Page 97 of Wilds of Wonder
Over and over.
Wondering what it would’ve been like if I had slipped that hoodfrom her head, tugged that cloak from her body. I never would’ve done it without her permission, but maybe if I’d chased after her, I could’ve shown her that I wouldn’t give up so easily.
At this point, I’d thought so many times about what she might look like, but the truth was it didn’t matter.
I knew her heart. Her soul. Both sang to me in a way nothing else ever had.
I took a steadying breath and plucked the little triangular paper from the jar, then unfolded it to see her familiar handwriting. I loved the way she signed it: WR. How she curved the Ws at the corners and looped the R to connect it. I could hear Annalee’s voice in my head, teasing me about this infatuation, how I was so head over heels for this woman that I’d even fallen for her handwriting.
I studied the piece of paper, and my heart sank when I read the rest of the note. It didn’t take long. It was only a single sentence.
I can’t do this anymore.
WR
That was it. After five years of playing our game, this was all I got. I ran a hand over my head, shivering and wishing I’d brought my damn cloak.
But I’d wanted to give her a show of good faith. To reveal myself to her and expect nothing in return. I could’ve just worn my cloak and not pulled the hood up, not worn the scarf covering my face, but no. I decided to be dramatic about it all and show up in just my damn shirt and trousers.
Now I was freezing—and alone. The white rabbit wouldn’t step through these woods and see my face for the first time ever. She wouldn’t hear my speech about how I didn’t want to be anonymous anymore. About how I wanted to be more than friends.
Branches cracked nearby, and I whipped around, heart pounding, hoping this meant she’d changed her mind. Any moment she’d step through the trees and run straight into my arms.
But it wasn’t the white rabbit who appeared in between the thick tree trunks, boots sloshing in the snow.
It was the frost queen.
Her white hair sat atop her head in an elaborate updo of braids that looped around to make a heart shape. Her maroon cloak draped her frail shoulders. Wrinkles and folds lined her ancient face. I didn’t know her exact age, but she’d been queen since the Shadow War, when the reigning king and his entire family had been killed. She’d been a distant cousin, someone who never had hope of ruling, but the war had changed everything for her.
She only came up to my chest, but she stood tall, raising her age-spotted nose in the air. She used a cane that she leaned on as she stepped forward.
“Maverick Von Lucas,” she said. “Now this is a surprise.”
I thanked the bloody spirits I hadn’t worn my cloak, the cloak that would give away my identity as the bone collector. The queen would never understand. I’d lose my position as her advisor, lose my job at the academy. My reputation would be ruined beyond hope of ever redeeming it.
I bowed. “Your Majesty.”
“I came here expecting to see the white rabbit.” Her eyes narrowed in on me. “You are not the white rabbit.”
No. The queen couldn’t catch the white rabbit. She’d throw her in one of the infamous ice prisons. Blocks of thick ice that surrounded iron bars, trapping prisoners inside, many of them freezing to death before they even got any kind of audience with the queen to discuss their crime. The white rabbit had frost magic, so she likely wouldn’t freeze to death, but the thought of her in one of those cells—I wouldn’t stand for it.
“The white rabbit?” I asked, stepping forward, mind working quickly. If she found out I was the bone collector, I’d never be able to protect the white rabbit. I cleared my throat. “Yes, I came here for the same reason. I’ve been tracking her.”
The frost queen raised her chin, eyeing me with approval. “Of course you have. This is exactly why I made you historical advisor to the crown. You take charge. You don’t wait to be told what to do. You’re apioneer in this field, you know.” She spread out her skinny arms, hands threaded with veins under paper-thin skin. “So what have you found about this white rabbit?”
I had to tread this dangerous ground very, very carefully. “Not much. She’s clever. Cunning.”
“What does she know?” The queen’s voice came out sharper than I’d expected.
She always exuded such calm, an impenetrable wall of ice that couldn’t be chipped or cracked by anyone. The white rabbit had her rattled, but I didn’t know why. Yes, she was a criminal, stealing artifacts that were supposed to be handed over to the academy. But there were many criminals. An entire black market that thrived under the noses of the crown. The fact that the frost queen had come here herself meant that the white rabbit was a direct threat to her. What I didn’t know was why.
“I’m not sure,” I said slowly.
Her gaze hardened. “We cannot allow her to continue this little charade. Who knows how many valuable items she’s taken? What kind of stories she might be spinning about them.”
She was clearly afraid of the white rabbit finding out something.
“History doesn’t lie, Your Majesty,” I said. “It would be hard for this white rabbit to completely fabricate something based on an object she finds. And who is she going to tell? Revealing a new find or a new theory would out her to the crown.”
