Chapter 18 #2
Portia swivelled around, horrified to see Virginia and all her attendant cronies at the entrance to the tent. A few of them whispered and laughed as Portia pushed past Noah and made her way forward, intent on blocking the horrible woman.
‘Oh, Portia, there you are!’ Virginia sneered. ‘And is that…?’ She pulled back, an expression of disbelief souring her face further. ‘Gracious me, what have you done to my Jade? Let me look at her.’
She made to grab the dragon but Portia twisted aside. At the same moment Noah appeared on her other side, shielding the dragon further.
‘I am terribly sorry, madam, it is extremely bad practice to grab at any kind of dragon like a greedy child.’ His voice was terribly quiet and calm, and all the more dangerous because of that.
It didn’t sound like him at all. ‘If you like, I would be more than happy to instruct you in the correct handling of them.’
A shocked gasp went up from the assembled group.
‘He really is an expert, Virginia,’ Portia chimed in as sweetly as she could manage. ‘Maybe you should listen. You might learn something.’
Virginia spluttered. Far too many people were looking at them now. She was making a scene, and not the one she wanted at all. There were people pointing and laughing behind their hands, and not at Portia. At her.
Portia pressed her lips tightly together, desperately trying not to laugh.
‘If you people think you can just waltz in here with your runts and your castoffs and be welcome, let alone win anything, you have another thing coming. You can’t talk to me like that, sir. Don’t you know who I am?’
Noah’s face fell to mock concern. ‘Oh no. Oh, how terrible. I’m so sorry.’ He raised his voice, looking out at the surrounding crowd. ‘This lady appears to be rather confused and doesn’t know who she is. Can someone fetch the healers?’
Virginia Moorland turned the colour of a ripe plum, snarled something obscene and swept away, all her cronies following her while the whole crowd roared laughing, not even trying to conceal it any more.
Portia stared in shock at Noah, who turned to her, smiling wryly. ‘That got rid of her,’ he murmured. ‘I’m sorry, I know I should have left you to handle it but I couldn’t help myself. Is Jade all right? She looked frightened.’
Jade was fine. Jade was dancing around on Portia’s shoulder in delight. The noises she made might have been war cries.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ Portia said. ‘That was… Noah…’ And then she couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling up inside her. Before she knew what she was doing she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. ‘Thank you.’
And to her amazement, Noah chuckled and held her close. ‘My pleasure.’
She looked up into his face and suddenly it was like that moment before the kiss all over again.
She stilled, not sure what to do. They still hadn’t talked about what happened between them, or about the argument afterwards.
There was no future for them, they both new that.
But right now, he gazed down at her as if she was something wonderous.
The moment passed. Because it had to. As one, they both seemed to remember where they were and froze awkwardly, before pulling back and separating in silent regret.
* * *
The first competition round was not until the evening.
Iris returned, flushed and almost giddy with delight from her afternoon tea and they filled her in on Noah’s interaction with Virginia Moorland which made her laugh heartily.
Then it was Portia’s turn for a break. She left Jade with her great-aunt and headed out across the city for her old college, intent on finding Milo.
She had sent him several notes to let him know where they were staying and where to find them at the show but so far there had been no sign of him, nor any reply, which was odd.
Perhaps he’d got caught up in his work. That was known to happen.
Or perhaps he had been swept up in one of the various activities that surrounded the Royal Show.
People loved to have members of the Academy on hand to verify results, and their word was taken as law.
There were always lectures and demonstrations galore in the city at this time of year, and the closer Portia got to the Academy itself the more evidence she saw of that.
Groups of scholars gathered to discuss the latest papers and publications, discoveries, and inventions.
The Engineering department was demonstrating a large steam engine, and elsewhere someone from the Alchemy department was letting off fireworks which somehow showed up in daylight.
There was even a poetry reading in the Academy gardens.
As she made her way through it all, the life of the Academy she had missed so much roared up around her and suddenly Portia found it overwhelming.
This had never been the world she had been comfortably part of, not really.
She’d always isolated herself in the apothecarial labs, where everything was quiet and sedate.
Controlled. This was far too much. She put her head down and hurried on.
She’d be all right once she got in there and found Milo.
He had to be around there somewhere. Where else would he be?
She wanted to find out if he had made any progress with his own version of the elixir and replicated her experiments. She longed to talk to him about it all.
And maybe ask him what to do about Noah. Because he would have advice. He was her friend.
But Milo wasn’t at the lab. The porter at the reception desk looked grumpy, sitting there, missing out on all the fun of the Royal Show, and glowered at her as she approached.
‘Haven’t seen him in a few days, miss,’ he said. ‘But I can take a message if you like. Not sure when he’ll get it. He’s been rather busy with the board and the patent office.’
Portia fought back disappointment, right up to the moment when she realised what he had just said. ‘What’s he doing with the patent office?’
But the porter clammed up, obviously realising from the look on her face that he had probably said the wrong thing. ‘I couldn’t possibly comment, miss. Do you want to leave a message or not?’
Portia stared at him, swallowing hard on the rising bile.
A young voice behind her made her turn. ‘Professor Starling? It is you, isn’t it?
’ It was Felicity Montague, her former assistant.
‘Oh, how lovely to see you. Were you looking for Professor Leyton? It’s marvellous news about his new invention.
They say it’s going to revolutionise the art of the apothecary. ’
Portia took the girl’s arm and steered her away from the desk. ‘What invention?’ she asked, dreading the answer. Milo wouldn’t. He simply wouldn’t.
‘Everyone’s talking about it. He went to the academic board with it and they sent him straight to get the patent sorted.
But news was already out. There’s talk of giving him the Asher award and they may even create a seat especially for him.
Can you imagine? He’s so young. They’re already preparing to market it to the public.
It can help so many people. It’s going to make him rich and famous.
Everyone wants it.’ She smiled broadly, her pride in her instructor obvious. Portia’s stomach lurched again.
He couldn’t have. Not Milo!
‘What is it, Felicity?’ she hissed. ‘What has he invented?’
And suddenly Felicity didn’t look quite so sure.
‘Surely he wrote to you about it, Professor Starling. You did everything together. Everyone knows that. But when you left, he seemed so lost and we were worried about him. And then, the next thing you know, he had a breakthrough. He calls it the Universal Restorative.’