No shit? Not even I knew Nick Chopper intended to give me my mother’s castle back. It looked like a tin monstrosity now and was pretty fucking gaudy, but I guess Nick Chopper made the most of his curse and claimed everything tin.
Nick Chopper gave me a noisy bow. “Your mother’s things were stored in the wine cellar in the lower levels of the castle. I can’t bring her back, but we do have her things. Nothing was broken and they didn’t smash anything. We just stored it. We thought it was bad luck to throw it out or break it.”
I just nodded my head. “That’s because the Winkies are honorable people. Thank you for giving me my home back.”
“We are hogging Saffron’s testimony.” Nick Chopper said. “I don’t have any further questions for her. She’s told us what her mother was really like, and the Munchkins stand behind her. If no one has any further questions for her, there’s a Quadling boy in the first row who looks quite desperate for her to get back to him.”
Roxar apparently didn’t know Saffron was also in a relationship with a Quadling. His head practically snapped toward Emarus to get a good look at him. Emarus was purple from embarrassment, and so was Saffron. I’m not sure why they were so embarrassed about Nick Chopper pointing out they were into each other after she graphically described her night with Emarus not forty-five minutes ago.
Saffron was fully ready to take on all of Oz to clear her mother’s name, and she had done well. She now looked ready to flee the stage in mortification.
“You leave those girls alone! They’ve been through enough!” someone yelled from the back.
I knew that accent. It was a Quadling woman. Then, a Munchkin started yelling.
“I thought this trial was about Locasta and that man with bad magic?”
“Get to the real bad people!” a Winkie yelled.
The judges needed to do something because they were losing their audience. Roxar jumped to his feet and tried to calm the crowd.
“We’ll break for lunch, and then we will hear from the queen of the Flying Monkeys. She has evidence against Locasta and the Fisher King that only the Flying Monkeys know.”
Chapter 35
Frankie
L
unch was quick. I think we were all cramming food in our faces because they only gave us twenty minutes to eat. I knew we had nice quarters, and Glinda had Locasta’s viewing box, but was Illyna being treated well? I guess talking about my mother so much had me thinking Illyna was also someone’s mother. What would my mother have done with her? Before all this happened, this trial would have been judged by the four Sentinels, but the Fisher King and Locasta made sure that was impossible.
I needed to check on Illyna before I went to bed. I knew way too much about the jails here to risk it. She may have done bad things, and Galen already told me what she did to him. She wasn’t lying when she told us her story. I needed to talk to her again.
As we were walking back out to the platform, Galen and Oprix flanked me. Idris was walking behind me.
“I want to see your mother after dinner. I know what she did, but you were at the jail.”
Galen squeezed my hand. “Did you want me to come, or did you want to talk to her alone?”
“It’s up to you.”
“You do know it will be a total shit show when my mother gets up there, right?” Idris said.
I just shrugged. I liked Ivia. “She has a point to make, and she will make it.”
“If she does what I think she will do, we’re all going to be in trouble.”
“Why? What do you—”
Just then, another impatient Gillikin guard came to find us. “To the front row, please.”
We all took our sides, and Ivia sashayed up to the chair showing off her impressive wings. They had brought a special chair out that could have only come from the Flying Monkeys. It looked like a throne, but it was made so she could sit comfortably with her wings.
Roxar stood and began to pace. “Out of everyone we are calling today, you were the only one that demanded to be questioned. Why is that?”
Ivia steepled her fingers and cocked an eyebrow. “Because there are things that need to be said.”
“Related to the case, of course?”
Ivia’s mouth cocked up in an evil grin. “Related to the case and all of Oz. Do you intend to question me or press me on what I intend to talk about?”
Roxar flushed red. “Why don’t you tell Oz what you wanted to tell them so badly.”
“Thank you. The various curses that are thrown out at the citizens of Oz don’t affect the Flying Monkeys. The only curse that has ever affected the Flying Monkeys was the one that enslaved my people to a golden cap. The Flying Monkeys remember the Fisher King, and we remember the Sentinels. I felt it when the curse was being cast to make everyone forget the Sentinels. It had been several hundred years since they cast the curse to make everyone forget the Fisher King. I couldn’t imagine why it was being cast again. I had hoped it had to do with Locasta, the Wizard, and the Fisher King.”
“I’m sorry, but no one has ever seen you before. Everyone only knows of the Flying Monkey king. Why should we believe you when we don’t know you?” Roxar said.
Oh, he was harder on Ivia than he had been on Saffron and me and from the look on her face, she really liked it. Everyone knew she liked it too because she gave him a cheeky wink.
“You saw me when I wanted you to see me. My husband did his duty presenting a face for the Flying Monkeys, and so did my son. Locasta was actively trying to steal the Golden Cap, and then she eventually wanted to make one of her own to use the Flying Monkeys. It fell into the hands of someone we realized could keep it safe—Azami of the West. She had been trying to break the curse on the cap for a long time. Glinda and Francesca are working on it now.”
Pavius just had to butt in. “How do you know your trust was in the right place? Azami couldn’t keep the cap safe in the end.”
“That’s because your Wizard had her murdered, you silly little ass. After Dorothy took the cap and used it, she brought it to another ally, Glinda of the South. The Flying Monkeys have their own reasons for trusting Glinda.”
“If Azami and Glinda really are Sentinels and not witches and they haven’t been able to break the curse, what makes you think it can be broken.”
Ivia stood slowly and regally. Oh, I knew what was coming next. She baited Pavius, and he walked right into it. I saw Kazax sneaking on the stage with a robe. The audience gasped as they heard Ivia’s bones snap and some covered their eyes as her body twisted itself and shrunk.
Ivia boldly stood naked on stage, staring down all of Oz. She was beautiful, just like all the Flying Monkeys were when they shifted. Her skin was the color of coffee and her long braids fell to almost her knees. She looked just like Idris. Wide hazel eyes and a full mouth. They had the same nose and chin. Their monkeys looked similar too.
Ivia shook out her hair and flexed her lean muscles.
“Yes, take a good look. I’m not ashamed. Azami gifted the Flying Monkeys the ability to shift when she was trying to break the curse. Progress has been made with the cup. My monkeys have found love with your people. My son has found love with a Sentinel. The first Flying Monkey hybrid children exist in the world, and I want them to come out of hiding. Know this. If I hear of even a negative look being cast at those children, you will feel the wrath of my army.”
Roxar looked totally shocked, but I noticed him sneak a glance at me. I guess he finally figured out how Idris and I were together.
“Why don’t you put that robe on and sit back down?” Roxar said.
Kazax rushed forward and draped a purple robe over her shoulders. She tied it tight and sat back down.
“As you can see, the Flying Monkeys are not your enemy. We know what it’s like to be you now. My son has lived among the Winkies since he was a baby. Even if Locasta hadn’t been trying to enslave my people, we have every reason to want to see Oz made right. One of my generals is in love with a Sentinel, and
so is my son.
“You don’t make friends by keeping secrets from them. To prove to Oz I am telling the truth about what I know about the Fisher King and Locasta, I am revealing something we have kept hidden because we were afraid. It was never Oz we needed to fear. It was Locasta, the Fisher King, and his bride. The Fisher King is without his head, Locasta is under house arrest, and the Fisher King’s bride turned on him in the end. It’s time for the Flying Monkeys to join Oz again.”
“What you can do is quite the secret,” Nick Chopper said. “Tell me. You said there are hybrid children. Is there anything to fear in them?”
Glinda just stepped out of the viewing box and into view. Did she and Ivia cook this up, and no one tell me? Was it really any of my business how Ivia and Glinda revealed her children to the world?
“Would you fear my children if they were merely Quadling?” Glinda demanded.
“You?” Roxar said with his mouth hanging open.
Who else did he think it was? Until recently, everyone thought Locasta was a little old lady with no children. I was twenty-one, and he knew I was with Idris and had no children. If he just ignored Glinda, that left Saffron, who was sixteen and a virgin up until last night.
“Yes, me. I’m sorry for the ruse, Roxar, but we thought it best to keep them hidden for their safety. The Fisher King would have been very interested in children with my magic and Flying Monkey magic. I’m pregnant with the next Sentinel of the South. That was why I was kidnapped and tortured in the North. Two of Locasta’s spies in Emerald City saw me interviewing midwives, tortured one for information, then murdered her entire family and buried them in the yard.”
Glinda was a very tall, slim woman, but she was just starting to show. She had been using various tricks with dresses to hide it, but she wore a dress to accentuate the little bump in her belly. As much as I wanted to run up there and ask her if I could touch her baby bump to see if I could feel the next Sentinel in there, now wasn’t the time.
“Were your children born human or monkey?” Pavius demanded.
He had this sour look on his face like he found humans mixing with Flying Monkeys when they had shifted totally foul. If he looked at me that way when I was around Idris or Glinda and Zusim, I would punch him. If he made Glinda’s children feel the slightest bit self-conscious for what they were naturally, I’d rip his balls off and feed them to him.
Ivia looked like she was already there, and Glinda just eyed him with a serene calm. One day, I would perfect my resting bitch face like Glinda did because I would have been giving Pavius some epic stink eye right as I delivered a verbal beat down. I guess that was what my lessons with Daxar were for—learning to control my shit while an idiot Gillikin said nasty things about children.
“My children were born like Quadling babies. They both had their first shift into a Flying Monkey around the age of two, when they were finally weaned. My children are perfectly normal children. They have the same fears any other child does. My youngest is very gentle and loves stories. My oldest is very into kings and queens at the moment, so she was ecstatic to meet Ivia and Idris. She talked about it for days, and she loves it when Idris comes to play with her. You can think whatever you would like about their heritage, but they are just normal children.”
I could hear the audience behind me, and based on the accents, the Quadlings were doing a lot of chattering. The audience decided to start participating in the trial again.
“Oh, please, Glinda, can we meet your children?” a Quadling woman begged.
“I’ve never seen a baby Flying Monkey before. I’ll bet they are adorable.”
“I live close to you in the South. I’ve got children they can play with!”
Glinda and Ivia shared a secret smile. Yeah, they definitely planned it this way. Ivia looked at Kazax, who made a hand signal. I think Ivia’s entire guard that she brought landed on stage. I wanted to get up there myself. Just because the Quadlings wanted to meet them didn’t mean the rest of Oz wouldn’t try to hurt them.
The rest of the judges agreed. My father stood up.
“I’ll allow this, but if I even suspect someone is thinking of harming these children, you’ll find yourself on trial right alongside Locasta. Munchkins, we are better than hurting toddlers. Save any commentary for yourself.”
“The same goes for the Winkies. I don’t want to hear a peep out of you if this is something you don’t agree with. We are about to witness a miracle. Don’t be a bigot.”
The Scarecrow hadn’t made a single peep this entire trial. He had asked no questions, and he hadn’t commented when the trial started going off the rails. It was hard to read his expression because someone had painted his features on a sack. From what I understood about the Scarecrow was that ever since the Wizard stuffed some cotton in his head, he prized himself on being a deep thinker. He was probably just taking everything in and forming an opinion. Either that or stuffing for brains meant he should be back scaring crows away from corn.
I guess he decided it was finally time to let an opinion leak out of his straw.
“I want to meet these children, and I don’t want to hear about a resident from Emerald City doing or saying anything negative to them. They are still just children.”
Roxar spoke next. “I think the Quadlings know how we all feel about hurting children. I’ll expect you to behave like a proper Quadling when those children are brought out.”
Everyone turned to look at Pavius. He looked like he didn’t intend to say a damned thing to the Gillikin about Glinda’s children, and he found the idea of them foul. He’d better say something because he was making the Gillikin look bad the more this trial went on.
“It goes without saying that the Gillikin never hurt children.”
“I’m going up there,” Idris growled.
“We all are,” I said.
Soon, the big stage was full of Flying Monkeys, me and my boyfriends, the queen of Oz with her mates, and Esiro. We were all showing Oz these children were important to us, and they’d have to go through us to get to them.
Zusim came out, holding Elore’s hand and holding a sleeping Khuzin. Khuzin certain enjoyed his naps. Elore took one look at Ivia in her human form and instantly recognized her. She ignored the entire crowd to smile and wave. When Elore realized Idris was on the stage, she shrieked his name, shifted on the spot, and zoomed over to land on his shoulders where she always sat. Elore yanked Idris’ braids. She always had this problem controlling her tiny voice for someone supposed to hide all the time and always seemed to yell. It was adorable.
“Idris, are you here to play with me? I’m tired of that box. I want to fly.” Elore hollered.
Idris reached up to tickle her belly. “What game would you like to play, little princess?”
“I want the Flying Monkey prince to rescue my dollies again.”
“There are some people that want to meet you first, little princess. Look out to the crowd.”
“Hello, people!” Elore shouted, giving them a furious wave.
I heard a lone Gillikin voice in the crowd. They hadn’t joined in when the audience started yelling and, like the Scarecrow, hadn’t made a single peep this entire trial except for Pavius. I had a little hope left for the Gillikin people when I heard a woman shouting from the middle of the crowd.
“You take that girl out of here and go rescue her dollies. She wants to play, and it’s time she had the room to do that.”
It was like all the Gillikin in the audience started speaking at once. They didn’t like that Khuzin and Elore were still on the stage, but it wasn’t for the reason we were all up here trying to protect them. They wanted the children to go off and play like regular children instead of being presented on stage like cattle for sale. The Gillikin didn’t make a peep this entire time, but they all wanted their voices to be heard now.
“We’ve seen them, and they are fucking adorable. Now, let those babies go play,” a man shouted.
“Oi! Stop shouting, or you’
ll wake the little one.”
What I had learned from being around Khuzin and Elore was that Khuzin was used to having a noisy big sister and could sleep through just about anything. He was still curled up in Zusim’s arms with his thumb in his mouth.
“That’s enough!” Glinda yelled. “I didn’t intend to parade my children out here like valuable porcelain, but you needed to see for yourselves that they are just normal children. You’ve seen my daughter just enjoys playing with her dolls, and my son is quite fond of his naps. They need to leave with their father now.”
That wasn’t good enough for the Gillikin audience. Pavius might be up there like he smelled something foul, but I think these little hybrid children enchanted everyone in the audience. And it wasn’t enough for them that Glinda was taking them out the spotlight.
Elore told everyone she wanted to play with Idris, and now every single person watching this trial wanted her to do just that. Idris knew exactly what to do. He wasn’t a prince for nothing and he loved that child. He started bouncing Elore on his shoulder.
“Do you hear that, little princess? Everyone loves you and thinks you should play with your dolls. Which doll do I get to rescue today?”
“Duh. The one that looks like me like always.”
“Mum and dad? Where should we go to play?” Idris asked.
Since Pavius obviously wasn’t going to suggest anything, Esiro stepped forward.
“Locasta has a private garden just behind this field off the purple path. I think it’s the perfect place to rescue a princess.”
“I’m coming with you,” Zusim boomed.
“Of course. Let’s go, little princess. Your doll is in danger, and only a prince can save her.”
Oz Has Spoken: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Emerald City Academy Book 3) Page 19