Ruler of Beasts (Dorothy Must Die, #0.6)(19)
Ozma looked puzzled. “My guest?”
“Oh yes, and she’s in an absolute state, the girls are running themselves ragged—please, Your Majesty, you really must come at once!” Without waiting for them to reply, the maid took off in the other direction. Ozma raised her eyebrows at the Lion, shrugging, and followed, with the Lion close on her heels. “I guess we’ll have to wait just a bit before we rest,” she said ruefully. “I know I didn’t invite anyone to the palace. I wonder who’s here.”
Jellia led them to Ozma’s throne room and threw open the doors, curtsying deeply. “Her Majesty, Queen Ozma of Oz!” she announced breathlessly, staying in her curtsy with her eyes cast down as if unwilling to face whoever awaited them. Ozma swept past her, her bearing regal. Beyond her, the Lion could see a figure silhouetted against the throne room’s huge picture windows. At first, he thought she was just incredibly tall. And then he realized she was hovering several inches off the ground.
“My goodness,” she said in a syrupy-sweet, all-too-familiar voice, turning to face them. “Look what the cat dragged in.” She giggled, and something about the sound was infinitely more terrifying than any of the Nome King’s threats. “Welcome back, dearest Ozma. And of course, Your Highness,” she added, bowing to the Lion in a gesture that was subtly mocking. “I think you have something of mine. I’ve come to get it back.”
THIRTEEN
“Glinda.” Ozma’s voice was cold enough to freeze boiling water. “What exactly brings you back to the Emerald City after I suggested you not return?”
Glinda laughed. “Dearest Ozma, I’m sure you know. The Lion certainly does.”
Ozma shot a startled look at the Lion. His heart sank. He had been stupid not to be completely honest with Ozma. Now it was too late. The queen would realize the extent of his deceit and never forgive him. His time in the palace was clearly over, but more than that, he was sorry to lose someone who had become a real friend. “What does Glinda mean, Lion?” Ozma asked.
“It’s nothing,” the Lion blurted. “I have no idea.”
Ozma’s eyes narrowed. “Which one is it? Nothing, or no idea?”
Glinda laughed again. “Now, now, Lion. It won’t do to try to break the promise you made me. We’re connected now—how else do you think I knew you’d found my necklace?”
Ozma was looking back and forth between the two of them. “What promise?”
“Glinda found me in the Kingdom of the Beasts,” the Lion said miserably. “She made me promise to find the Wizard’s necklace. I had no idea she was going behind your back.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ozma gasped.
“Glinda put a spell on me,” the Lion said. “She commanded me to keep it secret. Anyway, it didn’t seem important until we actually found the necklace. But by then we’d defeated the Nome King and I guess it just . . . it just slipped my mind,” he finished, well aware of how feeble he sounded. Ozma’s expression was a mixture of fury and disappointment.
Glinda cleared her throat. “My necklace, please.”
“It’s not your necklace,” the Lion said bravely, lashing his tail as he faced Glinda. “It belongs to Oz. I’ve—I’ve changed my mind. I won’t give it to you.”
“No matter what you get in return?”
He thought of the image of the girl in front of the house. Then he thought of Ozma pulling him through the wall. He wanted Dorothy back, but not at Ozma’s expense.
“No matter what,” he said firmly, feeling stronger and better as each word landed. At that, Glinda threw back her head and laughed even harder. “Oh, Lion,” she chuckled. “Silly, silly Cowardly Lion. You don’t understand, do you? I’m not giving you a choice.” She flicked her wrists, and bolts of pink lightning shot toward the Lion’s chest. At the last second, Ozma made a slashing motion, and a wall of green energy sprung up around the Lion. Glinda’s bolts slammed into Ozma’s force field and splintered harmlessly, crackling and smoking.
He realized at that moment that Glinda hadn’t wanted him to protect Ozma from danger. Glinda was the danger.
“You’ve enchanted one of my subjects without my consent, barged into my palace, and now you want to steal something that isn’t yours from under my nose?” Ozma snarled. “After all your promises to help me? We could have been friends, you know.”
Glinda hissed, her terrifyingly rigid smile turning to a scowl. “Are you kidding me, you little ingrate? I made you queen, and this is how you repay me? By throwing me out of the Emerald Palace and accusing me of treason? The Scarecrow might have been an incompetent idiot, but at least he knew his place.”
“He’s not an idiot!” the Lion protested. Both Glinda and Ozma glanced at him as if they had only just remembered he was there before returning to stare at each other, the air between them crackling with energy.
“What have you done with it, Ozma?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” Ozma said coldly. The Lion blinked. Glinda didn’t know where the necklace actually was—she just knew one of them had it, and of course she’d assumed it was Ozma. If he could get out of the throne room unnoticed, he could hide it somewhere safe until Ozma took care of Glinda. Once the coast was clear, he’d give it back to Ozma and restore her faith in him. It was a plan worthy of the Scarecrow himself.