Page 153 of Witch Queens: Tales from Oz

He picked me up and gently laid me back on the bed. Then he set his head on my flat stomach.

“Are you sure?” his voice thick with emotion.

I nodded before realizing he couldn’t see me, “Yes, for a few weeks now. Just after we got back from Mt. Munch actually.”

“That long?” he tipped his head to meet my eyes. “You, Indy, are no longer given a choice. You are mine and I will have you!”

I laughed at his possessive streak, “And why should I allow you to be the boss?”

His eyes glinted dangerously as he hovered over my trembling body, “Because you fucking love it.”

And I did.

Epilogue

“Nessa Rose! Do noteat the flowers!” El turned a frantic eye to me, “Are you sure she will be safe with Steele and me?”

I laughed as my twin raced after our two-year-old daughter Nessa Rose, who was named after our mother.

“Rose!” I called sharply, and Nessa Rose stopped to grin at me. She had her daddy’s inky black curls and my green eyes. “Listen to Aunty El, do you understand baby?”

Rose giggled and nodded before turning back to the plants and eating the petals.

“Did you get a chance to read that book, Steele and I found when we were visiting the human world?”

“I am sorry, I haven’t yet. But I am not sure why it has you so upset,” I scooped Rose into my arms, “What did I tell you about eating things that aren’t food?”

“Momma, Momma, Momma,” Rose chirped happily and offered me a sticky handful of rosebuds.

I laughed as El scowled.

“Don’t you understand?” El was losing her patience with me as well. “That bitch had to write it. You were in there and the house and even your damn red shoes!”

“So, what? Dorothy went back to the human world and wrote a book about the land of Oz. It’s not a crime, you know.”

El’s face turned scarlet, “Fine, I will tell you the worst of it! She wrote me as the bad guy! Me! Called me the Wicked Witch of the West. She stole Steele’s nickname, Tin Man, and turned him into an actual man made of tin! She said Scarecrow kept losing his straw, like a real scarecrow! And she hardly mentions Mombi, but has Jake as timid as a tomcat. But this isn’t the worst of it!”

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