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“No.My mom is the queen of the land and in another realm.I can talk to her, and I do talk to her anytime that I want.We’re a very close family.”She asked him about his mom being the queen of the other land.Her fear hiked up a bit.She didn’t need a madman in her life again.She was still getting over what Levi did to her.“I want you to meet them all.I know that you think I’m a little off, but I assure you that I am a dragon and that my mother is the queen of faeries and other creatures.In fact, I have one of them for you.Here.This is Punch.He’s been able to pick his name because he’s going to hang out with you to keep you safe.”

There was nothing in his hand, and she was getting more nervous by the second.She liked him and didn’t want him to be off his meds.Standing up when the timer went off, she was moving toward the kitchen when she saw a flash of something go by her.Before she could get her bearings, something flashed by her once again.

“He’s working to get you to see him.His name is Punch, and if you’d have a seat, I’ll check on dinner for you.”When he stood up, he took her hand into his and put it out like something was going to be put into it.Watching her hand, fearful of him hurting her, she looked up at Edgar when he said her name.“He’s yellow and blue.He’ll protect you from any harm that comes your way by just being with you.Look at him.He’s right there in the palm of your hand, Tabby.I promise you, I’m not crazy.”

“I don’t know what to do.”She looked at her hand and saw something that was blue and sparkling.“Edgar, there is glitter in my hand.Did you do that?”

“I didn’t.You’re beginning to see him now.He’s very sparkly.Punch has blue and yellow wings,too, that are fluttering quickly on his back.He’s about four inches tall and very nice.I promise you, he’s as real as I am.As real as you are, too.”

She saw him then, a little man was standing on her hand and smiling at her.When her knees got weaker, she felt rather than saw Edgar move to help her be seated.He was telling her that he had her while this little person stood on her hand and watched her.

“I can see him,” she whispered to Edgar.“He’s right here in my hand.And he’s very blue and yellow.Like neon blue and yellow.”

“Hello, my lady.My name is Punch.I named myself that because when I was smaller and a house faerie, there was a show on called Punch and Judy that my mistress loved to watch.”She nodded, still holding onto Edgar.“I shall never harm you, my lady.I’m, as Lord Edgar said, here to protect you.I can be very helpful when you learn what magic that you have, too.”

“I’ll have magic?”She looked at Edgar again when the little person only nodded his head.“I don’t know that I’d need magic, do you?”

“You’ll have all kinds of it now and more later.Right now, you should be able to change your clothing at will.Just think of something that you’d rather be wearing, and it’ll appear on you.”She thought of sweatpants and a sloppy sweatshirt, and it was on her.Then she thought of her fuzzy socks, and they were on her feet as well.“There you have it.You won’t have to live out of boxes now, either.You’ll have whatever you wish to wear when you need it.”

Tabby kept staring at Punch and wondered if her mind was going too.When Edgar left her in the room with him, she got up to go to the kitchen.She didn’t want to burn dinner on top of being out of her mind.She laughed just a little bit when she thought about carrying a little person around on her hand.

“Can you fly?”He lifted up and off her hand and then landed on her shoulder.“I see.And when you say that you’re going to be keeping me safe, how is that going to work?I don’t know that I should point this out to you, but you’re much smaller than I am.”

“I have an army that I can call upon to serve me and you.”With a snap of his fingers, there were thousands of the little creatures in the room with them.It was Edgar who caught her again when she thought that she was going to fall forward.“I don’t mean to stress you, my lady, but I know that someone who isn’t used to magic or faeries needs to know that I can be trusted with keeping you safe for Lord Edgar.”

While Edgar finished up their dinner, she talked to Punch and him.He didn’t push her into anything, like believing that he was a dragon, but she was beginning to see that he might very well be what he said he was.When he set her a plate of pasta with red sauce in front of her, she was almost afraid to look at his face to see the disappointment there for her not believing in him.

“We have the rest of our lives to get to know one another, Tabby.Eat up, and then we’ll talk more.”She asked how Punch was fed.Edgar reached up and took one of the blossoms off the blooms that she’d picked up today on her way home, and the little man started to nibble on it.“He also likes sugar cubes, but he doesn’t need them as often as he might like.Also, you can pour him a little juice in a saucer, and he’ll really enjoy that from you.”

“No meat then?”He said that they were creatures of the land and that meat wasn’t in their diet.“I feel like I’m in some kind of rabbit hole if you want to know the truth.”

“You’re doing just fine.You’re not freaking out, and we’re having a nice meal while we get to know one another.”He ate some of his meal before looking at her again.“I almost hate to bring this up, but you should know that you’ll have a dragon on your body someplace.It’ll be small but mighty.It won’t get to be large until we bond.Which will be whenever you’re ready.”Nodding, she lowered her head so he’d not see how embarrassed she was.

“I want to see your dragon.I think that once I do that, then the other stuff will come to me easier.I know you’ve told me several times that you’re a dragon, and while I want to believe you, it’s a little harder to process than having a little man on my hand.Or a dragon on my body.”He told her that they’d have to go to the other realm as there wasn’t enough space here for him to shift.“Anotherrealm?What do you mean?”

“The land of faeries and unicorns.”She looked at him and knew that there was shock on her face.But instead of making fun of her, like she thought he was anyway, he took her hand into his and spoke some words that she didn’t understand.When she opened her eyes, not having any idea that she’d closed them, she looked at Edgar again when he said her name.“We’re here.”

When he let go of her hand, she just kept staring at him.She wanted to look around, see what she could see out of the corners of her eyes, but was too afraid to.This was going to be a reality check, one that she wasn’t quite ready for.She wondered if she’d ever be ready for the things that she was seeing out of the corner of her eyes.

“This is my mom and dad.You didn’t get to meet them because they weren’t able to come to the dinner the other night.And that’s my grandmother, the previous queen.”They all said hello to her, and she nodded back.“I’m going to shift now, all right?Then you’ll be better off knowing what I truly am.”

She looked away for only a few seconds, and when she looked back, there was a ginormous dragon sitting in the grass beside her.Well, not beside her.He was too big for her to be by him.When he put out his large…claw?She didn’t know what to make of it as one of his nails was as large as she was tall.Sitting down on his palm, much like Punch did for her, she tried to make her heart beat slower as she was freaking out.Again.Just as she was ready to be taken away, the dragon closed his palm around her, and she could feel herself soaring.While she didn’t know what was happening, she did know that if she fell right now, she’d be dead.

Or perhaps she was already dead.Opening her eyes again, she looked through the claws that held her to the palm and screamed.Christ, oh mighty, as her dad usually said, she was in a dragon’s hand, and he was flying through the sky with her.

When she felt the landing of his great body, she held onto his claws until he opened his hand.When she got off his hand?She didn’t know what to call it.She stood beside him as he laid down on the grassy knoll they were on.Looking around, she was both terrified and pissed off for how he’d treated her.There was no reason for him to take her on a flying trip when she was just wanting to see his dragon.

“What did you do to me?”He answered her by talking to her through her mind.“How can you do that?We’ve never exchanged blood or anything else.”

“I’m your mate.”She smacked him on the tip of his nose.“That really hurt.What did you do that for?”

“You were showing off.I hope you have better manners when my dad gets to see you.He’s actually looking forward to it.”He asked her what she was feeling right now.“Like I want to bash your head in, that’s how.And I doubt very much that I hurt you.What are you fifty feet tall?”

“Close to that.I did tell you that I was a large dragon.Does your dad really want to see my dragon?”She said that he did but hoped that he’d be nicer to him.“All right, I was showing off.I’m sorry.I just wanted you to like him.He’s in love with you already.”

“You should have warned me what you were going to do.What if I had fallen from your hands?”He told her that he would have died to save her.“I don’t know about all that, but next time, be nicer when I want to see something.Though I don’t know how anything can top your dragon.He’s quite scary, isn’t he?”

“He’s a warrior dragon.My parents are time shifters.They go around shifting time around when there is a disaster that might well have taken out someone who is needed in the future.They’ll adjust the timeline so that no one is the wiser.It’s a great deal more complicated than that, but my mom can explain it to you better than I can.”She asked him if she was scary, too.“She’s more frightening than I am.”