Read Online Elemental Assassin [9] Heart of Venom by Jennifer Estep - Free Book Online Page A

eyes. Okay, okay, so the dwarves were probably a little old for board games, but I was just trying to make conversation. It wasn’t like I knew a lot about them, especially not Sophia.  
    Sure, she worked at the Pork Pit, but she never seemed to pay  much attention to me, except to pick me up and move me out  of her way whenever I got between her and the stoves. Literally, Sophia would put her hands under my armpits, hoist  me up into the air, carry me around the counter, and plop  me down on a stool, like I was some dumb kid who didn’t  know any better than to touch a hot stove or put my hand in  the french fryer when the grease inside it was bubbling away.
    Whatever. I was thirteen, not a complete idiot.
    “You don’t talk much, do you?” I asked.
    Sophia looked at me out of the corner of her eye, but she  didn’t even deign to answer me with so much as a grunt this  time. She kept right on mopping as if I hadn’t said a word.
    I huffed, letting her know how much she annoyed me, but  I gave up trying to talk to her. Instead, I cracked open the book of fairy tales that Fletcher had given me and started reading.
    Twenty minutes later, I had finished the first two stories.
    Why did giants and witches always get such a raw deal? They  were just defending themselves from bratty kids who wanted  to steal their stuff and eat their property. If someone tried  to swipe my golden goose or nosh on a piece of my gingerbread house, well, I’d unleash some of my wicked new self-defense moves on them and show them what was what. And  so would everyone else in Ashland. Nobody took kindly to  thieves in this city, especially not the folks over in Southtown.
    Thinking about gingerbread houses made my stomach  rumble, so I slid off my stool and went over to the cake stand  sitting in the middle of the counter. I’d helped Fletcher make
    some sugar cookies earlier. There were only five left, and I knew that he wouldn’t mind me eating them.
    I lifted the glass top, set it aside, and grabbed one of the  cookies. The sugary, buttery concoction melted on my tongue,  bringing with it the sharp, sweet tang of the almond extract  that added extra flavor to the dough. I sighed with contentment and reached for another one—
    The bell over the front door chimed, signaling that we had  a customer. I quickly chewed and swallowed the rest of my  cookie, then wiped the c umbs off my hands, ready to tell the person that the restaurant was closed for the night.
    But there was no need, since Jo-Jo stepped inside.
    The dwarf was wearing a long pink coat, and her pearls  peeked out from underneath the collar. Gloves the same cotton-candy color as her coat covered her hands, and a matching, fuzzy hat perched on top of her head, hiding most of her  white-blond curls from sight.
    At the sound of the door chime, Sophia came out of the bathroom, which she’d been cleaning. “Problem?” she rasped.
    Jo-Jo shook her head. “I’ve got to go get Finn. The boy’s at  some party over in Southtown. Apparently, he decided to flirt  with the girlfriend of the guy who brought him, and now he  doesn’t have a ride home.”
    Sophia snorted. Me too. With Finn, there was almost  always  some girl involved.
    “Anyway, I thought I’d stop and see if you needed anything before I headed in that direction.”
    Sophia shook her head. Jo-Jo turned her clear gaze to me.
    “What about you, Gin?” she asked. “I’ve got to swing by  the grocery store on the way home. How about I get you some of that spearmint hard candy that you like so much, since  you’ll be spending the night with us?”
    “Sure,” I said in a soft, hesitant voice. “If it’s not too much  trouble.”  
    “No trouble at all, darling.”
    Jo-Jo smiled at me, causing the laugh lines around her mouth to deepen and making her face look that much
    warmer and more inviting. I found myself grinning back at her. Jo-Jo was one of those folks you couldn’t help