Revealing Silver by Jamie Craig Read Free Book Online Page B

bothered to shave, his eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth set in a thin line. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what the hell had been so important he needed to leave her, without explanation, on Christmas Eve, but she held her tongue. They’d been on edge with each other since Remy’s disappearance, and she didn’t want to spoil breakfast by inadvertently starting another fight.
    She hoped the massive, traditional Christmas-breakfast-feast would be enough to put a smile on his face, but since Nathan refused to speak to him, food lost its luster for Isaac. He picked at the plate she served him, dutifully eating bite after bite without comment. Isaac always commented on food. He always had an opinion about eggs and bacon, a speech prepared for inadequate gravy, a lecture about the dangers of burnt bacon. Now he ate mechanically, taking no pleasure in it at all.
    It broke her heart to see him like this, barely a shadow of the vital man she’d fallen head over heels for. There was more than a prick of guilt over her own contribution to his foul mood. He loved her and he didn’t want to see her hurt—she understood and respected that. But he refused to meet her halfway on the issue. She wasn’t looking forward to holding the coin. She didn’t want a vision. She wanted nothing to do with the Silver Maiden, with magical rites, ancient occult beliefs, and whatever the hell else was going on. But she wanted to bring those missing girls home. She wanted to find Remy. She wanted to save Nathan before his tenuous hold on reality slipped and he nosedived into the dark pit he’d dug for himself.
    Mainly, though, she wanted Isaac to be himself again. Smiling, flirting, wry, full of opinions on clothes and food and music even though he mostly had terrible taste in all three.
    Olivia insisted she’d clean up, sending him into the living room to spend time with Tiberius. He sat on the edge of the couch, playing tug-of-war with the new rope braid—a Christmas present he’d dutifully given to the dog. Every time Tiberius jerked it free of his hands a ghost of a smile skated across Isaac’s face, but it faded when she emerged from the kitchen.
    “How long before we head over to Nathan’s?”
    “A few hours. Do you want to catch a few winks?” It was more of a suggestion than a question, but Isaac failed to notice.
    “Want to? Yeah. Do I think I actually could? Not on your life.” He tossed the toy to the floor, abandoning the game with Tiberius, and sank deeper into the cushions. “It was a long night. And not a productive one.”
    “Want to talk about it?”
    “Not if it’s going to start another fight.”
    Olivia winced at the echo of her earlier thoughts. If any of her other relationships had devolved into tension so quickly, she would have been long gone. “Why would it start another fight? Where did you go?”
    He brushed something off his pants leg, though she was pretty sure nothing was there. “I pulled Gabriel out of his cell and put him in an interrogation room for six hours, during which time we mostly stared at each other because I had this ridiculous idea I could get him to tell me something about the Silver Maiden to help you today.”
    “Oh.” Olivia slid her arm around Isaac’s back, resting her cheek on his shoulder. He leaned into the embrace. He mostly smelled of stale coffee, but she caught a comforting hint of his cologne. “Did he say anything helpful at all? He’s the king of stonewalling.”
    At her query, a muscle tensed beneath her. Isaac’s pause only confirmed her suspicion something had been said in their silent contest of wills, something that still clearly bugged him.
    “He told me you weren’t in any danger from the coins. That…you were born to handle them, whatever the hell that means.”
    Olivia studied the tense line of his jaw from beneath her lashes. Did she want to have this conversation now? No. Was there a better time for it? Not really. There was no time but now to