Page 20 of Wilds of Wonder
“Told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Driscoll mumbled.
Maverick stared at me with assessing eyes, and I cleared my throat and shrugged. “Pretty cover. The blue reminded me of the sky on a stormy day.”
Maverick just huffed and gestured to the empty chair between Driscoll and Leoni, and I scuttled backward, sinking into it as he sat in his own padded leather chair behind his desk. He rolled the white sleeves of his button-up tunic, revealing his muscled forearms riddled with scars and burn marks. He leaned forward and steepled his hands together.
I thought he was going to speak, to ask me questions, to maybereprimand me for the objects I’d stolen. Instead, all he did was stare. Not at Leoni. Not at Driscoll. At me.
I squirmed in my chair under his scrutiny. I didn’t understand what in the Seven Spirits he found so interesting about me. Maybe it was my nightgown. That was probably it, and it made me angry.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m not just a pretty object to be ogled.”
Driscoll leaned over and whispered, “You could use that to your advantage. Maybe just tug that nightgown a little lower.”
I scoffed.
Leoni reached over the back of my chair and smacked Driscoll in the head. “I’m going to start a sleaze jar,” she said. “Every time you say something outrageous, you have to add a coin to it.”
Driscoll scowled. “I always say outrageous things.”
“Perfect.” Leoni leaned back in her seat. “I’ll be rich, and maybe it will teach you to think more before you speak.”
“Sounds boring,” Driscoll responded.
Maverick was going to throw us in prison just to get them to stop bickering.
But he ignored them both, reaching across the table and lifting one end of the scarf still wrapped around my neck. His gaze seared into me while the scarf glittered under the rays of the sun. “Where did you get this?”
My heart wrenched at the question because it wasn’t about where I got it that made this scarf so special. It was about why I kept it in my chest full of my most treasured artifacts. About the fact that this scarf reminded me of the first time I’d ever met the bone collector. Who I hadn’t seen in almost two years, all because I’d ruined our friendship. Pushed away the only friend I had. Possibly the only person in this world who ever understood me. Tears pricked my eyes, and I blinked them away. Except I couldn’t say any of that to Maverick Von Lucas. First, because he wouldn’t understand, and second, because I wouldn’t compromise the bone collector like that.
I opened my mouth, realizing I still hadn’t answered Maverick’s question about where I got the scarf, then decided I didn’t have to. I snapped my mouth closed and raised my chin.
Maverick rubbed his stubbled jaw, frustration coiled in his shoulders. “I don’t have time for this. I’m leaving on a trip in a few hours, and I’ll likely be gone for months.” He leaned forward and pushed the chest out of the way. “So save us both the trouble and tell me where you got the scarf. Where you got all of these objects. Did you steal them from someone?”
A desperation laced his voice that I didn’t quite understand.
I ignored his question. “Where are you going?”
“We’re going to prison if you don’t answer his question.” Driscoll threw up his hands. “Who am I kidding? We’re going to prison either way.”
“It’s none of your business where I’m going.” Maverick pressed his hands onto the glass table. “Where did you get this? Was it from her? From the white rabbit?”
I reeled back at his use of my secret name. Of course Maverick Von Lucas would have heard of the white rabbit since he worked directly with the queen, but the fact that he knew these objects belonged to her... I was in more trouble than I’d realized.
I should’ve just answered his questions. But after a lifetime of doing what I was told and gaining absolutely nothing from it, I was sick and tired of obeying.
I raised my chin. “Tell me where you’re going, and I’ll tell you where I got the scarf.”
I didn’t know why it mattered so much, but for some reason it did. Just being here in the academy filled me with so much anguish. I yearned for this life Maverick lived, wanted it so badly it burned through my ice-filled veins. If he was going on some adventure to find a new historical artifact, I wanted to know about it. To sit in this office and dream of the life I could have had if things had turned out differently for me. For just a few moments before those guards took me away to prison, where I’d likely be for a long, long time.
There he went, staring at me again. Did this man have a problem? Or was he just a pervert? But he wasn’t staring at my nipples, which were absolutely visible through my thin nightgown. His eyes never left my face. Just studying me with this perplexed expression like I was a puzzle he couldn’tfigure out.
“So it’s a game you want to play?” he said slowly, carefully. It felt like this was a test of some sort. He gave a subtle nod. “Then let the games begin.”
I peered at him, the words he’d just said reverberating in my mind. Not just the words. The tone. The cadence. The playfulness. My entire body went rigid.
Driscoll looked at Leoni. “Do you know what’s happening between them right now?”
Suddenly, I was in another time, another place, where we’d said those exact words to each other the first time we’d met.
