Oprix
S
omething changed in Frankie after she left Saffron’s room. Idris and I were lounging on the couch, snacking while she chatted. Normally, she went to bed alone and we eventually just followed. It was just agreed on now that we slept holding her. Idris and I offered, and she just kind of grunted like she agreed with it. She never asked us to, but since we started doing it, she was sleeping through the night.
Frankie never asked for anything. She could handle herself. If my family hadn’t taken her in, she would have found a cave like Saffron did. She wasn’t stupid, and she accepted help when it was offered. She was a gracious guest in our house and helped out a lot, even though we kept telling her she didn’t need to and to focus on her training.
There was a different look in her hazel eyes tonight. It was softer. She always looked at Idris and I fondly, but she kept us at a distance. Maybe it was just me, but it looked like she let some walls down. She grabbed a piece of cheese and popped it in my mouth as she plopped between us on the sofa.
“You know, I thought we would get here, and I’d be helping and teaching Saffron. She might only be sixteen, but she had to grow up fast in the East. She had it a lot harder than I did in the West. I had the two of you. Saffron only had us when we were able to slip away and visit her since she wouldn’t leave. I love both of you, and I want to tell you I’m grateful for how much you’ve helped me.”
I’d never loved anyone but Frankie. I’d never courted another girl. I knew it could be stupid, and she might decide she might not want me. She could pick Idris, or she could be like her mother and live alone. None of us ever knew what happened to Frankie’s father. We never knew if he left, or Azami sent him away. Frankie never talked about it. I didn’t know if it was a Sentinel thing where you had a child with a man to continue the Sentinel line, and the man was sent away. I never asked because I didn’t think I could bear the answer.
I had no idea what Saffron said to Frankie. I had no idea if she was about to give us this speech about how we could only ever be friends. My body was tense, and my heart was beating in my ears. Was I about to have my heart broken? Frankie took my hand in hers and grabbed Idris’ hand with her other.
“What I’m trying to say is that Saffron and I have had hard lives. We deserve some happiness. I’m tired of pushing you both away just because I’m a Sentinel and have a job to do. Why can’t I have both? Sentinels before my mother used to have multiple husbands. I found out what happened with Saffron’s father. I don’t know what happened to mine. If you’re both okay with it, I’d like to explore where our feelings go.”
I wasn’t even done processing that yet. Frankie loved me and wanted to explore it. She was holding my hand and stroking the pad with her thumb. I could officially court Frankie now. I was about to open my mouth when Idris just cracked up laughing.
“You and your mother met my father, but you’ve never actually met my mother, the Queen of the Flying Monkeys. My father is not the one in charge of the Flying Monkeys, even though he’s king. Our society revolves around the queen, and my mother actually has six mates. My father is the king because he was her first mate. Maybe you have a little Flying Monkey in you, Francesca. I don’t mind you being my queen and Oprix being a consort.”
Frankie squeezed my hand. “What about you, Oprix? You aren’t a Flying Monkey, and I know Winkies don’t share their wives or girlfriends. I know I’m asking a lot, but I love both of you and couldn’t bear to hurt either of you. I love different things about both of you, but the two of you make me whole.”
No, it certainly wasn’t a Winkie thing, but I knew what it took for Frankie to even bring this up to us and tell us she wanted this. It might not be a Winkie thing, but if I were doing what all the Winkies were doing right now, I’d be kissing Nick Chopper’s ass in Frankie’s old castle that he’d turned into a tin monstrosity. Since when had I ever followed Winkie trends?
“The Sentinels really used to have multiple husbands?” I asked.
“From what I’ve been taught, back in the day, each Sentinel had a Winkie, a Munchkin, a Gillikin, and a Quadling for husbands. It helped them understand Oz better, and they legitimately loved them. I don’t really know what happened between those years and the years Saffron and I were born that Saffron and I don’t know our fathers and Glinda and Locasta aren’t married with children at all.”
I just smiled and squeezed her hand back. If Frankie had decided she wanted love, she was going to do it in her own way. She wasn’t going to take a lover from all four corners of Oz. She was going to love who she wanted. Now I was the one laughing.
“I can’t picture you with a Munchkin lover after what they did to Saffron. Did you replace the Munchkin portion of that with a Flying Monkey?”
Frankie got the giggles, and Idris was snorting.
“I can’t even deal with those Munchkins for class, much less as a husband.”
“If I wouldn’t get expelled, I’d plan something big for Dorothy and all the Munchkins at this school,” Idris said. “I don’t have a problem with Oprix, but I’d have a problem with a Munchkin. I might not have a problem with a Quadling. Emari and Emarus were nice, but I think Emarus is into your cousin. Anyone from the North and South would have to be vetted until we actually know what’s going on.”
Frankie let go of my hand to swat Idris on the arm. “I’m not planning husbands from all four points, Idris. All I want right now is the two of you.”
Idris caught her hand and growled. “Does that mean I finally get to kiss you?”
“I want to kiss both of you, but please, take this slowly. I’ve spent my entire life training to be a Sentinel, but none of that covers men.”
I wasn’t a Flying Monkey. Sharing Frankie with another man wasn’t a part of my culture, but it felt right. It had always been the three of us growing up. Why shouldn’t it stay that way? I told myself I could deal with it, and it was supposed to be this way, but my jealousy flared when Idris pulled her into a passionate kiss. Why did he get to kiss her first? How was this going to work? Was one of us always going to be second?
He seemed to kiss her for ages. The urge to pull her away from him, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her to her bedroom so I could have all her kisses to myself was growing, but I knew Frankie. She would break my face and end whatever feelings she had for me. I would ruin everything if I tried to act like I owned her.
She finally pulled away from him. I thought she was going to go back for seconds, but she practically flung herself at me. I had to catch her, and she almost pinned me on my back. This was my first kiss. I never kissed anyone else because I only ever wanted to kiss Frankie.
I pictured our first kiss as being shy and awkward if we ever did it. I should have known better. There was nothing shy about Frankie. She was practically sitting in my lap with her hands tangled in my hair. Our first kiss was passionate. There was nothing awkward about it. I groaned and squeezed her waist. Her tongue caressed mine, and she pulled my hair.
I didn’t want to break the kiss. I wanted to explore what happened next. She broke it first. We were both panting when she pulled away from me. Frankie fell back onto the couch cushions with her hand on her forehead.
“Holy shit. When Saffron said to let a little joy into my life, I had no idea kissing felt that good. Have either of you had sex?”
I was shocked when Idris admitted he hadn’t. I thought for sure he had. I was petrified. I was pretty sure Frankie was going to order us both to the bedroom for us to all lose our virginity. I’d been fantasizing about it for years, but now that I was actually here, what if I did it wrong?
“Can we not rush into that?” she asked. “Can you both still sleep holding me and not do that just yet?”
I could do that. I think that was the first time Frankie had ever told us she needed something. Even Idris knew that because he just kissed her forehead.
“I’ve spent more time with you than I have with the Flying Monkey court. As I said, the Flying Monkey
court answers to the queen, so my eldest sister will inherit the throne. I think I speak for Oprix and myself when I say neither one of us knows what we are doing either. I didn’t grow up learning to court like a prince because I preferred spending my time with you. We’ll figure this out like we do everything else. Together.”
I grabbed her hand and pressed my lips to her knuckles. “You know you can ask us for anything, right? Even if you think it’s stupid or you can handle it yourself. We want to make you happy, and we want to make things easier for you. You don’t have to carry everything yourself.”
“I do have a favor to ask,” she said.
“Anything,” Idris and I both said.
“Emari and Emarus are going to be putting Glinda to question tomorrow in history. Saffron and I can’t say anything because it’s going to sound bad coming from us. Both of you know the real history. Can you back them up if they are leaving something important out?”
Idris and I both kissed her. “We have your back. We’ll always have your back,” I said. “Glinda won’t know what hit her.”
Chapter 16
Frankie
T
he changes in Saffron, and I over breakfast were pretty dramatic. I felt like this huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders now that I’d just admitted to Oprix and Idris that I loved them and didn’t want to choose between them. The fact that they were both okay with it and those kisses last night made me feel light as air. My nightmares weren’t as bad that night. They were still there, but I didn’t wake up screaming.
Saffron came to breakfast with her long, blue hair pulled into a ponytail instead of hanging in her face. She was all smiles as Idris and Oprix joked around and fed me breakfast. I think we were all in a good mood. Maybe we’d get answers in history. Glinda was the only professor here without a geas on her, and she was teaching history. What version of history she taught was going to tell me a lot about what side she was on, and there was some history I didn’t know because my mother was murdered before she could teach me.
We met Emari and Emarus in the main hall. Unlike the first class where I tried to sit in the back because I already knew what was being taught, we all proudly walked to the front of the class and sat down. Dorothy seemed to like the front row of all her classes with her little Munchkin followers. She was kind of a suck-up considering she was from a non-fairyland and had no magic.
Glinda was waiting at the front of the room. If I could use one word to describe her, it was formidable. Everyone talked about how beautiful she was, but she used to scare me a little when I was a child. Her hair was always perfect, and she was always dressed in ornate gowns. I was always petrified I would get her dirty, and she’d curse me. She was always perfectly nice to me, but she was always just a little too put together for someone who liked to get dirty like me.
It was even worse now. The Wizard made all magic practitioners wear white, and Glinda was standing at the front in a pristine white gown and perfect ruby red hair. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on my body, but I was five-years-old again worried about spilling something on her dress.
She was teaching us from a raised platform. She just paced with her hands behind her back as the tensions in the room grew. She finally stopped and faced the room. The moment of truth was here. I’d finally learn what version of history she planned on teaching us.
“Who can tell me about The Fisher King?” she asked.
What was this? There was nothing in Oz history about a Fisher King unless my mother died before she could teach it to me. Why was she starting with an old history lesson I would have learned later in my training instead of the history of the Sentinels?
Dorothy’s hand shot up, and it looked like she was about to wet her pants just to answer. Glinda just ignored her and looked right at me.
“Francesca, what can you tell us about the Fisher King?”
“Not a damned thing. Why don’t you start with the history of the Sentinels?” I snapped.
“Please,” Dorothy begged, bouncing in her seat.
“Very well, Dorothy. What do you know of the Fisher King?”
“I don’t know about a Fisher King in Oz, but I know about him from Kansas. He’s in the stories about the Holy Grail. He’s charged with keeping the Holy Grail safe, but he has an injury where he can’t have children, and he can’t hunt. He can only fish to keep himself fed. There’s supposed to be a question to ask him if you seek the Grail that will heal him, but only one man managed to ask him. I don’t really know what happened to him after the question was asked, and he was healed.”
Glinda glared at the class. “History class is canceled until one of you can tell me how the Fisher King in Dorothy’s story ties back to Oz.”
“I’m sorry, what the fuck?” I exploded. “You need to be teaching them about the history of the Sentinels, not some Kans-ass fairy tale.”
Glinda looked at me coolly. “I want you to report to Headmaster Daxar immediately. That kind of language is not allowed in my school. Out! Now!”
I shuffled out to the headmaster’s office and rapped on the door.
“Come in, Francesca,” he called.
How the fuck did he know it was me? I barged into his office, and he was sitting on his desk with his arms crossed. He looked amused.
“What did you get up to now? I thought I told you to ignore Dorothy Gale?”
“I did! Glinda is not teaching Sentinel history. She’s teaching some story from back where Dorothy is from. What the fuck is that about?”
Headmaster Daxar pounced again. He started circling me and getting into my personal space. I felt my heart racing. My throat felt parched. I licked my lips, and it felt like static electricity raced across my skin as his breath brushed against my shoulder.
“That mouth of yours, Francesca. It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Glinda was teaching a history lesson. Didn’t I tell you to pay attention to everyone and everything here?”
“What does a story about a stupid grail from a non-fairy land have to with Oz and the Sentinels? Dorothy said it was just a story she read. It’s fiction.”
“You aren’t paying attention, and you disobeyed my orders. Take your trousers off, Francesca.”
Was that supposed to scare me? Was I supposed to run out of his office crying at the idea? I didn’t think he would really spank me. He was trying to scare me. The idea was kind of exciting, but I thought he was just trying to shock me into doing what he wanted. He liked being in control. I could tell that. Telling me what to do wasn’t going to do a damned thing. Maybe he thought if he scared me or shocked me, he could keep me under control with his threats.
I could play his game. I boldly met his eye and unbuckled my belt. I never lost eye contact as I slid my trousers down my hips. I kicked them out of the way when I got to my ankles. He grabbed my arm and pulled me over to his sofa. He yanked me down with him, so I was sprawled across his knee.
Wait, was he actually serious about spanking me? Emari and Emarus said Quadlings did that sort of thing, but I wasn’t a Quadling, and I wasn’t all that sure he had Glinda’s permission to go around telling students to get half-naked so they could lay across his lap like I was. There was something super intimate about this. Something that excited me. I could have easily fought him off and stormed out of his office. As it was, I kind of wanted to see where he was going with this. Was he seriously going to spank me?
I felt his hand caress my bottom. Yeah, he wasn’t supposed to be doing this with the students.
“You’ve been a naughty girl, Francesca. I expected you to last a little longer before we got to this point. I expected it to be Dorothy that pushed you over the edge and got you sent to my office, not a simple history lesson. You have a beautiful arse. Nice and curvy, and I like the way it fits in the palm of my hand. I’m going to enjoy turning it red.”
I struggled to look up at him. My long braids were framing my face, and all I could see was the floor.
“You’re a pretty shitty hea
dmaster if you talk to all your students like that,” I said.
Like lightning, his hand came down and made contact with my skin. I yelped, but not out of pain. It stung, sure. I was just shocked he actually did it, and I liked it. I was draped across the lap of my headmaster without my trousers and he technically just struck me. I wasn’t thinking about breaking his face. I wanted him to do it again.
“You’re an impertinent little thing, aren’t you? You’re the only student going out of their way to break all the rules. I’d never use Quadling discipline with another student here, mostly because simply talking to the other students would be enough. You’re a naughty little girl, Francesca.”
He punctuated that last sentence with rapid spanks for every word. He alternated, so he wasn’t hitting the same spot at the same time. There was this glorious sting when he would strike me, then this heat that would spread afterwards. His hand caressed my scorching ass after the last round of spanks. He was just rubbing and massaging. I couldn’t help the little whimper that came out. Why did I let him do that and why did he have so much power over me?
I heard a deep chuckle from Headmaster Daxar as he continued to massage my flesh. His hand slipped between my legs, and he touched me where no man had ever touched me before. I should have maimed him. Instead, I just groaned. It was so brief. His fingers touched me, then they withdrew. I wanted more. I could sense him bringing his fingers to his mouth.
“I knew a little spanking would get you nice and wet. You taste divine, Francesca. Did you like that? I know you did. I just want to hear you say it.”
Yeah, I did enjoy it. More than I thought I would. But I wasn’t about to start doing everything he told me just because I liked him spanking me. No man would ever tell me what to do. Before I knew it, he grabbed my braids and yanked my hair back. I still didn’t fight him. What in the world was wrong with me? This excited me too. I wanted to see where he was going with this.
Headmaster Daxar got right next to my ear. “You can admit you liked it, and we can do this again, or you can put your trousers back on and leave, and I’ll never lay a hand on you again. You can remember the sting of my palm on that sweet ass of your and remember you had a choice to have it again,” he growled, biting my ear.
Sentinels of Oz: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance (Emerald City Academy Book 1) Page 7