Chapter 4
The last thing Portia was expecting was to be accosted by August the moment she set foot back on Starling Island, but there he was, larger than life as ever, her bossy, thoroughly irritating, wonderful, big brother.
‘What happened?’ he asked and it was all she could do not to burst into tears and bury her face in his shoulder.
Jade was already unsettled, starting to unfurl her wings in agitation.
Portia kept a death grip on the jesses. She couldn’t afford to have her fly off again. Not here. Who knew what would happen.
‘It’s… it’s a long story. I have to… The board of the Academy insisted I leave while they… I didn’t mean to do it but now there’s an investigation and I… There was a dragon – this dragon and I…’
August looked so confused, but he raised a hand to let Jade sniff his fingers.
She settled down again instantly, sensing the calm aura he always radiated, the innate magic he pretended he didn’t have, or perhaps simply recognising him as family.
Anything was possible with a dragon. And August had always had a way with them whether he liked it or not.
‘It sounds messy,’ her brother said when she finally ran out of steam.
That was an understatement. ‘It is.’
‘Good idea to come home then.’ He sounded so certain of that. Was it? She wasn’t sure, but she was here anyway. She didn’t have anywhere else to go. ‘Are you staying with Iris?’
She was. That was the plan anyway. She had sent a letter ahead but she didn’t know if it had made it yet. With Iris, it was entirely possible she just hadn’t read it. Or if she had, she hadn’t thought it was necessary to inform anyone else. Like Portia’s siblings.
‘Yes,’ she said, trying to sound confident about that. August grinned at her.
‘Come on then. I’m heading up there now to deliver her new vet. I’ll get David to bring your luggage along with his.’
Something tripped up Portia’s exhausted brain. ‘Her new what?’
August nodded to someone standing behind her. ‘Vet. Him. Dr Noah Turner.’
Wenn beneath them, no. It couldn’t be. Portia almost took a step back but August didn’t seem to notice. ‘He’s here to work at the sanctuary?’
‘Well, why else would he be here? He’s an expert on dragons apparently.
She’s very excited and we’re lucky to have him.
You’ll hear all about it, I promise. We’ve heard about nothing else for weeks.
At least there’ll be a new face for Sunday dinner, I guess.
And company for you up there in the castle. ’
Company in the castle? This couldn’t be happening. Not him.
‘Dr Turner?’ she said, unable to believe it. He was so… so rude. He was awful. And she was going to have to see him every day while she was here?
Because if he was working in the sanctuary, he’d be living up there in the castle too.
It was all very well for August. He had his inn down by the harbour and he lived there.
And though her other siblings lived with Great-Aunt Iris, Seb spent almost all his time at the shop and you would sooner prise Ophelia out of the library than you would a snail from its shell.
But Portia didn’t have a job, not any more.
She didn’t have anything. Not until the Academy decided whether to let her return or not.
And if it didn’t…
No, she couldn’t think that. Milo would argue in her defence.
He had been there. He’d seen everything.
He knew what had happened, and what Virginia Moorland had been doing.
And he had promised. Milo was a mage and his word carried weight in the courts and especially with the Academy.
Even if he was young and vain and an idiot…
He was her friend. As it turned out he was the only friend she had left. Milo and maybe Felicity… Everyone else at the Academy had made themselves bloody scarce.
That had been perfectly clear while she’d packed and made ready to leave, the way everyone else looked away, embarrassed and trying not to be seen associating with her in any way.
Was it any surprise? The Starlings were notorious.
Of course it would come to this. First Iris, then her father and Uncle Art, then Seb, now her…
‘Hey,’ August murmured, his hand on her back, rubbing in soothing circles. ‘Breathe. It’s all right, Portia. I’ve got you. What happened? Just tell me. It can’t be that bad. We’ll sort it out. We always do.’
Where could she even begin? She started to explain, and it all came out in a rush of words until she realised August was staring at her with a face like thunder. She’d just got to the bit about Virginia calling them all mongrels.
‘Lady Virginia Moorland?’ said a voice from behind her.
Portia looked up and saw Dr Turner watching them both. She had not meant for him to hear any of this. But it was far too late now, and clearly he had some experience of Lady Virginia as well from the look on his face.
‘Yes. And the breeder, Percival Harvey.’
The scowl that crossed his face told her what he thought of him too.
‘Quite the gathering.’ He pursed his lips and his eyes met hers.
There was a ghost of an apology in the ocean blue depths there, she was certain, and moments later it found its way out.
‘I was unfair to you last night, Lady Portia. I should have realised you had the best interests of—’
‘You couldn’t have known. And you’re right.
Too many people see the dragons as nothing more than a fashion accessory.
Lady Virginia and her cronies are a case in point and she mistreated Jade terribly.
’ He winced when he heard that and started to say something.
She cut him off swiftly. ‘Not that it’s an excuse.
I didn’t have her under control at all. She could have hurt herself if you hadn’t done something. ’
There was an awkward silence. Neither of them it seemed was terribly good at apologies, neither giving or accepting, nor at setting aside differences.
All he had said to her still stung, and worst of all, he had been right.
That hurt more than she would have thought.
Iris would have been so disappointed with her.
Portia swallowed hard, steeling herself.
She had no idea what her great-aunt was going to say, especially when this man told her about the disastrous way Portia had handled Jade last night.
Being ejected from the Academy wouldn’t upset Iris at all.
Her great-niece was hardly the first of their family to wear that dubious badge of honour.
But endangering a teacup dragon? That was a step too far.
She stared at her shoes and tried to stop the stinging in her eyes. No, this wouldn’t do at all. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
‘We shouldn’t just stand around here,’ said Portia. ‘Iris will be waiting for you, Dr Turner.’
August just looked from Portia to the vet and back again, his gaze speculative. Finally, he let out a sigh.
‘Come on then,’ he told Noah. ‘And if you ever need an escape, that’s my inn over there. My family are all barred. Portia most of all.’
It should have made her laugh. It was an old joke. But Portia suddenly found that she didn’t have it in her to laugh any more. August glanced warily back at her, but didn’t say anything else.
* * *
When you looked at it objectively, Starling Island was little more than a small town which hugged the side of the hill, with all the requisite shops and cottages, with pretty gardens overflowing with flowers.
It was filled with familiar sights, sounds, and scents.
August’s inn functioned very much as its heart, the first thing you encountered as you left the harbour.
It was a pretty building, with wooden beams, hanging baskets and a scattering of tables and benches outside.
They passed by Saffron’s bakery, the heady aroma of fresh bread and cakes enticing as ever.
As the road wound ever upwards, Portia saw the jumbled windows of the Starling Emporium, once the realm of her uncle Arthur, and now the hiding place for her younger brother Sebastian.
Later she would have to call in and see if he wanted word of Milo, but she doubted it.
Seb tended to freeze up whenever their friend from the Academy was mentioned.
Once, they had been inseparable, but ever since Seb left…
well, they each trod a wary line around news of the other.
Seb had once told her that it hurt too much, but she couldn’t help but hope that one day he would finally forgive.
There was a small group of school children outside the library, each one holding a book in eager hands, under the watchful eye of Miss Esme, their teacher.
She turned as the three of them passed and smiled that bright, familiar smile, waving at Portia in delight.
Esme and Portia had made friends when Portia first came to the island following the death of her parents and they still wrote to each other.
She hadn’t had time to write to Esme, to warn her she was returning.
Luckily Esme’s sunny nature meant she would treat Portia’s sudden appearance as a delightful surprise rather than evidence of a neglectful friend.
There were going to be so many questions.
News travelled fast on the island, faster if the post mistress, Alyss Ward, caught wind of it.
And Alyss was already at the door of the post office, her son Harry with her.
He kept the messenger birds that carried the post to and from the island, though Harry did more of the work now his mother was getting on.
Unfortunately, that left Alyss more time to gossip.
Harry and August exchanged a nod, but Portia could almost hear the whispers starting in their wake.
This was beyond painful.
‘Everyone seems very… interested,’ said Noah. He sounded uncertain. Well, Portia thought, no one liked to be stared at, did they? And they weren’t looking at him anyway.
Well, all right, some of them were. It wasn’t all about her either.