Francesca, The Great and Terrible: A Reverse Harem Academy Romance Read online

  Frankie just shook her head. “She has a funny way of showing it. She’s hiding from us, and she won’t tell me where Daxar is. Is that something you know? You seem to know everything else.”

  She was desperate for any information on that Quadling. I wondered if she would ever worry about me like that. I’d give her whatever she wanted. I’d try to take on my father by myself if she asked me to. There were just some things I couldn’t help her with just yet.

  I just shook my head. “I don’t know everything, Frankie. I’ve got friends in pubs all over Emerald City. I’ve got my scrying mirror, but I don’t know where Glinda and Daxar are. My father and mother have their cave protected against mirror scrying, and so does Locasta at her castle. I’ll help you find him.”

  “It’s time you came into the castle, Galen. For your protection, you need to stay at Emerald City Academy with us. You can take Idris or Oprix’s room.”

  “And where are they going to sleep?”

  I already knew how this was going to play out. They were going to view me as a threat, and they wouldn’t want to share their bedroom with me. There would be a lot of man blustering while we established our territory, and that wasn’t my thing at all.

  Frankie just shrugged. “They sleep with me.”

  I gulped. I wanted to sleep with her. Well, not with her, just next to her, holding her. I didn’t know if I could deal with being the odd man out in another bedroom. I guess I’d have to. I wasn’t her boyfriend. I was just the random green-haired boy she started talking to recently. I didn’t mean as much to her as she did to me, and that killed me. I’d have to win her over if we could ever figure out this whole mess with my father.

  “You’d be safer with me hiding out around Emerald City,” I pointed out.

  Frankie’s hazel eyes blazed at me. “You’d be safer with us, asshole. Let me explain when we get back to my rooms.”

  I was going to have to do my own explanations, but I guess I was a student at Emerald City Academy now. Could I even enroll if the headmaster was missing and Glinda was hiding? I’d have to figure that out.

  For now, I was going to have to learn to navigate Frankie’s world while protecting her from mine.

  Chapter 9

  Idris

  F

  rancesca decided to come home with a stray. It was the green-haired boy Glinda had me looking for. I could feel the magic coming from him, and when Francesca told us the Fisher King was his father, I wanted to drop him out the window without his magic staff. I didn’t trust him. She did, and that was where the problem lay. I couldn’t do anything to him while she trusted him.

  He’d already charmed her, and he was trying to charm us. It was even working on Saffron, who was giving him friendly smiles and promising him our protection. Oprix and I weren’t buying it. We were glaring at him from the sofa. Francesca was sitting in my arms and not Galen’s, but I could see how Galen was looking at her. He wanted his arms around her too. I wasn’t having any of that.

  Galen picked up on it right away and looked me directly in the eyes.

  “I’m not here to hurt any of you. I ran away from my parents as soon as I could. They are both awful people. I can share with you what I’ve learned.”

  “And what is that?” I snapped. “You know he plotted to kill Francesca and Saffron’s mother, right? You couldn’t run away before that?”

  “Five years ago, I tried. He caught me and chained me to the wall. It was my mother and Locasta that cast the spell that made everyone forget the Sentinels. They were afraid of the other Sentinels. They hoped the Winkies and the Munchkins would kill Azami and Adora. They left Glinda as a Good Witch because they didn’t want Azami and Adora asking her for help. That worked as they planned. There was mistrust there, and the three remaining Sentinels didn’t work together to fix this. All of you have to make it right with Glinda to fix this.”

  “If we can find her, asshole,” I growled. “You say she’s a friend, but Daxar is gone, Glinda spelled her room, and disappeared.”

  “Idris is right,” Oprix said. “Glinda has given us no reason to trust her.”

  “Can I say this without both of you killing me? The Fisher King has plans for Frankie and Saffron. Glinda is expendable. If she doesn’t fall in line, he’d just as well kill her.”

  I grabbed Francesca and pulled her to my chest. Oprix pulled Saffron into a hug. We’d protect these girls with our lives.

  “What plans?” Francesca asked. “If he lays a finger on Saffron, I’ll find a way to kill him.”

  Of course, she was worried about Saffron and not herself. I was worried about both of them. I needed to know. Galen better prove useful if he was going to be staying with us, or I really would drop him out the window.

  “You know he intends to steal magic from Oz, right? The Sentinels have the strongest magic. Locasta will be his second wife. She will have an honored position. Frankie and Saffron will be second and third wives, but only until your magic lasts. He intends to use you as magical batteries. He intends to drain your magic from you until you are husks. When you die, and there is no magic left in Oz, he will find a way to cross the Deadly Desert and find another Fairyland to drain. Glinda is the wildcard. He thinks she is the one less likely to be managed because she’s older, but he doesn’t know Francesca and Saffron. He thinks because the two of you are younger, you’ll just fall for his charms. He thinks he put everything in place to pull you in.”

  “You’d better start talking, Galen. The full story this time,” Francesca warned.

  “The Fisher King comes from a different place and a different time. Women didn’t have power where he comes from. He doesn’t understand strong women, even now. He thinks you just have to take away a few options, throw a little hardship in, then swoop in and turn on the charm, and any woman would be his.”

  The room went totally silent. It was a tossup over who was going to snap first. Francesca or Saffron. It was usually Francesca, but Saffron had been making me proud lately. Everything they had gone through was because the Fisher King didn’t understand women. I thought Galen should let them talk, but he just kept going.

  “The Wizard was the Fisher King’s pawn. He did simple magic tricks for pennies at shows back where he came from. One of his tricks was going up in his balloon. My mother sent a wind to bring his balloon here. Locasta was one of the first to greet him when he landed. She buttered him up and promised him all this prestige and power if he would just follow her instructions. Locasta was the Fisher King’s mouthpiece when it came to manipulating the Wizard.

  “Locasta gave the Fisher King intel on the other Sentinels, but the Fisher King doesn’t trust a woman’s opinion. He wanted the Sentinels vetted by a man. The Wizard was told he could make whatever changes he wanted to Oz and to tell the Sentinels to carry out his orders. He was ordered to send for them and give his orders.

  “Adora and Azami were vocally against everything the Wizard had to say. Glinda remained diplomatic and neutral. She didn’t want to bring attention to the South, so she managed to play the Wizard and act like she would carry out his orders while not actually agreeing to do it.

  “When the Wizard reported back, Azami and Adora were reported back to be horrid women, and Glinda was reported to be a gracious woman. That was how the Good and Wicked Witch assignments went out. If the Fisher King had gotten his way, he would have gotten batteries out of your mothers and the two of you too. Your mothers were deemed troublemakers, and a plot was launched to get rid of them.”

  That answered about a million questions, but it still didn’t answer a big one. It answered why Azami and Adora died, and it answered how the Wizard got here, but all we had on why Dorothy kept ending up here were Glinda’s theories. Technically, Dorothy did carry out the Fisher King’s biddings. We had befriended her, and she was currently off with Emerald City’s queen. Had she been our enemy this entire time?

  “What about Dorothy Gale?” I asked.

  “She confuses the Fisher King.
He doesn’t know why she keeps ending up here, but as I said, he doesn’t blink when things don’t go according to plan. When her house started crossing the Deadly Desert, my mother called the winds and aimed her house, so it landed on Adora. They sent a message to Locasta via enchanted parchment to make sure she met her in the East as soon as she landed. I don’t know why Dorothy keeps ending up here either, and neither does the Fisher King.”

  “I’m sorry, but how exactly does the Fisher King intend to steal my magic if he gets his hands on me?” Saffron demanded. “Just because he doesn’t understand women doesn’t mean I’m going to be any more cooperative than my mother was.”

  I didn’t need to know how he intended to steal it. I needed to know how to stop him. I didn’t believe he was immortal. People didn’t age in Oz, but it was possible to die here. Everyone had a weakness. We just needed to figure out what the Fisher King’s weakness was.

  “He has a signet ring. It was given to him when he was made a knight before he became the Fisher King and guarded the cup. All his magic is in that ring—all the magic he gained from the grail and all the magic he’s stolen from people is in the jewel of the ring. That’s my theory, anyway. He’d never say what his weakness is out loud, but he never takes his ring off, and when he does cast magic, it’s not how I do it. It’s with that ring.”

  “How do we kill him?” Francesca demanded.

  Galen just shrugged. “He’d never speak that in front of anyone. I don’t know how to kill him. I just know I want to help you try.”

  I didn’t have a natural lie detector like Francesca and Saffron did. I knew I didn’t like Galen and I didn’t want him anywhere near my girlfriend. Francesca and Saffron believed him, and they could tell when someone was lying. If they believed him, then I trusted them, even if I didn’t want Galen in my room that close to my girlfriend. He said he wanted to fight with us, let him prove it.

  “When Ozma gets back with Dorothy, we’re going to have to set her mind at ease that she’s not related to the Fisher King, but we are going to have to break the news to her we aren’t even close to figuring out why she keeps ending up here.

  Dorothy had come a long way since she and Francesca had their talk. Surely, that meant she wasn’t going to cry on us again, right?

  Chapter 10

  Frankie

  M

  y scrying mirror was an ornate, handheld mirror that my mother gave me for my twelfth birthday. It had been in my family for generations. It was silver and inlaid with opals and rubies. Saffron’s mirror was the same, just with different jewels. We had both been checking every chance we could get for Glinda and Daxar, and we’d also been checking in on Ozma and Dorothy. I still had no idea where Daxar and Glinda were, but thankfully, Ozma and Dorothy would be back in Emerald City tomorrow.

  Everything Galen had told us said Glinda wasn’t an enemy. Was she actually in trouble? Emerald City was heavily populated, and the palace and academy were heavily warded. Locasta or the Fisher King couldn’t just waltz up to Emerald City without being vetted at the front gate, and someone would have known if they teleported in.

  Were all those locks and traps in Glinda’s room meant for Locasta and the Fisher King and not me and my friends? Was she somehow snatched anyway? If so, how? She disappeared right when I got really demanding about where Daxar was. She teleported away right when I was about to punch her in that perfect face again. All this time, I thought she was just avoiding me.

  Did someone take Glinda? I had us all staying at Emerald City Academy because I thought it was the safest place for us, but if Glinda really wasn’t hiding from us, then not even Emerald City was safe from the Fisher King. Had I done wrong bringing Galen out of hiding and into my rooms?

  We hadn’t searched Daxar’s office because Professor Ixius had now taken up residence in there. Daxar’s office had gone from muted shades of red with dim lighting and scented candles to totally Winkie yellow. I grew up in the West, and I was used to everything being yellow, but I missed Daxar’s style of decorating. Daxar’s office was always sensual and had this atmosphere of danger. Professor Ixius’ office reminded me of home, which was just weird considering all the things I’d done in that office.

  I had to bring Galen to Professor Ixius to enroll him in the school officially. After Galen told us what he could, there was this long discussion about his hair. The professors were going to ask, and every single one of them had a geas on them from Glinda. We had no idea how much she did and didn’t tell them about the Fisher King and how much she had told them now that she started telling the students.

  We didn’t know how much knowledge had been transferred to each professor on the Sentinels. Even Saffron and I didn’t know about hair color being how a Sentinel was chosen when there was more than one child born to a family. No one knew how many people Glinda had told she was looking for him. Even without all that, people were going to ask questions about his green hair and ruddy complexion.

  Idris and Oprix thought he should hide and thought he was an idiot for not wanting to. I don’t think Idris and Oprix would have agreed with anything he suggested. They were fine with each other, and they were fine with Daxar, but they weren’t okay with Galen at all, which was totally ridiculous because I hardly knew Galen. All of our conversations had been centered on the Fisher King and what was wrong with Oz and not getting to know each other.

  I wanted to get to know Galen, but I didn’t see where we could possibly have time with everything going on. I ended up walking Galen to the headmaster’s office myself. I wasn’t all that sure I liked Professor Ixius. He wasn’t a Winkie that spent a lot of time at my mother’s castle growing up, and he didn’t exactly rush to my defense after her murder.

  I still hadn’t forgotten he decided not to step in when the Munchkins talked Dorothy into that stunt with the arrow, and a student nearly died. Why he was now our headmaster was beyond me. If I had to pick anyone for headmaster, it would be Frabess.

  It was early in the morning when we knocked on his door. Breakfast hadn’t even started yet. Ixius was already at his desk with Winkie mead. Daxar kept Quadling port and brandy at his desk, but he never drank it this early. Ixius was already drunk.

  “I already told you I have no idea where Glinda and Daxar are, Frankie,” Ixius slurred.

  “I’m not here about that. I have a new student, and he might be able to help us find them.”

  Professor Ixius’ eye bugged out of his head when he took in Galen’s long green hair. “What the fuck, Frankie?”

  “He’s here to join the fight against the Fisher King. We all know this school is not about new Sentinels. I’m sure you know that even with the geas on you. Glinda is training fighters, and Galen wants to fight. You have Saffron and I teaching class for you and Galen can help,” I said.

  “How am I supposed to explain that hair? He’s obviously not a Munchkin, Quadling, Gillikin, or Winkie. I’m having enough trouble with the Munchkins as it is.”

  I just shrugged. “The same way you explain my hair and Saffron’s. No one really knows why our hair is this color. I’m from the West, and my hair is purple. Saffron is from the East, and her hair is blue. Just don’t explain it. Just introduce him as a new student. Galen can handle the Munchkins.”

  Ixius upended his tankard and swallowed the rest of his mead. “Are you sure about that? They’ve moved on to one of the quieter Quadling girls when no one else is around.”

  Galen earned a little respect from me, especially knowing about his parents. “Then let them pick on me instead of her. I can take it.”

  Ixius just scoffed and ran his fingers through his golden hair. “A big strapping lad like you? No, they like picking on people they think are weaker than them. Why do you think they’ve left Saffron alone since she made that scene in the dining hall, chewing them all new assholes? They left Dorothy alone because Frankie defended her. The Munchkins only pick on those they think are weaker than them. They are going to take one look at Galen and look the othe
r way.”

  That was one thing we hadn’t talked about. Galen had told me everything he knew about the Fisher King so far, but we hadn’t talked about the Munchkins just yet.

  “Galen? Did Locasta and the Fisher King do something drastic to the Munchkins? They didn’t use to be like this.”

  “Partly. I told you the Wizard was allowed to set whatever rules he wanted. Those taxes he set that no one had ever heard of were taken particularly hard by the Munchkins. They wanted to blame everyone. They blamed Adora, and they blamed the Wizard a little too. The Fisher King decided to use that to his gain. Locasta started making covert trips to the East to spread discord about the taxes. By the time she was done, even the Quadlings were at fault for the taxes. Only the North was their ally against the taxes. It’s been five years since the Wizard left and the Scarecrow never revoked those taxes. The people of Oz still don’t understand why they are sending fifteen percent of all their resources to Emerald City every two weeks.”

  I frowned. It was generally accepted that everyone loved the Scarecrow and that he made Oz a better place after the Wizard left. I remembered the taxes when they were set because my mother told me about them. Even though I was still young and in training, I needed to learn about any new laws in Oz. I didn’t really understand the taxes either.

  The Wizard was concerned about money, and we didn’t know what that was either. Everything in Oz was done by the barter system. You could trade in goods or information, but we didn’t have paper or coins to exchange for goods like the Wizard wanted to do. He tried to have paper and coins made with his face on them, but people never used them. They just kept using the barter system.

  The taxes, no one understood, but they couldn’t get around them either. The wizard had a jail built and assembled a team to go around collecting the taxes. If you didn’t pay, you ended up in jail. I guess Locasta was responsible for the Munchkins blaming Adora for the taxes when it was Emerald City men who showed up to collect them.