Page 58 of Red Dragon’s Heart

Zak and Emon exchanged glances. Emon gave a slight shrug. “You might as well tell her.”

Zak said, “We’re in another dimension. Kind of.”

Maddie’s mouth dropped open. “Another dimension? Are you guys messing with me?”

Emon sighed, obviously impatient. “There are a number of different worlds—different dimensions. The Dragonlands—the origin of all Draken—is one. Earth is one. There are others. Plus the spirit world, which touches them all.”

Maddie’s mind was completely blown. Not only did other dimensions exist, but dragon shifters traveled casually between them on a regular basis. “Do physicists know about this?”

Emon looked briefly amused. “Earth physicists, you mean? No.” He shifted those scary eyes to her. “And don’t get any ideas about telling them, because that will never happen.”

There was a not-so-subtle threat in his voice.

Right. People couldn’t know. Maddie said, “Noted. So which dimension is this?”

“It’s not actually any of them,” Zak said. “It’s an interdimensional bubble of spacetime, at a nexus between earth, the Dragonlands, and the spirit world. It’s about the size of Lichtenstein.” He frowned. “Or Luxembourg. I keep forgetting which.”

Maddie was trying to figure out how that could happen. “But, if it’s not a planet, how does it have an atmosphere? Or sky? Or clouds or a sun, or night and day, or—”

Emon made a growly noise of impatience. Zak shrugged, a little smirk on his face, and said blandly to Emon, “She does that. Her brain sciences, like, all the time. There’s no ‘off’ switch.”

Emon growled again. “The creation and manipulation of dimensional space is a lifetime’s study for Draken sorcerers.” He paused, then added pointedly, “A Draken’s lifetime.”

“That’s a long time,” Maddie murmured to Zak.

“Mmm,” he murmured back. “Longer than a Quahog clam, even.”

Emon gave another little growl. Maddie was getting less afraid of him, though. He put up with Zak’s rudeness, which meant he wasn’t as full of his royal dignity as he’d originally seemed to be.

Maybe he was like Zak—scary on the outside, but nicer on the inside?

But maybe not. There were still those crazy eyes. And he was definitely grumpy, and also used to being obeyed.

He snapped, “And I don’t intend to spend my entire Draken lifetime standing on this roof answering questions. So stop fucking quizzing me and come inside. We still haven’t decided on what to do with you.”

Apparently word had spread that they were coming. Emon led them off the roof and through a couple of large empty rooms, to a double doorway leading to a wide staircase going down.

The staircase was filled with people. At least a couple dozen of them—most of them tall, gorgeous and scary-looking, men and women both. There were also some children—mostly in their early teens.

Some of the people looked warily at Maddie, but they were all excited to see Zakerek. The next few minutes were a confusion of hugs and backslaps and little exclamations of delight.

Maddie noticed two women in the crowd who looked remarkably like King Emon—obviously his sisters. One was short and curvy and enthusiastic, and threw herself on Zak talking a mile a minute. With a shock, Maddie recognized the tall, slender, silvery-blond man with her—he’d been in Zak’s dream memories. Tristan. He pulled Zak into a bro hug and immediately started talking about pool and beer.

The other princess, tall and dressed in black leather like a biker ninja, hugged Zak with more restraint. But her companion—an absolutely huge man wearing nothing but ripped jeans, with a tangle of black dreadlocks—pounded Zak on the back, calling him an asshole and grinning the whole time.

Zak himself seemed shocked and overwhelmed—he barely said a word as he was hugged and kissed and passed from person to person. Maddie realized he’d genuinely had no idea how the clan felt about him, and her heart warmed to see his fears proved wrong.

She was just wondering if little Kendra would come when she felt a rush of air overhead, and heard the flapping of wings. Looking up, she saw a miniature black dragon hovering over them.

It shimmered, and became a little girl with two black pony tails, tiny jeans, a sparkly pink shirt and pink sneakers. She fell straight down, waving her arms and shrieking, “Unka Zak! Unka Zak! You came back!”

“Kay-kay!” A huge smile split Zak’s face and he opened his arms. She dropped into them and hugged him ecstatically, planting kisses all over his face.

“You’re here!” she crowed. “I thought you were never, ever, ever coming back!” She pulled back and folded her arms, glowering at him in a tiny parody of her father. “You were mean, to be gone so long. Say you’re sorry.”

Zak hugged her to him. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was sick. My dragon was sick, and I couldn’t come back.”

“Hmph.” She gazed at him, lower lip out. “You should be with your family if you’re sick.” She thumped her little fist against her sparkly chest. “We’re your family.”