Chapter 25 #2
‘I’ll leave, if you want,’ he said before she managed a word.
‘But please believe me I wouldn’t have betrayed you.
Not willingly. Not once I got to know you.
I didn’t tell her anything and I wouldn’t have…
’ He clenched his hands into fists and she looked up into his face.
He had his eyes closed, and there was agony marking every angle of his face.
He sounded like a man accepting a life sentence.
‘But I completely understand if you can’t trust me any more.
I’ll hand in my resignation to Iris tomorrow and I’ll get the next—’
Oh no, he couldn’t. Not like that. Portia pressed her finger to his lips and he fell silent, his ragged breath playing against her skin.
Was it her imagination or did he lean in to her touch?
‘I don’t want you to go,’ she said. That was true.
More than she had even realised. But he would.
She knew he would leave. Noah wanted something far more than Starling Island and now he had a way to do it thanks to Gilden and the ring.
All he needed was the money. ‘But I can pay for your expedition.’
He froze, staring at her and she dropped the finger that was still lingering on his lips, instantly missing the warmth of touching him. She didn’t want to stop. A heated flush of memory brought her back to that night. She pushed it away. This wasn’t the time.
‘What? How?’
‘The elixir. Milo sorted the patent and there’s a licencing offer of…
well, more money than I can ever spend. They’re planning to make it available to the public and…
I don’t know. But apparently, we’re rich.
There’s an award as well. And the contract payments alone are…
It’s so silly really but he’d already arranged everything.
And the Academy want me back.’ She smiled, surprised that she couldn’t actually bring herself to put any real joy into the expression.
Noah saw it too, because he frowned down at her, clearly still confused.
‘So, I can pay for your expedition. You have all the permissions you need from Gilden. All that matters now is the day-to-day cost, and the equipment and… I don’t know.
You can draw up a list and I’ll pay for it.
You can go to Elanholm and do all your research and… you know…’
Running out of words as the thought of him leaving finally caught up with her, she shrugged and looked down at the floor. Jade butted the side of her head but she ignored the dragon. She was fighting back tears and didn’t want Noah to see that.
He saw far too much.
His hand folded around hers and he lifted it to his mouth, kissing her fingers.
‘You could come with me?’ he asked.
She had thought of that. Part of her had hoped he’d ask. It would be wonderful to travel, to see the lost dragon realm, to share all his future discoveries with him. But that wasn’t going to be possible either. Not right now.
‘I can’t leave. Not for a while anyway. They need me here. Iris and the dragons. She’s still an elderly woman. I thought I’d set up an apothecary and split my time between it and the sanctuary. That ought to work.’
‘What about the Academy? You said they wanted you back.’
She shrugged. ‘I’ll work something out. Go there to give lectures, bring students here for placements and research.
It’s not like we don’t have room. It’s a castle, after all.
They can help in the sanctuary as well. Iris would love having an army of people to boss around.
She could teach them so much. That isn’t a problem.
I can balance working between here and Tesh. ’
‘But not all the way from Elanholm?’
Portia bit her lower lip. God, how she wanted to say yes. It would be so easy. Except for all the ways she would be letting down her family and the dragons. And the island.
Besides, it was his dream. Not hers.
‘I have research to do here as well. A mystery to solve. I want to find out about the prime threads running through the island. And the effect they have on the dragons. I used them to make the elixir so I need to know more about them if only for that. But there’s clearly more. A lot more.’
For a long time, they sat in silence. Or maybe it was only a moment. She didn’t know any more. He was still holding her hand, the pad of his thumb stroking her skin slowly, the way he’d sooth one of his charges but she didn’t want to draw attention to that. He might stop.
Noah heaved in a breath. She felt his whole body move, shifting beside her, until his hip pressed against hers.
‘Well then, I guess I’m staying here as well. You still need an actual vet, don’t you? Researchers are all very well, but someone has to take care of the teacup dragons properly and honestly no one else seems to know enough about them apart from you and Iris.’
Portia gasped, turning to look at him again. He was smiling down at her, even if those worries were still there in the corners of his eyes.
‘But your research, your dreams…’
‘Are still there for the future. Elanholm isn’t going anywhere.
Gilden confirmed that the great dragons are hidden behind their magic.
They can wait until we’re ready. And I want to find out about the connection the teacup dragons have to magic as well.
As you said, that’s important. Jade spoke to Gilden, if only for a moment.
What other secrets are they hiding? Look, there are libraries full of books about the great dragons, stretching back centuries, not to mention their own studies we don’t even know about.
All I’d end up doing is finding out things they already know.
It’s a bit narcissistic of me to think I can add anything to that body of work.
But the teacup dragons? No one has ever really cared about them.
No one but us. So, let’s make that our research instead.
’ Then he seemed to catch what he was saying.
‘If… if you’ll have me.’ Noah blushed. He actually blushed.
His hand squeezed hers. ‘As a research partner, I mean. If that’s… if that’s all…’
It didn’t sound like he thought that would ever be enough. But he’d take what he could.
Portia smiled up at him, as if the sun had come out inside her chest.
‘What if that’s not all?’ she asked.
He studied her face, a thousand emotions playing out in the warmth of his eyes, and the smile came back, setting his face aglow. All the remaining worries were wiped away. ‘I would very much like more, Portia. So much more. Everything.’
Jade let out a trill of delight and spread her wings, whirling around the two of them.
‘I think you have your answer,’ Portia laughed as the teacup dragons all started to wake again, joining in the unexpected celebration.
His other hand brushed her cheek, drawing her attention inexorably back to him, and him alone, his handsome face, his blue eyes, the gentlest smile she would never get tired of seeing. ‘I’d still like to hear it from you.’
She had never actually known joy like this, she realised. It felt like she was soaring with Jade, whirling and diving, dancing in the air above them with all her flight.
‘Yes, Noah. I’d like that too. More than anything.’
A bright maelstrom of teacup dragons encircled them, a rainbow of colours with the two of them at its heart. Noah kissed her, carefully, thoroughly, and entirely competently, without the slightest hint of an apology, and every clever thing Portia could possibly think of went clean out of her head.