Page 49 of Claws and Contrivances
“Of course, I tried to enquire whether I might be of any assistance with whoever they were looking for ... but my offer only seemed to make the fellow at the door even more suspicious. He nearly slammed that door upon me as he refused. I had to jump backwards to be quite safe, and I felt the strangest brush against my heels as I did so. Of course, I assumed it was the wind of the closing door, but I felt that same unsettling sensation again and again in my walk back down the long drive.
“It was all most disconcerting, and not at all what I’d expected. Rather than directly returning home, I decided to sit down halfway to think it all through in peace. Mrs Davies had kindly made me a ham sandwich for the journey, so I unwrapped that from its cloth as I took a seat on the riverbank. I took a bite, then lowered my hand as I gazed out at the rippling river before me ... and then it happened.”
“What happened?” Rose demanded, leaning forwards in her chair.
“The sandwich fell out of my hands. Or rather, it was snatched! With my own eyes, I witnessed large bites appear in it, though there was no creature visible to my sight. My dear, I know you will struggle to believe me when I say this, but ...” Uncle Parry’s eyes shone with delight. “I was right all along. Dragons can effect magic!”
Chapter 23
“Aha.” Rose’s fingers relaxed their grip as she leaned back in her chair. “So you already knew that, too.”
“I ... what? I beg your pardon?” Uncle Parry scooted backwards in his own chair, staring at her. “My dear girl—”
“It is not magic.” Just above and behind Rose, Mr Aubrey ground out the words. “As I have explained multiple times now to both of you ...”
“‘Everything must become explicable once properly observed and interpreted by natural philosophy.’” Rose and her uncle quoted the oft-repeated words in chorus, then raised their eyebrows at each other.
Despite everything, Rose’s lips quirked. “It does seem like magic, though, doesn’t it?” Before her uncle could launch into his own side of that argument, she continued, “I take it your dragon can turn invisible? That does explain why it would be difficult to find him.”
“You have no idea,” Uncle Parry said fervently. “But what of your own—? No, wait. Good God.” His jaw dropped open. He jerked his suddenly outraged gaze up to the man who stood behind her. “Aubrey! Those dragons Rose has been carrying around everywhere – she did say they were yours, did she not? But you never uttered a word about any strange powers they’d displayed. How could you keep such an important point of research from me? You well knew how urgently I needed to hear any relevant details, to understand my own case.”
“Oh, no!” Rose straightened in her seat with alarm. “Please don’t blame him, Uncle. It was my fault. He wanted to tell you everything from the beginning, but I was afraid ... that is ...” She stumbled to a halt under her uncle’s shocked gaze, her tongue colliding awkwardly with her jumbled thoughts.
The truth was, she had been afraid that her very moral uncle would insist on returning Rhiannon and Griff to Sir Gareth’s keeping, and that no longer seemed a valid fear after all. But now that it came down to the moment of truth ...
Had there been another, deeper fear mixed in, wholly unacknowledged until now? When Uncle Parry discovered not only what she’d done but that she had engaged in outright deception, after all that he and Aunt Parry had done for her ...
Thirteen months ago, she’d learned the bitter truth that she couldn’t rely on even her most beloved older family members to protect her.
Would Uncle Parry even allow her to remain in his home?
Her breath shortened with panic as white fog swooped in around her.
“She was motivated by concern for the dragons’ safety.” As Mr Aubrey stepped forwards to stand beside her, the cloth of his jacket brushed reassuringly against her fingers.
At that tangible reminder of his presence, Rose let out a long, shuddering breath, and the white fog dissipated into wispy tendrils.
“Concern for their safety ... from me?” Uncle Parry blinked rapidly, hurt overtaking his dear, familiar features. “Rose! How could you think I would harm an innocent animal even to further my research? Of course, I am eager to learn everything we can about their rediscovered magic, but if you imagined I would ever perform the sort of cruel experiments that would cause them pain or fear ...!”
“Of course not. I would never think such a thing of you. I only ...” Rose shifted her hands to the safety of her lap and clasped them together tightly to stop herself from following her own animal instincts and reaching out to touch Mr Aubrey’s tall figure for support. Instead, she drew a deep, steadying breath. “Uncle, I am so very sorry for deceiving you, but I must tell you: they are not Mr Aubrey’s dragons.”
“No?” His forehead creased. “But then, whose ...? Oh. Oh, my!” He sat back in his seat, blowing out his cheeks in a low, ungentlemanly whistle. “Good heavens.”
“Quite,” Rose mumbled miserably. She gazed down at her clasped hands, horribly aware of her uncle’s astonished gaze resting on her. “But they weren’t stolen any more than your own dragon was, Uncle. Truly, they escaped on their own. I have only been keeping them safe from recapture. Sir Gareth is not their legal owner, and they’ve been horribly mistreated. Mr Aubrey and I found the rest of his illicit collection in Penryddn House just now, and—”
“What do you mean, the rest?” Uncle Parry’s chair squeaked with the agitation of his sudden movement. “Are you saying that man somehow managed to collect even more than three dragons?”
“Over two dozen in total,” Mr Aubrey confirmed.
“And he’s been keeping them in the most awful little cages without any proper food to eat or even clean bedding to lie on!” Outrage lent strength to Rose’s voice, although she still couldn’t manage to raise her gaze past the surface of the desk. “We think he’s smuggled them into the country somehow and is planning to sell them illegally.”
“Good God,” her uncle repeated faintly. “Good ... well, I certainly didn’t imagine quite that extreme a situation! Thank goodness you came in response to my cry for help, Aubrey, even if you did put it off longer than I would have liked.”
“I was unavoidably detained.” Mr Aubrey spoke with the long-suffering patience of one who had repeated the same point many times. “And as it happens, you were fortunate that I was. If I hadn’t witnessed for myself everything that transpired with the dragon I met at my last stop—”
“Was that the one with golden streaks around its face?” Forgetting her nerves in the interest of the question, Rose turned to look up at him.
His fair eyebrows arched above his spectacles as he met her gaze. “Why, yes. But how could you possibly know such a thing?”
