Read No Rest for the Wicked for Free Online Page B

one with the Forbearers, he was used to giving orders—
    and having them obeyed with alacrity. This... this asking for things was excruciating.
    Yet now Nïx concentrated only on her craft, until she’d folded what looked like an
    intricate fire, gingerly placing it next to the other two. More pages ripped free, folding at
    an even faster rate. Nikolai found his attention riveted to the creations that she seemed
    compelled to make.
    Moments later, she’d wrought a baying paper wolf. Four shapes placed as though for a
    storyboard. Myst spared them no more than a glance, but Nikolai was enthralled.
    “Nïx, try harder!” Myst snapped, and Nikolai shook himself, forcing his gaze away.
    “I can’t see Conrad!” she snapped back, and lightning struck nearby.
    “What about Sebastian?” Myst said. “Tell us anything.”
    “Anything? Well, what do I know?” Nïx frowned. “What do I know? Oh! I know what I
    know!”
    Nikolai paced impatiently, gesturing with his free hand for her to continue.
    She shrugged. “Right now, your brother Sebastian is bellowing at someone outside a
    castle, demanding that they return to him, wishing it with everything that he is.” She
    smiled, as if pleased with herself for seeing so much, then gave a quick clap. “Oh! And his
    skin just caught fire!”
    5
    W hy would she run from me?
    Repeating this agonizing question over and over in his mind, Sebastian scuffed through the
    pouring rain and the puddles of water along the main street of the deserted village.
    At sunset, just as he’d set out to search for her, the rain had begun. Even now, hours later,
    it still fell with a pounding force, visibly eating away at the cobblestone grout. It struck his
    burned face and hands, but he hardly perceived it.
    What the hell had happened? He’d just been feeling the centuries-old weariness lifting,
    disappearing with her arrival. Now it had returned doubled.

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    “Don’t!” he’d bellowed to her. Before he’d been forced to trace back, she’d turned to
    him, her eyes wide, her lips parted. She’d seen his pain, his skin beginning to burn.
    Her expression had become stricken. He’d seen that look before. It was the same one
    soldiers had a split second after a cannon blast had landed too close—as if they simply
    couldn’t assimilate what had just happened.
    Why did she run? What did I do wrong?
    He’d searched all night, scouring the empty streets and the entire valley. He’d traced to
    the airport, but he knew she was long gone.
    As were the denizens of this village. Only a dog howled in the background. Though
    Sebastian had avoided humans since he’d been turned, he was fully prepared to question
    them now. He was desperate to. If they had information about his mysterious Bride, he’d
    become the thing they feared in order to get it from them.
    Yet they had disappeared. Even the home of the butcher who secretly sold him blood and
    occasionally transacted for clothing and books was darkened and empty. Apparently,
    she’d warned them that he’d be searching for her with a vengeance.
    Again and again, Sebastian contemplated what he knew about his mysterious Kaderin. At
    times he thought her too beautiful, too perfect, a vision who existed only in his fantasies.
    He had been alone for so long...
    And had been mad in the past.
    But if he thought he’d imagined the entire thing, he had a glaring bruise on his chest and
    rents in his shirt from where her claws had dug into his back and his arms. God, she was
    fierce, his Bride, and even now he was hard for her.
    Never before had he felt such lust. No woman had ever stirred him to anything like this.
    Surely the desire for her was stronger because he’d abstained for so long. That had to be
    it. He hadn’t even taken her.
    Hell, he hadn’t even seen her naked body or touched her skin.
    He shook his head, flushing yet again at his behavior