Read Online No Rest for the Witches by Karina Cooper - Free Book Online

doing? She was pulling away. Naomi could see it in herself, could see the events unfolding in front of her and felt like a bystander. She was so fucking screwed up.
    She hadn’t been able to save Gemma. Wasn’t able to keep Phin from being hurt, couldn’t stop that rogue bastard in time. She’d fallen in love with a man who wasn’t equipped to deal with her life, and even now, all she wanted to do was go inside and curl up against his chest. Let Phin make her feel like everything would be all right.
    That was his gift. His strength. He could pull a miracle out of his ass with a smile.
    Only real life didn’t work like that. And she . . . what was she?
    Tired. Alone.
    Tired of being alone.
    For a long moment, nothing moved. The steam danced harmlessly along the surface of the vivid green water, curling over the dock. Silence descended on this little fairy tale glade, and she couldn’t stand it.
    â€œSilas.”
    He grunted.
    She glanced at him. “You ever doubt your choice?”
    Silas leaned back on his elbows, gaze turning upward. Pensively, he studied the gray sky, tracing the cloudy layers as he mulled it over. He took a deep breath, let it out on a long, slow exhale, and admitted, “The job? I miss it sometimes. Life was easier when it was black and white.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œYou?”
    â€œI wonder,” Naomi admitted, “if I could have seen the clinic shrink, figured my shit out. I could still be at the Mission, top of my game. Not having to worry about dying with this—” She thumped her own chest with a fist. “This fucking miracle inside me. I think all the time about what Agatha said before I killed her.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    Naomi shrugged. “That I had to be careful, I couldn’t risk myself because I was the fountain now.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œI still don’t listen,” she said, mouth flipping up into a crooked grin. Her humor faded, just as fast. “But it’s there. Another chain.”
    â€œAnother?”
    Naomi looked away. Had she just admitted that Phin was a chain? That he held her down?
    She didn’t mean to, but as she thought about it now, it appalled her how much sense it made. How much sense she wanted it to make.
    Silas’s gray-green eyes settled back on her, clear. Steady. “There’s always a lot of shit to factor in,” he said. “But I never regret choosing Jess. Ever.”
    â€œYeah.” She flicked her hair out of her eyes. “That’s ‘cause you get to live with her.”
    His eyebrows rose. Lowered again, winding into a tight, concerned furrow. “That’s it, huh?”
    Shit. Way to vomit her heart all over his shoes. Shaking her head, she jerked a thumb back behind them, towards the smear of blue buried in the foliage beside the house. Her tent. “I’m going to get ready.”
    â€œNai?”
    She frowned at him.
    â€œWe’re going to roll this bastard over and see what comes crawling out,” he told her. “I need your head on your shoulders, okay?”
    Naomi rose, nodding. She didn’t say anything; what was there to say?
    Silas loved Jessie. He’d chosen her, chosen a lifestyle that she could be part of. And right now, that lifestyle needed Naomi to be at the top of her game. For Lillian’s sake.
    For Phin’s.
    But it was that same reason that kept them apart, wasn’t it? That meant they stayed on opposite ends of a city just waiting to jump her shit. The Church’s bounty on her head and the investigation into the Clarkes’ affairs was just the surface issue here.
    At the heart, she was stuck in the lower city streets, waiting for God knew what, while Phin needed to remain where his wealth and political acumen could do the most good.
    That was that.
    And that was how it was going to have to be.
    Steeling herself, she strode away from the green house with its purple