Page 16 of The Heart of the Dragon

"I don't know what faeshade is." I crossed the room and touched one of the glossy green leaves. The deep color was enough for me to know it still thrived, but judging by touch, I'd say the moisture in the room was a little off. Thanks to the most recent cold front, I'd need to make adjustments to the humidity controls.

"Don't touch that," he hissed, his eyes widening with sudden panic.

I sucked in a shocked breath, my hand freezing mid-air. "Why not?" I asked, my curiosity warring with the fear his reaction had sparked.

"That plant is extremely toxic," he explained, his voice low and serious. "It can easily kill you or at least make you very sick. Even a small amount on the skin can cause severe reactions." He stepped closer, gently but firmly pulling my hand away from the leaves. "Especially the ones with those flowers."

I cocked my head and smirked. "No, it isn't. This plant is completely harmless. Its healing properties are well documentedand have been used for hundreds of years. I've been using it in my products for as long as I've been doing this."

He walked closer, bending to sniff at one of the flowers, with his hands held stiffly behind his back. "No," he said, looking up at me, his eyes narrowed. "Definitely toxic. And let me guess. This is what you fed me."

I blanched at his assessment. How could he tell anything from the scent? Those flowers gave off virtually no smell. Something I always thought was such a shame considering its beauty. "I assure you that plant is harmless. You must be confusing it with something else."

"I'm no herbologist, but I trust my sense of smell. It keeps me safe. And where I'm from, every fae must have a certain level of knowledge about the foliage and fauna that reside in our lands. While most are not toxic, there are some that are. Is that not the case here? You don't have dangerous plants?"

"Of course we do. Many that can be quite deadly. But I am very familiar with that one. Valerian is well known for its calming properties and in the right applications it can treat anxiety, depression as well as dementia."

"Ahh. So you're a healer then?"

"I do have my doctorate degree, but I am not a medical doctor, if that's what you mean. I take a more holistic approach in helping people."

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds like you don't know what you're doing. So, is this the plant you used to make your stew or not?"

I ground my teeth together in frustration. Whatever this barrier between us was, it seemed to be growing and making it more difficult to make my point. Pushing his delusions aside and focusing on the facts, I nodded. "As I said, it's meant to help people. In the small doses I use in food products, it will often give the consumer a calming effect. I hope to give the clients of the shelter a respite from their destitution. A few hours of peace if you will."

"So you poison them?"

"Oh my God. Enough. I would never do anything to hurt them and there isn't one research study that has shown that valerian can harm anyone. It's no different than the oregano I use in my spaghetti. It flavors the stew with a rich earthiness that tastes great and makes them happy. That's it. Nothing more. It would take much more than I'm willing to use to do anything further."

He shook his head and backed away from the plants. "You need to burn these immediately."

My mouth dropped open. "I will do no such thing."

He stomped in my direction, and I automatically took a few steps back. "You could kill some fae with what you have here."

"Fae? Like—like you?" I stammered, it finally hitting me that he'd referred to himself as fae previously as well. "I thought you were a dragon?" I asked the question even though I still didn't believe it. But I was curious as to how far this man was going to take his wild explanations. Never mind the niggle at the back of my mind that told me there was more to this than I believed. The image of that dragon standing at his shoulder had seemed so real…

"Dragon shifters are born of fae, and fae encompass many types of creatures."

"Like vampires," I blurted, still not really taking him seriously.

"It would take days to name them all and I'd probably forget half of them. And you would likely not know them, anyways. And you are getting me off point again. Is that your grand plan here? To keep distracting me from your cruel misdeeds?"

I snickered. Nothing about this situation should have been funny, but I couldn't hold back my laughter. He sounded so old fashioned. And delusional. I couldn't let myself forget that part.

"I can prove to you that my plants are not toxic." I stomped to the rear corner of the room where the older ones I harvested from were kept and yanked a leaf from a stem.

"Put that down!" he roared, shaking the walls, and making me look up at him in alarm again. How did he manage to make that sound so... "I will not have you die on my watch."

Again I laughed. "Your watch. What? This is my house. I broughtyouhere, remember?"

His frown deepened along with his scowl. "Oh, I definitely have not forgotten. I just haven't decided what I intend to do about it. That's going to depend on how serious the repercussions are from you feeding me that plant and whether you can reverse it."

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that.

"If you've had some sort of reaction to that plant then I need to do some more research because I've never known it to be a source of any type of problem."

"So you keep saying. And yet, here I am in the middle of nowhere, with no memory of how I got here and no sign of my dragon. I'd say that's a pretty serious problem."

---