Ruler of Beasts by Danielle Paige

Author:Danielle Paige
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-12-25T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

“What do you mean, you weren’t sure that was going to work?” the Lion demanded. Ozma shrugged.

“All the legends about the Nome King say he’s obsessed with riddles and gambling, and he loves turning people into furniture and tchotchkes and that sort of thing. I knew there was no way we could actually talk him out of invading Oz, and we’re certainly not strong enough to fight him. I was hoping he’d pull something like this, but I couldn’t be sure.” The Lion stared at her, speechless. Ozma had bet the farm on a handful of legends about a king no one else knew existed and the might of his stomach?

“It worked, didn’t it?” she said, as if she could read his mind.

The Lion had no response to that, so he decided to think about something else. “But what will happen to the people of Ev? If the Nome King was invading Oz to help them—”

“Oh, that,” Ozma said dismissively. “That was a load of hooey. Ev is incredibly rich. If the people are suffering, it’s his fault—his and the Princess Langwidere’s. There’s nothing I can do about that from here, although once I’m sure Oz is stable, I might look into deposing them both.”

“The princess who?”

“Langwidere,” Ozma said. “She’s horrible beyond belief. She has as many heads as there are days in the month and she exchanges them at will. Pray you never meet her—or the Wheelers.” The Lion thought of the strange, patchworked creatures he’d seen in the Nome King’s vision and shuddered.

“Anyway, we won!” Ozma exclaimed happily. “And we got the Wizard’s necklace back, too!”

Should he tell Ozma that Glinda was just as eager to find the necklace as she was? He decided against it. He’d figure out a way out of his deal with Glinda on his own. There was no way to tell Ozma about Glinda’s desire for the necklace without confessing she was the one who’d sent him to the Emerald City in the first place. All this intrigue was making his head hurt, especially after the stress of saving Oz from the clutches of the Nome King and rescuing Ozma from certain doom.

“We shouldn’t rest here any longer,” Ozma warned. His heart sank. He’d been hoping for a nap. But he knew the queen was right. They were practically in the Land of Ev, after all, and he’d seen all he wanted of the Nome King. “He has to obey the bargain we made, but if I know anything about the Nome King, he’ll already be trying to find a way around it,” she added. “We should go back to the Emerald Palace before he tries to return this way.”

Ozma didn’t sound too worried about the possibility that the Nome King might persist in his attempt to invade Oz after all. Was she brave, or just foolhardy? Whatever the case, he had no interest in sticking around either. “Can you teleport us back to the Emerald Palace?” he asked hopefully.

“Through a mile of solid rock?” Ozma laughed.

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