Page 40 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

The sound of lapping filled the silence.

No! Great Wenn, no! Portia twisted around to see Jade drinking the little pool of spilled elixir like a determined kitten with the cream.

15

Noah didn’t know what to do. He’d kissed her. He’d been so swept away in the moment, in the feeling of her in his arms. Like she belonged there. Like she had always belonged there. The emotion, the need had been completely overwhelming. When he’d seen her drink even those few drops of the elixir, he thought his heart would stop, even more so when she almost fell. And then… then he’d held her, kissed her and…

This wasn’t like him. She was his employer’s great-niece, his colleague. When he tried to apologise she’d asked him why and he didn’t have an answer for that either. He wasn’t sorry. Not in the slightest.

But neither of them was prepared for Jade to drink. Not yet. They had no idea what it might do, or even what the proper dosage should be.

Portia snatched up the dragon who squirmed and wriggled, her former strength and feistiness apparently returning already. But it was too late. Even if she had been willing to test it on herself, Noah realised for all his earlier accusations, she would never willingly put Jade in danger.

The dragon just let out another triumphant cackle and spread her wings, tearing herself free of Portia’s grip to take flight around the two of them. She landed on Noah’s shoulder, dancing back and forth there. She nuzzled his ear and cooed at him, before giving Portia a look like…

Like she was teasing them both. Making fun of them.

Noah caught her in sure and certain hands, ignoring her squeals of protest as he examined her.

‘The effect should be immediate,’ said Portia. ‘I mean… it felt immediate. It⁠—’

Noah gave her an arch look. ‘I noticed.’

Her cheeks turned pink. And lord help him, all he wanted to do was kiss her again. It was like an addiction.

Jade purred at him, butting his arm with her head as if egging him on.

There was no sign of illness in the dragon now, no flaking skin, dry scales, or lack of energy. The elixir worked fast.

He released Jade, watching her carefully as she took flight again, perching high on the rafters and preening herself. She looked fine. Better than fine. Her scales shone and the colour was bright and vibrant. He would never have guessed she was ill at all. He studied her carefully, watching and assessing. ‘Remarkable,’ he said. ‘It’s already working. We need to observe her before we go any further. Just in case.’

He glanced back at Portia, who was still watching him warily, her cheeks flushed. Like she expected him to scold her.

Or kiss her again.

Great Wenn, he had to stop thinking about that.

‘How do you feel?’ he asked. He had to be a professional now. And while he wasn’t a doctor, he could assess her health readily enough if he had to.

‘Fine,’ she assured him. ‘Better than ever. I can’t explain it. It’s like something… something alight inside me. It’s wonderful.’

‘You shouldn’t have drunk it. It was dangerous, foolish.’

Portia laughed. Actually laughed. The sound was a wonder. ‘I know, I know. Against all the rules of good practice. Milo would have had my head. Oh, oh, Milo! I have to write to him, tell him everything once we’ve attended to the dragons. He’ll need to apply a completely different methodology but he’s going to be so happy to know he was right about the vibrations and – I need the weights we took. Do you remember them?’ She turned around, grabbing pen and paper, frantically scribbling down notes.

‘Portia!’ He pressed his hand to her back when she ignored him. ‘Portia, I think you should at least sit down for a moment. We need to make sure you’re not in any danger or⁠—’

‘But I’m not,’ she argued, still scribbling manically. ‘We don’t have time to worry about me anyway. I need to work out dosages for the rest of the dragons. Some of them are bigger than Jade, but most of them are smaller. How much do you think she drank? It couldn’t have been more than a teaspoon, don’t you think?’

She peered at the flask, noting down the volume and then doing some rapid mathematics to work out how much was gone.

Overhead, Jade started singing to them. He checked on her again. Clearly she was displaying no side effects, while Portia seemed to be swept up in the joys of discovery and the work that now confronted her. All she was thinking of was treating the dragons.

‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

‘I’ve never felt anything like it. Oh lord, Noah! I can’t explain it.’

‘Yes, and that’s what’s concerning me. Please. You mentioned good practice. Before we give this to the dragons we have to know⁠—’