Page 65 of There's No Place Like Oz

Then I saw Dorothy, so downtrodden and sad. The actress who needed an animal for emotional support, because she couldn’t bear the pain of her day to day anymore. The girl who chose me and brought me home, who I was evaluating unconsciously as a viable candidate to sell to my witch.

The girl I’d fallen in love with completely, despite the undercurrent of nefarious intent.

Dorothy was someone I’d chosen as a weak, easy to manipulate, and perfect target to feed to my most deserving and gracious queen.

I choked on that hurt and betrayal I’d committed as the reality was fed to my lady.

Then I watched myself, so desperate to be the man Dorothy deserved, falling away in the cloud of my old memories. Every moment of peace and happiness was washed from my mind in favor of memories of Eloise: the queen who chose me as her right hand. I wasn’t a loyal protector at all. I was the man who kidnapped, sold, and brutalized the Cursed Puppets of Oz.

Reality snapped me into the present with a jolt, and I came back sobbing. Tears stung my eyes and poured down my cheeks, before they dripped from my chin to my open palms below. Every evil I’d committed—unknown creatures and souls and bodies I’d destroyed—projected against the walls of my brain in a vivid montage of cruelty.

“It’s funny the way trauma works.” Eloise began, not remotely interested in keeping facades anymore. “All of you traveled together for so long, killing my sweet cousins to get back your past selves, while not even recognizing the true evil who walked beside you the entire time. You’ve actively fought for and defended the same man who captured and sold you, and you got off on doing it.” She stood and patted me on the head like the disappointment I was. “This is why we treat our little dolls as less than human. You’re so easy to fool, you’re hardly more than a toy in our play chests.”

I kept my head down, not wanting to see the expressions on my companions’ faces. She was right. I… I’d judged Crowe, I didn’t trust Talos, I questioned Leon, and all the while, I was the one who deserved to be shunned. Not them.

I hated myself. I wasn’t worthy to stand among these people, and I wasn’t worthy of Dorothy. That was the most devastating realization of all.

I repeated that statement to infinity, echoing off every chamber within my mind.I’m not worthy of Dorothy.

Getting my memories back should have endeared me back to Eloise, who I now recalled so intensely I could practically feel the ice cold walls of her vagina wrapped around my dick, but the only thought my heart was pumping through me now was that I’d let Dorothy down.

“I’m sorry.” I covered my face and sobbed into my palms. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Chapter 50

It was Tobias. He… he was the one who captured my Pride? Had I blocked it out? Had Eloise taken fragments ofmymemories, too? I recalled that there had been a dark warrior among the people who attacked us, but… it washim?

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. I liked Tobias. We were shifters in arms. We shared each other’s pain. We’d become like brothers. How… how could it have been him?

The man I met in that cave was fierce, strong, and dedicated. He had the heart of a loyal dog who would do anything to protect the people he cared about, and the soul of a gentle friend and lover who put other’s pleasure before his own.Thatwas Tobias. Not this.

I didn’t understand where his superior strength had come from before, but now it made sense. He was Eloise of the North’s pet, so of course he was strong—stronger than a king of lions even. A cursed puppet just like me. Still… True or not, I wouldn’t let her turn me against him so easily.

We’d all done awful things for our witches, and if I judged him on his past service and ignored his present person, I’d be a hypocrite. Dorothy had given all of us a clean slate, despite our mistakes. She’d forgiven our sins, and as Tobias was the most important person in her life, I could do the same for him. So long as he was still the man I knew today and not the man he’d been forced to be under a witch’s rule, we would be allies and friends until the very end.

I wouldn’t be manipulated that easily.

Chapter 51

Eyes fixed on the witch and her puppet, my mind was glazed over by the realization. Though not in shock or anger, but in genuine sympathy for the guilt that Tobias must be feeling.

Eloise wanted me to blame him for having been sold to Sasha, but the reality was, it was my own mother who had accepted the deal. The middle man was hardly my biggest enemy.

And who was I to judge? For my witch, with full working knowledge and free will, I’d held down a man while a spider ate him alive, and I’d fucked a woman while Sasha removed her fingers with a knife,andI’d gotten off doing it. If I were to list my crimes and depravities for the room, I’d look like a worse monster than the witches themselves. We were all broken and vicious things in this twisted world of Oz. If anything, his sins were the softest of us all.

If I could have laughed out loud, I would have. If her strategy was to turn us against each other, she was going to be sorely disappointed.

Chapter 52

I practically snorted at the‘how do you like him now’look on Eloise’ face. As much as I wanted to feel again, if she thought I’d be angry to have been taken from a mundane life as a human and turned into an immortal demon from hell, she had no concept of how my brain worked.

Not surprising.The witches loved to call us stupid, when they couldn’t even read their own subordinates. If anything, this revelation made me want to shake his hand and thank him for the eternal life.

There was a reason Hildy was the manipulator and Eloise was not. Pathetic. Comical even. And best of all, she was so convinced this reveal would paralyze us with division and hatred, that she hadn’t bothered to prepare bindings or protection to keep herself safe.

If she was depending on Tobias to be her knight and protector right now—oh, I’ddelightin that battle. If there was one, single person in this troupe who would never, ever evendreamof betraying Dorothy, it was him.

I was the first to step forward. Eloise grinned at me smugly, practically wetting herself with the anticipation of satisfying fallout, and I returned a wide smile of razor sharp teeth.

---