Page 100 of Wilds of Wonder
I shed my clothes and lowered myself into the tub, groaning as the water soothed my aches and pains.
“How is it?” Annalee called from the other room.
“Glorious,” I said. “I promise I won’t take too long.”
I reached up and grabbed a bottle of purple liquid off a shelf, popping open the cork. The scent of lavender filled the air, and I took a deep inhale of it before pouring the liquid in my hand and massaging it into my hair.
“So you’re the white rabbit, huh?” Annalee said.
I jolted in the tub, and water sloshed over the sides, spilling onto the gleaming tile floor. “Maverick told you that?”
“Of course not,” Annalee said. “He hasn’t even told me he’s the bone collector.”
My mouth dropped open, and it took me several seconds to regain my composure. “Then how did youfind out?”
I moved directly under the cascading water and tipped my head back, letting it wash away the soap. Maybe we hadn’t been as careful as we thought with our secret identities.
“He was kind of obvious about it.” Her giggle floated through the air.
I lathered the soap in my palms and spread it over my body. “What do you mean?”
She paused. “Before all this bone collector business, Maverick was always so focused on the Academy of Scholars & Historians. Probably because of my father. It was drilled into Maverick that he had to get into an academy, get an honorable profession, not disappoint my father. Especially when it became clear what a disappointment I was. It was all my father cared about. But Mav had a seriousness about him. A severity, like he was doing a duty more than living out a passion.”
A heavy silence filled the air, and I chewed the inside of my cheek, waiting for her to continue.
Her voice wobbled with her next words. “Sometimes, I think Maverick saw how my father treated me, and so he worked even harder to become better, to do better, in an attempt to make my father happy. He never said this out loud, but I know he thought that he could shield me from my father’s wrath if he did enough. If he was enough.” She snorted. “My father is an asshole. No amount of achievements is going to change that.”
I slumped back in the tub until the water came up to my chin. Maverick had told me enough about his father that I already hated the man, but I’d never stopped to actually think about why Maverick put his work above all else. He did it to try and protect his sister, and maybe along the way, he lost sight of how to do anything else.
“One day, at the Academy of Ladies, I’d overheard a few girls talking about the bone collector, who’d they’d heard about from their parents—friends of the frost queen. It was curious, but I didn’t think too much of it. Then my brother visited, and he was so full of life. He had this energy about him like nothing I’d ever seen before. He’d always loved history, but never like this. Now it was like he was actually enjoying his profession, not just going through the motions.”
I swallowed, watching the water fall from the chute and pool into the tub.
“I didn’t tell him my suspicions,” she continued. “He was so happy, and I was afraid I’d ruin it. That he’d get it into his head that if I knew, our father could find out, others could find out as well. Of course, I didn’t know who the white rabbit was, not until I saw you and Maverick together today. It was fairly easy to piece it together from there.”
“You’re very clever,” I said. “I’m impressed.”
“He loves you, you know,” she said softly.
I stiffened at that. The word sat like a stone in my gut. Love. “I’m not trying to hurt him,” I said. “You must hate me.”
“I don’t,” she said quickly. “I know you’re not trying to hurt him. You’re trying to protect yourself from being hurt. Mav told me a little about your past. I don’t exactly know why you’re so sure he’s going totrap you like you were trapped before, but I can tell you with certainty he won’t.”
“And how do you know that?” I asked.
“Because he’s already shown you that he’d put everything on the line for you—including his job. He became the bone collector. Do you know what a risk that is to his reputation, to his career? And why would he even be the bone collector? His adventures as Maverick Von Lucas are proof enough that he never needed to be the bone collector to do what he loved, to feel alive. So what was the one thing that kept him in that role?”
Me.
The answer was obvious. Maverick had admitted as much. Of course that was why he’d continued our little game, continued doing dangerous stunts under the guise of the bone collector. Because as Maverick Von Lucas, he couldn’t have had anything to do with the white rabbit.
Tears pricked my eyes.
“I don’t know as much about the white rabbit, I’ll admit. But I’m guessing you served as somewhat of an inspiration for my brother,” Annalee continued. “I’m guessing you two had quite a few run-ins, got to know each other over the years.”
“Yes,” I whispered, tears spilling down my cheeks as I thought about all our adventures.
She was right. Clever, clever girl. Yet it didn’t change what I saw in the lake. What I knew to be our path should Maverick and I ever choose a life together.
