Page 46 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

‘I’m not going,’ Portia told her great-aunt, deliberately ignoring her teacup dragon and the vet.

‘Oh, but you must. This is all thanks to your elixir and Noah’s work. The two of you must come with me. You deserve the credit, you both do. I’ll arrange everything.’

Even Noah looked horrified at the prospect. He pushed forward, closing the distance between them.

‘Iris, please I told you, I can’t possibly⁠—’

She flapped a hand at him, which caused three of the hatchlings to take flight, squawking loudly. Jade joined in the protest, and flew to Portia instead. If she didn’t know better she’d think the dragons were trying to scold the pair of them as much as her great-aunt.

‘Of course you can. I insist. August and the others can manage things here. Your time isn’t up just yet, young man. And it is part of your contract, remember?’

Noah didn’t bother to hide the scowl. ‘Not to show the animals.’

‘Their care and wellbeing,’ said Iris, fixing him with a glare Portia knew far too well. There was no arguing with her in this mood.

Noah looked to August for help but he just shrugged. It was nothing to do with him, apparently. Or he had already given in. ‘Do you want me to talk to David? Arrange passage on the ferry and onward?’ he offered.

‘No,’ Portia and Noah said in unison.

Iris beamed at her great-nephew as if they didn’t exist. ‘This will be wonderful. Just the kind of exposure we need. The sanctuary and the teacup dragons themselves. You’ll see. We’re going to change the way everyone in Shinael thinks about them.’

When she finally escaped, Portia found her brother waiting on the stairs outside.

‘She can’t go alone, Portia,’ he murmured softly. ‘Not at her age.’

‘She shouldn’t be going at all. None of us should.’

‘She needs you. You can’t deny her this. I haven’t seen her so animated in years. It’s everything she’s worked for. A chance at vindication.’

Of course he was going to guilt trip her. Portia glared at him. ‘Why don’t you go with her then? Or Fi?’

‘Fi, Seb and I all have day jobs,’ he told her with a grin. Oh, he was loving this. ‘We’ll keep things ticking over here, don’t worry. Besides, you know the capital better than any of us, don’t you?’

Loving every damn minute of this.

‘August, I can’t.’

He reached out and ruffled her hair, and then transferred his attention to Jade, who purred at his tickles and rolled around like a spring. ‘Better make up with Noah. Whatever happened between the two of you – and yes, Portia, I know something happened, I’m not an idiot – put it behind you. It’s going to be a long and awkward journey otherwise. You know you want to.’

She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to spend more than a minute in Noah’s company. Not after… What kind of conspiracy was this? Her family were impossible.

‘He’s leaving. You heard him. What’s the point?’

‘People leave all the time. They come back too. Didn’t you realise that was an option?’ He laughed at her.

‘Weir’s already left you then, has he?’

It was meant to sting but August didn’t seem to notice. ‘Weir is always on the move,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t try to stop him. Can you imagine? It would be like trying to stop a dragon flying. None of us wants to do that, do we?’

‘No,’ Portia replied. ‘Apparently, we want to turn them into a performing circus instead. This is a really bad idea, August. You don’t know what it’s like in Tesh. It’s going to be a disaster.’

Her brother shrugged in that infuriating way of his. ‘Only if you turn it into one, Portia. Talk to him. The two of you need to reach some kind of accord, for Iris’s sake. Because she’s not going to back down on this one. This is her chance to prove that what she’s been doing all this time has worth, and to prove the likes of Moorland and Harvey wrong once and for all. This isn’t just about the dragons. It’s about the Starling name.’ He paused, raising his eyebrows as he fixed her with that all-too-knowing, big-brother look. ‘And you’d know all about that too, wouldn’t you? Give up, Portia. This is happening whether you like it or not. Might as well get on board because Iris has spoken.’

18

Once a year the Royal Show was the toast of the Kingdom of Shinael and, as its capital, Tesh gave itself over to celebrations of all that was the very best of the realm – science, art, music, and most of all, it seemed, teacup dragons. The Teacup Dragon Fanciers’ Association, domain of Lady Virginia Moorland and her ilk, ran the competition with a rod of iron. How Iris had persuaded the queen to allow them to be involved Portia had no idea, but here they were, moving into their old residence of Starling House which had been made available to them by royal decree. There were dustsheets and mothballs everywhere and without a host of servants to run the wretched place, Portia felt horribly overwhelmed. Worse, it was like stepping back into those nightmare days when she had lost absolutely everything. There were still portraits of her forebears on the walls and the one which hung in the formal parlour was the worst of all. Her mother and father, young and beautiful and so deeply in love on their wedding day, looked down on her as if they believed in her where she could not.

‘There now,’ said Iris affectionately. ‘Still watching over you, aren’t they?’