perspective as well.
    I appreciate you all more than you will ever know.
    Happy reading!

Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in the Elemental Assassin series
    HEART OF VENOM
    By Jennifer Estep
    Coming soon from Pocket Books

1
    “What do you mean, I can’t come?”
    I jerked my head down at the heavy weight swinging between us. “Do you really want to talk about this right now?”
    “I can’t think of a better time,” he replied, then dropped his half of the load onto the ground.
    I let go of my half of the weight, put my hands on my hips, and rolled my eyes at the whiny, petulant tone in my foster brother’s voice. “You can’t come because it’s a girls’ day at the salon. No guys allowed. That includes you.”
    Finnegan Lane sniffed, straightened up to his full six-foot-plus height, and carefully adjusted the expensive silk tie knotted around his neck. “Yes, but I am not just any guy.”
    More eye-rolling on my part, but Finn ignored me. His ego was pretty much bulletproof, and my derisive looks wouldn’t so much as scratch his own highfalutin opinion of himself.
    “Besides,” he continued, “I’d get more enjoyment out of a spa day than you would.”
    “True,” I agreed. “I don’t particularly care how shiny my nails are or how well conditioned my hair is.”
    Finn held out his manicured nails, studying them with a critical eye, before reaching up and gently patting his coif of walnut-colored hair. “My nails are good, but I could use a trim. Wouldn’t want to get any split ends.”
    “Oh, no,” I muttered. “We wouldn’t want such a horror as that .”
    With his artfully styled hair, designer suit, and glossy wing tips, Finn looked like he’d just stepped out of the pages of some high-end fashion magazine. Add his intense green eyes, chiseled features, and toned, muscled body to that, and he was as handsome as any movie star. The only thing that ruined his