Page 83 of Wilds of Wonder
The spots around the edges of my vision grew bigger, but I blinked them away, determined to see this through. When Future Me got to the bottom of the stairs, a voice boomed out.
“Ah, there she is. The lady of the hour. My wife.”
The word shot sparks through me. My blood heated at hearing it because I knew exactly who had spoken it.
“My wife.”
Maverick Von Lucas appeared in the doorway and strode down the stairs behind me, smiling at students. He looked so handsome in his fitted grey trousers, black shirt tucked in, a few buttons popped open at the top, grey suspenders stretched over his broad shoulders. When he turned his gaze onto me, his smile widened, those copper eyes filling with warmth.
Maybe we were teaching a class together. How amazing would that be? The spots returned, and that burning in my lungs worsened, spreading across my chest and up to my throat, but I ignored it, needing to know what happened. To unlock whatever message was being sent to me.
Maverick met Future Me at the bottom of the stairs, kissing her on the cheek and turning to his class. “My wife. I don’t know what I’d do without her,” he said. “Can’t teach without my lucky watch.”
She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a watch, a silver chain connected to it. The same watch I’d found here, in the Wilds. Future Me handed it to Maverick, and he attached the chain to his belt.
“Thank you, my love,” he said. “I’ll be home a little late for dinner tonight.” He turned his attention to the students. “Alright, everyone turn to page thirty in your books.”
Future Me gave him a strained smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She turned without a word, marching up the stairs, back ramrod straight.
This couldn’t be right. The black spots grew, the vision growing hazy, but not before I caught the tear rolling down Future Me’s cheek as she dashed from Maverick’s classroom.
No. That wasn’t supposed to be my future. My lungs screamed at me now, darkness cascading over me as all the colors separated, seeping back into the stones, no longer blending. I needed to swim, to get air, but I was too weak, too tired. My body was already failing me, and I hadn’t even realized it, so sucked in by the vision.
My head grew heavy, my eyelids like weights. I lifted an arm, but it felt like trying to move through heavy mud. My consciousness began to fade right when a hand grabbed my arm, yanking me from the water and onto solid ground.
A distant voice called my name while a hand thumped my back. I coughed, water burning its way up my throat and out of my mouth. My stomach heaved, and I retched up more water, that darkness slowly ebbing and clearing.
“Emory,” Maverick said, voice urgent.
He rolled me onto my back after I’d gotten all the water from my stomach and lungs.
“What in the bloody fire happened?” His concerned face stared down at me.
My entire vision came back to me. Maverick. The Academy.His wife.
His. Wife.
That was my future. El had told me about this lake, about how she saw her own future in it, that she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I’d just seen my future, and it was my worst nightmare. I slowly sat up as Maverick cupped my face, staring at me with such intensity.
“Emory, what happened? What?—”
“The lake,” I said, voice raspy, throat still on fire. “It—don’t look at it.”
“I’m not looking at anything but you,” he said so gently it made me want to cry. “I’m not taking my eyes off of you ever again.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my cheek.
Exactly the same way he had in that vision. His wife. I was Maverick Von Lucas’s wife. But he hadn’t set me free like I’d hoped. No. In my future with Maverick, I was just as trapped as I had been in my past.
Chapter Forty
EMORY, TWO YEARS AGO
Ilifted the mask of Spirit Sky, studying it and smiling with glee as the bone collector lay next to me on the rocky hills of the Valoris highlands. The grass was soft and spongy, and we’d collapsed onto it after escaping the lighthouse where we’d just come from.
“You cheated,” he said from next to me as a chilly blast of wind howled past us.
I raised my nose. “You’re just jealous, Bone Collector. I outwitted you. Two years in a row now.”
I wished I could see his face in this moment, that I could know if his reaction was to roll his eyes or furrow his brows or frown deeply—or smile, more amused by my comments than annoyed.
