Claws and Contrivances by Stephanie Burgis

Author:Stephanie Burgis [Burgis, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Five Fathoms Press

Chapter 17

“Ah, there you are, coz. Never fear, I shan’t tell Mama that I found you having a cosy tête- à-tête with your, ah, fiancé.” Georgie winked shamelessly, her face creased with amusement. “You wouldn’t believe the dreary lecture she gave me last night about keeping an eye on you two until the knot is tied! You would have laughed to hear it.”

“Ahaha. Well.” Rose’s laughter was desperately forced as she looked past her cousin. Miss Thomas was ravishing as ever in a cheerfully striped muslin walking gown, but her dark eyes were narrowed and the expression on her lovely, oval face was tightly compressed, as if she were holding back strong feelings. How many details had she overheard? “We were just ... discussing dragon thefts across the nation,” she said. “It’s been a terrible problem, apparently. Hasn’t it, Mr Aubrey?”

“I beg your—ahh!” His voice broke off abruptly as she pressed her slippered toes down hard upon his closest foot, underneath the table. Blinking rapidly, he finished, “Ahem. Yes, as you say.”

Miss Thomas gazed at them both for a long, silent moment ... and then tilted her head. “You must be terribly worried, then. I wasn’t aware that you actually had the care of two dragons!”

As if to illustrate her point, at the sound of that unfamiliar voice, Griff’s head abruptly popped out of the pile of eggs he’d been devouring. His long, golden neck shot upwards and he let out a loud, urgent chortle of alarm. As he scrambled backwards, his claws scrabbled on the smooth polish of the wooden table. He tripped over his own tail, tumbled head over heels, and skidded helplessly towards the table’s edge.

Cwtch leapt up to bark a frantic alert and smacked his own furry head against the table’s underside. As his barks turned into yelps of alarm and pain, Rhiannon hissed and sped across the table, sending plates skidding in her wake. She leapt for the safety of Rose’s closest shoulder and landed hard, digging in with all four sets of claws.

Rose had been halfway to her feet, on her way to rescue Griff, but Rhiannon’s landing pushed her back onto her seat with a thump. As Rose fell into her chair, Griff toppled, chirping frantically, over the edge of the table ...

And Mr Aubrey caught him. “There.” Apparently immune to all the noise and chaos around him, the scholar carefully set Griff back atop the table with all the little dragon’s limbs rearranged in more appropriate positions. “That should be safer.”

“Oh, well done, sir.” Georgie loped across the room, moving easily in her favourite trousers, and dropped to her knees on the floor by Cwtch to comfort him, bringing the last of his hysterical yelps to a halt. Over his head, she grinned up at Mr Aubrey. “You’re a good man in a crisis.”

“I’m really not.” He tugged uncomfortably at his cravat. “As your cousin could inform you, if I’d been reading a book, I’d likely not have noticed anything at all.”

“Then we must be glad my cousin had got firm hold of your attention, somehow.

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