Read Online Flight to Dragon Isle by Lucinda Hare - Free Book Online Page B

Desdemona. Following a scandal that was still the talk of the Court, Desdemona had been banished by the Earl for betraying him – but with whom no one had ever discovered. Darcy didn’t talk about his mother much, other than to blame his father bitterly for her early death. He was only six when she had been sent away, leaving him with memories of a beautiful dark-haired woman who granted his every wish in defiance of his father’s commands.
    Armelia’s stinking dress had been removed for burning. Her maids, with Darcy’s permission, dressed her in a fresh gown from his mother’s extensive bridal trousseau. Having them dress her hair in the same fashion as in the portraits, she swept regally down the stairs as if she already belonged at Dragonsdome.
    Darcy was smitten. With sour looks, those young ladies who had arrived for dinner to see how she had survived a day ‘becoming better acquainted with dragons’ acknowledged that they had been outdone. Darcy only had eyes for Armelia. He knew of her disastrous first encounter with his half-sister, and took little persuading over dinner that Quenelda had quite deliberately humiliated Armelia again in an effort to split them up.
    Blinking back tears, bottom lip trembling as she had been so artfully taught at Grimalkin’s, Armelia explained that she had been prepared to fulfil the Queen’s ridiculous edict and to suffer such indignities because she had wanted to see Darcy before he left for Dragon Isle. Who knows, she trilled helplessly, when she would see him again?
    Darcy was furious with Quenelda. ‘She is trying to make trouble between us. If you were my wife, all save the Queen would have to bow to you – including my wretched little half-sister!’
    Not exactly the romantic and passionate declaration of undying love that Armelia had been angling for; that she had endlessly spun in her vivid imagination. But still … Darcy was to be hers, and in time Dragonsdome would follow! Could anyone ask for more?
    And yet …
    And yet …
    Deep inside, Armelia now harboured a secret she would reveal to no one: she had actually enjoyed herself in the nursery roosts! It was the first time in her entire life that she had got her elegant, manicured hands dirty. A daughter of ancient nobility whose fortunes had fallen on hard times, she had been raised by a succession of nannies and indulgent parents who had lavished every last groat they had on her – including sending her to the exclusive Grimalkin’s College. Alliance to the greatest Earldom would restore her family’s fortunes and their rightful place at Court.
    But privileged and pampered though she was, Armelia had never done anything for herself. She had never walked in the rain; she had never dressed herself, never washed a dish. Never handled a baby dragon …
    As for commoners, the servants and soldiers were all but invisible to the ruling Sorcerers Guild. Theirs were the mundane tasks of life, freeing the upper classes to practise their High Magic, to enjoy the fruits of life. Yet Root’s quiet dignity and Quester’s friendliness had given her pause for thought.
    And, Armelia had grudgingly acknowledged, in Quenelda she had met a girl who had thrown off the shackles of society’s expectations. A girl who was doing what she wanted to do, despite the nasty gossip that Darcy – and she herself – had spread at court. Given what she had seen of Quenelda, Armelia could very easily picture the Earl’s daughter on a dragon flying into battle. And why shouldn’t she? Armelia thought to herself in surprise.
    This revelation had ignited a tiny flame of rebellion deep within her. Yes, she still wanted Darcy – but perhaps in time she could change him, soften his attitude towards his young sister. And she could certainly try to put an end to the relentless gossip at Court. Did it matter that someone was different?
    She had revealed none of this to Darcy, of course, as he slid the wondrous ring onto her finger …

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