“Don’t make it a challenge. You know how much I like those.”

“I hate to say this, but not everyone seems happy that you’re still alive,” Finn said, picking up on the glares coming my way. “You can’t please everyone,” I drawled. “And you know how much I hate to disappoint our dear friends in the underworld.”

“What do you think?” I asked. “Is it too much?” Finn tilted his head and gave me a critical once-over. “You’re dressed up as an ice queen dominatrix. I don’t think there is such a thing as too much.”

“Better be careful talking about how good my cooking is. Roslyn might get jealous.”The vampire madam let out a soft laugh. “Oh, I’ll freely admit that your cooking is much better than mine, Gin. But I have certain skills you don’t, especially in the bedroom. I think that Xavier far prefers those, even over a plate of the Pork Pit’s best barbecue.”Roslyn gave Xavier a sly look, and the giant’s grin widened.“Well played, Roslyn,” I murmured. “Well played.”

“I know that look. What are you up to, Gwen?""What makes you think I'm up to something?"The Valkyrie snorted. "You're breathing, aren't you?”

“Can you play the piano like Beethoven? Or sing like Carly Simon? Can you take fie pages' worth of quotes and turn them into a usable story ten minutes before deadline? I don't think so, unless you have more hidden talents I don't know about. We all have our special sills. They don't make us better or worse than each other. Just different”

“Uh, what are you doing?”“Nothing much. Just erasing all of Calinda’s good grades and replacing them with incompletes. Eventually, the administrators will figure out what happened, but I’m making it look like a computer error. Still, I imagine she’ll get some nasty lectures from her profs and parents in the meantime.”