“Everything,” he says, grabbing a cake from the plate and sniffing it carefully. Like me, I bet he’s wondering if the food is poisoned. After a few good inhales, he seems satisfied and bites into it. I pretend not to notice that he’s naked, but … his cock is in direct view. I find myself staring at it on accident, forcing myself to snap my gaze to his face. “But the edges of my memory are blurred.”
“You bit Dorothy,” I remind him, and he nods.
“I’d have done worse, given the chance.” Taavi finishes the cake off and then rises from the bed, fingering the dog tag around his neck. He looks out the window, his dark hair mussed up, black ears perked up. One swivels back as he stares out at the Emerald City, listening for any sounds from beyond the door.
Instead of doing something productive, like asking one of the thousand questions I had for Bain, I stare at the spot where Taavi’s tail connects to his lower back. You’d think it’d be weird, having a furred tail just above that tight ass of his, but it’s not.
My fingers itch to touch it.
The tail, not the ass.
Or … I’m lying to myself and really, I’d like to touch both.
On impulse, I reach out and stroke my hand along the fluff of his tail.
The thunderous look that Taavi turns on me makes my heart stop in my chest. It never occurred to me that he could turn on me, make my life a living hell. From moment one, I just sort of assumed he was on my side. Then again, what might he have done on that first day, by the creek, if Bain hadn’t stopped him?
The way he’s looking at me now makes me seriously reconsider my position.
I draw my hand back, eyes wide as he drops the curtain and turns to me.
“Do. Not. Touch. My. Tail.” He grinds out each word between his teeth, his pointed canines flashing as he glares down at me. “Ever.”
“I’ve stroked it plenty of times before,” I protest when, really, I should just shut the fuck up and let it go. We both know that my stroking his tail before was not the same as it is now.
There’s a tension between us that I don’t quite understand, one that almost hurts. It’s hot and sticky and achy, and I find myself curling my hands into fists in my skirts to keep from touching him again.
Taavi growls something low under his breath, in a language I’ve never heard before, and swipes his hand over his face. My gaze flicks over to his crotch, finding that his previously flaccid cock is now rock-hard. I swallow and turn my eyes up to his, but he just ignores me, stalking away to grab a silken robe in a deep jade, swinging it over his shoulders and belting it at the waist.
The weirdness of the moment passes, but I won’t forget it, not even if Taavi seems to want to.
“The witch,” he says again, moving slowly around the room, running his fingers over surfaces, like he’s looking for something in particular. “What did he want?”
“To help me, apparently,” I say with careful neutrality. It’s obvious that Taavi doesn’t like Bain, and vice versa. “He saved you, didn’t he?”
Taavi’s brown eyes flick back to me, but he turns away again, continuing his inspection of the room, trying the doors, the windows, checking inside the wardrobes like he’s trying to find a way to fuckin’ Narnia.
“What else?” Taavi finishes his routine and then stops in front of me, his tail tenting the back of the robe just slightly. It’s almost enough to make me smile. Almost. But then, I remember that I’m trapped inside a place that Bain referred to as a palace of horrors, playing a game where death is the punishment for failure, and where I don’t know any of the rules.
“He took the horrible glasses off”—I point at the discarded goggles—”and gave me some weird candies that were braided into his hair. Apparently, I’m supposed to take one in the morning before the Trials.”
“The Trials …” Taavi starts, looking down at me with an expression I can only assume is pity. “Oz, you’re not ready for the Trials. I assumed when I brought you here that we’d find another wizard willing to teach you. It’s clear that the Land of Oz has changed quite a bit from when I was a child.”
“What do the candies do?” I ask, because I’m not eating any unless Taavi tells me it’s okay. I’m not sure what Bain’s true motivation is, or what he wants, but I do know this: Taavi has been around for as long as I can remember. He protected our family; he saved my life. Whatever he says, I’m going to listen to.
