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I push up off the floor and kiss him.

All the tension in his body melts away and then he’s pressing into me, his hands on my hips, then a hand on my ass, driving us against each other.

There is an unmistakable hardness growing between his legs and heat pools down in my core.

This is exactly the thing I should not be doing, and it’s exactly why I am.

His tongue finds mine, and a groan escapes him and he tightens his grip on my ass, grinding me against him.

This is bad.

I shouldn’t be doing this.

Is this part of the game?

“Dorothy…” Tin’s voice carries down the hall.

Rook pulls away like he’s burned. His attention pivots for a split second and then cuts back to me. “Don’t believe everything you see and hear about me.”

“Wait. I want Toto back,” I tell him.

But he’s already gone.

The Tinman walks into the kitchen and takes in the sight of me, bedraggled, flushed, and pressed against the door, several cakes smashed on the floor.

“What happened?”

“He was here.” The words come out too quickly, nearly choked, and shame burns in my face.

“Who?”

“Rook. I mean, the Wizard. He was just here. And then he was gone. Can he do that?”

Please don’t let that have been an illusion. Some trick of the mind. Some kind of magic I’ve yet to encounter.

“Yes,” Tin admits. “He can travel through the ether from one end of Oz to the other at the snap of his fingers.”

“He wasn’t even carrying a wand.”

The Tinman makes a disgruntled sound. “Do you need a wand?”

“Well, no.”

“Neither does he. The wand is a prop. More a symbol of his power rather than a tool of it. Why do you look so…” He trails off, narrows his eyes. “Be careful, witchling. Don’t fall for his games.”

“I’m not. I wasn’t.”

He makes a path around the room, inspecting, as if looking for clues. “So what did he say?”

I go to the worktable, prop my elbows on it, and set my face in my hands. I can’t seem to take a full breath. Why does Rook’s presence send me into a frenzy?

I am weak. The Tinman is right, I am falling for the games. But I am burning brightly. I feel so damn … alive.

“He said a whole bunch of fluff.” I lift my face. “Why come here, though? What did he hope to gain? He just sent all of Oz after us. If he really wanted us dead or captured, he could have just done it himself. Right now. Right here.”

Tin levels me with a look.

“Right.” I huff out a breath. “Games.”