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“Walk with me?” I ask.

“For what purpose?”

“An understanding.”

His nose wrinkles slightly as if this request is beneath him, and maybe it is. I don’t really know what type of relationship he had with the West. Did he detest her and the mask’s magic? Did they also have an understanding? I don’t know how she held the flock for so many years with only three demands.

But I’m not really here to dissect what she had with Faos. I’m here to establish our relationship.

With a grumble, he gives his assent and stalks past me for the wider pasture adjoining the stable.

“Speak,” he tells me, and it takes everything I have not to snap at the tone.

“First I wanted to thank you for the swiftness of retrieving the dog.”

“It was a demand,” he says. “My duty was to fulfill it. Your thanks are empty.”

So, off to a splendidly good start.

The farther we get from the stables, the quieter the night becomes, and the quiet and the dark somehow unsettle me even though I’ve always felt at home there.

Faos would probably kill me, given the right circumstances, and I am aware that a death beneath his hands would be brutal and bloody. I’m hard to kill, but I think he is the type determined enough to succeed at it.

“I want you to look out for Dorothy,” I say quickly.

Faos comes to a stop at the edge of the pasture. “Is that a demand?”

I only have one demand left and once I confirm its request, the flock will be gone, no longer under my command. I can’t have that. Not yet.

“Surely you know the girl is important.”

“Is that your demand?” he asks again.

I can’t hide my frustration and a disgruntled sigh comes out of me. “Faos. I can’t protect you if you’re not under my command.”

A shred of light from the far-off lamppost flickers in his dark eyes as he regards me. “And what would I need your protection from?”

I know he is baiting me. I know that he thinks I am loyal to my family above all else and that admitting otherwise is like admitting defeat. But that’s where he is wrong. Today, anyway.

“If you are under my command, Glinda cannot harm you. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“What will stop her? You?”

“Yes.”

“Why? What’s to stop you from giving her your blessing?”

“Despite what you may think, Glinda does not govern the Wizard of Oz. She won’t cross me and I won’t cross you. That’s my vow to you.”

“Is it?” His thick brow rises.

“Yes,” I say, some of the frustration bleeding in.

“You sent all of Oz after the girl and now you want me to protect her?”

Oh, he is good. I did not expect to be analyzed by the commander of the flock.

“In a game of chess, sometimes you have to sacrifice a few pieces for a tactical victory.”