Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
MAVERICK
E mory and I lay on a smooth flat rock in the middle of the hot spring. We’d haphazardly thrown clothes over our bodies in case anyone came across us, but it would be too easy to reach over and lift the tunic draping her midsection, to roll my body on top of hers and bury my cock inside of her.
I couldn’t count the number of times I’d dreamt of this over the years. The amount of times I’d imagined lifting that cloak of hers, bending her over and thrusting into her again and again and again. Now she’d been the one touching me, making me come apart in that hot spring as she stroked my cock. This time, when I came it was with her name on my lips, her mouth pressed to mine.
She stroked my chest in slow, even motions. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.
I snorted, then rolled over and pressed my semi-hard length against her thigh. “Does that answer your question?”
She playfully shoved me off of her. “Did you ever think this would happen between us? When you were the bone collector and I was the white rabbit? ”
I stayed silent. I wanted to tell her yes. I wanted to admit that I’d dreamt of this for six fucking years. That she’d captivated me from the first moment I saw her in that snowy field behind the academy. But something held me back. I remembered her words in that cave. About her husband, about feeling trapped with him, about never wanting to be trapped like that again.
In all the years I’d known her, Emory had always been skittish. She’d always been the one to retreat, to hold back. I didn’t want to scare her or give her any reason to run from me again. So I’d take it slow. I would let her come to me, let her realize that I wasn’t going anywhere. And when she was ready, I’d give her my all. Every piece of me that she wanted. I only hoped I was worthy in the end.
“We had our rules,” I said finally, avoiding the question. “I figured there was a reason you were hiding yourself from me, and I knew why I was hiding from you. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”
“What we had was good,” she agreed, then let out a laugh. “We had a lot of fun over the years.”
“We did.” She rolled to her side, snuggling into my bare chest, and I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “We can still have a lot of fun. As partners.”
As more. When she was ready.
“Partners instead of adversaries. Are you sure that’ll be enough of a challenge for you?”
I laughed. “I think you are my challenge. Seeing you in action, seeing your passion, your knowledge. That’s what I crave.”
She propped herself up on an elbow, the tunic draped across her shifting so that I could see the swell of her breasts, pale skin gleaming in the twilight sky. My cock twitched.
She pointed a finger into my chest. “I can’t believe you got to attend the Academy of Scholars & Historians while I spent four horrid years at the Academy of Ladies.”
I snorted. “What, exactly, does that entail?”
She grimaced. “Learning how to be a lady, of course. We lived in the dormitories and spent our days learning how to sew, how to plan a meal for a family, how to throw a ball, how to plan an intimate dinner party, a feast if any of us were lucky enough to marry someone who had enough money to host something so grand. We had an entire semester dedicated to learning important topics of conversation so our husbands didn’t grow bored of us.” She trailed a finger from my chest down my stomach, making my cock pulse with heat. “And don’t forget the art of pleasing a man.”
I turned onto my side to face her. “Now that I’m quite interested in hearing about.”
“Well you got a little taste of it in the hot spring.” She smiled mischievously.
“Thank the spirits for the Academy of Ladies,” I said, and she swatted at me.
“I had so many dreams,” she said wistfully. “And that academy squashed every one.”
My smile faded as I thought about that day we’d been trapped together in the fire court. Of the dreams she’d shared. “Did you mean it? When you told me that you dreamt of opening a museum one day with all your artifacts? Of offering classes free to the public? Using all that knowledge you gained for others?”
“Yes, I did.” She leaned over and gave me a far too chaste kiss. “There’s so many out there like me who aren’t reaching their full potential because they don’t have the means or the power to do what they want. I met so many women at that academy with dreams they’d never realize, even though there was so much talent. Women would be ruling this continent if so many of them weren’t stuck. It’s not just women, though. There are men, too, who don’t have the money to attend an academy, so they follow in their father’s footsteps, take over the family farm or the blacksmith business. If that’s what they want, then wonderful. But everyone should at least get that chance, you know?”
I stared up at the dusky sky, watching the ribbons of green twist and thread together. “I do know.”
This woman was brilliant. She was going to change lives. Of that I was sure. We just needed to get out of this place so she’d have a chance.
“My sister could’ve used an advocate like you,” I said. “So could I, if I’m being honest.”
Emory moved her finger from my chest to my arm, trailing up and down in soothing motions, waiting for me to continue .
“It’s my fault she’s here. My sister.”
Emory’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
I swallowed. “When Annalee was younger, maybe around ten, she started talking about a place where the sun didn’t shine. Where lakes could show you your future. Where trees were watching you. Where you could whisper commands to the wind. Where plants would eat you unless you knew the right song to sing to lull them to sleep.”
Emory stiffened, her finger pausing on my bicep. “That sounds familiar.”
I nodded. “She told stories of this place. Talked about it constantly. I didn’t realize it was the Deadlands she was talking about at first. We entertained her stories for a while, when we thought they were just stories.”
“We?” Emory asked.
“My father, mother, and I. My father didn’t like Annalee’s fanciful tales, actually forbid Annalee from talking about them. He wanted to send her to the Academy of Ladies, make an honest woman out of her, in his own words. My mother and I protested. We told him that kind of place would stifle her, that marrying her off to a man would kill her spirit. He wouldn’t listen. He was steadfast in his plan. Meanwhile, Annalee’s stories got wilder, more specific. She talked of people who had scales, fur, fangs. Of elementals who had turned into creatures.”
“Maverick,” Emory said, concern in her voice.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I know. Now that I’m here, I know. She saw it all. Somehow.” My jaw locked. “But I realized it too late.”
“What happened?” Emory squeezed my arm reassuringly.
“She was growing increasingly agitated as the years went on. Openly defiant when my father told her to stop talking about this place. The Wilds, she called it.”
Emory’s mouth dropped open.
“She admitted to me privately that it was the Deadlands, that this place was full of trapped creatures, of the most wondrous sights, and I?—”
I stopped, the memory filling me with guilt.
“I told her it wasn’t real. That maybe it was time to grow up and think about what she wanted to do with her life.” My throat grew thick with the admission. “I thought I was helping her at the time. That if she’d just stop my father wouldn’t send her to the Academy of Ladies. But she didn’t see it like that. She looked at me like I’d gutted her. After that, she retreated completely. Stayed in her room, refused to come out. I’d been offered a job at the Academy of Scholars & Historians by that point. And I left her. I left her, knowing what kind of man my father was. Knowing he wouldn’t hesitate to send her away.”
“So he sent her to the Academy of Ladies?” Emory asked.
“According to my mother, she didn’t even react on the day she left. It was like she was already broken.” My voice shook, betraying my emotion. “I visited her a few times, and she was never like her normal self. Didn’t talk about the Wilds at all. I begged my father to let her leave. Told him she could stay with me. But he refused. Said this was what she needed.”
“Maverick, you can’t blame yourself.” Emory’s pale eyes pierced me. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t have possibly known what she was saying was real. You were trying to protect her.”
“Yet I did the opposite. I didn’t believe in her.”
Just like I hadn’t believed in Emory. I wondered in what ways I’d damaged her mind, her heart, by telling her she was a murderer, by treating her like one. I’d known her for six years, and all it had taken was Gungar, whom I didn’t even like, to tell me some rumor, and I’d believed him. I’d thought the worst of Emory, just like I’d thought the worst of my sister.
“How do you know she’s here?” Emory asked, breaking me free of my thoughts.
“She left me a note. And I knew immediately what it meant. But before I could go after her, I had to prepare. I needed something strong, powerful, to ensure my survival and hers, to ensure we got out of the Deadlands alive. That’s why I took that bolt. And I’m sorry. When you said you were looking for it, I wanted to tell you everything. But?—”
“But I ran away,” Emory said.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “So I went after it and hoped you’d forgive me.”
Emory bit her lip. “I do. And we’re going to find her,” she said.
“I don’t doubt it with you by my side. You want something and you just go after it. You rise to every challenge.”
She squirmed under my gaze. “Your sister is a lucky girl.”
“A woman now,” I murmured. “She’s nearly twenty.”
“Did she ever say how she knew about the Wilds?” Emory asked. “It’s remarkable that she had so much information about this place.”
It was a question I’d asked myself time and time again. How? How had she dreamt of this? How had she been so accurate in her descriptions? “I have no idea. But if—when—we find her, we’ll be sure to ask. She might be the key to understanding why the Wilds is the way it is.”
“Maverick,” Emory started, worrying at her bottom lip. “I’ve been thinking... what if someone brought Annalee here? What if they sent her those dreams?”
“But that’s not possible,” I said. “Only star elementals have the power to enter dreams.”
And they were all gone... Except El. Emory stared at me with a meaningful look.
“You think El could’ve done this?” I asked.
“Who else?” she said. “You heard her and Aron. There’s no other star elementals left.”
“That’s true, but...” I stretched an arm behind my head. “No star elemental has that kind of power. They can enter others’ dreams, but only if they’re nearby, close enough to see the person whose dreams they want to infiltrate.” They could also use their magic to put others to sleep, but once again, they had to be close enough to see the person.
Emory sighed. “True. El wouldn’t have the power to enter your sister’s dreams when she was all the way in Gilraeth. Not from here, anyway. Just more questions that we don’t have answers to.”
She paused, a wicked glint in her eyes as she sat up and peeled the tunic from her chest, then rolled her body on top of mine. “So maybe we stop thinking about all those questions. Maybe we do something else instead.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I murmured.
“Mm.” Emory pressed a kiss to my lips, her tongue slipping into my mouth as her hand slipped to my inner thigh, barely grazing my cock. “ That means I have the rest of the night to show you what else I learned in that academy.”
My cock stiffened as Emory lowered herself down my body, trailing kisses down my stomach, licking, teasing until her mouth pressed against my already moistened tip.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my hand fisting in her hair. Her tongue licked around the tip and then she took my entire length into her mouth.
“Fire and fucking blood,” I groaned as she sucked, then released me, shooting a wicked smile my way.
“I might not have paid attention in all my classes, but in that one, I was a particularly good student.”
And she spent the rest of the night showing me exactly how good of a student she’d been.