Chapter 17
Zera
Zera’s eyes fluttered open as the first rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains.
She nestled deeper into the warmth beside her, breathing in Maverick’s familiar scent of oak and citrus.
His arm draped over her bare waist stirred memories of their passionate night together.
They must’ve found their way up the stairs to the bedroom at some point last night.
Panic flared in her chest. The everfrost blossom.
She eased out of Maverick’s embrace, grabbed a pair of sweats and a shirt that must’ve belonged to him because it was huge, and tiptoed across the room, dread mounting with each step.
She pushed the drapes the rest of the way open to bring more light into the room.
Sunrays beamed across the table she’d turned into her lab and positioned in front of the window for maximum sun exposure.
She nearly cried. There it was, the once-vibrant flower drooped in its wintery terrarium, petals shriveled and brown.
Only one seed was left.
Zera clutched at her hair, pacing in circles.
She was dead. No, worse than dead. If she didn’t develop and bring the synthetic pixie-dust drug to Kraven, he would make an example of her.
Images of fae strung up by their wrists, flesh peeled from their bodies, flashed through her mind.
The work of the incubus to those who crossed him.
He’d turned down the meeting with Gareth, and somehow, she knew it was because of her offer. He must’ve had a seer in his gang.
“Good morning,” Maverick murmured from the bed.
She turned and gazed at him, his godlike muscles glowing in the morning light and reflecting off his glorious pecs.
How could she tell him she’d lied after he’d been so open with her about his past?
That she didn’t have a working synthetic pixie-dust drug like she claimed.
She didn’t even have a live plant to study for the missing element for her precursor.
“Zera? Are you okay?” Maverick asked when she didn’t respond, concern etched into his handsome features.
“Uh, yeah. Fine,” she lied, forcing a smile.
“Just need to use the bathroom.” She yanked the curtain closed before she hurried across the room, her mind racing.
She had to figure out what had gone wrong with the plant.
It couldn’t have been lack of sunlight, and she’d already taken the temperature into consideration.
Perhaps elevation? It was a good theory, but they were in the penthouse. Surely, that was high enough.
She splashed cold water onto her face, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. She glanced at her faestone on the bathroom sink. They’d been out late, and she’d missed her evening routine of calling Jade. She would try to reach her later.
A heavy sigh escaped her. She needed to tell Maverick the truth about her predicament, but fear of his reaction held her back. Would he understand? Or would he see her as just another lying pixie?
“Zera?” Maverick called softly from the doorway, his boxers straining against the vee of muscles leading all the way down. “Is everything all right?”
She looked at him in the mirror, forgetting she hadn’t closed the door. For a moment, she thought she saw a hint of vulnerability in his eyes. It made her heart ache. She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly feeling dry.
“I… I need to talk to you,” she managed to choke out, her voice barely above a whisper.
Maverick leaned against the doorframe, his triceps rippling as he folded his arms across his massive chest. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.
Zera took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to say.
“I lied to you, Maverick,” she began, her words tumbling out in a rush.
“About my progress with the everfrost plant. I haven’t actually been able to extract its elements to study them to see if they’re a precursor for my synthetic pixie dust because the plant keeps dying. ”
He didn’t say anything, so she kept going.
“Last night, I thought that when Gareth didn’t show up that I could distract Kraven from even considering Gareth’s deal with a better one.
Then at least we could keep Gareth from getting Kraven’s business, even if Gareth didn’t arrive when we were there.
Then we could use Kraven to get to Gareth somehow while I finished developing the synthetic.
“I had to do something. Gareth was never going to show up, but I didn’t think it all the way through.
I was just thinking we had to do something.
My son needs me back, and I will do anything to finally go back to the way things were.
We need to take Gareth down by any means necessary.
I need to be with my son again, and I’ll do anything.
But then last night happened, and you were so… happy. I didn’t want to ruin the mood.”
She stopped, running out of breath. A myriad of emotions flickered across Maverick’s face—confusion, disappointment, and finally, betrayal. A storm raged in his eyes and bore into hers. Zera felt her heart constrict painfully in her chest, their connection going dim.
“Say something, please,” she pleaded, her voice trembling.
“I…” Maverick paused, running a hand through his tousled hair. “I’m not sure what to say, Zera. You lied to me. And after everything I told you, about my past and your demands for the truth…”
He trailed off, his gaze dropping to the floor.
Zera could see the hurt in his eyes, and it was like a dagger twisting in her gut.
She’d begged him to be honest with her, and he hadn’t even lied.
Not directly. He’d only withheld information, which had hurt her ability to trust him.
Now, she’d just severed their recent foundation of trust by lying to his face.
To say she felt beyond guilty was an understatement.
“Please, I was only desperate to save Cole.” Tears brimmed her eyes, and she blinked them back. She missed her son so much that she would do anything. Maverick had to at least understand that.
Maverick’s jaw clenched, his hands balling into fists at his sides.
“You should have told me the truth from the beginning,” he said quietly, his voice laced with hurt but also fear.
“You put yourself in danger, and now, you’re indebted to Kraven.
You put another target on your back, as if we don’t have enough as it is. ”
“I know that! It’s all messed up,” Zera cried.
“And the worst of it is, I didn’t have the guts to be honest with you.
I’m so sorry for lying to you. I never meant to hurt you.
I just wanted to finally make progress on getting my son out of Pixie Hollow and back to our normal, ordinary, non-spy life. ”
Zera’s shoulders slumped as she struggled to meet Maverick’s piercing gaze. She knew she had betrayed his trust, and the weight of her poor decision left her utterly defeated.
Maverick remained silent for what felt like an eternity but finally let out a long exhalation. “I need some time to process this,” he finally said, his voice tight. “Time can’t be wasted, since we’re running out of it, so get dressed and meet me downstairs in ten minutes for training.”
Zera nodded, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat as he left her alone. She shook off the emotion that bubbled up from their growing bond. It had taken so much to get where they’d been last night, and now, because of one stupid decision, she’d risked everything. She’d risked their lives.
She grabbed her faestone, selecting Jade’s image. She needed to see her son, to remind herself why she was doing all of this.
The screen blinked, the white dots flickering across her face. The faestone rang multiple times until a message saying they were not picking up popped up. Jade was probably busy with the morning routine. Zera sighed, the disappointment weighing on her. She would have to try again later.
She quickly threw on her workout clothes and met Maverick in the living room, her nerves on edge.
The training session started quietly, both avoiding eye contact as they went through warm-up stretches. The silence between them was deafening, filled only by the occasional grunt or shuffle of feet on the mats.
As they began sparring, Zera struggled to find the words to explain herself.
“Maverick, I know I made a mistake,” she started, dodging his punch while throwing one of her own, which he blocked with ease.
“I was just desperate to get at Gareth, to ruin his plans so it’s easier to take him out. I thought I could handle it on my own.”
Maverick’s expression remained stoic as he aimed a kick at her midsection, which she narrowly avoided. “You should have trusted me,” he said gruffly. “We’re partners. Mates. We have to have each other’s backs.”
The way he said mates sent an arrow through her heart.
It wasn’t said with the love they’d expressed to each other last night but dripped with sarcasm and disbelief.
Zera bit her cheek. She had jeopardized not only their lives but their relationship.
As they continued to spar, all she could do was vow to never break Maverick’s trust again.
She would do whatever it took to make things right.
She’d follow Maverick’s instructions to a tee, destroying Gareth together, and she’d replant the everfrost blossom, and this time she would succeed.
She had been so close last time. It had lasted longer than the first seed.
She needed more elevation for it somehow.
Zera focused on throwing her weight into a series of punches, channeling her frustration at the whole situation into each strike.
Jab. Cross. Right hook. Left uppercut. The sequence Maverick had drilled into her was beginning to feel like second nature.
He still blocked them effortlessly, his expression unreadable.
She had to prove to him and to herself that she was capable, that she could fix her mistakes and learn from them.