Lily and the Shining Dragons Read Online Free PDF

the room, as though she expected them to be hiding their mother in a cupboard somewhere. ‘Why on earth are you part of this – this disgusting charade? Has she finally run through all Peyton Powers’ money, is that it?’
    Lily felt Georgie’s cold hand slip into hers, and she glanced up at her sister anxiously. Their aunt didn’t seem to know about Mama’s plot at all. She certainly didn’t look like someone who wanted to assassinate the queen – but then, successful assassins probably didn’t. ‘Mama is still at Merrythought,’ Lily admitted, clutching Georgie’s hand tightly. ‘We ran away.’ Somehow, she didn’t think their aunt would like them any less for admitting it. But it could still be a trap. Lily’s fingers buzzed with stored-up magic. She was ready…
    ‘You ran away. How very sensible…’ Lady Clara put her head on one side, and eyed them thoughtfully. ‘But the stage? Really?’
    ‘We didn’t intend to.’ Lily shrugged. ‘Mama was trying to manipulate Georgie’s magic. She was hurting her.’ It was almost true. ‘We had to get away. The theatre was accidental. But lucky,’ she added stubbornly.
    Lady Clara was turning pale, but she still had enough control of the glamour that she did it very prettily. She looked like a delicate china doll. ‘Nerissa is still using magic then?’ she whispered huskily. ‘How can she be?’
    Lily and Georgie exchanged a confused glance. They’d both felt the spell their aunt laid on them, that strange shame spell. And she definitely had a glamour on. ‘She hides it from the Queen’s Men, of course,’ Lily explained hesitantly. ‘But, Aunt,’ – it felt very strange to call this unknown woman their aunt – ‘you use magic.’
    ‘I do not.’ The colour rushed back into Aunt Clara’s face. She was a cheap wooden doll now, with bright circles of red on her cheeks. ‘Magic is wrong. It’s dangerous. Dirty. Her dear Majesty was quite right to forbid it. I forswore magic as a young girl, as your mother and father should have done.’
    ‘Maybe she doesn’t know she’s doing it?’ Georgie breathed in Lily’s ear. ‘Do you believe her?’
    Lily shrugged, a tiny little movement. She couldn’t tell. Could their aunt’s glamour be so closely woven into her now that she really didn’t realise it was there? And the spell that had made them so ashamed of their room, and their clothes – she could imagine that might be one her aunt wove around herself unconsciously. Her beautiful, expensive dress, the gloves, the society manners – appearances were her life. She could be weaving the spell out of her own disgust, and projecting it on to everyone around her without even knowing it.
    Still… Lily wasn’t completely convinced. How had their aunt managed to get away with wafting around in a cloud of tiny spells for years? Unless she was actually very, very clever?
    ‘Magic isn’t dirty,’ she muttered stubbornly.
    Her aunt swayed gracefully across the room towards her. ‘Oh but my dear, it is. Magic is wrong. Quite wrong. It has poisoned our bloodline, and we must cast it out.’
    Lily swallowed the anger that was rising inside her, bringing a tide of magic with it. She longed to throw it at this stupid woman, and wrap it all round her, so that she could see how beautiful it was.
    Henrietta pawed at her leg, and Lily picked her up. Aunt Clara smiled at the pug approvingly. ‘I see it does have company manners after all.’
    ‘And she is clearly mad,’ Henrietta muttered, pretending to nuzzle Lily’s cheek.
    Lily nodded a little. ‘Aunt, what did you mean before, about a savage dog in your house?’
    Aunt Clara looked around the room, and for a moment her strange hidden magic flashed out again, and Lily saw their refuge as she did. Peeling wallpaper, grubby boards, the damp stains – but all magnified tenfold. She shivered, and her aunt nodded. ‘You see? You can’t possibly stay here. I may not have agreed with my sister.’ She