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“You’re an asshole,” I say.

“Yes. But an asshole with power.”

“Why did you lie to me? Why did you lie to Oz? I’m not here to overthrow you.”

“Oh?” He arches a brow and pulls a slip of folded paper from his pocket. He watches me as he unfolds it, then gives it a snap, straightening the creases. He takes another sip of the brandy then sets the glass down and reads.

“‘Do not trust the Wizard. Do not seek him. He is never what he seems. Dorothy, you must destroy him if you want to reclaim your rightful place on the throne.’”

I grit my teeth together.

I was in the middle of the letter when Rook appeared in the West’s castle, surprising me. And I never got to return to reading it before he stabbed me.

I didn’t get to the part about reclaiming the throne.

Rook wasn’t lying to the people of Oz after all.

My birth mother, the Witch of the West, wanted me to overthrow him. She wanted me to reclaim the throne that was taken from her.

Maybe Tin was right, maybe she was a coward and now she’s saddled me with a legacy I never wanted.

“Just because she wrote it doesn’t mean I plan to do it. I didn’t even know she was my mother until recently.”

The letter disappears back into his pocket.

I want that letter. I want to know what else the West said. I think there must be more secrets hidden inside, otherwise he wouldn’t have an interest in keeping it from me.

“I can send you home right now,” he says.

I go completely still. “Home?”

He nods. “Back to Kansas.”

Back to Em and Henry. Back to safety. Back to normalcy. Back to Edward.

They must all be worried sick by now. The days are starting to blur together here. How long have I been in Oz?

This is what I’ve wanted since the farmhouse landed in that field. To return to the life I had.

So why does everything in my body want to dig in and say no?

“Do you want me to go home?”

He frowns. “Why do you care what I want, Kansas?” The question rasps out of his throat, almost like he is pained to ask it.

But it’s a good question and one that I can’t fathom answering. Because I’m not sure I understand any of my wants and desires right now. All of them go against my better interests.

Rook snaps his fingers and disappears.

I stagger back and bump into him.

Before my brain can catch up, he’s reaching around me, grabbing my right wrist, controlling the hand that holds the knife. His other hand comes to the back of my neck and he swings me around, slamming me into the nearest wall.

I let out a puff of air.

His body instantly dwarfs mine, caging me in.

My heart is beating so hard, it’s pounding against my eardrums.