Page 23 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

‘I read your papers, that’s what. And you can’t see the massive flaw at the heart of it all, can you?’

Portia froze in her rage, staring at him. ‘What flaw?’

‘That the two can’t be brought together by any external factor and are not meant to be. Being born without magic can’t be repaired and there is nothing wrong with that. Not having magic isn’t some kind of deficiency and this so-called cure you’re pursuing is a dangerous myth.’

So-called cure? How dare he? And as for a dangerous myth…

‘And so are your great dragons! Even if they ever existed, they’re all gone now and you despise what’s been left behind. At least our elixir could help people. Some people want to reconnect with the magic in the land, the magic all around us. Some people know what they’ve lost. And it’s not just for those who were born without magic. It will help people whose connection has been disrupted or severed. All your obsession does is cling to a dead past.’

‘And who are you going to test the elixir on, if you ever make it?’ He scoffed. ‘Something as malleable and within your grasp as the dragons in the sanctuary? You’ll probably need human subjects eventually. Your friend Esme’s class perhaps? Why do we need it Portia? Most people get along perfectly well without magic. I certainly do. You’re trying to cure something that isn’t even an illness.’

She didn’t even have an answer to that. No one had ever put it that way before. And how dare he! How dare he dismiss her life’s work the way he dismissed the teacup dragons!

‘You have no idea what you’re talking about, Dr Turner. You’re just a vet. The level of research Milo and I⁠—’

Noah folded his arms and fixed his jaw defiantly. ‘Perhaps you being sacked from the Academy was a good thing after all. If your ethics are so shaky as this⁠—’

‘Children!’ Iris barked from the doorway to the snuggery. She was leaning heavily on her stick and looked horrified. No, enraged. ‘What is going on here?’

A terrible hush fell over them. The whole room was still, and utterly devoid of the whirl of wings and musical calls that usually filled it. The dragons, Portia realised, were all cowering in their dens, watching the two of them with wide and terrified eyes. Even Jade was huddled on the table between them, her head under her wings. She was trembling, petrified by their raised voices, and by the anger flowing through Portia. When Portia picked her up, her little heart was racing so hard, she could feel it against her own skin.

‘Nothing,’ she said to her great-aunt. The wash of shame was like a bucket of iced water. ‘Nothing at all. This conversation is over. If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.’

She stalked from the room, and back to her study, slamming the door behind her.

9

Noah didn’t know what to do after that argument. Portia’s opinion of his dreams of finding the great dragons stung. While he certainly wasn’t going to apologise this time, he knew he’d said things he regretted. Maybe she had as well. But still…

Portia had locked herself away, consumed with her work, taking her meals in the lab probably so as to avoid him. She didn’t appear until late the next day with the first sample of the dry scale cream, coming into Iris’s office while they were discussing supplies for the next month. There were shadows under her eyes, and he wondered if she’d spent all night concocting it or whether the magic used in the process had exhausted her. Maybe both. He wouldn’t put anything past Portia Starling if she thought she had something to prove. He couldn’t ask, not after everything and he was pretty sure she would take any kind of questioning as an attack.

So, he said nothing. He was only an employee after all. She had made that perfectly clear. He got to his feet and stood to one side when she appeared. To his surprise, she handed the small glass jar of silky cream over to him and she sank into the seat opposite Iris, with something like relief. Or maybe triumph. Nervous, grumpy, exhausted triumph. He opened the jar and poked at it experimentally. It was definitely richer than the product Noah was used to, and delicately fragranced with something he couldn’t quite place. He handed the jar to Iris, feeling a little uncomfortable that she had given it to him first. Like she needed vindication.

‘I tested it on some discarded skin in the first instant, rather than a live dragon’ – that was definitely a carefully directed barb – ‘and the results, even on dead skin, were remarkable. Look.’ She unfolded a slip of paper she’d brought with her on the desk to reveal a gleaming patch of dragon skin. It was soft and supple rather than brittle. Shed skin usually fell to dust in no time at all, but this was still intact. And the condition was superb. Even he had to admit that.

‘And you followed Art’s recipe exactly?’ Iris asked, her tone keen with interest as she peered at the skin.

‘Every step of the way,’ she assured her great-aunt. ‘I even found the exact patches of plants he used in the forest. He’d marked the location and everything.’

‘Well,’ Iris said with a fond smile. ‘Art always was very thorough in his notes.’ She was rubbing the cream between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes closed, as if she could tell by touch alone if it was correctly made. Perhaps she could. ‘And the focus?’

That was the magical element, Iris had explained to Noah when they had discussed the process – more calmly than was possible with Portia present. He hated the thought that any medication needed it, but when the animals themselves had a connection to the magical he supposed it made sense. Disrupt that, Iris insisted, and the effects could be devastating. At least she was happy to explain rather than fly off the handle.

‘On a smooth and swift separation,’ Portia replied. ‘It was no challenge. It felt entirely natural, if I’m honest. But then magical workings always do here. Like dipping into deep water.’

They talked about it as if it was an everyday fact of life. Perhaps it was for them. Here on the island.

Noah hung back, shifting from foot to foot and watching the exchange warily. He really didn’t know what to say. Her words about his plans to leave as soon as possible were not wrong. But it had made him feel like he was abandoning them here. And perhaps he was.

But that had always been the plan, hadn’t it? Iris knew it. He knew it. He was here to gather as much information as possible and then move on. And if some of that information was to make it back to people with questions of their own about dragons, and the Starlings, that wasn’t his fault, was it?

He swallowed hard, remembering the deal. It all felt a bit sour now. He had not shared that with Iris. He hadn’t expected the experience here to be quite so familial. Iris treated people the way the dragons did, gathering them close and making them an everyday part of her life. It felt… well, it felt good. Like he’d found a new home.

Silly really. This wasn’t his home. Portia had made that clear. Just when he thought that working together was going rather well. But then, he’d been the one to announce his intention to leave as soon as something better came along. Him and his big mouth.

Jade flitted happily across the table, poking at the various objects and piles of paper in case there was some kind of treat to be had. He held out his hand to her and she alighted gently, sniffing him in that queenly manner of hers. Her dry scales were still there, which he hoped meant Portia had not tested it on the little dragon. If she had, it had not had any effect and he doubted that she would be presenting it to them if that was the case.

She’d looked so horrified when he suggested it might endanger her dragon. At least there was that. It hadn’t occurred to her, that was the problem. And he didn’t know what to do with that knowledge.