Page 24 of Wilds of Wonder
I walked toward the table and sunk onto the chair sitting in front of it, exhaustion filling me as I slumped. “That’s what we thought for a long time. But recently, new evidence has surfaced that their deaths may have been slower than we previously believed. That the world began falling apart over a long period of time. I spread my arms around. “Evidenced by bunkers like this found all over the continent. Likely bunkers that belonged to the wealthy, the kings and queens and nobles who could afford to have something like this built.” I traced a finger over the cracks in the table. “Maverick was actually the lead historian behind this theory. He was the first to find a bunker like this.”
Well, the first that anyone knew about. I’d actually found this bunker long before he’d discovered a bunker located in Apolis. But no one knew about my discovery because no one knew about me.
I cleared my throat. “Once he found that one, other historians began to discover even more. Some connected to other bunkers by a network of tunnels. It was a very elaborate system, but we think they eventually ran out of food and water and died anyway.”
Driscoll shuddered. “So this just delayed their deaths.”
“Are you going to tell us why you think Maverick Von Lucas is the bone collector?” Leoni paced as I twisted in my chair to look at her. “It makes no sense. He’s the most prominent historian in Arathia. He already has access to all these artifacts, gets paid to find them. So why in the world would he risk his entire career to become a notorious treasure hunter?”
Well, when she put it like that, it did sound crazy. And the truth was, I didn’t know why. The only one who could answer that question was Maverick himself.
“She has a point,” Driscoll said. “It’s really far-fetched.”
“It’s him.” I pushed a hand through my blonde hair, which dustedmy shoulders. “I know it is. His voice, what he said to me. I said those exact words to the bone collector when we first met.”
Driscoll pinched the bridge of his nose. “He does have fire magic, just like the bone collector.”
Leoni stepped up next to Driscoll, shaking her head. “The similarities are striking. And his voice.” Her brows furrowed. “Now that I think about it... I wondered why Maverick's voice sounded so familiar.”
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t put it together before this moment. I knew the bone collector’s voice, had spent far too many nights dreaming of it. How could I have not recognized he was Maverick the moment I heard Maverick speak so many years ago?
“Spirits below,” Driscoll said. “If what you’re saying is true, it would ruin his entire career and discredit all his work. Do you think he has his own little bunker of objects he keeps from the academy?”
“I don’t know. I don’t really know him.” I swallowed down the lie. “But I do know that if I’m right that means he has the bolt.”
Leoni’s eyes widened. “He said he was going on a long journey, that he’d be gone for months. Do you think that’s what this has to do with?”
“It must. He’s doing something with that bolt. But what...” I murmured, realizing just how many secrets the bone collector had kept from me. It shouldn’t have stung after the way I’d ended things between us. But it did.
“It’s too powerful of an object for him to have.” Leoni wrung her hands together. “He could be in league with the shadow king.”
“No,” I said, and both their gazes snapped to me.
“I thought you said you don’t know him.” Driscoll massaged his temples. “Can you please get your story straight?”
“I don’t know him, exactly, but I—well...” Spirits below, I didn’t know how to explain this, how to explain our relationship and connection to each other. “We ran into each other quite a few times throughout the years. We chatted... and stuff. I never got the sense he’d be involved with someone so depraved like this shadow king.”
It didn’t fit, not with what I knew about him. Maybe I was being naive. Maybe I just wanted to believe he wouldn’t do something sinister with that bolt.
“You chatted?” Driscoll echoed. “So you two would just happenupon each other while trying to steal the same ancient artifact and then stop in the middle of your thieving for a casual little conversation?”
“That about sums it up,” I snapped. “Now can we focus on the issue at hand?”
Leoni and Driscoll shot each other looks that I couldn’t decipher. Leoni bit her lip. “Why do you want the bolt?” She gestured around the room of artifacts. “Is it to add to your collection?”
A flush crawled up my neck, staining my cheeks. “I hoped maybe it would get me into the academy. That if I found something that impressive, I could bargain with them for admittance.”
Leoni’s gaze softened. “But what about your husband? Would he really have allowed such a thing?”
I wrapped my arms around my waist. “I hoped that maybe if I did something that grand, he’d finally see me for who I am, that he’d let me attend. It was foolish, and now I need that bolt to bargain for my freedom since I’m wanted for my husband’s murder. Hopefully Princess Poppy is a woman of her word and will convince the frost queen to pardon me—for all my crimes.”
They both stared at me for a minute before Driscoll said, “I’m still hung up on this bone collector thing. Can you just ask him?” Driscoll flailed his arms around. “You know, something like ‘hey bone collector, do you happen to have an all-powerful bolt hidden somewhere in that office of yours, and if so, what, exactly, are your plans for it?’”
I chewed on my bottom lip. What indeed. Why hadn’t he given it up to the academy? This journey he was going on had to be connected to it. I was sure. Maybe the academy knew about it? Was sanctioning this trip? I didn’t know. Couldn’t make sense of it.
“We don’t have that kind of relationship,” I said. “We’re rivals. We compete. We don’t help each other.”
That wasn’t true, but I wasn’t going to delve into our entire history right now. It was too complicated.
