Haylee laid comfortably in bed as she listened to Jayk as he explained what the Hidden Realm looked like. The Hidden realms consisted of five kingdoms. The first kingdom, Forestria, was the Elven kingdom. This kingdom was ruled by duke Ashell. A wise duke with long blonde hair, that is how Jayk described him.

The second kingdom was the kingdom of Dwarrel, this was the kingdom of the Dwarves. Haylee was a big fan of dwarves and it would be a dream come true to meet them.

“Do you think I can meet them one day?” She asked Jayk.

“Maybe.” He answered before he continued his explanation.

The third kingdom was the kingdom of Valerania. This kingdom was the kingdom of skinchangers that were ruled by a mountain of a man, Duke Argon.

The last kingdom, besides the dragon kingdom, was the kingdom of Faerenwood, ruled by a great leader, Duke Lyle. He was a great leader but you didn’t want to be on his bad side.

“Wow, I would love to see it someday, maybe when I get better…” Haylee said as she imagined all the places Jayk described to her.

“And when the creatures of this land don’t hate humans so much,” Jayk murmured.

“Why do they hate us?” Haylee asked curiously.

“It’s a long story,” Jayk said.

“I have lots of time,” Jayk gave her a small smile. This small smile was enough to send Haylee’s heart racing. Jayk with his super dragon king abilities immediately heard her heartbeat increasing. He smiled smugly inside as he thought, ‘looks like I have an effect on her, it might not be so hard to get her to accept me as her mate afterall.’

Haylee gave him a small shy smile of her own that sent his own heart racing and he cursed at her. How could she have such an effect on him?

He quickly cleared his throat before he started to narrate the tale he knew all too well.

“When my grandfather was king, he thought it was time that we make our presence known to the human realm. He decided that he would allow the portal to this realm to stay open so that all the humans that passed through it could enter our realm. Most humans that landed in the Hidden realm liked it so much they decided to stay without telling their friends or family where they were, they thought that if they told their friends and family where they were, they would only try to force them to come back. More and more humans disappeared in the forest and a detective was sent to investigate. His name was Haniel Flannigan. He happened upon the entrance in his search for the humans that vanished. He thought that my grandfather kidnapped them to work as slaves. He quickly learned the ins and outs of the the Hidden realm and when he knew everything there was to know, he returned to the human realm and selected a group of his best and most loyal soldiers. They returned one night and killed my grandfather in his sleep. My father and mother tried to rush to my grandfather’s aid, but Haniel struck them down and killed my mother before he ran away. My father’s hip was broken that night and he lost his father and wife. I did my best to assist my father while his hip healed. That following days the humans minds were wiped of all memories of this realm and they were returned to their own realm. The traps were installed and since then we were successful in keeping humans out.”

“What happened to your father?” Haylee asked. Jayk let out a low sigh.

“I tried my best to help him, but he got dragon sickness.”

“What is dragon sickness?” She asked.

“When a dragon’s mate dies, the dragon that is left behind becomes so overwhelmed with grief they literally get sick. A sickness that can never be healed fully. Some overcome it and the pain becomes more tolerable and others…others die from it,” Jayk said.

By the look in his eyes Haylee realized that the latter must have been what has happened to his father. Out of instinct she reached her hand out and grabbed his, giving it a soft squeeze. Jayk looked up and gave her a soft smile. A smile that meant a thousand words. Haylee quickly retracted her hand away breaking them out of their trance. She cleared her throat before she asked another question.

“What happened to Haniel?” Haylee asked.

“He ran away never to be seen again, but he has created what we call hunters. Humans who know about our existence and who is trying to get rid of us.” Jayk explained. He knew that Haylee might be Haniel’s great, great, great granddaughter, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. Not yet at least.

Haylee gave out a huge yawn and Jayk couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well now it is time for bed," Jayk said.

"Wait, I want to know more," Haylee said.

"I will tell you more tomorrow," Jayk assured.

"O-kay" Haylee said as another yawn escaped her lips.

"Goodnight," she said with a smile that sent his heart reeling. She turned around and nodded off to sleep. Jayk watched her sleeping form as he was submerged into sleep as well.

When Haylee woke up, Cason was in the seat next to her bed reading a book. When he saw that she was awake he gave her a bright smile.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied as she stretched and let out a yawn.

"So do you want to walk a bit?" Cason asked.

"Yes!" Haylee said enthusiastically. Cason handed her the pair of crutches. Cason wanted to help her out of bed, but Haylee assured him that she can do it on her own. And she did. She walked to the balcony doors. She wanted to know what the Hidden realm looked like.

"Can you help me with the doors?" She asked Cason.

Cason nodded and opened the doors for her. The fresh air felt so good on her skin and she wondered why she didn't think of doing this before. She was so focused on recovering that she didn't think about using the balcony.

Her eyes darted around as she took in the view. The rocky mountains glistened in the morning sun.  She saw a small path between the mountains that led to a huge lush forest. Her eyes caught something red and that was when she noticed that she was on top of a volcano.

She turned around to look at Cason.

"We are ontop of a volcano?!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Yes, we are dragons. We like the heat. We're cold blooded." Cason explained.

"Isn't it going to errupt?" Haylee asked fearfully.

"No, highly unlikely."  Cason said reassuringly.

Haylee could only hope he was right. She was high in the sky and could just make out the small people on the ground. There was small houses built on the side of the volcano where people were moving about.

Behind the mountain range there was a forest that stretched as far as the eye could. What she would give right now to explore those places. What if the humans knew about this place and that stupid Haniel Freedman didn't cause this hatred these creatures had for humans.

In another time she might've been able to meet faeries and dwarves. But now she was stuck in a tower. And all she could see of this world was the access the tower granted her. Maybe some day she could explore all those places. Maybe some day humans and creatures will live in harmony once more.

But that day wasn't today, Haylee thought sadly. She wished she could share this world with her parents. Once the doctor cleared her, she would beg Jayk to bring her parents there, just so that they could have glimpse of this amazing world.

Jayk was in his office working through a stack of paperwork he put off for quite some time. He has never been the biggest fan of paperwork and hated it. While he was writing his 50th letter for the day the ink in his pen finished half way through. He quickly reached in his drawer for another one when his hand touched the leather bound diary of Haylee's mother, Alice.

He took out the diary and placed it in front of him. As he reached for it he thought about how this was an evasion of privacy and that Haylee wouldn't like him reading her mother's diary. He quickly retracted his hand.

Then he thought about how this book could help him understand his mate better and it could also help him explain things to Haylee once the time came. 

With his mind made he reached for the diary and started to read all the while wondering what secrets he would find...