He frowned at the spots of charred earth left by the Gliders’ arrows. “Tomorrow will come soon enough.”
The crowd shuffled obediently away, still sending curious glances in their direction. She understood why. Other than Kansas, no one else looked anything like them.
Her friend brushed a kiss across her forehead. “We need to talk,” he whispered, before allowing his king to lead him away. She nodded, her smile fading at his worried expression.
Braxim pranced by with his shoulders straight and proud as his friends looked on. Emily giggled, obviously delighted to be the center of attention. “Dorothy, I should be mad at you for bringing me along, but since none of this is real, I think I’m going to accept Braxy’s invitation to his tent so I can…um…lie down. My foot was bleeding, you know. I’ll see you later.”
Dorothy eyed the large horsemen who were obviously excited at the prospect. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me, Emily? At least until we find out what’s going on?”
A pair of warm hands dropped to her bare shoulders, soothing her with a caress.
“She’ll be fine. None of the Equus would hurt her, Braxim least of all. Trust me.”
Dorothy watching them wander away, waiting until they were out of earshot to spin on her heel and confront the wizard. “Trust you? Why on earth, or in Oz…Goddess, I can’t believe I just said that. Why should I trust you? You manipulated my stepsister and stole my best friend. You teased me with promises and kisses and mental foreplay until you were all I could think about and then you left. Like a fool I followed you, only to find myself taken prisoner, marching naked and barefoot all day, and to top off that shit sundae, being shot at by insane bird people with flaming arrows trying to take me to their leader. I should have stayed in my apartment.”
“But you didn’t.” Z stepped closer, forcing her to crane her neck to meet his gaze. “You chose to come here. You said my name and called the storm. Why?”
“Hell if I know. Temporary insanity brought on by the poppy field. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find Emily before she’s trampled by those young studs and catch the next tornado out of this madhouse.”
Before she took her first step he was lifting her into his arms as an angry wind whipped around them. “Oh no, my sweet. You’re in my world now. I won’t let you get away from me again. I think it’s time you and I got a few things straight.”
The wind lifted them off the ground, taking them over the campground and into the mountains beyond.
Dorothy bit her lip, Z’s expression forbidding further conversation, plus the whole floating above the ground thing was really throwing her off. Aunt Glin had never taught her how to do this.
Aunt Glin. Would she be worried? She hadn’t returned from her vacation by the time Dorothy had left, so she had no way of knowing.
Thoughts of her elderly relative disappeared as they dove into a dark crevice hidden within the mountainside.
“Where are we—” The darkness gave way to an unearthly blue light and she gasped in delight.
“We’re home. My home. And this time nothing and no one will interrupt us.”
Chapter Five
It was beautiful. On closer inspection it was less a cave than a palace, hewn out of crystals and gemstones and magic. She didn’t know where the light was coming from, but it poured in from every corner, reflecting off the purple and blue stones to warm the room.
“You live here?”
Why would you ever leave?
Z leaned against the far wall, watching her take in the low tables and fat, tasseled pillows on the floor. “On and off. I’m bound by the pleasure of the king and his demands. But when I need to be alone, I come here.”
Dorothy tilted her head. “Alone? Are you telling me this isn’t the Oz version of a swinging bachelor pad? Because I won’t believe it.”
His lips twitched, but he shook his head. “I can find the kind of company you’re referring to anywhere. But I’ve never brought anyone here before. They call them sanctuaries for a reason. But I admit it pleases me, even more than I thought it would, that you should be the first to join me.”
She ignored the leap her heart gave at his words. It didn’t mean what she thought it did. It couldn’t.
You can’t lie to yourself.
She could try. “What now? Are you going to tell me what’s going on here?”
“Later.” He stood away from the wall, his fingers reaching up to undo the top button of his white linen shirt. “Right now, we’re going to finish what we started the other night.”
Dorothy took an instinctive step ba
ck. Feeling like prey. “Oh is that what—What are you doing?”