Page 32 of Wilds of Wonder
“What?” I glared at him. I hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest. I’d been too busy with my entire world being turned upside down. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wondered what was underneath that hood over the years. I’d be lying even more if I said I’d been disappointed by what I saw. And okay, fine. Maverick Von Lucas was objectively gorgeous. He’d always been, though as a married woman, I never allowed myself to think about him like that. I admired his work, his tenacity in the field, his accomplishments. His looks? Well, I only admired those in a few... interesting dreams I’d had about him.
“No,” I said quickly. “I’m agreeing about him being condescending. About not letting a man get the best of me. Not letting anyone get the best of me.”
I thought of my parents, of my time at the Academy of Ladies, of my husband, and lastly, of Maverick's patronizing glare as he looked down at me from this very ledge.
“You both are right.” I scooted away from the fire. “I can’t give up. We can’t give up.”
Leoni leaned forward, the glow illuminating her reddened, chapped cheeks. “So why do you think he’s brought the bolt here? To the Glacier Mountains? There’s nothing in this area.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was plenty in these mountains. But I didn’t think now was the time to tell them all about the threats that awaited us when we walked through that passageway.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. My stomach grumbled.
Leoni opened up her satchel and threw me a stick of dried meat.
I held it up to her and nodded in thanks, then took a bite. The meat was tough and chewy, and I had to swallow several times to get the bite down my throat, but it was food, and I was grateful.
“At least he’s not taking it to the shadow court,” Driscoll said. “Doesn’t seem like he’s in league with the shadow king.”
No, it didn’t. Sorrengard had fallen into ruin nearly sixty years ago after they’d waged war on the other courts. For years before the Shadow War, many shadow elementals had been practicing dark magic, usingtheir powers to rip away people’s shadows—an illegal use of their magic. It had all been sanctioned by their king and queen. The other courts of Arathia punished them with embargoes, banishment, arrests, everything they could think of. It only angered the shadow court, who believed they had a right to use their magic how they wished, even if it was for ill purposes. So they started a war over the whole thing. A war they eventually lost. Though it came at a high price: the star court’s decimation. Everyone in the star court died, and it was thought to be because the shadow court used some kind of dark magic to kill them all. The star court had fallen into ruin, been boarded off by the other courts, and was now known as the Deadlands, a place no one dared go unless they didn’t want to return.
Which, of course, only made me more curious about that place, about the secrets it might hold, the rich history just waiting to be discovered. The Glacier mountains were the only thing standing in between Fyriad and the Deadlands. If we could assemble a team, get to the Deadlands, we could learn what actually happened there during the Shadow War to kill an entire race of people. No one would ever agree to something like that. No one except maybe the bone collector. And he and I weren’t exactly on speaking terms now. Not after the way I left things between us.
Driscoll ran a hand over his short coiled curls. “That shadow king is sketchy. Definitely seems like the type to want a powerful bolt to use against us.”
I leaned back on my hands, the fire making me feel itchy, too hot. “Clearly that’s not what’s happening. The Glacier Mountains are definitely the wrong direction to be going if he wanted to get to Sorrengard.”
“Which still begs the question: what is he doing with that bolt?” Leoni asked. “And how are we going to get it?”
Driscoll gnawed on his own slab of jerky. “You have to know something about the bone collector. Why is that even his name?” Driscoll asked.
“The name started after he and I both went after a collection of bones that some farmer had found on his land.” That hadn’t been part of our competition. Just an accident. “The farmer and his family camerunning out to see him stealing away with these femurs and skulls. I’d watched it all from the barn where I was hiding after realizing he’d made it there first.” I shrugged. “The next day, the paper came out, and a description of him was on the front page, with a sketch and all.” Though there wasn’t much to sketch other than his black cloak and hood. “They’d dubbed him the bone collector.”
Driscoll sighed like I’d disappointed him. “You two are the nerdiest criminals I’ve ever met.”
I wanted to ask just how many criminals he’d come across in his lifetime but thought better of it.
Leoni frowned at the fire, and I took another bite of my dried beef. “You know the bone collector better than anyone. So what’s his next move? What’s his weakness?”
I sat back, mulling it over. “We goad each other a lot, lure each other into dangerous situations to get the better of the other.” I finished my jerky, chewing and thinking. “And that wasn’t the first time he quizzed me. He’s done it before. Thrown out random years or names or objects to see if I knew the significance. Many times, it was related to what we were going after. What he had planned...” I sat up straighter. “The Battle of Sofor,” I mumbled.
“Please don’t tell me he’s planning another avalanche.” Driscoll’s eyes darted upward.
I shook my head. “After their victory, the fire elementals retreated deeper into the mountains. The mountains looked a little different a thousand years ago, but one thing has stayed the same: the elements. They’re harsh. Unforgiving this far up.”
As if helping to prove my point, an icy gale barreled into us, the flames of our fire flickering, snow and ice pelting us from all directions.
“It gets worse than this?” Driscoll asked. “Perfect. Just what I wanted to hear.”
“So how did the fire elementals survive?” Leoni asked.
“Most didn’t,” I admitted. “They’d planned to hide out and then sneak back home, but many met their end in these mountains. Except for the few who found refuge in the ice caves. It’s the only place in the Glacier Mountains that provides shelter and fresh drinking water. That has to be where he’s going. He’ll know about it.”
“Then that’s where we go tomorrow,” Leoni said decisively.
I wanted to argue, to tell her we should go now. But they weren’t as immune to the cold as I was, and my body still felt like it had taken a thorough beating. To get that bolt, I’d need to be at my best.
Tomorrow, then. We’d find the bone collector, and I would be the one to win the game this time.
