“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Liam held out a hand congenially. The dragon studied it for a moment, then shook it awkwardly. “I’m sensing that shaking hands isn’t a common gesture here.”
Sylas shook his head slowly. “Welcome to Everfield.” His gaze slid back to Charlotte. “Dianthe’s going to meet us at the house. She had a little mishap with one of the kids.”
“Oh? What happened this time?” Charlotte laughed.
Groaning, Sylas glanced up at the cloudless sky. “Annabelle met a boy, and Dianthe caught them alone in her room.”
“Uh-oh.” Charlotte bobbed her eyebrows. “I guess she is fifteen.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Although Sylas had suggested he was taking them to his home, the dragon led them straight into the woods from the road. Liam wondered if this was some kind of shortcut. Lucky break—he couldn’t get enough of the surrounding flora, which was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Some of the trees looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss picture book. The colors, the shapes… They shouldn’t exist.
Not everything was foreign. He recognized members of the oak, maple, sycamore, and hawthorn families, although the trees weren’t exactly representative of their earthly counterparts. Trunks that were normally straight in the species were twisted and knotted. Leaves had unexpected indentations. He took it all in, studying each plant until he’d fallen behind.
“I need paper and something to sketch with,” he demanded, stopping short to examine a fern with bright orange tentacles that waved at him from its shady home.
Charlotte dropped back to his side. “Okay. We don’t have time to stop now though. Can you wait until we’re back at the palace?”
He was suddenly very thankful for his eidetic memory. “Yeah. That’ll work.”
They started walking again, and this time she matched his pace. “My aunt and uncle adopted nine children.”
“Nine?” Liam felt his brows creep toward his hairline. He was the oldest of three, and sometimes that felt like too many siblings.
“They can’t have children of their own, so a few years back they decided to adopt and give as many orphans a home as possible. Now they have Annabelle, Lilly, Dash, Rose, Hyacinth, Ash, Nigella, Reed, and Wren. I don’t remember all their ages, but Annabelle just turned fifteen and there’s a year or two between each one, ending with the youngest, Wren, who is five.”
“Wow, nine kids. That’s commitment.”
She giggled. “It’s uncommon here, but I think because Sylas came from a family of nine—”
“You have eight uncles?” Liam’s voice cracked. Eight uncles and a dragon dad as big and as bad. If he’d been afraid to slip up before, he was nine times as afraid now.
“Seven uncles and one aunt, although it’s my aunt Rowan people are the most afraid of. She’s smaller but as clever as dragons come. She lives in New York with her human mate, Nick.”
Weirdly, his heart gave an unexpected squeeze at that information. “She has a human mate?”
Charlotte shot him a coy smile. “Yes. She owns an art gallery there. He used to be a detective, but he’s retired now.” She looked away, and he got the sense that she’d been about to say something more.
A cacophony of voices called their attention to a cottage straight out of a fairy tale and beyond anything Liam could’ve imagined. It resembled a human house only in the sense that there was a roof, a door, and windows. The rest was something from a dream. Branches of the tree the home was built into formed its walls—living branches that continued growing toward Paragon’s two suns beyond the home’s exterior. It was a proper tree house with a trunk that was wider than he was tall and a front stoop that hovered a good twenty feet off the ground. But the most incredible part was the smoke billowing from a stone chimney. By some miracle or magic, this living tree house had a fireplace.
“I’ll fly him up,” Sylas offered, wings sprouting from his back.
Liam jolted backward. Those bat-like wings had talons longer than his head at their apex!
“I have him,” Charlotte said mercifully. Before he could say another word, her arms wrapped around him and the scent of sunlight, citrus, and new grass filled his nose. He wouldn’t have thought that scent existed before her, but here it was, warm and fragrant. She was spring and life and—
His feet lifted off the ground, the beat of her wings creating a soft thump, thump in the air around him. Charlie landed with a thud and released him once they reached the threshold.
He straightened his T-shirt. “Um, thanks.”
She nodded, then followed her uncle into the cottage. Winged children buzzed around the home like bees in a hive. He marveled at their complexions of every color. Not colors of people like on Earth. Actual colors—lavender, pink, lime, and saffron—every color of the rainbow. He couldn’t help but laugh in wonder at the absurdity of their existence. This couldn’t be real.
“Aunt Charlie!” A half dozen small fairies rushed into her arms, and Liam caught himself smiling as he watched her lift the smallest one and swing her around in a circle. “We missed you!” they said in unison.
“I missed you all too.”
“Are you here to watch us?” A winged-girl with turquoise skin bounced on her toes as she clung to Charlotte’s arm.
