Queens were not supposed to gape. But Rose did it all the same. She stood there with her mouth open, gazing up at the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.

The new books in the palace library made dragons sound awkward and clumsy. They said things like, ‘It is an unnatural creature, like a toad with wings.’

And, ‘No one knows how such an ungainly beast can fly.’

And, ‘There has never been such an ugly animal, in both form and character.’

But this dragon …

This dragon was a wonder to behold. Its wings swept across the sky with lazy grace. Its head was sinuous and clever. Its scales were red-gold in the pre-dawn light.

‘Oh,’ whispered Rose. ‘Oh oh oh.’

And even though this might be the very same dragon that had stolen her parents, she could not help admiring it.

Beside her, Flax was fumbling her satchel onto her back and whispering, ‘I’m going home. I don’t care what anyone else does. Maybe Grandpa was wrong; maybe there’s no such thing as griv. But if there is, it can’t be nearly as bad as a dragon.’

Rose didn’t want her to go. Not because Flax was a nice, friendly pixie—

No, not a pixie. A minch-wiggin, whatever that was. And definitely not a friendly one. Right from the start, Flax had made it clear that she didn’t want Rose tagging along.

But if Flax went, the pup would go, too. And Rose would be left alone.

Though probably not for long. Right at this moment, one of the maids would be creeping into the royal bedchamber to lay out the Queen’s clothes for the day.

There would be screaming when they found her gone.

There would be panic, and a desperate hunt.

And when they found her, they’d take her back to the palace, where Aunt Delilah would be furious with her for causing so much trouble. And everyone would call her Felicia and her days would be filled with signing letters and meeting ambassadors.

But for once, Rose didn’t care.

Because she had seen a dragon.

Without taking her eyes off the sky, she dipped her fingers into her pocket, found her emergency supply of green jellybabies and popped two of them in her mouth.

She had barely started chewing when she saw something puzzling.

‘Is that a rope?’ she whispered. ‘Flax, I think the dragon is towing something.’

Even as she spoke, the sky darkened, as if the deepest part of the night had suddenly returned.

‘It looks like a storm cloud,’ whispered Rose. ‘Though I’ve never seen one so big. Why would a dragon be towing a storm cloud?’

Flax gasped – and let out a groan of horror. ‘It’s not a storm cloud. It’s the Floating Forest. The dragon has stolen my home!’