Page 24 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

The question remained though: how else were they going to test the balm? And why did neither Portia nor Iris seem to think there was a need to carry out any kind of tests at all before using it on the dragons? Magic was second nature to them. This was an old family recipe, with magical elements, handed down by dragonkind, but that was not reason enough to throw caution to the winds.

‘So, what do we do now?’ he asked.

Portia shot him a withering glare. Perhaps she’d forgotten he was there. Or just wished he wasn’t. It shouldn’t sting but it did.

‘We use it. Carefully. A little at a time, on a test group. You continue treating a control group with Fittbly’s for now and we compare results. If we see any complications we stop immediately and take remedial action. I do know how to do this, Dr Turner.’

Not Noah. She refused to call him Noah now. She was determined to keep the distance between them. That shouldn’t feel like a blow either, but it did. Damn. At the same time, he couldn’t blame her.

‘Beginning with Jade?’ he went on warily. That was the part of this plan he really didn’t like, testing it on a living creature.

‘I know her best. I’m with her all the time. I’ll see any reaction the minute it happens. I will be checking.’

Unfortunately, that made sense. And it wasn’t really his decision to make. Besides, she was right, there wasn’t really any other way forward but to test it. He had to admit that the Fittbly’s was not working, no matter how many applications he applied to the increasing number of dragons with dry scale. That was the problem with the disease. It started small but once it took hold in a flight, it spread quickly and for rescue dragons it could become extremely debilitating.

It was Iris’s sanctuary. And her decision. He waited, watching the elderly woman as she sniffed the cream as if it was some kind of epicurean delicacy.

‘Very well,’ she said at last, getting to her feet, the discussion and dinner apparently over. ‘Begin a test group, and Portia?’

Her great-niece looked up at her warily. ‘Yes?’

‘Play nice.’ Then she glanced at Noah with those gimlet eyes, as if she could see right inside him. ‘Both of you. I’m going out to Margery’s for tea. Don’t wait up.’

They waited until she had left the room. Noah cleared his throat.

‘If you’re going to apologise again, please don’t bother,’ said Portia. ‘We can work together without the niceties, I’m sure. I really cannot take another argument. I’ve had enough bad news for one day.’

Noah didn’t want to be thought completely transparent but he had been about to apologise again. It was the gentlemanly thing to do and a peace offering. The words died in his throat.

That was when he noticed the letter she had hastily shoved in the pocket of her jacket. ‘What happened?’

‘A formal complaint about me has been lodged with the Academy. By the queen. Well, by her personal secretary. Guess who that is?’

He didn’t need to guess. He knew. Lady Virginia Moorland.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, the words out before he thought about it. Not an apology though. More like commiserations. Portia inhaled deeply and he wondered for a moment if she would scream at him. Or burst into tears. She did neither, simply held the breath for a long moment and then released it in a rush. He watched her push away her personal struggle and slip on the mask of professionalism instead.

‘We should get to work.’ She opened the large notebook she had brought with her and began to jot down notes. ‘Jade first, and then who else do you suggest for the trial? Rusty?’

Once again, Noah reflected, actually working with Portia was an unexpectedly pleasant experience. She was efficient, careful and detail orientated, a scientist through and through. The dragons – Jade, Glitter, Rusty, and a Lakeland blue they called Ripple – were all to be weighed, measured, their conditions meticulously documented. Portia closed her eyes and held Glitter first to get a thaumaturgical reading. Noah bit his lip on that and of course she noticed that too.

‘You have something to say?’

He did. He just wasn’t sure it was a good idea.

‘What does it feel like?’ he asked instead.

‘Like a shiver beneath my skin. Like electricity, or a frisson, you know? Like when you hear beautiful music. Sometimes it’s like music itself.’

‘Can you – can you do anything with it?’

Portia opened one eye and gave him a haughty look Jade would have been proud of. ‘It’s not about party tricks, Dr Turner.’

But then she wriggled her fingers in some kind of pattern he didn’t recognise and a series of notes appeared on the paper, as if written with an invisible pen.

Noah stared, that sense of wonder sweeping over him from long ago, when he had just been a boy and magic had been something all around them. Alincourt had been one of the first places to lose the everyday magic everyone had taken for granted.

And here he was with someone who still took it for granted. They all did, the Starlings. Everyone on this island. Like everyone had taken the dragons for granted. Until they were gone.