“I mean it.”
I threw his shirt at him. “We have to go kill Dorothy. You said so. Also the Nome King is coming to kill us.”
He flopped backward dramatically. “Who cares anymore? I can think of way better things to do.” I joined him on the bed, our shoulders touching. I always wanted some part of him touching some part of me.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“We get married, obviously. Oz custom,” Nox said.
“Shut up!” I cried, elbowing him. “What happens for real, after we finally beat Dorothy and the Nome King?”
“Amy Gumm, always thinking about the future,” Nox said, rolling over and toying with my hair. “I wish I knew.”
Madison kicked the door again. “Hurry up!” she bellowed.
“We’re coming!” I yelled.
Madison muttered something and stomped away.
“You can’t hate her forever,” I said as her steps died down.
“You can’t not still hate her a little. Or a lot.” He searched my eyes. “She hurt you.”
“When I came back, she . . . it didn’t seem important anymore, hating her. It was so small compared to all the things we faced here. We need to be on the same page, Nox. All of us. There’s no room for hate. We’re fighting Dorothy and her super-scary fiancé.
“If it were up to me no one would hurt you.” While he said this his finger was tracing tiny circles on my arm. The action was unconscious on his part, and it affected me all the same.
“I love you for that. I mean . . .” I had said the words without thinking about it, but I meant the words. We had said it last night. But it was different in the light of day.
Nox pushed back my hair and looked into my eyes. “I love you, Amy.”
“I love you, Nox.”
“When you asked before about our after . . . I don’t care where we end up. As long as we’re together.”
“Together isn’t a place, Nox.”
“It is to me.”
Nox kissed me long and deep, and I knew then that we were going to be very late for breakfast.
A half hour later, I headed down first.
Lang and Madison were hunched over the table, talking in low voices. They looked up when I came into the room, but they didn’t move apart. They looked like they’d been there for a long time.
“Where’s Nox?” Lang asked.
“He’s, uh, he’s . . . I don’t know,” I said. I could feel how hot my cheeks were. Madison started to laugh.
“Sure you don’t, Ames.”
“I do not! I have no idea where he slept last ni—”
Nox chose that exact moment to emerge from the same bedroom I’d just come out of, and Madison rolled her eyes.
“Sleep well, Nox?” she asked sweetly. He looked confused.
“I slept fine?” he said, and she collapsed into giggles.
“I bet you did,” Madison snorted.
“Knock it off,” Lang said sharply.
She wasn’t joking—and she wasn’t talking to Madison either. My temper flared. At Madison for bringing up where Nox had slept. And at Lang for thinking she had any reason to weigh in. But mostly, I was angry at the situation. No matter how much I wanted the opposite to be true, we were here for a reason that had nothing to do with what was happening between Nox and me. And at the same time, what was happening between Nox and me was what we were fighting for.
“I’m ready for business,” I told her, sitting down at the table. Nox sat next to me, his thigh touching mine. I let myself lean into him a little. Madison’s eyes flicked over me, but she didn’t say anything this time.
“I don’t know if you’re ready for this,” Lang said.
“The Nome King’s on his way?” Nox was suddenly very, very serious.
Lang shook her head, and for the first time, I realized that she was almost at a loss for words.
“I’ve been invited to a wedding,” she said.
“A wedding?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right.
“A wedding,” she repeated. “The Nome King and Dorothy are getting married.”
THIRTEEN
DOROTHY
I have to admit, Bupu’s news that my new fiancé was planning on killing me didn’t come as a total shock. But still, I was miffed. I knew I’d sensed a spark between us. And the idea of ruling our twin kingdoms together wasn’t entirely unappealing. I don’t like to share, it’s true, but I’ve also never met anyone who came as close to being my equal.
“Okay, Bupu,” I said. “What exactly did you hear? Why did the Nome King go to all this trouble to rescue me if he’s only going to kill me? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Bupu snuffled a little and dabbed at the corner of her eyes with her sleeve.
“The shoes,” she said miserably. “He wants mistress’s shoes.”
“I know that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He thinks they’re his, the ninny. But he can’t have them. They’re bound to me. If he kills me, they’ll be useless.”
It occurred to me as I said this that I had no idea if it was true. Except in a way, I did. If he could get the shoes back just by offing me, I’d have been dead the minute he found me. So it was something else.
He needed to marry me to get the shoes. But why?
Something occurred to me.
“Bupu, what’s a wedding like in Ev?”
“Your wedding will be the most splendid ever seen in all of Ev,” Bupu assured me.
“Bupu, I don’t want to have a wedding if I die at it, do you understand that part?” She nodded vigorously. “So,” I said patiently. “Before the Nome King kills me, what happens exactly at a traditional Ev wedding.”
Bupu looked thoughtful. “Vows?” she offered.
I reminded myself to be patient.
“Yes, dear, I understand that. But what do the vows say? What about the ceremony? What else happens?”
Realization dawned in her eyes. “Oh! You want to know about the magic.”
“Yes, Bupu,” I said, excitement flooding through my veins. I knew it. There was something about the wedding itself. Something important that the Nome King wanted. Some part of the ceremony. “Is it something to do with my shoes?”
Bupu nodded eagerly. “Yes, the shoes! They are bound to you, mistress.”
“I know that, Bupu,” I said through gritted teeth. “But the Nome King doesn’t want me to use them. Do you know why?”
“He wants their magic back?”
“I need to know why he wants to kill me!” I shrieked, unable to control myself any longer.
“Oh,” Bupu said. “You should have said that to begin with, mistress. The shoes are bound to you, but Ev’s wedding vows are magical. All magic is shared between the spouses.”
“So I can siphon off the Nome King’s magic?” I asked. That didn’t make sense at all. Why would he risk making himself vulnerable? Bupu was already shaking her head.
“That’s not his plan, mistress. He doesn’t like to share anything. Magic can be stolen once it is bound. With blood.”
It took a second for her words to sink in. “With blood?”
She nodded, her lower lip quivering. “The king will bind his magic to yours. And then use your blood to steal it. All of it. That’s why he will try to kill you.”
A wedding followed by the traditional bloodletting reception. And I’d had my heart set on a multitiered wedding cake.